Part of the Gay Palm Springs Guide — bars, events & things to do.
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
The Hilton Palm Springs & Hotel Zoso, Downtown Palm Springs
400 E Tahquitz Canyon Way, Palm Springs, CA 92262The circuit parties, afterhours and official events happening across The Dinah (Dinah Shore Weekend) in Palm Springs — dates, venues and tickets.
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Every fall, several thousand women take over two hotel pools in downtown Palm Springs and turn a quiet desert town into the center of the lesbian travel calendar. That's The Dinah — officially "the largest, longest-running female and non-binary music festival in the world," per the organizers — and in 2026 it runs Wednesday, September 30 through Sunday, October 4.
This year is the first under new ownership, with a headline slate led by Hayley Kiyoko. This guide covers the full schedule party by party, which hotel hosts what, how passes work, the Arenas District bars a few blocks away, where to stay if you don't grab a festival hotel room, and how to get to Palm Springs in the first place.
The two festival hotels sit a tenth of a mile apart — a three-minute walk. Everything else on this page is measured from there.
The official schedule runs five days. Times below are as published by the festival — always re-check thedinah.com the week of, since set times and additions land late.
Pro Tip
The festival has not announced which artist plays which night. If you're buying single-event tickets rather than a weekend pass and you're coming for a specific performer, wait for set times to post before you commit.
The pool parties are the reason people fly in. They run daily from Friday, split across the two hotels, and they're where the festival's scale actually becomes visible — the Hilton deck packed shoulder to shoulder, DJs running all afternoon, vendors along the edges.
Saturday's L-Word Pool Party is the festival's signature day event, running 10 AM to 6 PM at the Hilton. The organizers describe it as the pool packed with attendees from around the world, with vendors, celebrities, and the Dinah DJs. If you only do one thing all weekend, this is the one people mean.
Friday's G-Spot Pool Party opens the pool run at noon and goes to 6 PM, also at the Hilton, with live performances layered into the DJ sets. It's the first big one of the weekend, and it overlaps the Play Pool over at Zoso — which a same-day pool party ticket already covers, so you can move between the two.
The Sunday Sapphic Splash closes the weekend, 11 AM to 5 PM at the Hilton, with DJs, performers, contests, and the "Dinah Duck Dive." Sunday is the slower, friendlier version of Saturday, and it runs until 5 PM, which is worth checking against your flight before you book.
Play Pool is the quieter counterprogram, new for 2026 at the Hotel Zoso pool — 10 AM to 5 PM Friday and Saturday, 10 AM to 4 PM Sunday. Old-school beats, poolside morning stretch, pool games with sponsor prizes, and non-alcoholic options alongside the regular bar. It's included with any same-day pool party ticket, a Dinah Quickie, or a weekend pass, and it's the place to go when the Hilton deck gets to be too much.
Pro Tip
Both hotel pools are outdoors and Palm Springs in early October still runs hot — daytime highs in the 90s are normal. Shade is limited once the deck fills. Bring a hat and reef-safe sunscreen, and drink more water than you think you need between cocktails.
Nights move to Hotel Zoso, with one exception on Thursday.
The festival opens Wednesday night with Down the Rabbit Hole, billed as Spirit Animal at Hotel Zoso, 8 PM to 2 AM. It's free, which makes it the low-commitment way to start if you arrive a day early.
Thursday's Opening Party is the one night the festival leaves its hotels. It takes over Hunters at 302 E Arenas Rd — a women-owned nightclub, as the festival's own listing notes — from 9 PM to 2 AM, with Dinah dancers and Dinah DJs, and bottle service on request. Hunters is a couple of blocks from Hotel Zoso, so if you're staying downtown you can walk.
Friday night's Black & White Ball runs 8 PM to 2 AM at Hotel Zoso and carries recording-artist performances. The dress code is in the name and people take it seriously — this is the night to pack something.
Saturday evening's comedy show at Hotel Zoso features Cameron Esposito and Pink Foxx, hosted by Abe Farrelly. It's free for Premium pass holders. Confirm the start time on the official schedule before you plan dinner around it.
Saturday closes with The Hollywood Party at Hotel Zoso, 9 PM to 2 AM — a red carpet, a recording-artist performance, and the weekend's dress-up night after the Ball.
Worth knowing before you land: Palm Springs' permanent bar scene skews heavily male, and there is no lesbian bar on the strip. The Dinah essentially builds its own nightlife inside two hotels for five days, and books Hunters for the one night it goes out. That said, the Arenas District is two blocks from Hotel Zoso and everything on it is welcoming — it's a good afternoon or a good late-night detour.
Arenas Road is the city-designated gay neighborhood — Palm Springs formally recognized the Arenas District in 2022 — a single walkable block where nearly every bar in town sits within a few doors of the next. From Hotel Zoso it is a couple of blocks; from the Hilton, about three minutes.
Palm Springs, California
Palm Springs, California
Palm Springs, California
Palm Springs, California
Palm Springs, California
Palm Springs, California
A short rideshare gets you to the places that don't fit on one block.
