Search hotels in Brawley, CA

Brawley is definitely not a vacation spot! Some friends of mine who lived and worked here for years called it the "armpit of America". Sometimes in the summer, because of the surrounding agriculture and its chemicals, it smells like it. It's way too hot to enjoy in the summer. If you stay awhile, the winter is your best bet. They have an excellent selection of fast food restaurants to choose from and a few decent regular restaurants. The shopping is lackluster. The entertainment is non-existent. It's a good stopover for a trip to Yuma, AZ (an hour away, with much cheaper gasoline than California) or a day trip across the border to Mexico for medical, dental (you're smart if you do) or tourism.

We came to Brawley because we wanted to do some geocaching in the area and Salton Sea area was on our list of things to see. Bombay Beach near Salton Sea was the most pleasant, unique and strange surprise of our trip. We want to bring our kids back to see it. It's also a close to plenty of off-roading adventures so this is a good home base for some, although we did not bring our SxS for this trip. Brawley itself has enough to sustain a weekend traveler. The Covid restrictions created a very limited dining experience but we knew that coming in and the town or hotel cannot be blamed for that. A full functioning supermarket, drive-through fast food, Starbucks and a Walmart got us through the weekend just fine.