Hotel at a Glance: Omni Rancho Las Palmas Resort & Spa

Massive water slides. A 27-hole golf course. A spa that offers botanic treatments. Four restaurants. Whether you’re traveling with family or visiting for a romantic couple’s getaway, there’s no shortage of things to do at this resort just outside Palm Springs. Kids can splash around in jetting streams of water at Splashtopia, the onsite water playground and pool area. Meanwhile, adults can enjoy some quite time in the adults-only swimming pool.

• Room with a view: Choose a Vista room for a balcony overlooking the golf course and the mountains.
• Farm-to-table dining: At the resort’s signature restaurant, bluEmber, you’ll be more than satisfied tasting the chef’s inventive spin on California New American cuisine while dining on the award-winning patio.
• Replenish your body and soul at the richly appointed Spa Las Palmas. New heights of relaxation will be discovered with exhilarating treatments that use pure essences of desert botanicals and organic oils.
• Tee off: All options include a round of golf for up to four people. The resort’s 27-hole golf course sprawls over rolling fairways surrounded by palm trees and mountain views.
• World-class tennis: The resort has 25 tennis courts, 8 of which are lit for night matches. There’s a tennis program run by Cliff Drysdale Tennis, as well as a shop where guests can purchase tennis accessories and services.
• Pet-friendly guest rooms are outfitted with satellite TVs and high-speed Internet access. Dogs 50 pounds or smaller can tag along ($100 fee per stay applies).
• Awards and accolades: TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence in 2015

Palm Springs, California: SoCal Resort Town with Spanish Colonial Style

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, as well as spring and summer wildflowers such as clematis, marigolds, and verbena.

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