Where to Stay in Palm Springs (2026)

Top tips for Palm Springs

Via Pixabay

The Quick Answer

• The best neighbourhoods for sightseeing: Downtown, Uptown, Rancho Mirage
• The best neighbourhoods for resort living: The Mesa, Deepwell Estate, Rancho Mirage

Table of Contents

Palm Springs is a proper oasis in the desert, offering swaying palm trees and soothing mineral waters in the heart of California's spectacular Sonora Desert. And it’s only a hundred miles from LA. Palm Springs grew up in the 20th century, and was beloved by the Rat Pack and Elvis, among others, so it’s got serious cool vintage vibes. If you like midcentury modern architecture, classic resort pools, sunshine, long lunches, desert hikes, and jovial nightlife, Palm Springs is for you.  These days there’s plenty of art and art museums, golf courses, and the promise of the Joshua Tree National Park.  

A Visitor’s Guide to the Neighbourhoods of Palm Springs

Via Googlemaps

Palm Springs is quite a sprawling city, generally low-rise, with palm trees taller than buildings. Some of its neighbourhoods occupy quite different biomes, from the desert proper, to lush foothills; all of them have their own character. Walkable Downtown has boutiques, big-name hotels, and offers the promise of lively evenings, while adjacent Uptown is cooler and artier. South Palm Springs and the Deepwell Estates neighbourhoods are more residential and where you'll find resorts, while The Mesa has a backdrop of the lush foothills, and is known for its midcentury architecture. Rancho Mirage is a great neighbourhood for luxurious accommodation, and, perched on the edge of the valley, it has wonderful views over Palm Springs; Palm Desert is well known and loved by foodies for its restaurants, wine bars, and markets. It’s also great for shoppers.  

Downtown

By Flickr user Ana Paula Hirama

Downtown’s main streets are North and South Palm Canyon Drive, and both are lined with midcentury modern buildings housing a fantastic selection of boutiques, bars and restaurants, hotels, and galleries, so you can buy or just peruse.  On Thursday evenings, some major streets are closed to road traffic, and there’s a market where you'll find vintage treasures, plenty of local artisans and street food. Downtown’s centre is lively most other evenings too, but if you’re really looking for a night out, head to the Arena’s District. When it comes to major sights, Downtown Palm Springs has the Palm Springs Art Museum, the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum, the Moorten Botanical Gardens, some fantastic public art, including the huge Forever Marilyn statue, and the Palm Springs Walk of Stars, which honours Palm Springs’ place in the golden age of Hollywood and 400 celebrities.  

Uptown/Design District

By Flickr user Steven Miller

If you keep driving north on North Palm Canyon Drive, you’ll get to Uptown Palm Springs, also known as the Design District, where you can expect to find fantastic designer fashion boutiques, cutting-edge design homewares, and art galleries. The Uptown neighbourhood is internationally renowned for its vintage shopping, too, with an especially good line in midcentury treasures. Shops like Dazzles, Modern Way, al La Mod and Iconic Atomic are known for being able to source the very best in tiki bar detail, cocktail attire and atomic era homewares. The Shops at Thirteen Forty Five is like a market and department store combined, and is definitely worth the visit for the building alone, which was designed by E. Stewart Williams. Uptown is also known for its cocktail and dining scenes and for its bars and nightclubs. This is a great neighbourhood for night owls.  

The Mesa

By Flickr user Steve Shook

The Mesa is a peaceful, residential neighbourhood in the lush foothills of the San Jacinto Mountains, known for its eclectic mix of architecture, which includes native adobe, Spanish villas, modernist masterpieces and glassed-in contemporary designs. This is an area of large, spaced-out plots of land and plenty of seclusion, and it’s a popular choice for celebrities.  Rita Haywood, Clark Gable, Barry Manilow, Natalie Wood and Cher found their homes here. The accommodation options are well spaced out too: small, private resorts are most common. As well as admiring the architecture and deciding which home you’d like to buy, The Mesa has the Moorten Botanical Gardens to visit, which were created by the first botanist to live in the desert here.  The Mesa is also a good neighbourhood to go trail riding through. 

Deepwell Estate

By Flickr user Dale Cruse

The Deepwell Estate is one of the most famous estates in the valley. Its name comes from its well, the deepest in the Coachella Valley, which for a long time fed the wonderful homes designed by the likes of Donald Wexler, William Krisel and E. Stewart Williams. Around 400 homes make up the neighbourhood, plus two resorts and a handful of rustic-chic shops, old-school restaurants and cafes. Everything about Deepwell is friendly and a bit retro cool. It has had its share of celebrity residents; Loretta Young, Carmen Miranda, Jerry Lewis and William Holden all lived here. 

Rancho Mirage

Image by candimannebach26 from Pixabay

Rancho Mirage is a neighbourhood of luxurious, desert-oasis type resorts in the beautifully sun-drenched Coachella Valley.  It’s often called “Playground of Presidents” for exactly the reasons the name invokes. If you like palm trees, golf courses, vast lagoon pool complexes, resorts attached to country clubs, imaginative facilities, and incredible views of the desert and surrounding Santa Rosa Mountains, then Rancho Mirage may be the oasis for you. It also has a few more formal attractions: the architecturally beautiful Rancho Mirage Public Library and Observatory, and the Children’s Discovery Museum of the Desert.  

Palm Desert

By Flickr user Joyce cory

Palm Desert is actually a distinct city from Palm Springs, though they’re close neighbours (about 20 minutes drive apart). Palm Desert is a more suburban version of Palm Springs with more residential areas than glamorous nightclubs, but the same weather, wonderful mountain views, and feeling of space. Don’t expect the same architecture in Palm Desert; here you'll find really contemporary-feeling resorts and a much more family-friendly atmosphere. If you’re hoping to get out into the desert and you’re less interested in having evenings out reminiscent of the golden era of Hollywood, Palm Desert might have the perfect, more wallet-friendly accommodation option for you too.