Palm Springs

WELLNESS | OUTDOORS | ARTS & CULTURE | CULINARY EXPERIENCES

Greater Palm Springs

While there’s something wistful about the end of summer in most places, things are just getting started in Greater Palm Springs. The days are warm enough to enjoy the area’s iconic natural beauty—and cool enough that your window of opportunity to do so grows longer by the day. As beloved seasonal events return, compelling new reasons to visit beckon, too—not least, eight Michelin-listed restaurants, the very first in the region’s history. There are also new wellness and arts offerings, from the Spa at Séc-he to the Aluminaire House at the Palm Springs Art Museum. Read on for the perfect fall blend of longstanding favorites and buzzy newcomers.

Since time immemorial, Indigenous people have made use of the Coachella Valley's healing waters. But the 2023 reopening of the only hot spring in Palm Springs proper—the Agua Caliente Hot Mineral Spring—has dramatically reshaped the modern wellness landscape. The site had closed close to a decade ago when its tribal owners and stewards began reimagining the best use of the water that’s central to their very identity. They are, after all, the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians. In April, their sacred spring gave rise to an extraordinary new wellness center that has since garnered coverage everywhere from The New York Times to National Geographic UK. Called The Spa at Séc-he (that’s Cahuilla for “the sound of boiling water”), this 73,000-square-foot spread is home to no fewer than 22 private spring-fed mineral baths, 15 treatment rooms, two couples’ treatment suites, a cryotherapy chamber, a menthol dry sauna, a eucalyptus steam room, two halotherapy salt caves, a tranquility garden, a complex of outdoor pools with deluxe cabanas and day beds—and that’s just for starters.

Meanwhile, in neighboring Desert Hot Springs—home to an entire wellness-celebrating Feel Good Festival this Nov. 11—the city’s titular waters are having a major moment. From the iconic, century-old Two Bunch Palms, where the mineral soaking tubs keep proliferating, to the brand new Onsen Hotel & Spa, where midcentury bones have given rise to a sleek modern retreat, the soaking ops are ever expanding. Even retreats that have opened in the last few years—whether the hacienda-like Good House or the 100-foot mineral pool-equipped Azure Palm Hot Springs Resort & Day Spa Oasis—are already expanding in response to demand. People simply love soaking in (and soaking up) this mountain-ringed drama, and who can blame them in light of earth-warmed mineral waters that tend to hover between 100 and 105 degrees?

If it’s a sound bath you seek, you’ll find plenty places to soak up those vibes, too. The most famous is the Integratron, a dome that dates to 1960 and offers hourlong sessions that blend a chakra-stimulating set (played on multitudes of quartz crystal singing bowls) with a fascinating history lesson. There’s also plenty of yoga available throughout the area, with Power Yoga Palm Springs being a particular favorite for offerings that range from Sunday morning sessions in Ruth Hardy Park to periodic rooftop yoga at Flannery Exchange in the city’s Uptown Design District.

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Of course, the region’s tallest and most spindly outdoor sightings are manmade, but no less worthy of a visit: the famed windmills, which you can visit on new, guided golf cart tours, or simply on a self-drive tour (with the dedicated app for a guide). If biking is your thing, fall is the perfect time to get to know the area on two wheels. With comfortable daytime temperatures (and an abundance of trails and rental options), you can enjoy everything from a 13-mile ride that circles Palm Springs to the Whitewater Trail that leads you along a channel from Palm Springs to Cathedral City.

To the surprise of many, who understandably picture the local nature as, um, palms and springs, things take a decidedly different turn at altitude. Take the legendary Palm Springs Aerial Tramway 8,500 or so feet up—from the base of Chino Canyon to the top of Mount San Jacinto—and you’ll be rewarded with not only jaw-dropping valley views, but also more than 50 miles of alpine nature trails to explore. In fact, depending on when you arrive, the local pine trees may be dusted in snow. And don’t forget that Joshua Tree National Park is on Greater Palm Springs’ doorstep, where the bristled beauty of the namesake plants line seemingly endless trails. Even the easiest paths come with over-the-top drama, such as the quarter-mile loop through the Cholla Cactus Garden, where these tall, spindly plants grow in abundance.

