Desert floor to alpine forest, and back down for dinner
Palm Springs, California · 3 nights · November–April · up to 8
Palm Springs is a winter town: the months everywhere else is cold are the months this works, and July here is genuinely dangerous. The tramway climbs from the desert floor into pine forest on San Jacinto and the temperature drops thirty degrees on the way, so pack a coat you will feel silly carrying through the lobby. Indian Canyons is the other half — palm oases in a canyon on Agua Caliente land, twenty minutes from the pool. Joshua Tree is an hour out and the sky is the reason to make the drive.
The ending
An observation deck cut into a mountainside with the whole Coachella Valley laid out underneath it, pine forest at your back and desert a mile and a half straight below.
That is Mountain Station Observation Deck, Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. See how private it is and when it’s open, or build the rest of the trip around it.
Do
- Palm Springs Aerial Tramway
- Indian Canyons Hiking
- Stargazing in Joshua Tree (Day Trip)
- Sound Bath at The Arrive Hotel
Eat
- Workshop Kitchen + Bar
- Birba
Stay
- Parker Palm Springs
- Kimpton Rowan Palm Springs
Is the top actually cold?
Yes. There is snow up there in the months this trip runs, while the pool at the bottom is warm. Bring the coat.
Joshua Tree in a day?
Comfortably, if you go for the evening rather than the middle of the day. It is the darkest sky within reach of a resort town.