Palm Springs is a great place to spend a relaxing getaway weekend. The city has been a Hollywood star favorite for decades because it’s only a few hours drive away from LA. The houses and hotels have noticeble 50s and 60s vibes – especially the art-deco style has remained and flourishes in Palm Springs. This landlocked town is located in the desert and temperatures can easily rise to over 100 F (40 Celsius). During Summer and Fall the days are spent mostly by the pool. Correction: mostly in the pool, which is why careful consideration is vital when choosing a hotel.

Where to stay in Palm Springs?

When choosing a hotel, it’s good to think what you want from the vacation. Do you want to have a romantic and relaxed stay? Do you want to meet new people and order drinks at the pool? Are you traveling with a big group? Does the hotel have complimentary breakfast and free-parking? As mentioned before, careful consideration is vital when choosing a hotel because you’ll spend your days at the hotel’s pool cooling down from the heat. It’s important to find the most suitable hotel for your needs by doing some research.

Taxes and resort fee

Depending on weekdays and bank holidays, prepare to pay over $200 per night in Palm Springs. Keep in mind, that taxes and resort fees are not included in hotel room price. They will be added on top of your room price when making a booking, or paying at the hotel. Taxes varies between cities and hotels. This should be kept in mind when building a budget. For example, when staying in a hotel in California, you can easily pay $300 resort fees and taxes from 8 nights in a hotel.

Romantic stay in Holiday House Palm Springs

If you are planning to spend a romantic weekend in Palm Springs, I recommend searching hotels with less than 40 rooms. Then you know you’ll have room at the pool, and you don’t need to wake up to reserve deck chairs when sun rises. I stayed in the lovely and stylish Holiday House Palm Springs. The hotel has two pools, and spacious beautiful rooms that come with high-class toiletries. The hotel is located only a few blocks away from restaurants, so walking downtown takes about 5 mins. Holiday House offers complimentary breakfast. Margaritas here are heavenly!

Fun with friends at Ace Hotel & Swim Club

My second visit to Palm Springs was with my friends celebrating 4th of July. We decided to stay at Ace Hotel & Swim Club. The atmosphere at the hotel was wild and the weekend was so much fun! Ace Hotel is a small hotel chain that offers stylish and trendy rooms. This hotel is popular, so during the hottest days, I’d recommend going to the pool early to get the pool chairs in the shade. They have two big outdoor pools in opposite sides of the hotel. The main pool has a restaurant, waiter service, a bar and music. If you don’t spend your evening in downtown Palm Spring, the main pool and jacuzzi are open till 2AM and they have bar + band inside. There is a free shuttle service that goes near by the hotel to downtown. If you’re not staying at Ace Hotel you can access the hotel’s pool if you are over 21 years old. During the week the cover payment is $20 and during weekends $30. You can bring your own floats here!

After a year in California: I felt my first ever earthquake! It was a bit scary and lasted 40 secs. Luckily we are okay! You can read my earthquake guide for dummies here.

Traveling with a group

For a bigger friend group, or even for a smaller one, I would recommend renting out an Airbnb. Many of the houses are beautifully Art Deco style decorated and the nightly price per person decreases a lot compared to hotels. Just going through Airbnbs in Palm Springs makes me want to book my next vacation. Colourful decor and strong wallpapers create an interesting contrast between the settled color scheme that is often seen in Nordic decor style. You can check out here where I want to stay next in Palm Spring.

Where to look for a hotel?

When I’m looking for hotels, I use the HotelTonight app and hotels.com. On HotelTonight they usually have one or two rooms available per hotel. These rooms might be noticeable cheaper – If you are willing to wait till last minute to book. How great is that for once leaving things until the last minute is encouraged! If you book your room the same day as you arrive, the price will be its lowest. When checking in to the hotel you can show your booking from your app. If you have just made the reservation, it won’t yet show at the hotel.

Discount codes

If you are a new user: using a code EAHONEN on HotelTonight you get $50 off from your second booking via HotelTonight. The discount code works only if you use the app.

As a new Airbnb user, you will get $34 off from your first reservation when booking through this link.