Hotels in Palm Springs, California

A little about Palm Springs...

Palm Springs is a famed Riverside County, California, desert resort city, approximately 110 miles east of Los Angeles. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 42,807. Palm Springs contains some of the world's most famous golf courses. Swimming, tennis, horseback riding, and hiking in the nearby desert and mountain areas are other major forms of recreation in Palm Springs. It is one of nine adjacent cities that make up the Coachella Valley (Palm Springs area).

Once known as the "Playground of the Stars," Palm Springs is a small city with the legacy, amenities, and history of a large, cosmopolitan city. Palm Springs lies at the foot of one of Southern California's most majestic mountain peaks, 10,834-foot-tall Mount San Jacinto, whose eastern flank abuts downtown.

Celebrities still retreat to Palm Springs, but today the city's economy focuses on tourism, real estate, health care, shopping, and gambling. It is a city of numerous festivals, conventions, and international events.

The Indian Canyons are an often overlooked wonder. The canyons surrounding Palm Springs and their associated resources are sacred to the Cahuilla and are historically important to Cahuilla history, scientists, and nature lovers. Tahquitz Canyon and three southern canyons are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Palm and Andreas Canyons are known as the world's largest and second largest California fan palm (Washingtonia filifera) oases, with Murray Canyon listed as fourth. While in Palm Canyon, visit the Trading Post for hiking maps, refreshments, Indian art and artifacts, books, jewelry, pottery, baskets, weavings and conversational cultural lore.

The world's largest rotating tramcars can be found at the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. Constructed at Chino Canyon at the north end of town, tramway cars ascend two-and-a-half miles up a steep incline through five unique life zones to reveal dramatic, sweeping valley views from within San Jacinto Mountains. The ascent from desert floor to an altitude in excess of 8,500 feet is accompanied by a drop in temperature of 30 degrees or more, giving riders a cool respite from the heat on a hot summer day. A wilderness area can be explored at the top of the tram and there is a restaurant with spectacular views.

The Palm Springs International Film Festival, founded by former mayor Sonny Bono in 1990, draws film lovers and aficionados from around the globe, having become over time one of the nation's premiere film events. The Festival has an attractive film sales and distribution record and is seen by American distributors as one of the best Academy Award campaign marketing tools. It also features cultural events, filmmaker tributes, industry seminars and an annual black-tie gala award presentation.

Every Thursday evening downtown Palm Springs is transformed into Village Fest, featuring a diverse display of arts and crafts, a certified farmer's market, food, and live entertainment on beautiful Palm Canyon Drive. Roads are cut off to traffic, granting pedestrians and merchants full access to the area.

The Moorten Botanical Garden and Cactarium is a glimpse of old Palm Springs and features 3,000 examples of desert cacti and other desert plants, grouped by geographic regions.

The Desert Community College District, headquartered in Palm Desert with its main campus, College of the Desert located there. California State University, San Bernardino and University of California, Riverside have satellite campuses available within the College of the Desert campus.