Palm Springs, California - Fav 5 {Travel Guide}

Fav 5 Travel Guides are a short list of the best things I've found to do, see, eat, or drink in a particular location. This guide is for Palm Springs, California. 

​See more Travel Guides for Travel in the USA and Traveling the World.

Our visit to Palm Springs was the beginning of a trip to Palm Springs, Disneyland, and Oahu.

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My husband and I recently spent three days/two nights in Palm Springs, California for a mini wedding anniversary celebration. We went primarily for sun and relaxation and we had a great getaway.

Palm Springs is a desert destination in Southern California. It's popular for golfing, luxury resorts, midcentury-modern vibes, bachelorette parties, and so much sunshine. 

My Fav 5 {Travel Guide} for Palm Springs includes:

1. The Colony Palms Hotel
2. Purple Palm Restaurant
3. Coffee at Koffi
4. Sandwiches at Sherman's Deli
5. Breakfast at FARM

A morning spent sipping hot coffee with my toes in the pool and my face in the sunshine

1. The Colony Palms Hotel

We chose the Colony Palms Hotel because it is historic and adorable. Beyond looks and charm the hotel has a great pool, a spa, a restaurant, and complimentary bicycles onsite. That sounded like the perfect combination of things for a fun and relaxing getaway!

Location - We LOVED this hotel from the moment we arrived. The location is just a six minute drive from the airport. We took an Uber to the hotel and never once regretted not having a car in Palm Springs. Restaurants, shopping, museums, and coffee shops were all within walking distance. 

​Bikes - Upon arrival at the Colony Palms we immediately checked into our room (hours before check-in time!), changed into shorts, and hopped on the bikes for a tour of the city. The bikes were great, easy to check out, and included simple to use bike locks. The hotel provided bike maps and a booklet of suggestions for things to do in Palm Springs. YOU KNOW I love a good list, as I'm writing one for you here :).

Pool - The Colony Palms' pool is EPIC. It's big, there's poolside bar/restaurant service, and the lounge chairs and couches were easy to come by. Keep in mind we went mid-week in October. We spent hours at the pool on each of the three days of our visit. 

Room and mirror - We stayed in the basic "Palm Guest Room" which was small, adorable, and so comfortable. The bed was huge and super comfy. The bathroom had a great shower and plenty of room. If you follow Figs and Flights on Instagram you know all about the motion censored light up makeup mirror that I discovered and fell in love with thanks to this hotel!

Hydration stations - If all of that weren't enough to sell you on the Colony Palms there are stations around the hotel offering fruit infused water and/or hot coffee depending on the time of day. Luckily we both remembered to bring a reusable water vessel and enjoyed a different fruit infused water daily. Hydration is especially important in a HOT place like Palm Springs. 

I have nothing negative to say about the Colony Palms Hotel. I LOVED this little and luxurious hotel in Palm Springs and dream of annual getaways there. 

Hotel Travel Tips:

• Compare Expedia's rates vs your hotel's website for the best pricing. We saved about $50 on our two night stay by booking the Colony Palms via Expedia.
• Check the details! The hotel spa is closed on Tuesday and Wednesday, we missed this detail and didn't end up visiting the spa as we'd planned to. 

New dress & great hotel - take my picture!

The Colony Palms Hotel exterior

It's a perfect little "neighborhood"

The Palm Guest Room at the Colony Palms Hotel

Colony Palms Hotel has great bikes!

We found Lucille Ball on our bike ride!

The pool! With food/drink service :)

THIS is what I came to Palm Springs to do

Poolside eating at the Colony Palms, see below for Purple Palm and Sherman's!

2. Purple Palm Restaurant

The Purple Palm Restaurant is the onsite restaurant of the Colony Palms Hotel. We ate Purple Palm's food both poolside (parmesan fries and sweet and spicy roasted nuts!) and inside the restaurant! It look us 30 seconds to walk from our hotel room to the restaurant. That commute time really cannot beat.

The food was exceptional! The decor and vibe in the restaurant are SO CUTE. They really went with the purple theme and you can see the pool light up at night from inside the dining room. 

Here's every little detail of our dinner at the Purple Palm:

Burrata - We started the feast with the burrata, a soft cheese similar to fresh mozzarella. The Purple Palm's burrata was served with heirloom tomatoes, watermelon, roasted tomato vinaigrette, and basil. Yes, watermelon! What an intriguing combination, right? The watermelon was scooped out with a melon baller so the pieces of fruit matched the size and shape of the tomatoes. The cool and refreshing watermelon could hardly be tasted with all of the other louder and bolder flavors and it brought a calming effect to the acidic tomatoes and tart vinegar! It was a satisfying and unexpected combination. We did have to order a baguette to eat the burrata with, it doesn't come with bread.

Za'atar roasted carrots - Bryce hilariously mentioned that I love za'atar (a Middle Eastern spice mixture) and hate carrots when we reviewed the menu. We got the za'atar roasted carrots anyway and both loved them. 

