Friendly, fun-filled desert city near Palm Springs
About 7 miles east of Palm Springs in the hot, windy Coachella Valley, Cathedral City offers scenic golf courses, open desert spaces and a lively events scene. Nicknamed “Cat City” by locals, Cathedral City was incorporated in 1981 and has since attracted snowbirds and outdoor enthusiasts, as well as hospitality and healthcare workers. “Before it was incorporated, Cathedral City had always been more blue-collar, and in many ways, it still is,” explains Vince D’Angerio, a Cat City local and Real Estate Agent with Town Real Estate. “But things are starting to change. The downtown’s getting a new shopping center, we’re getting new people from everywhere between Los Angeles and Canada, and they’re building a new Amazon distribution facility right by the one we already have.”
Scenic golf courses and rotating tram rides at Mount San Jacinto
Surrounded by nature and filled with golf courses, Cathedral City can feel like a sprawling resort. The 27-hole Desert Princess Country Club is popular for its well-maintained greens and sloping fairways, while the Cimarron Golf Resort’s two 18-hole courses offer easier, shorter games. “What really makes Cimarron great is the panoramic views of the mountains, because they’re completely unobstructed there,” D’Angerio says. The 7-acre Panorama Park is the city’s largest park, with tennis and basketball courts, softball fields, a dog park and a central splash pad for kids. The city’s namesake, Cathedral Canyon, was once filled with rock formations said to resemble holy temples; these were destroyed by a flood in 1946, but today the canyon remains a popular hiking spot. Indian Canyons, about 7 miles away, is home to the world’s largest California fan palm oasis, while the Coachella Valley Preserve, 13 miles away, offers over 20,000 acres of pristine desert to explore. “There’s just so much hiking here,” says D’Angerio. “You can even hike along the San Andreas Fault, which starts around here and goes all the way past San Francisco.”