1996 — 2026
A house with a pool, mountains out every window, the dogs asleep in the shade, and nowhere in particular to be.
One house for the whole trip. We unpack once, and everything else is a short drive through open desert.
The days are built to be easy. Mornings and evenings are when the desert is at its best, so that's when we're out. Middays are for the pool and a long lunch. Nothing here is required, and any day can shrink to just the two of us by the water.
You mentioned a midcentury house with a pool, so I went looking. These are real, available for our dates, and you can see the photos yourself.
A private pool means no crowds and no lobby — just a quiet house we have to ourselves, and the water twenty feet from the door.
The one I keep coming back to
Movie Colony
In the Movie Colony, the old neighbourhood where Sinatra had his place. Heated pool, outdoor fireplace, walled garden, private drive.
$4,150nine nights · $461 a night
See the house and photosEast Palm Springs
Properly midcentury, inside and out. Saltwater pool that's heated, a hot tub, and an outdoor fireplace for the evenings.
$4,518nine nights · $502 a night
See the house and photosSouth Palm Springs
A design-forward house two miles from downtown, with a heated pool, an open-air bath and a quiet garden.
$4,607nine nights · $512 a night
See the house and photosNorth Palm Springs
Fully remodelled with a pool and hot tub, on a quiet street at the north end of town.
$3,616nine nights · $402 a night
See the house and photosNorth Palm Springs
A charming three-bedroom with a private pool and a garden. The best value of the houses on this list.
$2,824nine nights · $314 a night
See the house and photosCentral Palm Springs
Pool, spa and mountain views, tucked on a circle street close to the middle of everything.
$3,978nine nights · $442 a night
See the house and photosThree of the houses above take small dogs, and both of ours are well under the usual limit. Delta flies them in the cabin under the seat — one carrier each, one dog each, and we book it by phone the same day we book the tickets.
Palm Springs is an easy town for them. Plenty of restaurant patios welcome dogs, the neighbourhoods are flat and quiet for morning walks, and the house has a fenced garden so they can be outside without being on a lead. Two things to plan around: the pavement gets hot by midday, so walks are early and late, and the national park only allows dogs on the roads and picnic areas rather than the trails — which suits us anyway, since we’d be seeing it from the car.
The same houses are often listed on VRBO and Airbnb as well, sometimes for less — here is the same search on VRBO. And in September you want a pool with a chiller, not just a heater. Worth asking the owner.
If you'd like someone else doing the cooking and a spa down the path, these are the good ones, all available for our dates.
Adults only · Palm Springs
A 1930s bungalow hotel with a courtyard pool. Grown-up, quiet, walkable to town.
Curio Collection by Hilton
A landmark resort of casitas, gardens and dozens of pools. The best value of the resorts.
Adults only · Palm Springs
Midcentury bungalows around a pool, with a full spa. Small and intimate.
Rancho Mirage
Set above the valley, with long views, a spa and several restaurants.
A suggestion, not a schedule.
Thursday & Friday
We land in the afternoon, pick up the car and we're at the house inside twenty minutes. Palm Springs airport is small and half open-air — you walk off the plane into desert air. The first full day has nothing in it. Pool in the morning, shade and a long lunch, an easy dinner.
Saturday & Sunday
Palm Springs has the best midcentury architecture anywhere — glass walls, flat roofs, breeze block, all of it against the mountains. There's a self-guided driving route through the old streets and it's lovely from the car. The art museum downtown is excellent and air-conditioned for the high sun. In the evening, Palm Canyon Drive under the string lights.
Monday & Tuesday
Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage has beautiful desert gardens on flat paved paths, with a cool visitor centre and a short film. The Living Desert opens at seven, so we go early and beat the heat entirely. El Paseo in Palm Desert is the elegant shopping street — best in the evening. And an afternoon at the mineral springs spa downtown, which is what the city was built on.
Wednesday & Thursday
An hour north and unlike anywhere else — huge piles of boulders and the strange trees the park is named for. It's a driving park: the best of it sits right off the road and at short pull-offs. We'd go early and be back before the heat. The next day is deliberately empty.
Monday the 21st
Whatever pace feels right — a slow morning, an afternoon by the water. Then somewhere worth dressing for. Eddie V's on El Paseo has live music and a good room. Jillian's is a Palm Desert institution with a courtyard. Copley's is in Cary Grant's old estate.
There's no route to drive on this trip. We settle in one place and everything radiates out from it — the old neighbourhoods and downtown to the west, the gardens and shopping to the east, and Joshua Tree about an hour north.
| A house | A resort | |
|---|---|---|
| Flights, both of us | $900 | $1,150 |
| Car, ten days | $450 | $650 |
| Jackie & Hunter, both ways | $600 | $600 |
| Where we stay, nine nights | $2,824 | $4,692 |
| Food, including the 21st | $1,500 | $2,600 |
| Gardens, museum, park, spa | $500 | $900 |
| Fuel, parking, odds and ends | $450 | $800 |
| Ten days, all four of us | $7,224 | $11,392 |
A house works out cheaper mostly because we'd cook a few breakfasts rather than eat every meal out.
Thirty years. I'd like to spend ten days of the thirty-first somewhere warm and quiet with you.
TROY