Your California tour would not be completed if there is no shopping! Cabazon & Desert Hills Premium Outlets is located near Palm Spring California, about 2 hour drives from LA and 20 mins from Palm Spring city.
Get you VIP card at Desert Hills Outlets Visitor Center
First, go get your VIP card at the visitor center to enjoy further discounts before you start your shopping. Alternatively you can sign up for Simon’s website or apps to enjoy further discount before you come here.
The visitor center is at located at East Wing near the washrooms.
East Village & West Village
There are two location, East & West wings so do remember which wing you park you car, else you may have a hard time finding later.
Desert Hills Premium Outlets is considered one of the best outlets in California to hunt for your bargain purchases. There are few premium outlets in California, such as Camarillo Premium Outlets, San Francisco Premium Outlets and many mores. We selected Desert Hills Premium Outlets because we passed by the outlets when we were heading to Palm Springs. Originally we planned to visit San Francisco Premium. Coming here turned out to be a really good choice!
Big Designer Stores with International Brands
At Desert Hills Premium Outlets you can find most of the big designer stores including Burberry, Prada, Saint Laurents Paris, Tom Ford, Michael Kors, Coach, Kate Spade, Nike and the list goes on.
Since it was just few days before Christmas, you can see visitors were doing their last minutes shopping.
Chairs For Rest
Chairs for resting are located outside the shops. Beware of desert climate, cold at night or hot in the day but the wing was chill.
Most Premium Outlets in US are located outskirt
There are many premium outlets in California and most usually located outskirt of the big cities. But I think it is still worth to drive an hour or so to come to the outlets as they have really good bargain with the international big brands.
Since the space is really big, you won’t feel it was very crowded. In fact, it was very comfortable to shop.
West Village
Hunting For Food
There are not many restaurants or choices of food in Desert Hills Premium Outlets. Well, the outlets are big but only few cafes and a small food court. The queue in the food court can be very long especially if there are Chinese tourists.
We have out lunch at West Village Food Court. The queue for Panda Express which serve Chinese were so long, so we ordered Italian instead. The price here are reasonable. Not sure if it was due to festive season, the food court was so crowded and hard to get a table.
American Brand – Kate Spade & Coach
Since the Desert Hills premium outlets are just too big & so many choices from worldwide, I only selected two American brands to look at, Kate Spade & Coach because of time constraint. The other two fellows who were traveling with me did not enjoy shopping so I have to rush like mad. They have only given me 1 hour to do my shopping! Too short definitely, you need at least half a day!
At Kate Spade Outlets
Most items sold in Kate Spade have 70% discount during the time I visited in Dec 2017 so it is really a good bargain. The shops are packed with items from bags to clothing. I was looking for a Kate Spade bag since I was here.
This is what I get, a backpack with a pair of cute rabbit ear.
Little Background about Kate Spade
Kate Spade is a recent American Brand which was launched in 1990s. Kate Spade style is usually funky, bright and fun.
Shopping carts at Desert Hills
Shopping in Desert Hills outlets are not limited to shops only, they are also shopping carts outdoor, selling some snacks & caps & glasses & other little stuff.
After half an hour, I finally get found what I like at Kate Spade and made a purchase and proceed to another outlet.
Backdrop of Desert Hills Premium Outlets – Highlights
The view in Desert Hills premium outlets is stunning, the backdrops are layers of mountains. The weather is cold especially when you walked under the shade. Anyway, shopping in the middle of the desert with the whole area surrounded by mountains was my first time experience so it was a great feeling.
Next Stop at Coach
Before I entered the shop, I saw some Chinese tourists just finished robbing Coach. 🙂
Coach Outlet in Desert Hills is very big, it is consider one of the biggest among the other brand. I would say the space for Coach here is about way bigger than Kate Spade outlet I visited just now.
The variety at Coach are so many and you may take hours to search for the items you want.
At Coach Outlet, most items has already been discounted to 25 % then additional 50% discount. Not sure it was all year round or due to Christmas season, there are additional 50% discount after the 25% from the original price.
I needed to get another bag since it was a great bargain!
Coached started in 1941 and their signature collection monogram C or double C design is kind of popular when it first launch around year 2000. Coach started as Manhattan Leather Bags, it was founded by a group of New York artisans. First Coach make men’s wallets but then later women’s handbags and now more stuff, from watches to clothing & accessories.
Coach is one of the favorite brand among Chinese tourists, it is really enjoying to see them spending. I heard Chinese tourists like to buy here because is cheaper and real stuff, unlike in China, it is not uncommon to get fake good.
After an hour in Coach, I finally found a medium bag in red (above picture) which I think it suit me as it is not that big and bulky but able to put in a lot of stuff. In total I spend less than USD 300 to get those two bags, one from Kate Spade and one from Coach. Total time spending in Desert Hills Premium outlets are about 2 hours including lunch at food court, shopping at Coach & Kate Spade. I could have visited more shops but the other two fellows can’t wait any longer and about to explode. If you have whole day, it is ideal!
What do I like about Desert Hills Premium Outlets?
- The backdrop of the shopping outlets is stunning, it is surrounded by layers of desert hills mountains.
- The big bargain, almost 40-70% less.
- What an experience to shop at the bigger place with great selection of shops.
Other attractions in Palm Springs California :
- Palm Springs Aerial Tramride
- Palm Springs Night Market – Village Fest
- Palm Springs Getaway
- Road Trip Palm Springs to Las Vegas
6 comments
I’ve been meaning to go to an outlet mall ever since I moved to California a couple of years ago. But I’m not a huge shopper and the internet is way easier, so I haven’t made it out yet… except now your post has made me want to go to the San Francisco outlets near me! I love that this was just before Christmas and it’s still so nice and sunny.
Dear Katherine,
I totally agree with you online shopping is the way to go in this era!
Yes, San Francisco outlets should be fun too! I would love to go too!
I’m not really one for shopping but this definitely looks like an amazing place to spend an afternoon shopping!
Dear Claire,
Thank you for your comment. The backdrop is stunning with desert mountain 🙂
Have been here few times. Bought Kate Spade and Coach bags for my wife 🙂
Dear Paulo, thanks for your comment.
Wow… lucky wife. I also bought a coach and Kate Spade from the Desert Hills premium outlet. I think these two brands are good to represent American product.