Palm Springs
From World travel guide
Palm Springs is a resort town in the California desert. Palm Springs became a destination during the 1950's and 1960's as American movie stars from Hollywood flocked in droves. Nowadays, the area is filled with golf courses and swimming pools. Palm Springs is also very popular in the gay community. In early spring, Palm Springs is a favorite destination for west coast college students, resulting in full hotels. So book rooms early. Other nearby desert resort cities include Cathedral City, Desert Hot Springs, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Indian Wells, La Quinta and Indio
Contents |
Get in
By plane
- Palm Springs International Airport, PSP, [1]. Located right in the heart of Palm Springs. Scheduled daily flight connections to/from:
- Airlines serving Palm Springs include:
- Alaska Air
- America West
- American, and American Eagle.
- Continental
- Delta
- Northwest
- United
- The Ontario, CA airport, about 70 miles to the west of Palm Springs, has many more flight connections.
By car
From Los Angeles, take Interstate 10 East towards Phoenix. Palm Springs is about a two hour drive if there is not much traffic. Beware, weekend getaway traffic can be very heavy.
Get around
Palm Springs is a very car-oriented city. You will have lots of trouble getting anywhere if you don't have a car. Rent a car at the airport, or if you want to splurge, numerous limousine services are available, including West Coast Transportation, Cardiff Limousine and A-1 Sahara Limo.
By car
The main drag through this area is Highway 111 and S. Palm Canyon Dr. Highway 111 runs east/west along the mountain side and connects all the cities in the Palm Springs area. This road has lights and lots of traffic, so if you are going far, you should drive out and hop on the 10. S. Palm Dr. is always busy and is hard to find a parking place on the weekends and at night. You should try to park on one of the side roads if possible.
By bus
- Sun Bus, [2]. Palm Springs runs a bus service called Sun Bus which runs a few routes. If you are really strapped, you can take the bus, but after sitting out in 100F heat waiting for one, you will have wished you rented a car.
Do
Golf is one of the primary motivations for Palm Springs visits almost any time of year. Theatre and Indian gaming casinos offer additional night time excitement.
- Historic Plaza Theatre, 128 South Palm Canyon Dr, 760 327-0225, [3]. The home of the Palm Springs Follies, featuring talented and energetic seniors singing and dancing. Matinee at 1:30PM and evening show at 7:00PM. From $39.
- Palm Springs Ariel Tramway, 1 Tramway Rd, 760 325-1391, [4]. A good place to go to get away from the heat. Incredible views at night, and snow in the Winter.
- Palm Springs Air Museum 745 N. Gene Autry Trl, 760 778-6262, [5]. Nice place to go to if you have half a day to spare. Home to great condintion WW2 airplanes and more.
Golf
- Rancho Las Palmas Country Club, 77-200 California Dr, Rancho Mirage, 760 862-4551, [6]. Open to Marriott Palm Springs guests, 27-holes.
- Shadow Ridge Resort, 9002 Shadow Ridge Rd, Palm Desert, 760 674-2700. 18 holes designed by Nick Faldo.
- Palm Desert Country Club, 42-000 Bob Hope Dr, Palm Desert, 760 345-2525, [7]. Open to public, 18-holes.
- SilverRock Resort, LaQuinta, 760 776-6688, [8]. 18 holes, open to public, designed by Arnie Palmer.
Gambling
- Spa Resort Casino, 401 E. Amado Rd, 760 883-1000, [9]. Offers live entertainmant, restaurants, a plyers club, and over 1000 slot machines.
Buy
- Art. Palm Springs has more than a dozen art galleries featuring local artists and desert themes.
- Desert Hills Premium Outlets, [10]. West of Palm Springs, at the fields road exit off I-10. Featuring over 100 stores offering premium clothing and furnishings at discount prices. How about discount Brooks Brothers or Versace?
- See also Cabazon outlet mall below in "Get Out".
Eat
- Tylers Burgers, 149 South Indian Canyon Dr. This small hamburger joint, famous for their sliders, has the best hamburgers in all of Palm Springs. Only open for lunch. Be sure to get there early or be prepared to wait because this is where all the locals eat.
- Kaiser Grille, 205 S. Palm Canyon Dr, 760 323-1003 ,[11]. Good American food right in the middle of downtown Palm Springs.
- The Chop House, 262 S. Palm Canyon Dr, 760 320-4500. Steakhouse along the main drag of Palm Springs.
- Le Vallauris, 385 W. Tahquitz Canyon Way, 760 325-5059, [12]. Expensive, but good french food off of S. Palm Canyon Drive.
Drink
- Blue Guitar, 120 S. Palm Canyon Dr. This blues and jazz bar is located on the second story in downtown Palm Springs. Featuring a live band on the weekends for $10, the music will get you up and going. The drinks are bit pricey, but the atmosphere is well worth it.
Sleep
- Wyndham, 888 E Tahquitz Canyon Way, 760 322-6000, fax 760 322-5351, [13]. A good hotel for business or pleasure. Located three blocks from fashionable Palm Canyon Drive and directly linked to the Palm Springs Convention Center.
Get out
- Joshua Tree National Park. This desert park is a great day trip to take while at Palm Springs. You can get there in less than an hour by going north on route 63. Take a minimum of four hours to do the loop from the north through the south of the park. Camping is allowed as well as rock climbing.
- Cabazon Outlets, [14]. A large outdoor outlet mall with many stores. One of the best outlet malls in the country. If you're looking for something to buy, chances are that there is a store in Cabazon that will have it.
External links
WikiPedia:Palm_Springs,_California Dmoz:North America/United States/California/Localities/P/Palm Springs
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