A guide to Palm Springs, California

Palm Springs is hot, basking in its own glow. And that’s not even accounting for this California desert city’s endless sunshine.

As the anchor of the Coachella Valley, about a 2-hour drive east of Los Angeles, Palm Springs has been a playground for generations of Southern Californians, from hikers to Hollywood types. But in recent years, it’s taken on an international reputation of being cool for everybody, thanks to its defining mid-century modern architecture and design. As more visitors come to frolic, the restaurant quality has risen to the occasion, and the thoroughly 21st-century hotels and restaurants, active arts community and LGBTQ+ scene, and penchant for inspiring frothy cocktails keep the energy going well into the night. Then there’s that little music festival called Coachella, down the valley in the city of Indio.

Through it all, nature always brings its best on the area's hiking trails. And those springs that lend the city its name? They still bubble, creating oases above ground (and adjacent spas to soothe body and soul).

All of this is by way of saying that for a city of its size, about 45,000 people, it’s pretty hard to beat. This travel guide to Palm Springs has everything you need to visit a place synonymous with style, including tips on when to go, how long to stay and the best ways to enjoy this desert hideaway.

When should I go to Palm Springs?

During high season (approximately October to April), temperatures are about perfect. Crystal clear, cool mornings transition into warm, sunny afternoons and stunning sunsets. The occasional winter rains turn the hillsides a lush green and prompt wildflowers to burst with color.

Although Palm Springs has recently become more of a year-round destination, you can expect serious heat by May, and between June and September, high temperatures top 100℉ (38℃) pretty much daily. In July and August, highs reach 108℉ (42℃), with occasional spikes higher. “It’s a dry heat, ” they say, but we say that when it’s that hot, you’ll want to spend the daylight hours indoors – or in the pool slathered with waterproof sunscreen.

The valley is rife with special events; check local calendars so you aren't surprised to find that your ideal dates coincide with those of 125,000 other visitors.

How much time should I spend in Palm Springs?

Beyond seeing the sights in Palm Springs, allow an extra day or two just to relax into the slower pace. After a couple days, you may begin to recognize folks – the guy in front of you in the line for your morning coffee, the couple from the hiking trail, the group next to you at the bar – and presto, you have a community. Some visitors stay for days; others for a month – or the entire high season.

Is it easy to get in and around Palm Springs?

Palm Springs is mad for mid-century modern architecture, and its airport (abbreviated PSP), by noted local architect Donald Wexler, makes for a grand entrance. Until fairly recently, it was served by mostly short-hop flights from LA, San Francisco, Phoenix and Denver, but nowadays, you’ll find nonstops from airline hubs all across the USA and Canada.

Alternatively, traffic jams permitting, Palm Springs is a 2-hour drive from LA or San Diego, making it an easy stopover on a California road trip.

Once you’ve arrived, most people get around by car, whether their own, a rental (most agencies have a presence at the airport), or taxis and rideshares. Rental bicycles and e-bikes are widely available and make sense in this mostly flat (though somewhat spread out) city.

Top things to do in Palm Springs

Tour the city's architecture and design landmarks

Palm Springs is one of the world’s top destinations for architecture buffs. Mid-century modernism pretty much defines the city’s look. Clean, minimalist lines; cantilevered, v-shaped roofs; clerestory windows; sliding glass doors and breeze blocks – all these design features were incorporated to blur the indoors and out in the desert climate. From the 1950s through the 1970s, such architects as Albert Frey, A. Quincy Jones, William Krisel, John Lautner, Richard Neutra and Donald Wexler were household names in Palm Springs, the way that local sports stars might be elsewhere.

Get out in nature

Many visitors are happy to relax by a pool with a book, a cocktail, a friend, or all three, but if you’re up for a more active vacay, Palm Springs has you covered. Flanking the city’s west side and cradling its south side, the San Jacinto Mountains provide choice hiking. The gorgeously rugged Indian Canyons and Tahquitz Canyon, the ancestral home of the local Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, are worth the price of admission; the trails are dotted with streams and honest-to-goodness oases. Numerous municipal trails are accessible for free. Amid flora of cacti, mesquite, creosote and wildflowers, you may come face-to-face with bighorn sheep – they’ll be mellow around you if you are around them.

On the outskirts of town, the 2.5-mile Palm Springs Aerial Tramway whisks you from the desert floor to 8516ft in elevation in 10 minutes – the temperature drops around 40℉ (20℃), so bring warm clothing in winter, or find relief from scorching heat in summer.

