Check one more place off of my dream destination list: Palm Springs.
Once known as the playground of movie stars, then later for being a place where old people went to Never Be Cold Again, the desert oasis has now become a cliché travel destination for hipsters and/or bloggers (such as myself, I suppose).
After a long day of work, we hopped in the car and headed out. Dropped off the pupster with my parents and were pleasantly surprised at how close PS is to my parents home in Temecula (just a couple of hours). We arrived somewhere around 7:00 and the evening was still young! We checked in to our hotel: The Saguaro.
The Saguaro is best known for it’s BRIGHT colors! The rainbow of spectrum filled me with endless energy. I definitely feed off of bright and vibrant colors and just being in our hot pink and tangerine room made me happy and bouncy. Don’t fear, dudes: not every room is as filled with hot pink as this one was.
In the desert, the summer is the slow season, so the hotel was pretty empty. Therefore, we got upgraded not only to a 1st floor room, but to a walk-out! That is, we could step out the sliding glass door from our room right to the lawn and pool area. Swanky! We were close enough to the pool for it to be super convenient, but directly outside our door was a bocce court, which was much quieter.
The mountains rising behind the roof of the hotel seemed unreal. Like a hollywood backdrop, or like I could reach out and touch them. During the day, they were stark and imposing, and as dusk fell, they faded away, as if they weren’t there at all.
Included with the room was use of their cute baby blue bikes! If it had been a different time of year, I would have rode that bike all over Palm Springs. However, we took the bikes .8 miles to breakfast and it was already TOO HOT for that kind of activity. We rode back after our meal and never touched them again! Perhaps if I come back in the springtime….
Here are a few gratuitous shots of the lobby. If I hadn’t already been smitten with the hotel the moment I clicked “book,” well the lobby would have sealed the deal. A ping pong table right inside the front door? How fun!
When planning this trip I really wanted to stay at The Ace Hotel, because that’s where all the “cool kids” seem to hang out, if you take a straw poll among famous bloggers. The Ace’s decor and vibe are totally different. Due to budget, we went with this hotel as our #2 choice. Well, we did spend a little bit of time over at The Ace snooping around. We had breakfast and wandered a bit (I’ll share photos Wednesday). Of course I would love a chance to stay at The Ace in the future, especially to make a well informed comparison. However, now that all is said and done, I am TOTALLY happy we stayed at the Saguaro! The grounds and amenities were so, so, so nice and the staff was really awesome. The bright rainbow of colors was totally my jam and the upbeat vibe was so great to be surrounded with during our little mid-week getaway. I would be very happy to return to The Saguaro again any time!
Need a recommendation for where to stay? Check out my Your Turn section.
My Friend Staci 
Colorful to say the least… the boys loved the ideas if the “complimentry” bikes!!
What an upbeat place to stay! I love the idea of complementary bikes, too. Very, very cool. I want to go to here. How far is it from SD?
It’s about three hours from San Diego. Not crazy close but not too far either. I know of an equally amazing hotel to stay at here in San Diego though, if you are contemplating a trip (which I hope you are!) Check out The Pearl.
So, I checked out the hotel you wanted to stay at, but couldn’t. And I looked at the one that you did. I even found out that The Ace Hotel has a hotel here in Portland. My personal feeling is that everyone totally has a different sense of what’s cool, what’s fun, and what’s enjoyable to be around. My mom really don’t like “busy” spaces–minimalistic, zen, modern, whatever you want to call it, that’s what she loves. That being said, I felt like The Ace Hotel looked like a college dorm room decorated by someone on a seriously tight budget. I loved the look of the Saguaro! The energy of the room, the fun bright space, all of that felt like exactly the kind of space I’d want to vacation in. I don’t think I could live in it full time–but that’s the point of a vacation, right? A temporary space you can leave when you’re done with it.
And I love your pictures of it. I checked out their website, and while they would have intrigued me, I would have been totally sold if they’d featured your pictures. I even thought about going there for a vacation for an hour or two (because some of my family is still in Temecula, and Brian’s is in Long Beach), based on this, but we had to decline it knowing that even though it’s a short trip, it adds up when you’re talking about going for a day trip, and we’d have to go in the summer. Brian said “NO. I WILL DIE.” And while I agree the heat would get to us, I’m actually disappointed we won’t be able to stay at this place!
Yes, during the summer would be very brutal. The hotel was fairly empty when we were there, and our concierge told us that in July and August it’s basically a ghost town! Many stores and other businesses close for the summer, too.
Same thing happens in a lot of places in Florida. And the reverse happens on Martha’s Vineyard during the Winter (its Off Season). I’ve been to all three during the off seasons, and I can honestly say that it’s just not the same experience. Whether that is good or bad totally depends on the person.
Absolutely we are contemplating a trip!! Just, you know, who knows when. :P