By Amanda Hughes, Travel Correspondent

Revamped Golden-Era Resort Awash in Sophisticated Glamour

As the sun sets on the façade of the Riviera Palm Springs Resort & Spa, the resort radiates a soft, luminous glow, shining jewel-like amid the sterling setting of its rustic desert surroundings. Inside, the Riviera's dazzling modern lobby and sleek lounges echo with the sounds of bubbly conversation, clinking glassware, and softly thumping music. The two mirrored, loveseat-strewn lounges, Sidebar and the Starlite Lounge, sustain their vibrant energy late into the night, enticing hotel guests to mingle over light appetizers and signature cocktails as live jazz and soul complement late-night DJ sessions, inspiring spontaneous dance parties.

During the daylight hours, travelers take shelter from the desert sun in the Riviera's Old California–style bungalows, lavishly appointed three-floor buildings spread out over the hotel's generous 24-acre campus, each housing its own cache of guest rooms. Every impeccably stylish Riviera room boasts a floor plan of up to 349 square feet, with a plush king-size bed or two queen-size beds beckoning slumberers with pillow-top mattresses, featherbeds, and luxuriant 300-thread-count linens. Marbled bathrooms further immerse visitors in sumptuous elegance, and Jack Packs, or multiport workstations, allow guests to connect computers and other personal-tech devices to their 37-inch LCD TVs without using a soldering iron or travel-size welding torch.

The cool, refreshing embrace of the resort's two swimming pools helps draw guests from their posh accommodations, as do the cocktails, appetizers, and light fare toted by the attentive wait staff manning the poolside bars. The Riviera's luxurious SpaTerre, named one of the Best of the Best by Palm Springs Life in 2010, offers solar refuge in a Thai-inspired oasis. Plush robes and squishy sandals provide a tactile correlative to the paradisiacal atmosphere of the spa's nearly magical Buddha Lounge, where the soon-to-be-pampered await their treatments amid gorgeous waterfalls, sparkling pools, and comfy lounge chairs. The full-service spa's employees specialize in standard indulgences such as facials and massages and branch out into medical-grade care with body wraps and microdermabrasion services.

Palm Springs: An August Desert Retreat in Full Bloom

Palm Springs' bevy of fine-dining offerings begins at the Riviera's Circa 59, where seasonal ingredients take center stage on a carefully crafted menu of artfully prepared California fusion dishes. Innovative house cocktails and an extensive wine list complement grilled morsels including steaks and fresh-from-the-coast seafood. Off-campus, Las Casuelas Terraza—one of a constellation of authentic Mexican restaurants owned by the locally famous Delgado family—draws on closely guarded family recipes to dish up light and fluffy chilis rellenos, tender shredded-pork carnitas, and homestyle beef picadillos. Peckish travelers can also find small-scale appetite appeasement at Hadley Fruit Orchards, an emporium of local munchies popular with locals since the 1930s, where peanut brittle, crispy okra chips, and a variety of dried dates await a rumbling tummy to call their own.

Fewer than 10 minutes from the Riviera, the stunning Escena Golf Club allows visitors to feast on lush views framed by the towering San Jacinto Mountains as its 99 bunkers devour errant shots and wayward pitching wedges. The Jack Nicklaus–designed course competes for aesthetic attention with the clubhouse, which boasts a modern design and serves as home to the local favorite, Escena Lounge & Grill.