Search results for

Overview

Taught by Chez Panisse’s head chef and set on a ranch in California’s wine country, these cooking classes are pretty darn dreamy.

One of my favorite discoveries in Chicago is the Empire Ballroom inside The Palmer House. It’s just up the stairs from the hotel’s magnificent lobby and has a rich history most anyone working at the hotel will be willing to tell you more about. This room with its shiny wood floor and opulent chandeliers is where Frank Sinatra used to perform. While the ballroom itself is beautiful, it’s most interesting feature is what’s hidden behind the mirrored wall in its corner. Push on the last panel and you’ll stumble into a dressing room where famous acts - including Sinatra - used to get ready to go on stage. Several autographed pictures are still hanging on the walls.

Golf and sunshine are the main magnets that draw visitors to Palm Springs, but a 10-minute ride will take you up into a snowy evergreen forest. The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway climbs up to a mountain wilderness at 8,500 feet (2,590 meters). The Swiss-built tram floats over Chino Canyon and is the only rotating tram car in the Western hemisphere. From the top, look out over the irrigrated grids of Palm Springs and the other Desert Cities of the Coachella Valley, which descends to below sea level. Across to the northeast, beyond the San Andreas Fault, are the low mountains of Joshua Tree National Park. A network of hiking trails branches out from the tram chalet into the San Jacinto Mountains National Monument, which includes the highest peaks in Southern California. (Winter weekend crowds can be crazy; you’ve been warned.)

It’s a sign of the Palm Springs boom that what started as a modest local museum is now a premier destination for art and design aficionados. Today, the establishment, first opened in 1938, celebrates performing arts, modern art, and architecture in three locations. The main building, a designated historic site designed by architect E. Stewart Williams, is the most trafficked, with works by Henry Moore, Ed Ruscha, Dale Chihuly, and other marquee names. The Palm Springs Art Museum in the Palm Desert location features a rotating selection of exhibits by contemporary artists, as well as a sculpture garden where you can have a contemplative afternoon picnic. The Architecture and Design Center, in a structure originally designed by Williams, hosts exhibitions on architecture and design that change twice a year, rounding out an extensive permanent collection that includes works by Julius Shulman, Alexander Calder, David Hockney, and Marc Chagall. Pro tip: The museum buzzes with energy, particularly on free Thursday evenings, but for a more tailored experience focused on a particular theme, take one of the tours led by passionate and knowledgeable docents.

In a country that has more cows than people, you can’t visit Argentina without shopping for leather goods. Prune opened its doors in 1999 and is one of Argentina’s premier brands for quality leather goods that are stylish and great value. They sell European-inspired handbags, clutches, leather jackets, belts and shoes. You can find Prune shops in both Palmares Open Mall and Mendoza Plaza Shopping in Guaymallen.

This mid-century modern former gas station was intended to be the first thing that people saw as they approached Palm Springs from the highway. Today the building serves as the Palm Springs Visitor Center. It’s worth it to stop by just to admire the architectural details up close, but you can also gather information and tips for your stay at the same time. The friendly staff can tell you about upcoming events, noteworthy restaurants, and shopping areas.

Not too long ago, the Palms Casino Resort, just west of the Strip, was synonymous with “Oops! I Did It Again”-era Britney Spears and the Playboy Club that attracted porn stars from all over the world. That changed when the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians bought the place in 2021, and the property became the largest Native American–owned hotel-casino in town. Since then, the San Manuel have restored the coolness factor the Palms enjoyed in its early aughts heyday. The Playboy Club is gone, but the famous themed suites got a refresh and are as mind-boggling as ever. The Hardwood Suite famously has an NBA-caliber basketball half-court and a full locker room, while the Kingpin Suite is designed around two bowling lanes. The Cinema Suite contains a screening room with theater-style seating and a full movie screen.


