Historic Tennis Club Hotels

Holiday House isn't particularly posh (The Pantry restaurant in place of room service). And it isn't over-the-top luxurious (no spa here). What it is, however, is one of the most comfortable, and, like its name suggests, happy places to spend a weekend in Palm Springs. It looks like a revamped motel—an achingly chic, fun, cool revamped motel—set up a block behind the main drag of the city. The twenty-eight rooms and the surrounding property (pool, café-slash-bar, lounge area) are purposefully intimate. The pretty, blue-themed rooms look like they belong in Mykonos or Santorini; a breath of fresh air in the arid desert heat. Best of all, you can catch sweeping views of mountains and towering palms from pretty much every corner of the perfectly manicured property. Note: this is an adults-only place, so leave the kiddos with grandma.

Between the big beds covered in the softest Frette linens, the fireplaces, and the private outdoor patios with firepits and clawfoot tubs, it’s easy to never leave your bungalow. But then you’d miss out on the freshest watermelon salad and ahi bruschetta at Azucar, the hotel’s poolside restaurant. Or a reflexology massage at the spa. And it’s all a short walk from Palm Canyon Drive, where you’ll want to spend at least a couple hours exploring the shops, cafés, and galleries.

It feels more like Tangier than Palm Springs at this family-run pensione that channels the rustic romance of Morocco and the Mediterranean. Villas are filled with hand-carved wooden furniture, with lemon and olive trees right outside your window. Fountains, fire pits, and colored glass lanterns decorate the outdoor courtyard where group yoga and evening screenings of old movies happen (there are no TVs or phones otherwise). Ask for the Moroccan villa.