House-made tagliatelle - Our main dish was the house-made tagliatelle pasta with roasted garlic, baby tomatoes, and picholine olives. Homemade pasta is always a great idea and this one was bomb.com PLUS had a ton of olives. 

Chocolate hazelnut semifredo - We always share dinner items so that we'll still have room for dessert. Enter the chocolate hazelnut semifredo with hazelnut meringue and cinnamon creme anglaise. Semifredo is Italian and means partially frozen. This dessert is like a combination of chocolate mousse and ice cream, it's cold and rich, chocolatey and delicious. I could have ordered another one just for myself, it's chocolatey dessert heaven and was perfectly cool for a hot night in Palm Springs.

Wine - Purple Palm also has a great wine selection. I was torn between Spanish Cava, Italian Prosecco, and Italian Montepulciano and ultimately ordered the Montepulciano which came in a huge wine glass! They also had Portuguese Port wine, the focus of the most recent Figs and Flights {event}. 

Even if you don't stay at the Colony Palms I'd recommend eating at the Purple Palm while you're in Palm Springs. 

The Purple Palm Restaurant in Palm Springs

Burrata with Watermelon at the Purple Palm Restaurant

Za'atar Carrots at the Purple Palm

House Made Tagliatelle at the Purple Palm

Chocolate hazelnut semifredo at the Purple Palm

3. Coffee at Koffi

One morning we walked to get coffee at Koffi. The Palm Springs Koffi North is just a few minutes away from the Colony Palms Hotel.

Bryce and I both had iced espresso drinks: mine a honey lavender latte with almond milk and his a mocha. We also grabbed the "Whole Fig' bar as a snack. Koffi was the first coffee shop I've ever been asked to specify the roast of the espresso I wanted! 

We sat in the sunlight in an adorable courtyard behind the shop chatting and sipping our iced drinks at the beginning of a hot vacation day! The coffees were delicious and I'd get one from Koffi every day if we'd have been there longer. 

Iced espresso drinks and hot sunlight courtesy of Koffi and Palm Springs

A Fig Bar!

4. Sandwiches at Sherman's

The handy guide in our hotel room guided us, via bicycles, to Sherman's Deli and Bakery.

​Pastrami Sandwich - Bryce considers himself a pastrami sandwich connoisseur and ordered the NY style hot pastrami on sourdough bread with muenster cheese. His official review states:

"The sandwich is stacked high, like it should be, and the pastrami is thinly sliced, like it should be. If The Hat is a 10, this is a 9.2!"

Egg Salad Sandwich - Sherman's had quite a few meatless and/or seafood options! I ordered the egg salad sandwich on rye bread, with added avocado and provolone cheese, per the instruction of our server. It was incredible and I'll surely try to recreate this hearty and tasty sandwich at home. 

Latke - Bryce's side was a huge latke with sour cream and applesauce and we fought over every last bite, it was DELICIOUS. My potatoes didn't compare in the least to the latke. 

Drinks - I sipped on a cool and refreshing passion fruit iced tea while Bryce had a Kona Brewing Co Fire Rock beer. 

Sherman's was a perfect spot for our first Palm Springs lunch and a few cool beverages. The sandwiches were huge and we took half of each home as leftovers, eating them poolside the following day. 

Keep this spot in mind for lunch, especially if you're hungover after a wild Palm Springs night!

Sherman's Deli and Bakery in Palm Springs

At Sherman's: Pastrami and Egg Salad Sandwiches and a killer Latke

Sherman's leftovers to-go via bike!

5. Breakfast at FARM

Finally we had an incredible breakfast at FARM just before leaving Palm Springs. My sister-in-law and nephew joined Bryce and I and we shared three items from the expansive menu.  

French Toast a la Banane - This fancy French toast comes topped with caramelized banana, rum brown sugar glaze, mascarpone, and hazelnuts. All four of us LOVED this one and politely shared every last bite!

Baked Brie - The cheesy centerpiece was topped with hazelnuts and brown sugar and served alongside a baguette, house made date jam, and pears. This was the second time I tried local date jam in Palm Springs and it was unique and delicious! Did you know that dates grow on palm trees?! This one was decadent and delicious.

​Bacon, Chicken, and Waffles - While I don't usually speak about things I didn't eat, but Bryce's meat eating successes are something I know you carnivores will appreciate. He ordered the bacon, chicken, and waffles. He's a huge fan of chicken and waffles and never says no to an upgrade with bacon. This dish was a feast and he and my sister-in-law both loved this hearty breakfast. 

​FARM was so cute and the food was exceptional. 

My sweet nephew gets the first bite of the French Toast a la Banane at FARM

A Baked Brie Feast at FARM

Chicken, bacon, and waffles at FARM - carnivores delight!

Thanks for enjoying Palm Springs with me!

Please share this {Travel Guide} with anyone who's heading to Palm Springs! 

Similar guides exist for Austin, Texas, Las Vegas, Nevada, and Nashville, Tennessee. 

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