California
Palm Springs is the desert town that invented the American weekend away: a grid of palm-lined streets at the foot of the sheer San Jacinto wall, built out in the 1950s and 60s by architects who gave it the greatest concentration of midcentury modern design anywhere, then rediscovered by every generation since for its pools, its sunshine and its easygoing, famously welcoming attitude.
This guide books it properly — the rotating Aerial Tramway that lifts you from palm desert to pine forest in ten minutes, the Agua Caliente palm oases of Indian Canyons and the tribe's new Cultural Plaza downtown, Modernism Week home tours and the Annenberg estate at Sunnylands, a jeep into the San Andreas Fault and a day among the boulders of Joshua Tree — and it maps the wider Coachella Valley, from Palm Desert's Living Desert zoo to La Quinta's century-old resort. Then it matches you to the right hotel, from the Parker's Jonathan Adler glamour to Korakia's Moroccan hideaway, because in a town where the pool is the main event, where you sleep is the trip.
Palm Springs Aerial Tramway
The world's largest rotating tram cars climb the cliffs of Chino Canyon to 8,516 feet in about ten minutes — from palm desert to pine forest, 30 to 40 degrees cooler at the top, with Mt. San Jacinto State Park's trails waiting.
Joshua Tree National Park
An hour from Palm Springs, two deserts meet in a wonderland of giant granite boulders and spiky Joshua trees — Hidden Valley, Barker Dam, Keys View and the Cholla Cactus Garden, with some of the darkest skies in Southern California.
Indian Canyons
The ancestral home of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians — streams, rock walls and towering California fan palms in Palm Canyon and Andreas Canyon, ten minutes from downtown. Easy oasis walks, ranger hikes and a historic trading post.
Tahquitz Canyon
A rugged 1.8-mile loop into a sacred Agua Caliente canyon on the edge of downtown, past rock art and ancient irrigation channels to a 60-foot seasonal waterfall, with tribal rangers leading the way.
The world's largest rotating tram cars climb the cliffs of Chino Canyon to 8,516 feet in about ten minutes — from palm desert to pine forest, 30 to 40 degrees cooler at the top, with Mt. San Jacinto State Park's trails waiting.
An hour from Palm Springs, two deserts meet in a wonderland of giant granite boulders and spiky Joshua trees — Hidden Valley, Barker Dam, Keys View and the Cholla Cactus Garden, with some of the darkest skies in Southern California.
The ancestral home of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians — streams, rock walls and towering California fan palms in Palm Canyon and Andreas Canyon, ten minutes from downtown. Easy oasis walks, ranger hikes and a historic trading post.
The centerpiece of the Agua Caliente Cultural Plaza downtown, where the tribe tells its own story of the Cahuilla people, the hot spring and the city that grew around it — named one of TIME's World's Greatest Places in 2024.
The world capital of desert modernism — Frey, Wexler, Krisel, Williams and Neutra houses along palm-lined streets, the Tramway Gas Station turned visitor center, and Modernism Week's 400-plus home tours and events each February.
Modern and contemporary art, Western art and art of the Americas in a downtown building at the foot of the mountains — free Thursday evenings, free for under-18s, and one ticket that also covers the Architecture and Design Center.
FreeThe Annenbergs' legendary Rancho Mirage winter estate, where presidents and royals stayed — free entry to the center and nine acres of desert gardens, plus a 90-minute guided tour of A. Quincy Jones' 25,000-square-foot midcentury house.
Palm Desert's acclaimed zoo of desert animals from around the world — black rhinos on the Rhino Savanna, giraffe feeding, Australian Adventures and more than 50 gardens of desert plants. The Coachella Valley's top family day out.
A living history museum of flyable warbirds in air-conditioned hangars beside the airport — no ropes, veteran docents, a Blue Angels F/A-18, open-cockpit Saturdays and warbird rides over the valley on weekends.
Every Thursday night, Palm Canyon Drive closes to cars for nearly 200 booths of art, crafts, food and music — the weekly street party at the heart of a walkable downtown of Forever Marilyn, the Walk of Stars and the new Downtown Park.
A quirky, family-run desert garden from the 1930s and home of what it calls the world's first cactarium — winding paths through giant cacti, succulents and desert trees, a small fee and a big dose of old Palm Springs charm.
Ride in a red open-air jeep with Desert Adventures into the Indio Hills, walk through canyons torn open by the San Andreas Fault, visit a palm oasis fed by fault water and learn the Cahuilla and pioneer stories of the land.
Hotels we would book ourselves, from splurges to good-value bases.
$$$$East Palm Canyon / South Palm Springs
Jonathan Adler's "Happy Chic" fantasy on Gene Autry's former 13-acre Melody Ranch — three pools, the Palm Springs Yacht Club spa, Norma's and mister parker's, red clay tennis and a gloriously over-the-top dose of Old Hollywood.
