Visiting The Borrego Springs Sculptures At Galleta Meadows & Anza Borrego
Looking for those giant metal sculptures in Borrego Springs and wondering where to find them and how to visit them?
Visiting the Galleta Meadows metal sculptures makes a great day trip from Palm Springs or Palm Desert. We have explored the unique Anza Borrego sculptures at Galleta Meadows Estate and will tell you all about it.
This is our guide to visiting the Borrego Springs Sculptures at Galleta Meadows and Anza Borrego.
The Borrego Springs Sculptures
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The Borrego Springs Metal Sculptures
Galleta Meadows Estate
The Galleta Meadows Estate is privately owned desert land in Borrego Springs, California where the Galleta Meadows sculptures are located.
Anza Borrego Sculptures
Late landowner of the Galleta Meadows, Dennis Avery, commissioned artist Ricardo Breceda to create these larger than life metal sculptures in Borrego Springs.
In total, Ricardo Breceda produced 130 large and smaller scale metal sculptures that are spread out over more than 1500 acres of undeveloped desert land – the Galleta Meadows Estate.
The estate features an array of dinosaurs, prehistoric creatures, horses, and many other animals. You’ll also find influences of the Old West and Native Americans.
Borrego Springs Sculptures / Anza Borrego Sculptures
The Galleta Meadows metal sculptures are often also referred to as the Anza Borrego Sculptures, due to the Anza Borrego State Park or the Borrego Springs sculptures, since the metal art works are located in Borrego Springs.
However they are referred to, people are talking about the same giant metal sculptures in Borrego Springs. We are using all versions interchangeably.
Visiting The Anza Borrego Sculptures
Location Of The Borrego Springs Sculptures
The Anza Borrego metal sculptures are all located in Borrego Springs. However, as mentioned, they are scattered around the vast desert landscape of Borrego Springs.
Directions
Address: 1624 Borrego Springs Rd, Borrego Springs, CA 92004
(This is the address of the most popular metal sculpture)
Get directions to the Anza Borrego sculptures here.
Borrego Springs Sculptures Map
Find a map of the Galleta Meadows sculptures in Borrego Springs here.
How To Visit The Anza Borrego Sculptures
The metal statues are dispersed on desert land and are not exactly located in the town of Borrego Springs.
Modes Of Transportation
Therefore, in order to visit the sculptures, you will need a car. If you have a 4×4 even better!
You could take your bike for a ride too. However, we’d recommend not to do this in the summer months as it gets incredibly hot in the California Desert.
We visited Borrego Springs in mid May and it was already over 100 F outside.
Roadside & Off-Road
Most of the Galleta Meadows sculptures are located roadside. You can drive right up to them.
There are short dirt roads leading up to the huge metal sculptures. Any car should be able do easily get there.
However, some other sculptures are located further into the desert. The roads can be pretty rocky and sandy. Cars have gotten stuck there before, especially 2WDs. So be cautious!
We had a small SUV AWD and had no problems other that the bouncing around.
Other metal sculptures in Borrego Springs are located a short walk from the road. You are not allowed to drive up to those statues with your car. You will have to park in the designated areas along the road.
The paths to these Breceda sculptures are fairly short. However, in the scorching hot sun walking there can feel a lot longer than it actually is.
Entrance Fee
The metal sculptures in Borrego Springs are free to visit. There is no charge.
Hours
Since the Anza Borrego statues are just out in the wide open desert, you can technically visit them at any time of the day.
When Is The Best Time To Visit The Anza Borrego Metal Sculptures?
The best time of day to visit the Anza Borrego metal sculptures is, in our opinion, early in the morning for sunrise or late in the evening for sunset. That’s also the best time to take photos.
During the hot summer months you really want to avoid the afternoon hours, if you can. It gets incredibly hot in Borrego Springs!
We visited mid May and had no chance see the sculptures other than around when the sun was at its peak. It was incredibly hot and it was only May!
We didn’t spend much time outside marveling at the metal sculptures, as the sun was just too strong. We drove from sculpture to sculpture and quickly got out to explore and went back into our cool car.
Pro tip: Definitely bring sunscreen!
How Much Time Do You Need Visiting The Borrego Springs Sculptures?
On the short end you will probably need at least 2 hours for visiting the Anza Borrego metal sculptures in Borrego Springs. That is, if you are planning to see a lot of them.
This means, you quickly hit all the major sculptures, snap a pic and quickly move on to the next.
If you stroll around and dwell longer, it obviously can take you a lot longer.
If you are short on time you can hit the most famous sculptures like the serpent/dragon, scorpion and grasshopper, etc. in about an hour.
The Anza Borrego Sculptures
In the following, you will find an overview of the sculptures in Borrego Springs that we visited.
As mentioned, there are quite a few out there at the Galleta Meadows Estate. 130 to be precise. Even though, rumor has it new ones can suddenly pop up here and there unannounced.
We didn’t photography all of Breceda’s metal art that we have seen. Especially the smaller ones would have been too many to list here. We rather focused on the bigger and most impressive sculptures.
Let’s take it away!
Borrego Springs Serpent Sculpture
Starting with the most impressive piece of art. The Borrego Springs serpent sculpture aka the Borrego Springs dragon is by for the biggest and most popular metal sculpture of the Galleta Meadows. It’s no surprise that this metal sculpture is also our favorite.
Borrego Springs Dragon
The Borrego Springs dragon is so long that it even spans over or actually under the road. You have to see it for yourself, photos don’t do it justice.
Scorpion & Grashopper
The giant grasshopper fighting the scorpion are probably the second known metal sculptures at Galleta Meadows.
Galleta Meadows – Nursing Camel
The Lone Camelops
Farm Workers/Grape Harvesters
The Mammoths
Anza Borrego Metal Sloths
Especially those Anza Borrego desert sculptures have great attention to detail.
Check out the sloths fur made from bent thin metal sheets. That must have been so many hours of work to create that detail.
The attention to detail is just incredible!
Borrego Springs Jeep Sculpture
Galleta Meadows – Prospector & His Horse
Sky Art Desert Sculpture: Spanish Padre
Borrego Springs Indian Head Sculpture
The Indian Head sculpture is unique among the Galleta Meadows sculptures, as this one has two different “colors”.
Borrego Springs Camelids & Llamas Sculptures
Galleta Meadows Tortoise Sculptures
Borrego Bighorn Sheep Sculptures
Borrego Springs African Elephants Sculpture
Galleta Meadows Saberwolf
Giant Eagle Sculpture/Aiolornis In Its Nest
Aiolornis With Prey/Desert Eagle Sculpture
Galleta Meadows Horses
There are lots of horse sculptures at Galleta Meadows.
Galleta Meadows Dinosaurs Sculptures
Galleta Meadows Raptor Sculptures
Borrego Springs T. Rex Sculpture
Carnotaurus & Allosaurus
Visiting The Borrego Springs Sculptures At Galleta Meadows & Anza Borrego
We hope you found our guide to the Anza Borrego sculptures at Galleta Meadows in Borrego Springs helpful and will have a great time exploring Ricardo Breceda’s iconic Sky Art sculptures.
Julia & Felipe
Follow our adventures on Instagram! @piscoandbier
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