For more traditional sports, there are dozens of opportunities for golf, tennis and pickleball all over town.

Then nurture yourself

If you prefer your nature of the more pampering kind, spend a day at the Spa at Séc-he. For millennia, the natural hot spring that gives the city its name has soothed the Agua Caliente, who own the spa. After taking the waters in a private, bubbling mineral bath, choose from an extensive menu of other therapies for mind, body and soul: salt cave, floatation tank, zero-gravity chair, cryotherapy and treatments from facials to a hot-stone massage. And of course, there’s a swimming pool.

Visit the museums

The Palm Springs Art Museum bills itself as the Coachella Valley’s largest cultural institution; it displays works by the likes of Alexander Calder, Louise Bourgeois and Mark Bradford, plus extensive collections of photography, sculpture, and West Coast, contemporary Native American and queer artists. Elsewhere in town, the museum maintains meticulously preserved mid-century modern homes and the Architecture and Design Center.

The Agua Caliente Cultural Museum, next to the spa, presents a comprehensive yet accessible overview of the Native American people of the Coachella Valley. Desert X, the biennial exhibition of provocative installation art across the valley, is set to return in October 2027. Or if aircraft are your idea of high culture, get up close and personal with prop planes to fighter jets at the Palm Springs Air Museum.

Shop with style

Inspired to acquire that Palm Springs look? Head for the Uptown Design District. Interior specialists like Modern Way and Bon Vivant supply professional designers and ordinary folk alike. The Shag Store is the gallery of the city’s unofficial artist of record, Shag (aka Josh Agle), whose angular lines and saturated colors define local style. For fierce, groovy-licious wearable art, Trina Turk and her adjacent men’s shop, Mr. Turk, set the standard.

Further down Palm Canyon Dr, amid the international chain and souvenir shops of the town center, Destination PSP stands out for its custom-designed clothing, housewares and gift items. Every Thursday evening, this section of Palm Canyon turns into VillageFest, a street market served by a bevy of vendors and organizations.

And if outlet shopping is more your speed, there’s a pair of outlet malls in Cabazon, about 10 miles out of town, with about 200 choices from home goods to fashion and athletic wear.

My favorite thing to do in Palm Springs

First, coffee, either at home or at Koffi near me. Then I’ll grab a friend to hit a hiking trail before the daytime heat kicks in. Farm and Escena Grill are two of my favorites for lunch, maybe followed by a stroll down Palm Canyon Dr to window-shop.

By late afternoon, the moment the sun slips behind the mountain, my neighbors all come out to hang by the pool (there may be a cocktail or two involved), followed by dinner at Mr. Lyons or El Mirasol and, if I’m feeling it, a nightcap at one of the clubs on Arenas Rd.

How much money do I need for Palm Springs?

Palm Springs has something to suit practically every pocketbook. Budget travelers will find a range of motels and vacation rentals to choose from, and Palm Springs has its share of chain and casual restaurants to keep costs low. If money is no object, you’ll be spoiled for choice.

• Night in a mid-century modern hotel for two: from 275 US dollars (US$)

• Iced latte at Koffi: US$6.50

• Cocktail: US$20

• Main dish at a casual Mexican restaurant: US$22

What's the best day trip from Palm Springs?

About an hour’s drive east of Palm Springs, Joshua Tree National Park is actually two deserts in one place, at the junction of the Mojave and Colorado Deserts, each bringing its unique flowers, cacti and animals. The namesake Joshua tree is actually in the yucca family, its outstretched limbs said to represent the prophet Joshua pointing the way through the desert. Here, it indicates routes for daytime hikers and climbers (such as the Joshua tree forest of Black Rock Canyon, the oasis of Cottonwood Springs and the panoramas of Keys View), or camp overnight and contemplate the infinite over some of California’s greatest stargazing.

What should I pack for a trip to Palm Springs?

Sunscreen, a hat and a refillable water bottle – even when it’s not especially hot, the sun is strong, and you won’t want to be without them. Other than that, the desert wardrobe is what you make it. Palm Springs is that fairy-tale place where you can get away with colors that might raise an eyebrow back home: vivid yellow, bright orange, turquoise and sage are drawn from the landscape. Shorts and neat sandals are fine most of the year, although you should include a couple dress-to-impress outfits for a fancy night out and a jacket or a wrap since winter temperatures can drop significantly. And if you’re planning to get out into that landscape, pack hiking shoes – you don’t want to scuff your sneakers or twist an ankle.