On Sept. 30, Sunnylands announced that Yoga in the Gardens, one of its free programs, would no longer meet every week. Attendance had sometimes passed 400 participants per session, and Sunnylands said the large number of vehicles arriving at the same time can create traffic congestion outside the entrance on Bob Hope Drive.
Yoga now meets on the third Friday of each month, November through April, and sessions start at 9 a.m. The class is still free, and instructors Stéfane Barbeau and Kristin Olson are back. Sunnylands says it is working with local law enforcement on traffic at the gate and asks people to carpool. The first session of the season is Friday, Nov. 20. By the calendar, the next ones are Dec. 18 and the third Friday of each month after that.
Other free programs run on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday mornings, so there's something on most open days besides that one Friday.
The gate is free five days a week
The Center & Gardens are open Wednesday through Sunday, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., and admission and parking are both free. Sunnylands closes every summer from early June to mid-September. This season it reopened Sept. 9.
The gardens cover nine acres, with 1.25 miles of walking paths. The paths are paved or firmly packed decomposed granite, and they're wheelchair accessible. The on-site Café serves during public hours. Its menu features French-press coffee, iced tea made the way Mrs. Annenberg liked it, and salads and sandwiches. The current exhibition, Curating Canopy: Trees at Sunnylands, is about how trees turned raw desert into the estate's grounds. It stays up through June 6, 2027.
The free week, by day
The free programs are spread across four days, and the two Thursday programs run back to back:
- Thursday, 8:45 a.m.: guided bird walk. A knowledgeable birder leads a 60-minute walk through the gardens to spot local and migratory species. It runs every Thursday from Nov. 5 through May 27, 2027. Meet just outside the front entrance of the Center, and bring binoculars, water and closed-toe shoes.
- Select Thursdays, 10 to 11 a.m.: Movement & Mindfulness. This free outdoor session meets six times this season: Nov. 12, Dec. 3, Jan. 14, Feb. 11, March 11 and April 8. On those days it starts right after the bird walk ends.
- Third Friday, 9 a.m.: Yoga in the Gardens. One hour, starting Nov. 20, on the monthly schedule described above.
- Saturday, 9:30 a.m.: tai chi in the gardens. It runs weekly from Nov. 7 through April 24, 2027, and you don't need experience.
- Sunday, 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.: Sundays at Sunnylands. Toys and play activities go out on the West Gardens lawn most Sundays from Nov. 22 through April 25, 2027. Families can borrow a themed No-Tech Tote.
There's also a one-off this month. The Nickerson-Rossi Dance company performs Dance in the Gardens on Sunday, Nov. 15, from 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. It's free, needs no reservation, and the audience follows the dancers through the gardens.
Sunnylands notes that outdoor programs may be canceled or changed for rain, lightning or strong wind.
The paid side has a monthly ticket release
The estate beyond the gardens works differently. Spots on every estate tour are limited, and tickets go on sale on a fixed day each month. Tickets for the following month's tours are released online at 9 a.m. Pacific on the 15th, and you can't buy advance tickets by phone, email or in person. Sold-out tours have no waitlist, group tickets aren't offered, and guests must be at least 10 years old. Same-day tickets may be sold on site if any are left.
That puts the December release on Sunday, Nov. 15, at 9 a.m. It's the same morning as the free dance performance in the gardens two hours later. The tour page lists four formats:
| Tour | Length | Guests per tour | Price per person | What it covers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Historic House Tour | 90 minutes | 7 | $58.19 | Shuttle to the house and a walk through its 25,000 square feet |
| Birding on the Estate | 90 minutes | 7 | $41.55 | Shuttle tour with a local birding expert, focused on resident, nesting and Pacific Flyway species |
| Open-Air Experience | 45 minutes | 7 | $30.11 | Outdoor shuttle ride across the 200-acre estate: landscape, art, golf course and the doorstep of the house |
| Historic Walk | 60 minutes | 10 | $28.03 | One-mile outdoor walk on the history, midcentury architecture and the Annenbergs |
The free Thursday walk and the paid estate tour cover different ground. The Thursday walk stays inside the nine acres of public gardens. Birding on the Estate takes a shuttle onto the 200-acre estate, where the general public can't go. Sunnylands also says that high-level convenings can occasionally cancel scheduled estate tours, even ones already ticketed, and that refunds are issued promptly.
Three paid programs run at the Center itself this season:
- Estate Tree Walk Series: $26.99, starting at 10 a.m., with a walk through the estate's trees and landscape history followed by an olive-oil tasting. It's capped at 25 guests, ages 18 and up or 16 and up with an adult. Dates are Nov. 18, Dec. 2 and Dec. 16, then two dates a month in January and February.
- Live Easy Meditation: Friday, Dec. 11, 9 to 10 a.m., $11.91, ages 12 and up, registration required.
- Bonsai Bar: Sunday, Dec. 20, 1 to 3 p.m., $91.59, ages 18 and up or 14 and up with an adult.
The dates the gate stays shut
The regular Monday and Tuesday closures are easy to remember. The other closures this season fall on days when free programs would otherwise run:
- Thursday, Nov. 26: Closed for Thanksgiving, so there's no bird walk that week. It reopens at normal hours Friday, Nov. 27.
- Wednesday, Dec. 2, and Sunday, Dec. 6: The Center is open, but there are no estate tours.
- Wednesday, Dec. 9: Outdoor tours only.
- Thursday, Dec. 10: The Center & Gardens close completely for internal programming, with no tours or public access. That cancels the bird walk that week too.
- Friday, Dec. 25: Closed for Christmas. It reopens Saturday, Dec. 26, in time for tai chi.
- Friday, Jan. 1: Closed for New Year's Day. It reopens Saturday, Jan. 2.
Because of the Thanksgiving and Dec. 10 closures, the Thursday bird walk misses two of its first six weeks. The Saturday and Sunday programs don't lose any dates to closures between now and the new year.
When the sessions get crowded
Yoga sessions sometimes drew more than 400 participants, and Sunnylands said the vehicles arriving all at once can back up traffic outside its entrance on Bob Hope Drive. Under the monthly schedule, those big arrivals happen six times a season instead of every week.
For anyone planning a week around the gardens, the free sessions don't overlap. The bird walk ends before Movement & Mindfulness begins on its six Thursdays. Tai chi has Saturday morning to itself, and the Sunday lawn program runs nearly all day. Yoga and Movement & Mindfulness both meet about once a month, and Sunnylands is asking people to carpool to yoga. The full yoga instructor schedule for 2026–27 is posted as a PDF from Sunnylands.
Our team works from Rancho Mirage, and Sunnylands' season is part of what makes this side of Bob Hope Drive distinctive. If you're thinking about what your home here is worth, especially one close to the places that fill up on a Friday morning in November, Team Michael Keller Williams Luxury can show you how nearby homes have priced and sold. Request your free home valuation, and we'll walk you through your street in detail.