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$$$Tennis Club / West Downtown
A hidden Moroccan and Mediterranean hideaway of 28 villas in two historic 1920s and 30s estates below the mountains — saltwater pools, breakfast in the courtyard, classic films under the stars and a wellness sanctuary included.
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$$$Downtown Palm Springs
The downtown high-rise with the best rooftop pool in town — mountain views from High Bar, dinner at 4 Saints on the seventh floor, Juniper Table's Mediterranean cafe, pickleball courts and VillageFest on the doorstep.
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$$East Palm Canyon / Mid-Town
The laid-back, creative-crowd motel on East Palm Canyon — an adults-only main pool with weekend DJs, a calmer family pool, King's Highway diner in a former Denny's, the Amigo Room bar and Feel Good Spa.
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$$East Palm Canyon / Mid-Town
The rainbow-bright motor hotel you have seen all over Instagram — color-blocked balconies wrapped around a lively pool with daybeds and cabanas, El Jefe's tacos and margaritas, weekend drag brunch and a very pet-friendly welcome.
Check rates →La Quinta
The Coachella Valley's original desert hideaway, celebrating its centennial — Spanish-style casitas with private patios, 42 pools and 53 hot spas, Spa La Quinta, five championship golf courses and a famed tennis club below the Santa Rosa Mountains.
Check rates →Rancho Mirage
The Coachella Valley's family resort favorite — the two-acre Splashtopia water park with 100-foot slides and a lazy river, a 27-hole golf course, Spa Las Palmas and blu restaurant on 240 acres in Rancho Mirage.
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$$$$East Palm Canyon / Deepwell
A 1950s William F. Cody retreat once favored by Hollywood and presidents, reborn by Steve Hermann as an adults-only enclave of bungalows on three acres of desert garden — pared-back modernism, a spa and total calm.
Check rates →Desert Hot Springs
The desert's legendary hot-springs hideaway in Desert Hot Springs — an adults-only retreat of mineral pools and a steaming grotto fed by an ancient aquifer, with an olive grove, hammocks, a yoga dome and a Prohibition-era legend.
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$$$Downtown Palm Springs
Herbert W. Burns' 1951 hotel downtown, reimagined by Mark D. Sikes — 28 preppy, pattern-rich rooms with no TVs, breakfast at The Pantry, a full bar and a Michelin Key, a short stroll from Palm Canyon Drive.
Check rates →Downtown / Uptown
A 1930s Spanish colonial hotel with a mobster past, restyled by Steve Hermann — 57 adults-only rooms and suites, a palm-lined pool facing the mountains, a spa and the Art Deco Colony Club, steps from Uptown.
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$$$North Palm Springs / Uptown
The 1959 Rat Pack-era resort at the north end of town, back under its historic Riviera name — 398 rooms around two pools, the largest resort spa in Palm Springs and an easy hop to the Uptown Design District.
Check rates →Palm Desert / El Paseo
Palm Desert's stylish boutique hotel a few steps from El Paseo — a pool with cabanas and the Lemon Drop Pool Bar, Larkspur Grill, the House of Hudson day spa with sauna and cold plunge, and a pet-friendly welcome.
Check rates →Indian Wells
Martyn Lawrence Bullard's Moroccan-tinged jewel box in Indian Wells — 46 rooms for guests over 18, the Pink Cabana restaurant and bar, and a three-room spa built around rhassoul clay and argan oil rituals.
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$$Downtown Palm Springs
The budget-friendly downtown base — a block from Palm Canyon Drive and VillageFest, with free hot breakfast, free Wi-Fi, a pool with fountain terraces and an on-site bar and grill.
Check rates →Everything a first visit needs before you hit the pool — how the Coachella Valley fits together, when it is too hot, getting around without stress, what to book ahead, and how to balance pool days with the tram, the canyons, modernism and Joshua Tree.
A realistic three-day plan for the best of Palm Springs — the palm oases and the Cahuilla story, a sunset tram ride, a midcentury architecture drive, VillageFest, and a full day in Joshua Tree — with pool time built in.
How to choose your base — walkable downtown, the boutique inns of the Tennis Club, the pool-scene hotels of East Palm Canyon, or the big resorts of Rancho Mirage and La Quinta — and which hotel fits which traveler.
Where to eat in Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley — the restaurants in the MICHELIN Guide, the hotel dining rooms worth a special trip, brunch culture, cocktail hours with a view, and the region's one essential treat, the date shake.
When to go to Palm Springs — perfect winters, packed springs, bargain summers and golden falls — plus the dates that move prices: Modernism Week, Coachella, Stagecoach and the tram's annual maintenance closure.
A deep dive into the world's great collection of desert modernism — the architects who built it, the neighborhoods to explore, the landmarks you can enter, and how to make the most of Modernism Week.