Palm Springs, California
Palm Springs, California
Palm Springs, California
Five days of pool parties require actual food. These are all within a short walk or a five-minute ride of the festival hotels.
Palm Springs, California
Palm Springs, California
Palm Springs, California
Palm Springs, California
The Dinah sells two-night hotel packages at its two host properties, with resort fees and taxes included, bookable through thedinah.com rather than the hotels directly.
These sell out, and they sell out early. If you want to walk upstairs at 2 AM instead of finding a ride, book the package as soon as you commit to the weekend.
HotelPalm Springs, California
HotelPalm Springs, California
Pro Tip
The hotel packages are two-night stays. If you're coming Wednesday for the free opening night or staying through Sunday's closing pool party, you'll need to add nights directly — sort that out at booking rather than trying to extend once the hotel is sold out.
If the festival hotels are gone, downtown still puts you within walking distance of both — the first three below are under half a mile from a host hotel, and the Courtyard is a short ride.
These sit one to two miles from downtown, at either end of Palm Canyon Drive — you'll rideshare to the parties, but you get a better pool for the hours you're not at one.
Palm Springs is a vacation-rental town — mid-century houses with private pools are everywhere, and a group of six splitting one often beats four hotel rooms. Two things to know: the city caps and licenses short-term rentals, so book from a listing with a visible permit number, and confirm the pool is heated if you're there for the shoulder-season evenings.
Palm Springs International (PSP) is about two miles from downtown — roughly a ten-minute ride to either host hotel. Both host hotels run an airport shuttle — the Hilton's is complimentary, and Hotel Zoso's runs 24/7 and is covered by the resort fee. It's a small airport with limited direct service, so fares climb the closer you book to the date.
Palm Springs is roughly a two-hour drive from Los Angeles and about two and a half from San Diego without traffic, on I-10. Friday afternoon eastbound out of LA is the worst window; leaving before noon or after 7 PM saves real time.
The Hilton charges $30 per vehicle on a first-come basis; Hotel Zoso packages include valet for one car. Downtown Palm Springs is flat and compact, and the two host hotels plus the entire Arenas District fit inside a five-minute walk, so a car mostly sits parked. Rideshare covers the Uptown and south Palm Canyon hotels fine, though wait times stretch at 2 AM when the night parties let out at once.
Pro Tip
If you're staying outside downtown, walk two blocks off the hotel driveway before you request a ride at closing — the pickup queue right outside Zoso backs up badly when a thousand people leave at the same time.
The festival is named for Dinah Shore, the singer and TV host who founded a women's golf tournament at Mission Hills Country Club in neighboring Rancho Mirage in 1972 — now the LPGA's Chevron Championship. The party has never been authorized by the Shore estate or the tournament; it just grew up alongside it.
That lineage is why the weekend still gets called "Dinah Shore Weekend" by people who've been coming for twenty years, even though the festival itself now goes by The Dinah.
The Dinah isn't the only weekend that takes over this town.
The Dinah 2026 runs Wednesday, September 30 through Sunday, October 4, 2026, in Palm Springs, California. The free opening event, Down the Rabbit Hole, is Wednesday night; the closing pool party is Sunday afternoon.
Two downtown Palm Springs hotels. The Hilton Palm Springs (400 E Tahquitz Canyon Way) hosts the Welcome Center and all three main pool parties. Hotel Zoso (150 S Indian Canyon Dr) hosts the night parties, the comedy show, and the Play Pool. They are a tenth of a mile apart, about a three-minute walk. The Thursday Opening Party is the one event held off-property, at Hunters on Arenas Road.
Hayley Kiyoko is headlining, with Da Brat, The Aces, and Sasha Keable also on the music lineup. The comedy show features Cameron Esposito and Pink Foxx, hosted by Abe Farrelly. More names are expected before September, and the festival has not yet announced which artist performs on which night.
The festival sells weekend passes, a shorter "Dinah Quickie," single-event tickets, and two-night hotel packages that bundle a room at the Hilton or Hotel Zoso with resort fees and taxes included. Everything is sold through thedinah.com, and prices step up as the date gets closer rather than staying flat.
The Dinah is produced as a festival for lesbian, sapphic, and non-binary attendees, and that's overwhelmingly who is there. It isn't a gated event — allies and partners attend — but the programming, the marketing, and the crowd are all built around women, which is exactly why people travel for it.
Swimwear for three straight days, because the pool parties are the core of the weekend. A black-and-white outfit for Friday's Ball and something dressier for Saturday's Hollywood Party. Sun protection is not optional — early October in the desert still runs into the 90s with limited shade on a packed pool deck. Nights cool off, so bring one layer.
Downtown is. Both host hotels, the entire Arenas District bar strip, and most of the downtown restaurants sit inside a five-minute walk of each other, and the city is flat. If you stay Uptown or on south Palm Canyon you'll rideshare to the parties — figure five to ten minutes each way, longer at closing time.
Let people know you're going, see who else is attending, and share the event with friends.
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