national park
Joshua Tree National Park
Where the Mojave and Colorado deserts meet, featuring twisted Joshua trees and surreal boulder formations.
33 km · about 40 min drive
North AmericaUnited StatesCalifornia
Coachella
California, United States · North America
About Coachella
Coachella sits on the route: 10 minutes from Thermal, 33km from Joshua Tree National Park.
Coachella is in California, United States, with about 45,000 people. You drive on the right here. The nearest town is Thermal, about 5 km away.
The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, often referred to simply as Coachella, is an annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, United States, in the Coachella Valley of the Colorado Desert. It was co-founded by Paul Tollett and Rick Van Santen in 1999, and is organized byRead more
Goldenvoice, a subsidiary since 2001 of AEG Presents. The event features musical artists from many genres of music, including rock, pop, indie, hip-hop and electronic dance music, as well as art installations and sculptures. Across the grounds, several stages continuously host live music.
The origins of the festival trace back to a 1993 concert that Pearl Jam performed at the Empire Polo Club while boycotting venues controlled by Ticketmaster. The show validated the site's viability for hosting large events, leading to the inaugural Coachella Festival being held over the course of two days in October 1999, three months after Woodstock '99. After no event was held in 2000, Coachella returned on an annual basis beginning in April 2001 as a single-day event. In 2002, the festival reverted to a two-day format. Coachella was expanded to a third day in 2007 and eventually a second weekend in 2012; it is now held on consecutive three-day weekends in April, with the same lineup each weekend. Organizers began permitting spectators to camp on the grounds in 2003, one of several expansions and additions in the festival's history. The festival was not held in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Coachella showcases popular and established musical artists as well as emerging artists and reunited groups. It is one of the largest, most famous, and most profitable music festivals in the United States and the world. Each Coachella staged from 2013 to 2015 set new records for festival attendance and gross revenues. The 2017 festival was attended by 250,000 people and grossed $114.6 million. Coachella's success led to Goldenvoice establishing additional music festivals at the site, beginning with annual country music festival Stagecoach in 2007.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is there to see near Coachella?
Within an hour or so of Coachella: Joshua Tree National Park (33 km), The Ace Hotel & Swim Club (36 km), Palm Springs (38 km), Bombay Beach (55 km).
Where is Coachella?
Coachella is in California, United States, about 5 km from Thermal.
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Quick Information
- Population
- 44,635
- Continent
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Region
- California
- Timezone
- America/Los_Angeles
- Coordinates
- 33.6803, -116.1739
Emergency & Services
Essential numbers in United States
AAA roadside assistance: 1-800-222-4357. Right turn on red is legal in most states unless signed otherwise.
Full driving guide for United StatesTags
Worth the detour from Coachella
4 notable places within an hour's drive.
landmark
The Ace Hotel & Swim Club
A desert hotspot in Palm Springs that regularly hosts car culture events and has become a gathering point for the vintage auto community.
36 km · about 40 min drive
landmark
Palm Springs
A desert resort city known for its mid-century modern architecture, hot springs, and the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway ascending Mount San Jacinto.
38 km · about 45 min drive
photogenic
Bombay Beach
A half-abandoned Salton Sea resort town now filled with large-scale installation art: a drive-in of wrecked cars, a leaning airplane sculpture, murals on collapsing houses. Free to wander year-round.
55 km · about 65 min drive
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