Palm Springs: A look into the California desert's Technicolour oasis

One stall sells CBD products aimed at tackling stress, insomnia, and chronic pain — you can even buy CBD dog treats. 

Another producer, Smelly Bastard, does a line in essential oil soaps and candles, while a nearby vendor hawks lamps made from repurposed objects — radios, phones and guitars — helpfully reassuring that “no working objects were harmed in the making of this art”.

This weird and wonderful consumer collage is a big part of what makes Greater Palm Springs special. 

This desert oasis — actually nine low-lying “cities” strung out along the Coachella Valley, roughly 100 miles east of Los Angeles — is where country club elites enjoy sundowners in the shade of swaying palms, where snowbirds escape winter’s chill for rounds of golf and where free-spirited New Agers seek cosmic alignment in the shadow of the San Jacinto Mountains.

A thriving LGBTQ+ community — around half the population — calls this valley home, and it’s been Hollywood’s favourite hideaway since the mid-1930s. 

A-listers and power players have long flocked here for lavish spa days and private pool time, a legacy established during the Golden Age of film, when contract stars had to stay within a two-hour drive of their studios, and nosy gossip columnists kept their distance because Palm Springs wasn’t far enough away to justify expense claims.

But the real reason I’m here? Golf. And if there’s a better spot to tee it up than Greater Palm Springs, I haven’t found it yet. 

With more than 100 courses peppered across the valley, it’s a golfer’s paradise. I try two: the Mountain View Course at Desert Willow, a pristine public gem with jaw-dropping scenery, and the Stadium Course at PGA West in La Quinta, a bucket-list track that’s long tested the pros at the PGA Tour’s Amex Championship. 

Attached to my hotel, the Renaissance Esmeralda Resort & Spa in Indian Wells — across from the Tennis Garden, home to one of the ATP Tour’s top events — are two championship courses that consistently rank among the state’s finest. I didn’t play them, but I made the most of the driving range, launching balls toward a mountain backdrop while swapping tall tales with my fellow range rats.

Surprisingly, all this manicured desert greenery isn’t as thirsty as you’d think. 

Palm Springs sits atop a vast natural aquifer, an underground reservoir fed by mountain runoff. 

Thanks to forward-thinking conservation efforts, the region’s lush fairways thrive sustainably, showing that world-class golf and eco-conscious water management really can coexist.

As much as I’m besotted by the fairways, I can’t ignore Palm Springs’ architectural eye candy. In just 90 whirlwind minutes, Kurt Cyr of Palm Springs Mod Squad guides me through a crash course in mid-century modernism: a sleek, glassy aesthetic born in the Jet Age and shaped by visionary architects who infused Hollywood’s desert playground with space-age optimism and desert-adaptive design. 

We cruise past some of Palm Springs’ most iconic homes: William Krisel’s “House of Tomorrow,” where Elvis and Priscilla honeymooned; Frank Sinatra’s sleek Twin Palms estate by E Stewart Williams; and Richard Neutra’s 1946 Kaufmann House, commissioned by Edgar J. Kaufmann — the same man behind Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater. 

(According to Kurt, Wright wasn’t too pleased when a former protégé nabbed the Palm Springs project out from under him.)

Later, stepping inside a few of these homes, I’m struck by their modest, low-slung interiors — sleek but unassuming, built for efficiency over excess. 

Out back, cantilevered patios and post-and-beam pavilions dissolve the boundary between indoors and out. Floor-to-ceiling windows bring the desert right into your living space, while breezeways, open-air atriums and sun-drenched terraces turn the entire landscape into a seamlessly extended living room.

The Shag House, a 1958 bungalow completely reimagined by artist Josh Agle (aka Shag), is a Technicolour dream of breezeblocks, clerestory windows and bold geometric patterns. Inside, vintage-style furniture, tiki- inspired décor and a martini-ready poolside scene feel like stepping straight into one of Shag’s paintings — or stumbling into Don Draper’s lost weekend.

But Palm Springs’ mid-century modern architecture isn’t just about clean lines and chic design — it’s deeply connected to the landscape and energy of the desert itself. 

The San Jacinto Mountains loom dramatically behind glass-walled living rooms, serving as both a natural backdrop and a spiritual shield, much like they did for the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, who first settled here and believed in the land’s sacred power. 

