[trip style = sun + weekend getaway + active & adventure]
{Editor’s Note: This month we've featured two of Palm Springs' swanky resorts for Roam+Board, as well as explored the history and mystery of the Palm Springs Pull in our four-part Spotlight series. Today is the icing on the cake: our must-eat, -sleep and -do suggestions for the savvy traveler seeking trip style = sun + (extended) weekend getaway or holidette (aka three- to four-day getaway, usually occurring over a weekend).}
Both starlets and snowbirds have been drawn to the desert for the better part of 60 years. But after its heyday, just when it looked like Palm Springs was losing its pull, something happened: retro became rad, crooners became cool and mid-century design became divine. Hot hotels popped up in tired old motor lodges, stylish restaurants took over bygone corner bistros and entire city districts devoted themselves to design or artisan rebirth.
With this shift came a younger visitor enamoured with the iconic desert lifestyle. Tacking an extra couple days onto the weekend was justified by bike riding in the morning, eating a snow cone by the pool in the afternoon, browsing boutiques at dusk and dining out at stylish restaurants in the evening.
I think Audrey Hepburn would approve, though she may swap the spiked snow cone for wine. So let's get into it. A Palm Springs holidette:
- Tour the city's mid-century modern masterpieces on your own {nab a $5 Map Of Modern Palm Springs at the Visitors Centre} or in style with Robert Imber for $75/person {e-mail psmoderntours@aol.com or call 1 (760) 318-6118 to book}.
- View Warhol, Wyeth and other celebrated artists at the Palm Springs Art Museum.
- Hike the Indian Canyons {$9 adults, $7 children & students] and ask if Raven is available to be your guide {$3 extra for tours at 10am & 1pm daily}.
- Bike towards the Palm Springs Visitors Center {built in an old gas station} and then up the long and winding road to the Palm Springs Tramway...and back.
- Browse the Uptown Design District on North Palm Canyon Drive for mid-century finds and cool boutiques.
- Breakfast: Norma's in the Parker. Brunch in a high-end diner on Bertoia-inspired chairs and Saarinen-esque tables under orange, white and yellow shades and pearly globes. With a strong French-pressed coffee, a shot glass of a heavenly smoothie and a breakfast quesadilla big enough for two, you'll be satisfied until five!
- Lunch: Jake's. The perfect petite lunch spot serving brightly coloured salads and inventive sandwiches in an open-air, Paris-meets-Palm Springs courtyard. For the record, if I was a snowbird, I'd be a regular.
- Dinner: Citron in the Viceroy. Refined without stuffiness; where food, beverages and design experts have worked in tandem to create a warm desert dining experience.
- The Viceroy: A strikingly pulled-together retreat that's fancy without being frou frou and whimsical without being overdone.
- The Parker: A Hollywood hideaway where towering palm trees guide the way through curvy trails to pools and posh pads.
Getting There Getting there is a cinch. Here's a full list of direct flights to the Palm Springs Airport {PSP} from both Canadian and US destinations. From Vancouver, there's direct and daily WestJet service. Or fly from Bellingham with Allegiant or Seattle with Alaska.
Related Content Spotlight :: The Palm Springs Pull Winter Heat Palm Springs Cool Roam+Board :: The Viceroy Roam+Board :: The Parker
[photos by @tripstyler taken while exploring PS with its CVB]