Nina’s Pita and Pizza is a good bet if you want to spend less and still get some good eats. Featuring pretty authentic Greek food for a fraction of the cost of many dinners in town, this smaller family restaurant is an excellent spot for family or just for a relaxing meal. The gyro meat is shaved off the rotating spit, just as it should be , and the tzatziki sauce alone is worth the visit. The options ranging from cheese pizza to stuffed grape leaves mean there’s something for everyone, too.

Another choice spot is The Cowboy Way, a barbecue joint with simple decor and a long wooden counter as its main seating area. That’s okay, though, because the two huge smokers outside are where the magic is happening. The menu is basic, with a few different barbecue meat options (tri-tip, chicken, and of course ribs) and a choice of sides (mac and cheese, potato salad, etc). The meat is tender, the sauce is tangy, and the drinks are served in canning jars with free refills – perfect for washing it all down.

Best breakfast can be found at Cheeky’s, where the menu focuses on that oh-so-necessary morning staple: bacon. There are multiple sweet and savory variations on the thick slabs of pork belly at Cheeky’s. If you want to try them all, that’s no problemo – there’s even a bacon flight where you can get a slice of 5 or 6 different flavors. The other dishes on the menu, both for breakfast/brunch and for later meals, have equally tantalizing unique takes on traditional dishes. Think corn and blueberry pancakes and peach and ginger waffles, accompanied with fresh-squeezed juice and homemade pork sausage. And more bacon, no doubt.

Quicker breakfast and sandwiches can be grabbed at Koffi. This is probably the best coffee and espresso place in town, and is the perfect alternative to a weak cup of hotel java. Coffee and ingredients are generally fair trade, organic, etc., and there are some less typical flavors on the menu like the excellent raspberry latte. Scones, muffins, etc also are made with organic ingredients and are baked fresh. Grab a sandwich for a picnic lunch and you’re set for the day.

[photo courtesy of SanFranAnnie]

The Plaza Resort and Spa, part of the Wyndham hotel and resort group, is perfectly situated for your golfing pleasure (the hotel is even on Golf Club Drive!). Just out the front door, and easily viewed from pool and many of the rooms is the Palm Springs Municipal Golf Course, which stretches north from the hotel grounds. Just nearby to the east and west are two additional country clubs, the Seven Lakes and Cathedral Canyon clubs, so more variety is just a quick golf cart ride away. The Plaza sticks to its classic roots (i.e. 1970s decor), making it one of the less modern choices for a stay in Palm Springs. It is quite comfortable, though, and less expensive than some of the flashier resorts.

Nearby, on the edge of the Cathedral Canyon Country Club, is the Desert Oasis. It’s a time-share place, but anyone can stay. Since it’s built for longer stays, many of the hotels and resorts in town have kitchenettes, but a number of the Welk rooms feel almost like mini-apartments complete with living and dining rooms. The activity program provides plenty for kids to do while the grownups are out golfing, hiking, or enjoying a massage.

You can find a cushier stay at the Westin Mission Hills Resort. Sitting on the edge of the Pete Dye golf course on the eastern edge of town, this area is a bit more removed from the busier streets near downtown. The villas are equipped with kitchenettes and are private, so vacationers seeking everything from a fun family trip to a romantic getaway can have a comfortable stay. The villas tend to be roomier that at some of the other apartment-style resorts and are more modernly decorated, as well as being impeccably kept up. With a view of the course and the mountains as a backdrop from the front door, what more could you ask for?

[photo courtesy of StudioRedChile]

Built from a 1965 classic motel and roadside diner, the Ace Hotel Palm Springs lives up to its Americana past, with a huge dose of extra cool sprinkled in. The hotel’s old-school layout centers around The Swim Club which includes a pool, hot tub, hammocks, “massage yurts”, and the pool-side watering hole, The Short Bus Bar, which serves alcoholic snow cones.

Along with a fully equipped spa, the hotel also runs the King’s Highway restaurant, serving “American peasant food”, and an old ranch-hand bar called the Amigo Room which mixes clean, classic drinks. To top it off, Ace Hotel Palm Springs’ incredibly appealing calendar of events makes sure a party is scheduled for almost every day of the week.

Some of the best are as follows:

Mondays!

Sissy Bingo with Linda Fabulous: Linda is the grandmother you always dreamed of having. One part dinner show, one part game show.

Tuesdays!

Karaoke: Hostess Keish leads the vocally-fearless in a classic sing-a-long night.

Wednesdays!

