The Palm Springs area stretches across the Coachella Valley at the base of the San Jacinto Mountains — a string of desert cities including Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Cathedral City, Indian Wells, La Quinta, and Rancho Mirage. Golf courses, mid-century modern architecture, and year-round sunshine are the main draws.
The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway is the single best thing to do here: a 14-minute ride from the desert floor to the top of Mount San Jacinto at 2,600 metres, where you step from 40-degree heat into pine forest and cool mountain air. The Indian Canyons, just minutes from downtown Palm Springs, are a surprising oasis of California fan palms — the ancestral home of the Agua Caliente band of Cahuilla Indians. The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens in Palm Desert is excellent for understanding the desert ecosystem.
The area's mid-century modern architecture — all low-slung rooflines, glass walls, and kidney-shaped pools — has become a major draw in itself, with tours and an annual Modernism Week in February. The Coachella Valley Music Festival, held in Indio each April, brings a very different kind of crowd.