In addition to the specialty suites, Palms has 1,365 guest rooms, all recently renovated. Accommodations in the Fantasy Tower were designed with muted tones, while the ones in the Ivory Tower are more colorful and feature modern art on the walls. Ghost Bar, a cocktail lounge on the 55th floor, offers epic views of the Strip; it’s not as hopping as it was in the 2000s, but it still offers live entertainment every weekend.


Related: 7 Hotels to Book for “Non-Vegas” People

Every Friday evening from late April through October, follow the rainbow lorikeets to the Palmerston and Rural Markets in Goyder Square, roughly 20 minutes east of Darwin. The family-friendly night out is filled with entertainers, arts and crafts, fusion flavors, games and local bands and buskers that spill out from 150 stalls, creating a market that’s memorable for all ages.

This Neoclassical building from the mid-19th century stands at one end of a large urban park. The interior of the Capitol is worth a visit—its rotunda and historic rooms reflect the history of lawmaking and governing in this state. The small exhibits from every California county highlight the natural beauty and local specialties from all parts of the state. They line the downstairs addition, which is enhanced with Art Deco details and includes the governor’s office. Outside the Capitol is Capitol Park, one of my favorite outdoor spaces in Sacramento. The paths wind past trees from all over the world (a map is available), memorials, a succulent garden, and a rose garden at the other end of the park.

Built between 1914 and 1916 on an octagonal base, this stone, double-lens lighthouse is Aruba’s marquee landmark. Standing tall at 98 feet, it’s the highest structure on the island and offers the best views in its respective area. It gets its name from the SS California, a British steamship that sank in nearby waters in 1891 and now functions as a fantastic dive site. Adjacent to the lighthouse, visitors will find a beloved Italian restaurant and the California White Sand Dunes, a hot spot for dune surfing.

With glass walls that can soar as high as 50 feet, Palmenhaus is dramatic, but it’s also a quiet and calm place smack in the heart of Hapsburg-era Vienna. As the name suggests, the Palmenhaus is a greenhouse of the variety that nations of the 19th century were so good at creating to show off palms and other exotic plants plucked from the colonies. And thanks to a $17 million renovation in the 1990s, yes, Palmenhaus still has palm trees and tropical flora, as well as a lepidopterarium, or butterfly house. As Vienna’s palm house looks over the lush Burggarten park, its broad terrace makes for the ultimate spot to sit under sunny skies and sip a riesling or quaff a beer. On summer Fridays, DJs and live musicians perform.

In the Caribbean’s Windward Islands, a string of some 600 islands and islets dot the sea between St. Lucia and Grenada. It’s a paradise for yachters, where you can drop anchor off an uninhabited island and live out your Robinson Crusoe fantasies. A handful of these islands are home to resorts, including the private Palm Island, first leased to an American couple in 1966 for $1 per year. They established the ten-room Palm Island Beach Club, which over the years has grown—though there are still only a total of 43 guest rooms on this single-resort island.

Ah, The Langham for tea? Excellent choice. You’ve dressed up, of course, and the top-hatted gentleman nods his approval before opening the door to a most glamorous afternoon tea. Tea in the Palm Court is an elegant affair. A jazz pianist provides perfect accompaniment to the clinking champagne glasses and china teacups. The discrete, well-trained staff floats among the tables delivering tray after tray of delectable sandwiches, cakes and scones. A tea sommelier stands at the ready to help you choose the perfect blend. You while away the afternoon piling feathery scones with clotted cream and preserves, sipping tea from Wedgwood cups and enjoying the the relaxed luxury of afternoon tea in Palm Court. Just when you think you can’t eat another bite, the dessert tray arrives bearing sweets almost too beautiful to eat. Almost.

The Palm Springs Art Museum features a sophisticated collection of contemporary art including works from Picasso, Warhol, and Lichtenstein. The museum itself is pleasing to the eye and is home to 28 galleries, two sculpture gardens, a cafe, gift store, lecture hall, theater, and various rooms and resource centers. Specializing in the contemporary, including paintings, glasswork, photography, and design, the museum is a serene environment to enliven the mind.