Craft Night: On the last Wednesday of every month Ranger Joe hosts a craft night worthy of the most adept girl scout. And yes, there’s booze.

Thursdays!

Reunion: DJ Day spins eclectic, mellow beats and invites you “chill and be yourself”. Sounds lovely!

Fridays!

Intoxica Radio Live with Howie Pyro: Friday night is dance night and Pyro wants you to groove your booty off during his sets. And who pray-tell is Howie Pyro? He’s the DJ of Christina Aguilera’s 21st birthday party and the owner of Phil Spector’s old dog. Duh.

Saturdays!

Discotheque: The best of the downtown LA club scene comes to Palm Springs to party and play music for the night.

Sundays!

TGIS Dance Party: The last Sunday of every month a dance party is thrown in the honor of service and hospitality workers who are just getting to their weekend. (And on Sundays through October stop by the pool for a free haircut from Rudy’s Barbershop.)

If you need some detox after all that fun, The Ace has yoga on Wednesdays and pilates on Thursdays in The Commune.

Alternate Route is a bar and nightclub as open to any type of lifestyle as its name would suggest. On Wednesday (Salsa night) and weekends DJs take over with dance music all evening, and Thursdays are karaoke nights. The large patio has a view overlooking downtown Palm Springs.

A more consistently lively spot is Toucan’s Tiki Lounge, a happening dance club on North Palm Canyon Drive. Saturday nights feature one of the more fabulous drag shows you’ll come across. The crowd usually is made up of both gay and straight partiers, but everyone is laidback and looking to have a great time. Go-go dancers are also dressed to the nines, but in more scandalous attire. Bachelorette parties are also a common occurrence. The drinks are quite strong, so expect parties of all kinds to get rowdier as the night goes on.

The Spurline Bar is a less dance, more song and musical. There is a drag queen night, but it’s more like drag lounge singing than all-out wild performance. The type of shows on the televisions vary by night, from fabulous music videos to old musicals. You can always expect some good music to be playing, though, regardless of the day. On busy nights the Spurline is full of men looking to mingle, but it seems to be plenty friendly to all.

Everyone’s friendly and inviting to all at Streetbar as well, a chill place with lounge decor on South Indian Canyon Drive. The patrons tend to skew male and toward an older demographic, particularly around happy hour. Not really a surprise, though, since the general population of Palm Springs tends to skew mature and both locals and tourists come to Streetbar to get their drink on. Later in the evenings the crowd diversifies a bit, so it can get somewhat easier to meet people in your own age bracket. The drinks are cheaper than at similar establishments in town, but get poured just as strong. There’s karaoke here, too, which tends toward energetic versions of the classics.

[photo courtesy of bossco]

The quickest way to get from the desert to the mountains is to take the aerial tramway. It goes straight from the valley floor up to the peak of San Jacinto, rotating for full panoramic views on the way up and down. At the top is a restaurant, pub, and cafe, as well as dozens of miles of hiking trails around the mountain summit. Even in the summer when the valley floor is sweltering, the air is cool and crisp on the mountain top. You may even encounter a snow drift or two! Make sure to bring a jacket if you are planning on going on a hike once you reach the summit – it’s colder than you’d think.

There are also several canyon areas around the valley that are worth a visit. Known collectively as the Indian Canyons, these small oases in the desert were home to the ancestors of the Cahuilla Indians. The communities are gone but traces of their existence remain, as does the canyons’ natural beauty.

Palm Canyon may be the best known, and is the perfect spot for a day hike. A hike brings you down from the dry desert into a fan palm-filled oasis, complete with a cool and clean stream to splash around in and cool off. Stop at the trading post for a hiking map before making your way into the canyon, and bring along a picnic to make a whole day of it.

Nearby, Tahquitz canyon has a spectacular 60-foot waterfall and more remnants of Indian communities. You can just hike around the area on your own, or take a ranger-led hike to get some more historical information while on your walk. Another option is a hike or horseback ride through Murray Canyon. With plenty of horse trails, this is a good place for a trail ride, and a variety of animal species (including endangered birds and bighorn sheep) provide some exciting scenery.

[photo courtesy of Alan Vernon]

Troon Golf has launched “Family Golf Program,” with free-for-kids play at some of the Coachella Valley’s most acclaimed facilities. For every paid adult green fee, a kid 15 or under can play gratis, with a set of Callaway rental clubs tossed in for good measure. The deal is effective after 3 pm and with the lengthening days of spring and summer at hand in the desert, mom and junior easily can get in 18 holes before sol dips below Mt. San Jacinto.

