Hotel at a Glance: Adults-Only Holiday House Palm Springs

Holiday House Palm Springs is a plum example of Palm Spring’s famous midcentury modern architecture, and has been featured in French Vogue, the New York Times, and Architectural Digest. The 28-room hotel was designed in 1951 by master architect Herbert W. Burns—and in 2017, the property reopened with a thoroughly modern interior designed by Mark D Sikes, who was named as a top 100 designer by Architectural Digest. Today you’ll find Gio Ponti-inspired tilework in the bar, and works of art by Roy Liechtenstein, Herb Ritts, and David Hockney throughout the property. Guest rooms are done up in peaceful shades of blue and white and include whimsical surprises.

• In-room amenities: Waterworks bath hardware, Mark D. Sikes custom textiles, and Malin + Goetz bath products.
• Get some R&R: Guest rooms do not have phones or TVs, so visitors can feel more peaceful and relaxed.
• Greet the day with a light continental breakfast, included with your daily resort fee.
• Take a ride on one of the hotel’s Sole townie bikes.

Palm Springs, California: SoCal Resort Town with Midcentury Charm

Palm Springs is an oasis of outdoor recreation and old Hollywood glamour located about 100 miles from Los Angeles. Once the stomping grounds of Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, and the Rat Pack, the town still attracts A-list vacationers today. A stroll through the Movie Colony—which had its heyday between the 1930s and 1960s—will take you past the former homes of Dean Martin, Bob Hope, and Marilyn Monroe.

Palm Springs is also the birthplace of desert modernism, a Bauhaus-influenced architecture movement. You can explore the area’s famed midcentury-modern landmarks on a self-guided tour; grab a map at the Palm Springs Official Visitors Center, itself housed in an iconic building—a retro-futuristic Tramway Gas Station designed by Albert Frey. Furniture and clothing boutiques along Palm Canyon Drive embrace Palm Springs’ trademark aesthetic—what you might call Mad Men West. Nearby, the small but impressively curated Palm Springs Art Museum features works by Pablo Picasso and Robert Rauschenberg along with significant contemporary and Native American collections.

The sun shines more than 300 days a year in Palm Springs, which means you can play a round of golf or hike in the nearby Agua Caliente Indian Canyons no matter the season. It’s worth taking a ride on the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, whose cars rotate 360 degrees as they carry passengers to Mount San Jacinto’s Mountain Station, located 8,516 feet above sea level. About 40 miles northeast is the nearly 800,000-acre Joshua Tree National Park, which spans parts of the Colorado and Mojave Deserts. Hit one of the 12 nature trails for a chance to see desert bighorn sheep, snakes, and black-tailed jackrabbits.