The San Andreas Fault lies just beyond, humming beneath the surface and fuelling rumours of magnetic energy, while Joshua Tree — long a magnet for mystics, artists and dreamers — contributes to the region’s cosmic allure.

Before meeting Conan Allen of Joshua Tree Connectivity, I’m asked to set a personal intention — to ground myself and fully connect with the experience. Normally, that kind of woo-woo mysticism makes me bristle. 

But I’m in California, and life has a way of softening edges, especially now. My father-in-law had just passed away in northern England, suddenly and devastatingly, and my family was still deep in grief, searching for comfort, meaning — anything solid to hold onto. 

On the day he died, a robin flew into my wife’s childhood bedroom, a sure sign, she told me, that he was there, watching over us.

For an hour, Conan and I wandered through Joshua Tree National Park, treading lightly, careful not to disturb so much as a thorn. As we walked, he eagerly introduced me to some of “his friends” — a collection of minerals and rocks he explains are charged with powerful energy.

Our next stop is Wind Walkers Medicine Wheel, a Native American spirituality centre tucked away in the quiet expanse of Joshua Tree. 

Inside a dimly lit sweat lodge, Conan leads me through a cacao ceremony and a sound bath — both firsts for me, both unexpectedly grounding.

Just outside, I notice two simple chairs. “For those processing loss and bereavement,” he tells me. He doesn’t know my story, but the moment hits like a cosmic nudge. 

My eyes well up. As I step into the lodge, a deep longing for my wife settles in — a wish that she were here, sharing this surreal, unexpectedly profound experience with me.

As the final vibrations of the sound bath fade, I open my eyes — and there it is. A robin, perched on the beam above me, just long enough to make its presence known. I point it out to Conan, who shrugs, unfazed. “Robins aren’t native to this area,” he says.

Later, a quick Google search tells me that North American robins migrate south for the winter, so maybe it’s nothing. 

But after the day I’ve had, the moment still feels like more than coincidence. Just four hours ago, I arrived a dyed-in-the-wool sceptic. Now, driving back to Palm Springs, I find myself turning the idea of connection over in my mind — wondering if, maybe, just maybe, there’s a little magic in the desert after all.

Escape Notes 

• Aer Lingus (aerlingus.com) flies daily direct to Los Angeles with fares from €300 each way.
• Renaissance Esmerelda Resort & Spa, Indian Wells (marriott.com) rooms from $500 
• Desert Willow Golf Resort (desertwillow.com; green fees from $80)
• PGA West Resort (pgawest.com; green fees for Stadium Course from $195) 
• Joshua Tree Connectivity (joshuatreeconnectivity.com; desert nature walk, soundbath meditation & cacao ceremony $175 for adults, $87.50 for children) 
• Superbloom Studios (1555 S Palm Canyon Dr; superbloom.world; painting session from $95) 

Three places to eat 

Clandestino (175 N Palm Canyon Drive; clandestinopalmsprings.com) 

In the heart of downtown Palm Springs, this standout spot is all about the cuisine of Jalisco, Mexico.

Kestrel (Indian Wells Golf Club, 44-500 Indian Wells Ln; kestrel.kitchen) 

A modern bistro on the second floor of the clubhouse, where Richard Blais’s imaginative cooking shines - right down to the choice of knives if you go for the perfectly cooked steak.

Kitchen in the Desert (6427 Mesquite Ave, Twentynine Palms; kitd29.com)

A former gas station turned culinary gem, built around shareable plates - don’t miss the Brussels sprouts with garlic, goat’s cheese, toasted pecans and mint.

Colour with feeling 

Basking in that blazing desert sun, Palm Springs practically shimmers - like someone cranked the saturation all the way up. 

It’s the perfect setting for Superbloom Studios, a hybrid art gallery, boutique and brutalist design lab devoted to self-expression through colour. 

Before you dive in, you’ll learn each shade’s story - purple for self-loving, orange for unique, red for passionate, yellow for reflecting and so on.

Armed with freshly poured paint, you’re free to splash those hues across anything you fancy - a canvas, a T-shirt, your kicks, your tote bag. Sure, it’s a little out there, but it’s a whole lot of fun.

• For all information, check out visitgreaterpalmsprings.com.