Atlas Obscura’s Guide to Palm Springs
Sponsored by Visit Palm Springs
A paradise in the desert, Palm Springs is a city of contrasts. Kitsch sidles up to luxury, natural beauty serves as the backdrop to architectural marvels, and when you soak in an ancient hot spring, you might catch the latest TV star doing the same. One of the biggest contrasts is this: while Palm Springs is a beloved vacation spot, it still holds lesser-known wonders waiting to be discovered. Looking for something you’ll find nowhere else? Head down a nondescript residential street and find an army of enormous pink robots. If you’ve got a case of the shoppies, there’s an antique mall to explore and an artist community full of galleries and studios. If you want to learn about the area’s human history, look no further than the Agua Caliente Cultural Plaza (and take a soak in the spring-fed waters while you’re at it). Natural areas allow you to explore canyons and waterfalls; restaurants and bars let you feel like you’re flying on a midcentury airline or in the audience of a vintage game show; heck, you can even get up close and personal with a windmill farm. And if you’d rather just see all of it from above, you can ride the world’s largest rotating tram car from the desert floor up to the San Jacinto Mountains. The question isn’t “Does Palm Springs have something for me?” but “How am I going to fit it all in?” Start with this list.
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