4 Best Hotels in Rancho Mirage, Palm Springs and the Desert Resorts

High on a hill overlooking the Coachella Valley, this posh resort spoils guests with exemplary service and comforts that include two pools, one of the desert's finest full-service spas, complimentary fitness classes, and two restaurants. Adding visual drama and more places to relax are several water and fire features, including a rocky cascade in the spa's outdoor lounge and 38 rooms with personal firepits on their patios. Rooms were made even more soothing and sumptuous with a complete remaster in 2023, so it will take some convincing to get out of bed. Just try not to miss the stargazing experiences or guided hikes.

This resort feels like a small-scale Sin City, thanks to a lobby-level casino, a 2,101-seat concert venue that welcomes household names, a cigar lounge, eight eateries (including a sports bar and a decadent steak house dishing up 32-ounce bone-in tomahawks), clubs and bars, a pool with cabanas, and a lavish spa. As in Las Vegas, though, once you ascend the 16-story tower to your spacious sleeping quarters—appointed with dark woods and classic beige color schemes—the cacophony below melts away. Niches hold original art, wall-to-wall windows frame mountain views and sandy expanses, beds are pillowtop, and marble bathrooms have oversize sunken tubs. 

Home to the Splashtopia water park—with a lazy river, two 100-foot waterslides, fountain and sprinkler zones, a cliff-side hot tub, and a sandy beach—this is probably the desert's most family-friendly resort, though guests without kids can escape to the adults-only pool, the spa, or the golf course. There are also pickleball and tennis courts; a kids club; and lots of daily activities like bingo, water aerobics, movies, and sand-art workshops—some of which are included in the daily $55 resort fee. Spacious rooms are in two-story Spanish-style buildings that surround lovely courtyards and gardens on 240 acres.

Set on 360 manicured acres that include an acclaimed Pete Dye golf course, the polished, service-oriented Westin offers bright and recently renovated rooms, several restaurants (a celebrity chef–driven "backyard kitchen" among them), and a slew of activities for all ages—from tennis, bike rentals, and swimming in three pools (one with dual waterslides) to full-moon hikes, guided meditations, and cacao ceremonies. Guest quarters are in two-story, Spanish Mediterranean–style buildings that surround patios and fountains. All rooms have private patios or balconies, as well as the brand's signature Heavenly Beds. On cool mornings, enjoy a jog on the property's many paths, which wind past a koi pond and beds of blue salvia and pink petunias.