Palm Springs, California Travel Guide: Mid-Century Cool in the Desert

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Palm Springs is the only place we know where you can ride a rotating tram car up a sheer mountain face in the morning, float in a pool surrounded by palm trees at noon, and eat a great dinner next to a house Frank Sinatra once owned that same night. This desert city two hours east of Los Angeles has been California’s playground since the Rat Pack era, and after several trips (it is an easy escape from Denver winters), we understand exactly why people keep coming back.

This guide covers when to go, where to stay, the best things to do in Palm Springs, day trips worth your time, and how to book it all smartly.

Why Visit Palm Springs

Palm Springs sits in the Coachella Valley at the foot of the San Jacinto Mountains, which rise nearly 11,000 feet straight off the desert floor. The setting alone is worth the trip: jagged peaks, endless blue sky, and more than 300 days of sunshine a year.

But what makes Palm Springs special is the vibe. The city holds the largest concentration of mid-century modern architecture in the world, a legacy of the 1950s and 60s when Hollywood stars built weekend homes here. Add in a walkable downtown, a serious food and cocktail scene, world-class golf and spas, and hiking trails that start minutes from town, and you get a destination that works equally well for a relaxing couples weekend or an active adventure trip.

Best Time to Visit Palm Springs

Timing matters more here than almost anywhere else we cover, because this is the desert.

October through April is the sweet spot and the high season. Expect daytime highs from the 70s to upper 80s, cool clear evenings, and every pool deck in town buzzing. January through March is peak snowbird season, and hotel rates reflect it.

May and September are shoulder months. It is hot (mid 90s to low 100s) but manageable if you plan pool time midday and activities early. Prices drop noticeably.

June through August is brutally hot, regularly 105 to 115 degrees. The upside: hotel rates crater, and if your plan is strictly pool, spa, and air-conditioned restaurants, summer Palm Springs can be a bargain. Just do not plan on hiking.

Also worth noting: Coachella and Stagecoach festivals (April) send prices in the entire valley through the roof. Check festival dates before you book.

Where to Stay in Palm Springs

Downtown / Uptown Design District (First-Timers)

Staying within walking distance of Palm Canyon Drive puts restaurants, galleries, and nightlife at your doorstep. This area has a great mix of boutique hotels, many in restored mid-century buildings with the classic pool-courtyard layout. This is our pick for a first visit.

Movie Colony and Old Las Palmas (Quiet and Classic)

The historic neighborhoods just north and west of downtown are where the stars lived, and the small inns here trade nightlife proximity for quiet streets, big private pools, and serious retro charm.

Rancho Mirage and Palm Desert (Resorts, Golf, Families)

Down valley, the big resorts spread out with multiple pools, lazy rivers, golf courses, and full-service spas. If your trip revolves around a resort rather than the town, this is the zone. El Paseo in Palm Desert is the valley’s upscale shopping street.

Top Things to Do in Palm Springs

Ride the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway

The world’s largest rotating tram car climbs 8,500 vertical feet from the desert floor to the pine forests of Mount San Jacinto State Park in ten minutes. The temperature drops 30 to 40 degrees on the way up, which feels like sorcery in summer. At the top you will find hiking trails, viewpoints, and (in winter) actual snow. Buy tickets online ahead of time; morning slots have the clearest views.

Hike Indian Canyons or Tahquitz Canyon

The ancestral lands of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians hold the best hiking in the area. Palm Canyon’s trail winds through the world’s largest California fan palm oasis, a ribbon of impossible green in the rocky desert. Tahquitz Canyon’s two-mile loop ends at a 60-foot seasonal waterfall. Go early, carry more water than you think you need, and bring a hat.

Take a Mid-Century Architecture Tour

Even if you do not care about architecture, trust us on this one. A guided tour (self-driving with an app works too) rolls you past the Kaufmann Desert House, Sinatra’s Twin Palms, Elvis’s honeymoon hideaway, and block after block of butterfly roofs and breeze blocks. It is the fastest way to understand what makes this city visually unlike anywhere else in America.

Hit the Pool (Obviously)

Pool culture is the beating heart of Palm Springs. Most boutique hotels treat the pool deck as the main event, with music, cocktails, and misters running all afternoon. Plan at least one full day of doing absolutely nothing but floating.

Wander VillageFest on Thursday Night

Every Thursday evening, Palm Canyon Drive closes to cars and fills with food vendors, farmers market stalls, artists, and street performers. It is free, fun, and the best people-watching in the valley.

Visit the Palm Springs Art Museum

A genuinely excellent regional museum with strong modern and Native American collections, plus blissful air conditioning. Free on Thursday evenings during VillageFest.

Soak in a Spa Day

The valley sits on natural hot mineral springs (the original resort draw a century ago). Spa Palm Springs downtown taps the original spring, and nearly every resort offers day passes if you want a full pamper day.

Day Trips from Palm Springs

Joshua Tree National Park is the essential one, about 45 minutes north. The Dr. Seuss trees, the boulder piles, the Cholla Cactus Garden, Keys View over the entire Coachella Valley: it is one of the most otherworldly landscapes in the American Southwest. Go at sunrise or late afternoon for the best light and cooler temps.