Five courses are in play, including Indian Wells Golf Resort’s Celebrity Course, home to the final playing of the LG Skins Game, a Thanksgiving weekend staple for two-plus decades, and Classic Club, a recent host course of the PGA Tour’s Bob Hope Classic.

Designed by the King himself, Arnold Palmer, with the cooperation of the tour’s in-house design team, Classic is a unique offering in the land of sand-and-cactus-spine golf in that there’s not a palm tree on the property. The course’s shoulders are broad, helping the spray-and-pray crowd, while better players who can challenge angles and right-side drives and approaches will have better looks into what are big, rambling greens. The bulldozers were busy building this course, and combined with the site being a huge hunk of terra firma to begin with and its mid-valley setting, Classic serves up a long view/big sky sensation not experienced at clubs set back within the desert coves.

Indian Wells’ Players Course and the Pete Dye and Gary Player tracks at the Westin Mission Hills Resort & Spa fill out the rotation.

Troon Golf is offering this program at more than 60 facilities across the country, and it is available year-round. Inquire locally as some clubs offer half-off for each additional Mickelson or Wie wannabe, and some have no time restrictions.

www.troongolf.com//guest_programs/familygolf.php

Best Steakhouse: Gotta be LG’s Prime Steakhouse. Like any true steakhouse, a standard meal consists of potatoes or creamed spinach, a salad, and of course a big ol’ hunk of beef. The beef here is particularly big and particularly good, and there are a number of delectable sauces to choose from. Whichever fate you choose, make sure to start with a Caesar salad, as they’re excellent here.

Best Breakfast: This one definitely has to go to Cheeky’s, the go-to breakfast and brunch place in town. The food is all organic and there are some unusual and creative takes on the usual dishes — think lemon curd waffles, breakfast quesadillas, and flights of bacon.

Best Vegetarian: Variety can be hard to find for vegetarians and especially vegans at restaurants, but the cafe at Nature’s Health Food store does a pretty good job of mixing it up. Burritos, sandwiches, soups and shakes are a few of the many options.

Best Pasta: Don’t miss out on dining at Johnny Costa’s Ristorante, where the people-watching alone is worth a visit, but it’s the pastas that will keep you coming back for more. Ignore the lady with the bouffant and the Sinatra impersonator after your seafood linguine or cioppino comes out — you’ll want to focus on this.

Best Sushi: The chefs at Kobe’s Japanese Steakhouse cook the food here teppan-yaki style, on a large stovetops in front of each table, and make the whole experience quite entertaining and fun. The star here, though, is the sushi bar. The sashimi is super fresh, or try the seafood cocktail or poke for something a little more out of the ordinary.

Best French: Consistently rated one of the best restaurants in town, Le Vallauris has the best in French style (long, superb prix fixe menus) but incorporates some Californian influences and flavors into the innovative dishes. And the service and ambience are top of the line.

[photo courtesy of D Sharon Pruitt]

Here are some things to consider:

Size-

Boutique says it all in the name. While no boutique hotels are big by any means, some are small and some are tiny. The Willows Historic Palm Springs Inn features only eight rooms while the Ballantines Hotel features almost twice that many. Do you want a quiet secluded experience or the something quirky, but still bustling?

Amenities

Are you looking for proximity to golf courses and convenient meeting rooms (did someone say business trip?), a completely green resort, or somewhere you can get a traditional Japanese breakfast delivered to your room in the morning? Knowing what you want out of your experience will help you to decide between Legacy Villas, Club Trinidad, and Sakura Bed & Breakfast.

The courtyard of the Viceroy Palm Springs

Nightlife

Palm Springs is known for having great nightlife, some of which can be found at the restaurants and bars in the coolest boutique hotels in the city. If it’s a party you want, book a room at The Viceroy. Their restaurant and bar, the Citron is one of the hottest places to grab a drink and it’s all the better if you can stumble across the courtyard to your room.

The pool at the Movie Colony Hotel.

Architecture

Although it might not be on the top of every traveler’s list, Palm Springs does offer the opportunity to spend time in some pretty spectacular architecture. The Palms offers Spanish Colonial style with a modern feel. If it’s Palm Springs’ famed mid-century look you’re going for, head to The Movie Colony Hotel. Lately the refurbished motor in has become popular. See the best example of that style at the Ace Hotel & Swim Club. For the best of all worlds, pick one, and grab a drink elsewhere!

[photos courtesy of Robert.Montalvo, Maggiejumps, "il Carca"]