Of course, alfresco yoga and mineral baths are just the beginning of what you can do outdoors in Greater Palm Springs. The local hiking is otherworldly, as you’ll discover along the aptly named, 2.7-mile Palm Canyon Trail, home to seriously Jurassic-looking creekside trees. For even more palm magic, head to the Thousand Palms Oasis, where the 25+ miles of trails include the stunning 4.5-mile loop that is the Willis Palms Trail.

Greater Palm Springs is also known for its profusion of public art, from the heralded Coachella Walls initiative (don’t miss the stunning, solitary "Anonymous Farm Worker" by el Mac on Vine Avenue) to the epic sculptural installations, from Edoardo Tresoldi’s mirage-like Etherea (also in Coachella) to X Marks the Spot by Simi Dabah outside the Cathedral City Public Library. Download the artsGPS app to take an epic self-guided tour and keep current on all the cultural happenings in town. November alone will bring Greater Palm Springs Pride (3-5); La Quinta Art Celebration (16-19), and Cathedral City Hot Air Balloon Festival (17-19). And always check Acrisure Arena listings to see what — or who — is on. Upcoming possibilities include Peter Gabriel (Oct. 14), Adam Sandler (Oct. 21) and Pentatonix (Nov. 14).

Another hotly anticipated arrival: The Agua Caliente Cultural Museum, which will open November 2023 in the same Agua Caliente Cultural Plaza where the Spa at Séc-he debuted earlier this year. Highlights will include the astonishing wealth of artifacts—everything from hearths to beads, plus all manner of implements (mortars, pestles, arrowheads)—unearthed during the creation of the new spa.

For the midcentury bounty alone, Greater Palm Springs would be a pilgrimage site for design fans. In fact, one of the most beloved events on the global arts calendar—winter’s Modernism Week (there’s also a fall version)—is coming up Feb. 15-24, 2024, when you’ll find more than 50 events to attend: a mix of tours, exhibits, talks, and parties, many in venues that aren’t normally open to the public.

There’s also a world of worthy options beyond, from La Quinta’s Chula Artisan Eatery, where you should go for the locally sourced, made-from-scratch pastries as well as organic espresso and delicious mimosas, to PS Underground, where dinner and a show makes for a truly grand finale to a beautiful fall day.

To refuel between outings, you’ll want to explore the area’s newly celebrated dining scene. Now home to its first ever Michelin Guide, Greater Palm Springs has eight listings in this global forum that range from casual to upscale: 4 Saints, Bar Cecil, Boozehounds, Cheeky's, Colony Club, Tac/Quila, The Barn Kitchen at Sparrows Lodge and Workshop Kitchen & Bar.

Wellness

Outdoors

Arts & culture

Culinary experiences

Plan your trip

Colony Palms

Boozehounds

Indian Canyons

JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort & Spa

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Yoga at Flannery Exchange

Palm Springs Aerial Tramway

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Modernism Week

Palm Springs Art Museum

Boozehounds

Bar Cecil

Reffen Street Food Market Photo credits: Lukas Bukoven (left); Reffen - Copenhagen Street Food (right)

should top your list this fall

Why

Joshua Tree National Park

The Spa at Séc-he

Two Bunch Palms (left); Azure Palm Hot Springs Resort & Day Spa (right)

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Though it won’t be open in time for Modernism Week, a new (old) modernist masterpiece is coming to Palm Springs later in the season: the all-metal Aluminaire House, originally built in 1931, now being reconstructed on the grounds of the Palm Springs Art Museum, where Picasso fans will want to catch the retrospective of his prints and ceramics (Nov. 4, 2023 - April 2024). And to complement the newly installed Aluminaire House, there will be an exhibit on one of its legendary architects, Albert Frey (Jan. 13-June 3, 2024).

Coachelle Walls (left); Cathedral City Hot Air Balloon Festival (right)

Colony Club

4 Saints

WELLNESS | OUTDOORS | ARTS & CULTURE | CULINARY EXPERIENCES