🇺🇸 United States · West Coast and California
Palm Springs is the great oasis of the California desert: a relaxed, sunny city at the foot of the San Jacinto Mountains, ringed by palm trees, turquoise pools and golf courses. From the mid-20th century it was the weekend refuge of Hollywood stars, who came looking for sun, privacy and fun, and left as their legacy one of the world's largest concentrations of mid-century modern architecture ('Mid-Century Modern').
Today Palm Springs blends that retro, glamorous charm with a very lively art, food and LGBTQ+ scene. Its draws range from the spectacular aerial tramway that climbs to the cold summit of San Jacinto —where you can go from 40 °C in the desert to snow in minutes— to the cactus gardens, the spas, the golf courses and the icon houses of modern design you can tour.
This guide covers Palm Springs with a practical eye: how to ride the Aerial Tramway, where to see the best modernist architecture, which excursions to take (Joshua Tree, the wind turbines, the palm oases), when to travel to dodge the extreme heat and where to stay and eat. A destination of sun, design and desert two hours from Los Angeles.
The Coachella Valley is the ancestral home of the Cahuilla, in particular the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, who lived beside the hot springs that give the area its name ('Agua Caliente') and beside the palm oases of the nearby canyons. In the late 19th century the railroad arrived and, with it, the first visitors drawn by the dry climate, who came to treat respiratory illnesses in the desert air. In the early 20th century the first hotels and spas appeared. But the great transformation came in the decades from the 1930s to the 1960s, when Palm Springs became Hollywood's playground: stars such as Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe built or frequented houses here, drawn by the proximity to Los Angeles (the studios' famous 'two-hour rule') and the privacy. That boom left a unique architectural mark: desert modernism. After a decline in the 70s and 80s, the city was reborn from the 90s as a mecca of design, festivals (Coachella was born nearby in 1999) and tourism. The full story is on our history page.
Read the full history ↓The golden state of the Pacific: land of dozens of Native peoples and of the Franciscan missions, forged by the gold rush of 1849, today the largest economy in the United States and the cradle of Hollywood, Silicon Valley and legendary parks such as Yosemite and Sequoia.
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Origins, formation and what the sources say.
Right in the middle of Palm Springs, if you look at a land parcel map, you'll see something baffling: the city is divided like a chessboard, with blocks belonging alternately to private owners and to an Indigenous nation. That checkerboard is no whim: it is the living trace of the fact that, long before the glamour and the pools, the Coachella Valley was —and still is— the ancestral home of the Cahuilla people, and in particular of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians. Their name, 'Agua Caliente', refers to the hot springs that well up right beneath downtown and that for centuries were the center of this people's life, healing and spirituality.
The Cahuilla lived both in the open desert and in the oases of native palms in the nearby canyons —Palm Canyon, Andreas, Murray, Tahquitz— where the water, the shade of the fan palms (Washingtonia filifera) and the resources of the surroundings made life possible in a brutally harsh climate, with summers above 45 °C. They developed a deep knowledge of medicinal plants, water management and desert geography that let them thrive where almost nothing else could.
When, in the late 19th century, the Southern Pacific railroad reached the region, the federal government established that peculiar checkerboard of ownership: to encourage construction of the railway, the sections of land were handed out in an alternating pattern —one for the railroad company, the adjoining one for the Agua Caliente Band's reservation—. That's why, today, much of the land in Palm Springs still belongs to this Cahuilla nation, which preserves the sacred canyons, manages them as parks open to visitors and also runs hotels and casinos. Their history and their presence remain an essential part of the city's identity.
The arrival of the Southern Pacific railroad in the 1870s-1880s opened the valley to the outside world. The first outsiders who took an interest in Palm Springs weren't looking for fun, but for health: the dry, warm desert air was considered beneficial for treating tuberculosis and other respiratory illnesses, in an era without antibiotics.
So, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the first hotels, sanatoriums and spas sprang up around the springs. Pioneering figures such as Dr. Welwood Murray, who opened a hotel beside the hot springs, and later Nellie Coffman, founder of the celebrated Desert Inn, laid the foundations of tourism in the area. Palm Springs began to gain fame as a healthy, exotic retreat in the middle of the desert.
Little by little, the profile of the visitors changed. Alongside the sick came artists, writers and well-off people from Los Angeles seduced by the climate, the light and the quiet. The city was preparing, without knowing it, for the role that would make it world famous: the resting oasis of Hollywood stars.
The real transformation of Palm Springs came between the 1930s and the 1960s, when it became the favorite escape of Hollywood stars. Its proximity to Los Angeles was key: there was an unwritten norm in the studios' contracts, the 'two-hour rule', under which actors had to be able to reach the set within that time. Palm Springs, a little over two hours away, was the perfect place to slip away without breaking the rule.
Legendary figures such as Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Dean Martin and Liberace built houses or spent seasons here, drawn by the sun, the pools, the golf, the privacy and the social life. The famous 'Twin Palms', the house Sinatra commissioned in 1947, symbolizes this golden age. Palm Springs was at once a discreet refuge and the stage for legendary parties.
That boom left an extraordinary architectural legacy: architects such as Richard Neutra, John Lautner, Albert Frey, William Krisel and Donald Wexler designed houses and buildings of clean lines, large windows and dialogue with the landscape, shaping what today is known as 'desert modernism' or Mid-Century Modern. Palm Springs holds one of the world's largest concentrations of this architecture, today celebrated and protected.
As tends to happen with fashionable destinations, the glamour didn't last forever. From the 70s and 80s onward, Palm Springs went through something of a decline: tourist fashions changed, part of the young crowd preferred other destinations, and the city gained a reputation as a somewhat sleepy place for retirees. Many of the modernist gems were left neglected and were considered out of date.
The rebirth came in the 1990s and, above all, in the 2000s. A new generation rediscovered and revalued Mid-Century architecture, turning it into a tourist magnet: houses were restored, architecture tours were created and, in 2006, Modernism Week was born, drawing thousands of design lovers each February. Palm Springs' retro aesthetic was back in fashion.
At the same time, the city established itself as one of the great LGBTQ+ destinations in the United States, with a very active nightlife, cultural and events scene. And in 1999, in nearby Indio, the Coachella music festival was born, which over the years became one of the most important music events in the world and put the valley back at the center of pop culture.
Today Palm Springs and Greater Palm Springs are a top-tier tourist destination combining several souls. On one side, the glamorous architectural legacy, with its modernist houses, its tours, its vintage design shops and its retro-chic atmosphere that captivates photographers and style lovers. On the other, the desert and nature: the Aerial Tramway up to the heights of San Jacinto, the palm oases of the Indian Canyons, the waterfalls of Tahquitz and nearby Joshua Tree National Park.
The valley is also a golf and wellness powerhouse, with dozens of courses and spa resorts making the most of the near-perpetual sun. The food, the nightlife, the art scene and the big festivals (Coachella and Stagecoach in Indio, Modernism Week, film and LGBTQ+ pride) round out a very diverse offering that draws millions of visitors a year.
Among today's challenges are the extreme summer heat —ever more intense with climate change— and water management in a desert setting. Even so, Palm Springs keeps its oasis charm intact: a place where the desert, the palm trees, mid-century design and the California sun come together like nowhere else.