Where to stay

One thing that drew Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack to Palm Springs was its great golf courses. The city and its surroundings boast of having more than 100 golf courses and 300 days of sunshine. Stay in La Quinta, where the PGA frequently hosts the Desert Classic tournament. Palm Desert has numerous resort hotels with golf, pools and spa amenities. Accommodations here are also great for hiking in the mountains, riding a jeep to seismic fault lines, visiting the zoo and ballooning over the desert. Desert Hot Springs hotels offer the dual options of soaking in healthful waters and day-tripping to Joshua Tree National Park. Book a hotel in Indian Wells and play tennis or watch world-class matches. For pure bliss on a hot day, stay in Downtown Palm Springs and ride the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway to the top of San Jacinto Peak for a walk in the cool higher-elevation air.

About 100,000 people visit the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival during every one of the six exciting days of the annual April event. Finding a place to stay for the festival requires advanced planning. The event actually happens between Coachella and Indio, making hotels in Indio and La Quinta very convenient. Palm Desert is a bit farther away but is still a great neighborhood to stay for the festival, with budget-conscious hotel options. Although Rancho Mirage is several miles farther, it has many hotels with luxury accommodations and amenities. Palm Springs is only a 30-minute drive away, so staying at a resort hotel in the city and making a daytrip to the festival is always an option.

Arrange a hotel in Downtown Palm Springs to admire mid-century modern architecture, including Frank Sinatra's Twin Palms Estate and the Bob and Dolores Hope House. While Sinatra is likely to have visited most of the neighborhoods in Palm Springs, a hotel in Cathedral City is closest to his gravesite in Desert Memorial Park, his burial here indicating how much he loved this part of the country. Book accommodations in Cabazon to be near the 50 giant recreations at Cabazon Dinosaurs. The Uptown Design District is the place to stay for boutique and vintage shopping.