Courtney & Austin Take Palm Springs: Part 1
We’re no travel pros, but we do know a thing or two about living your best Palm Springs life. From the moment you step off the plane in to the worlds cutest airport, you immediately feel a sense of relaxation, excitement and….heat. (It’s hot there, we mean HOTT in the summer month, but at least it’s a dry heat, right!?) Austin and I have been visiting this little desert oasis since the days when he lived in California. Now that he’s back in the midwest, we’re always planning our next trip. It’s something we look forward to every year…or a few times a year if we’re lucky!
We’re brimming with PS knowledge and figured why not share it!? So here’s our hot take on where to stay and more importantly what to eat & drink in Palm Springs.
HOTELS
Call us trip advisor, because we have three key categories when it comes to hotels:
Pina Coladas
French Fries
Bath Robes
We also take the location and overall vibe into consideration, but we’ll try to keep this short and stick to what’s important.
Holiday House
First up is our go to Palm Springs stay: The Holiday House. This was the first place we stayed so it holds a special place in our dark, cold hearts. The people are friendly, the rooms are great and you guessed it, the Pina Coladas are to die for. Entering the lobby is like walking into an art gallery and there’s something cool everywhere you look. It’s a designer and book lovers paradise. If the color blue isn’t your thing, maybe stay away.
Fries 10/10 (honestly all of their food is primo)
Pina Coladas 10/10 (our tip: stay away from the dark rum floater they offer, unless you’re a.) rich or b.) want to wake up in your dark rum hotel room at 9pm with a hazy memory of the day. And yes, we said pm.)
*If we haven’t mentioned anything about staying hydrated in the heat yet, now we have.
Bath Robes 10/10 (Austin even got me one for Christmas and I am probably wearing it as your read this)
Villa Royale
Villa Royale comes in as a close second fave in our line up. The design aesthetic is top notch, making it photo op central and they have multiple pools. We took my now husband, Adam, on his first PS trip and stayed here. He raves about it constantly and will probably never stay anywhere else. A hot tip is to snag a cabana during the day - they’re close to the bar and have misters (meaning water, not cabana boys) surrounding them so it’s maximum comfort.
Fries 10/10
Pina Coladas 8/10… They’re frozen and absolutely amazing, but we’re subtracting two points because they don’t consistently have them. We would like to give their “Forever Friends” cocktail an honorable mention because it is fantastic and always aplenty.
Bath Robes 10/10 (on my Christmas list for next year)
La Horizon
The good news is this place is absolutely stunning. The bad news is we haven’t actually stayed here. It’s on our list because it is a black and white lovers dream, beyond chic and we will for sure stay here eventually.
We love it, but honestly don’t get big Pina Colada/Fry energy from what we’ve seen of La Horizon. We’re truly hung up on the fact that there are no Pina Coladas on the menu and we just don’t know if we can get over it.
The vibe here is very spa-like, very adult and very cool, which is obviously why it has been featured in every travel and design magazine to ever exist. So if you’re looking for something more on the upscale, relaxing side, La Horizon is your place. Our guess is that the bath robes are what dreams are made of, but sources have not yet confirmed.
Casa Cody
Casa Cody is a recent find we came across that gives off rustic, SoCal vibes. While we typically don’t jive with rustic (shocking, right?), something spoke to us with Casa Cody. My bet is that it was the velvet couches, but we’ll let you know as we’re currently planning our stay here.
The menu isn’t listed, but they have a pic of a chocolate chip cookie that almost made us click book before even checking the room prices.
The Parker
If you’re a Jonathan Adler lover than The Parker is your girl. There is something interesting literally everywhere you look. You want a jumbo banana sculpture? The Parker has it. You’re a Gray Malin fan? The Parker is clearly his muse. You only stay places that Beyonce has stayed? Say no more, book The Parker.
The food is to die for, the spa is beyond and the grounds of the hotel are breathtaking. Our only hang-up is that, and this won’t be everyone’s take, kids are allowed at the Parker. While we love a good cannonball contest as much as the next, we prefer to drink our Palomas in peace. But if you’re looking for something that is kinda family friendly, book it.
Fries 9/10
Pina Coladas N/A because we don’t miss an opportunity for a Parker Paloma.
Bath Robes N/A
The Sands
The Sands is a hop, skip and a jump away from downtown Palm Springs. It’s located in Indian Wells, so if you’re really wanting to get away from the grind, this Moroccan vibe paradise is right up your alley. We have yet to stay here, but frequent their Pink Cabana bar for evening libations and always find ourselves saying, “Let’s stay here sometime soon.” We can’t report on the bathrobes, but we can vouch for the cocktails, food and really f$#king great aesthetic.
Fries 10/10
Pina Coladas 10/10 (but what drink isn’t good in a tropical pink paradise?)
Bath Robes N/A
A few other Honorable Mentions: The Sparrows Lodge, La Serena Villas, Arrive Palm Springs
Enough about where to stay, let’s get down to business with where to eat.
Sandfish
Holy sushi, it’s so good. This sounds obvious, but order the sandfish roll, you won’t regret it. For our adventurous crowd, we highly recommend the octopus carpaccio, it is absolutely fantastic. Make a reservation on a weeknight so it’s not super packed and ask for Josh as your server. Josh is super knowledgable about anything from fish to whiskey to the San Bernardino mountains. He’s one of those servers who can look at you and say “try this” and will nail it every time. A hot tip: we’ve tried the Omakase (aka chefs tasting menu) before and said we don’t need to do it again. It was good but we weren’t blown away by it. It’s deceivingly a lot, like a lot a lot, of food.
Bar Cecil
If you’re even thinking about going to Palm Springs book your reservations now. This place is the hottest little number in town. It’s owned by the aforementioned Villa Royale and Holiday house hoteliers, so it’s like they had a really well-designed, top-notch foodie love child. The owners are fantastic and will seriously make you feel like you’re a regular even on your first visit. They have a “Fifty Dollar Martini” featuring caviar. I hope to maybe someday have one if I have a really big year. (Have I mentioned I make custom stationery? You can inquire HERE if you’re interested in funding my caviar martini dreams)
*Update: We got the “Fifty Dollar Martinis” in honor of Austin’s 30th birthday. Adam and Austin loved….I did not.
The Rooster and the Pig
To be completely honest we were a little tipsy after a day of coladas in the sunshine and we have no clue what we ordered here. But we do know the food was amazing! We made the mistake of riding bikes to pick up our carry out order. Their Vietnamese style food was crazy good but the bike ride was not.
Side note: Most hotels in PS offer bikes for guests to cruise around on. They make for a great photo op, but we only recommend going on a a short jaunt, no further.
Mr. Lyons
This is a Palm Springs staple. We’re pretty sure it has been here since the Frank Sinatra days and are well known for their steaks. They have a speakeasy called Seymours behind a velvet curtain with really, really good cocktails. Drinker’s Beware: you’ll probably make a bunch of friends and go out dancing until 3am because this place in a vibe.
WORKSHOP
Run, don’t walk to have dinner at Workshop. Trust us. Ask your server recommendations because they will not steer you wrong. Our server told us to get the Sugar Snap Peas. (who orders that on the reg? Not us.) All we’ll say is they were right.
A few other Honorable Mentions: Farm, El Marisol, Tacquila