La Serena Villas

Eleven cottages went up in downtown Palm Springs in 1933, in the Spanish style then in fashion, and they were facing demolition until local people stepped in. In 2002 the city made them a Class 1 Historical Property, which is sturdier than goodwill. In 2016 the architect May Sung brought back details in the manner of George Washington Smith, added a restaurant with a deck on its roof and a quiet pool with a pavilion for massages, and set out to make courtyards and meandering paths feel like an old Spanish town, on more than an acre. Each of the eighteen villas is for two, with a kitchenette and a patio. On the patio, in every kind but one, a clawfoot bath stands beside a fireplace or a fire pit. The exception is the Spa Villa, which has a spa of its own instead, and something to live up to.

Recommended for couples who like their Palm Springs Spanish: every villa sleeps two, and nobody under 21 is let in. It is pleasantly private for somewhere just off Palm Canyon Drive. The $48 daily resort fee covers a continental breakfast and the bikes, and the bikes are for downtown: Forever Marilyn on Museum Way, or VillageFest on a Thursday night. Joshua Tree is a day trip, and not one for the bikes. Azúcar cooks Californian food with Mediterranean and Mexican in it, and on its roof is a lounge with mountain views all the way round. It takes no bookings, so the view goes to whoever gets up there first.