It’s a restored fifties retreat that’s kind of just everything I want a hotel to be—good, chill service with spaces you want to laze around and plenty of privacy and citrus trees.

Should you want a poolside meal, another local staple, the Colony Palms Hotel sets the stage so nicely you might just want to check in.

If you’re looking for a genuine old-school steakhouse, Melvyn’s is your spot—it’s very martinis and Dean Martin and men named Marty.

A winning play on the old-school steakhouse with possibly the best shrimp cocktail I’ve ever had that would take me hundreds of words to describe.

An outdoor pizza haven with all the GF options (because California).

THE brunch/lunch spot.

Great Shakes threads a mini donut on the straws of its, well, great shakes…so!

Maybe while you consider an actual meal, you get a date shake? Shields Date Garden (technically in Indio) makes a classique one.

Should you want to move beyond the well-trod ones on Palm Canyon Drive—the town’s main drag—take a jaunt over to Cathedral City for a strip that includes Spaces and Hedge, both more ripe for discovery.

Should you want to move beyond the well-trod ones on Palm Canyon Drive—the town’s main drag—take a jaunt over to Cathedral City for a strip that includes Spaces and Hedge, both more ripe for discovery.

If you’re there when Moorten Botanical Garden and Cactarium is open for visitors, do that too and find a way to slip a little cactus in your carry-on.

One of the most scenic views in the city is from the public courts at Ruth Hardy Park. If you time it right, you can catch some pretty intense octogenarian pickleball.

I would never have guessed that one of my best meals in recent memory would involve both ceviche and Philly cheesesteak.

Head to the northwest edge of Joshua Tree National Park and do the Black Rock Canyon to Panorama Loop Trail (and please, please follow it with lunch at La Copine).

If you’re willing to drive about an hour, wake up early and take on the (very exposed and sunny) Ladder Canyon Hike, which has stunning slot canyons and, yes, ladders that you climb.

My favorite local hike is the three-ish mile Palm Canyon Trail + Victor Trail loop at Indian Canyons, which features an epic palm oasis.