One of my absolute favorite places on the entire planet is Palm Springs. Just thinking about being in PS makes me so happy! We live a short, 2 hour drive away so we try to get out there a few times a year just to eat good food, lazy around a pool, snuggle in robes and do. absolutely. nothing.
I wanted to share some of our PS favorites so I tried to document our activities to the best of my abilities, although I forgot to take a picture of our brunch on Saturday because I was starving and it looked so good...so I ate it immediately upon receiving it. But I'm not sorry.
STAY
We stayed at Colony Palms Hotel. We normally stay at Ace Hotel but we wanted a totally relaxing weekend so we decided to forgo the party scene and opt for a smaller, cozier hotel within walking distance of downtown and we're so glad we did! This was my second time staying at Colony Palms. After my first visit a few years ago for my 23rd birthday I had such fond memories of my stay and I am so glad our second visit was just as perfect. The rooms are bright and clean, with modern moroccan decor and private patios. The rooms also smell amazing! I swear they must pump something through the air vents, I'm not even kidding. The pool is small and cozy with light music and the restaurant, which sits poolside, serves the best beet and burrata salad.
We walked almost everywhere all weekend! It felt so nice to just park the car when we arrived Friday and not drive it again until Sunday. Our hotel also had beach cruisers you could borrow to take around town, which we did for awhile until one of the bikes got a flat. Oops haha.
EAT
Okay, eating is one of the main reasons I even go on vacation. I am so into food, it's not even funny. One of the first dates I ever went on with Michael he called me "a very good eater"...#soproud. So it's no surprise that we spent a good amount of our drive out to PS deciding on where we wanted to eat every meal. We had a few staple favorites we wanted to hit up and a couple new places we had been wanting to try. Here are our picks.
BIRBA / For dinner Friday night we hit up one of our favorites, Birba. It's an all-outdoor little pizza/pasta place downtown with fire pits and lounge areas and good music. We scored a lounge-y seat under a tree and ordered a pear and arugula salad, pancetta and artichoke pizza, and squash and ricotta pasta (this was my favorite and I could have eaten three more bowls of it).
LAS CASUELAS / The original Las Casuelas on the north end of downtown is another dinner favorite of ours. It's definitely not fancy, but it has really good (and extra cheesy) Mexican food. The kind of place with massive plates of food and extra rice and beans. Mike and I had our first "unofficial" dinner date here so it's fun to revisit and reminisce! Bonus: Really good chips and salsa.
CHEEKY'S / For brunch on Saturday we (finally) tried Cheeky's. This is a place that always had a huge line out front anytime we'd drive by it on past visits and it had amazing reviews. So we finally bit the bullet. After waiting an hour for a table, we were not disappointed. We ordered the Bacon Flight (five strips of bacon with flavors like jalapeno, bloody mary and applewood), corn and ricotta pancakes (literal corn in them and SO good), and eggs benedict served on biscuits. I was secretly hoping we wouldn't care for this place because the wait was forever long, but it was amazing so we'll definitely be waiting in line for this place in the future.
KING'S HIGHWAY / We couldn't go to Palm Springs and not eat at Kings Highway at the Ace Hotel. Mike and I ate breakfast here the morning we got engaged so it will always be near and dear to my heart, and it definitely doesn't hurt that the food is amazing too. They recently changed their menu so obviously we wanted to try everything, but we stuck to a classic favorite, ricotta pancakes, and tried their new carnitas breakfast burrito. SO GOOD! If I could eat this every morning and not gain a million pounds I would. We also shared a date shake for breakfast, which is almost fruit, so it's almost a smoothie. We adult really well together.
GREAT SHAKES / Thick and creamy milkshakes with a mini donut on top? Uh, yeah...sign me up.
PLAY
MOORTEN BOTANICAL GARDEN / This is the coolest little cacti garden ever! It's $5 to do a self tour of the gardens but the green house makes the whole thing worth it. I've gone here a few times before and somehow never realized that part of the property is an actual shop where you can buy almost every species of cacti! And for about half of what you'd pay at Home Depot for less healthy plants. So naturally, Mike and I bought a ridiculous amount of cacti and really cool pots (that we don't really have space for, but whatever).
CRYSTAL FANTASY / I'm taking a risk here that you'll all think I'm crazy but this place is awesome! This is a little shop in the middle of downtown that has almost every crystal, rock, or incense imaginable. Mike and I fell in love with Copal (a type of incense) in Tulum on our honeymoon and Crystal Fantasy carries it, so we stock up when we're there. We also spent a good amount of time this weekend just roaming around the store and reading up about the crystals that are complimentary to our star signs. It was half hilarious, half awesome and I love that stuff! Bonus: they have some terribly amazing birthday cards.
Anyway, I hope you all go to Palm Springs and eat some food and embrace your inner sloth and fall in love. We certainly did.
