Slim Aaron's "Poolside Gossip," 1970, at the famous Richard Neutra designed Kaufmann house in Palm Springs

By Lauren Dickinson

Maybe this wasn’t the year you made it to St. Barth’s or Aspen for scheduling (aka, financial) reasons, but a weekend in Palm Springs is much closer and still a very fun getaway. All of a sudden there seems to be nothing but cool new hotels opening, like the bohemian Ace (complete with vinyl record players in the rooms), or the revamped, Morrocan inspired Colony Palms, which made Conde Nast’s 2008-2009 Hot List. It’s still worth stopping by the Kelly Wearstler decorated Viceroy for dinner at Citron and the now classic Parker for brunch at Norma’s- lemony griddle cakes or lobster fritatta…it’s a tough choice. You’ll have to book a room if you want to spend all day playing croquet and visiting the lemonade stand, however.

Kelly Wearstler's black, white, and yellow color scheme for the Viceroy Palm Springs

When you’re not eating or lying in the sun, there is always golf and tennis on the clay courts at La Quinta Resort, and on Sundays you can pack a tailgate picnic or book a table to watch the high goal game at Eldorado Polo Club. Downtown Palm Springs deserves its reputation for vintage finds at the Galleria and Asylum, but for more contemporary designs Trina Turk now has a home store as well as her original clothing store and Design Within Reach has opened a regular store and an annex (outlet) as well. Just don’t get carried away or you’ll be looking for a Neutra house to put it all in, at which point you should have just gone to St. Barths….

A contemporary view of the famous Kaufmann house, with mystical desert mountains in background