Salvation Mountain and the Salton Sea make a strange, memorable half-day southeast: a hand-built painted mountain of folk art beside California’s odd, shrinking inland sea.

Idyllwild, a pine-forest mountain town an hour up a winding road, offers hiking and cool air when the desert bakes.

If you are stringing together a bigger Southwest trip, Palm Springs pairs beautifully with Las Vegas (4 hours), San Diego (2.5 hours), and Scottsdale (4 hours), and our guides cover all three.

Where to Eat and Drink in Palm Springs

Palm Springs eats far better than a town of 45,000 has any right to. Our favorites after several visits:

Breakfast: Cheeky’s (the bacon flight is famous for a reason; go early, the wait builds fast) and Ernest Coffee for your caffeine fix.

Lunch: Sandwich spots and taquerias along Palm Canyon Drive, or the food stalls at the Thursday VillageFest.

Dinner: Workshop Kitchen + Bar for a James Beard Award-winning room and cocktails, Tac/Quila for upscale Mexican, and Melvyn’s at the Ingleside Inn if you want old-school Rat Pack Palm Springs complete with piano bar.

Drinks: Bootlegger Tiki for serious tiki cocktails in a tiny red-lit room, and The Reef for the pool-bar version of the same energy.

Getting Around Palm Springs

Palm Springs International Airport (PSP) is barely ten minutes from downtown and served by most major carriers, with lots of seasonal nonstops in winter. We usually fly direct from Denver in about two hours.

Downtown Palm Springs is pleasantly walkable, but you will want a car for the tramway, Indian Canyons, Joshua Tree, and down-valley restaurants. Rental cars at PSP are easy, and driving here is stress-free by California standards. Rideshares work fine within town if you plan to stay central and skip day trips.

How Much Does Palm Springs Cost?

In high season (roughly January through April), expect boutique hotel rates of 250 to 400 dollars a night and resort rates from 300 dollars plus resort fees. Shoulder season cuts that by a third, and summer weekday rates can dip under 120 dollars at very nice properties. Dinner for two with drinks runs 80 to 120 dollars at the popular spots, though taquerias and lunch counters keep casual meals cheap. The tramway is about 30 dollars per adult, Indian Canyons entry around 12, and Joshua Tree 30 per vehicle. A couple can do a comfortable long weekend for 1,200 to 1,800 dollars in season, noticeably less in the hot months.

A Perfect 3-Day Palm Springs Itinerary

Here is how we would structure a first long weekend, based on what has worked for us.

Day 1: Arrive and downshift. Check in, hit the pool for the afternoon, then stroll Palm Canyon Drive in the evening. Dinner at Tac/Quila or Workshop Kitchen + Bar, nightcap at Bootlegger Tiki. If it is Thursday, VillageFest replaces the stroll and handles dinner via food stalls.

Day 2: Mountains and mid-century. Ride the Aerial Tramway first thing while the air is clear, walk a short trail at the top, and be back down by late morning. Grab breakfast-for-lunch at Cheeky’s, then do an afternoon architecture tour when the light gets good. Sunset drinks by the pool, dinner at Melvyn’s for the old Hollywood experience.

Day 3: Desert immersion. Early start for Joshua Tree National Park: Cholla Cactus Garden, Skull Rock, a short hike at Hidden Valley, and Keys View on the way out. Back in town by mid-afternoon for one last pool session, then a casual dinner before packing up.

Have a fourth day? Split it between Indian Canyons hiking in the morning and a spa afternoon, which is the ideal Palm Springs ratio of effort to reward.

Is Palm Springs Good for Families?

Yes, with the right expectations and the right hotel. Many of the small boutique inns are adults-only, so check the policy before booking; that quirk surprises a lot of first-time visitors. The down-valley resorts in Rancho Mirage and Palm Desert are the family sweet spot, with lazy rivers, waterslides, and kids clubs. Beyond the pool, kids love the Aerial Tramway, the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens in Palm Desert (one of the best small zoos we have visited anywhere), and scrambling on the boulders in Joshua Tree. The dinosaur statues in Cabazon, of Pee-wee’s Big Adventure fame, make a goofy 20-minute stop on the drive in from LA.

Where to Book Your Palm Springs Trip

Hotels: We use Booking.com for Palm Springs because it lists both the boutique mid-century inns and the big down-valley resorts, and free-cancellation rates matter in a town where festival dates can change your plans.

Tours and experiences: We book through Viator for architecture tours, Joshua Tree excursions, and aerial tramway packages. Recent traveler reviews make it easy to skip the duds.

Book winter and festival-season hotels well ahead. Summer trips can be booked nearly last-minute.

Our Honest Take

Palm Springs is not trying to be everything. It is trying to be sunny, stylish, and relaxing, and it nails all three. Come for a long weekend, split your time between one big activity a day and one long stretch of pool time, add a Joshua Tree morning, and you will leave more rested than any beach trip we have taken.

Planning more Southwest adventures? Read our Las Vegas travel guide, our San Diego travel guide, and our Zion National Park travel guide next. Happy travels!