Palm Springs, California Hotels And Resorts

Let Family Travel Forum help you find great resorts with Kid's Clubs, water slides, golf courses and more in the heart of California's desert country.Let Family Travel Forum help you find great resorts with Kid's Clubs, water slides, golf courses and more in the heart of California's desert country.

Westin Mission Hills Resort & Spa
71333 Dinah Shore Drive
Rancho Mirage, California 92270
760/328-5955, 888/625-5144
$$$
The 360-acre Westin Mission Hills Resort and Spa is located out in the desert, near Palm Springs (a longer drive from downtown San Diego.) It offers three swimming pools and a really fun 60-foot waterslide, two golf courses and lighted outdoor tennis courts. All kid-oriented rooms are equipped with a Sony Play Station, HBO and the Disney Channel as well as high speed Internet access. The Westin Kids Club Discovery Room for ages 4-12, available $40 per session (four hours), features crafts, basketball, nature walks and counselor-led golf and tennis lessons. Adults can also enjoy all these sports, plus bike riding and use of the up-to-date fitness center and spa. In the low-season (summer), the Family Plan includes rooms sleeping up to two adults and two children, free dining for kids under 12 from the children's menus and free tennis each afternoon.

Hyatt Grand Champions Resort & Spa
44-600 Indian Wells Lane
Indian Wells, California 92210
760/341-1000, 800/554-9288
$$$$

At the foot of the San Jacinto Mountains on a neatly landscaped 34-acre spread near Palm Desert, the contemporary Hyatt is a popular location for conventions and weddings. The large scale meeting and entertainment facilities, plus the variety of lodging, including double rooms, individual garden view villas (20 of them newly renovated in 2005) and Regency Club levels (where guests pay a premium for complimentary continental breakfast, hors d'oeuvres and snacks in a private lounge) also make it suited to family reunions. Facilities include a landscaped pool garden with seven free-form pools, a 60-foot spiral water slide, toddler-size wading pool, and a huge splash fountain. There are several shops and restaurants, a fitness center, Indian Wells' two championship golf courses and 12 tennis courts. The Aqua Serena and Medical and Skin Spas offer a new focus on health issues. The well-run Camp Hyatt children's program (kids 3-12 only) operates daily from 9am-4pm, focusing on the local environment and culture of the Coachella Valley. Movie evenings are held on weekend nights. Private, in-room babysitting by local, long-standing caregivers is also available. Rates are steep in the high season, but Hyatt's family plan, allowing parents to book an adjoining room for kids at half the prevailing rate, is in effect year-round and there are many different special deals in summer.

Desert Springs JW Marriott Resort & Spa
74855 Country Club Drive
Palm Desert, California 92260
760/341-2211, 888/583-9459
$$$
An FTF member brought this bustling 450-acre resort to our attention because his friends and their extended family adored it -- and that's before the $30 million renovation undertaken in the winter of 2006-2007 which expanded the sunny atrium lobby and health spa. There's a gondola system for transportation and tours; myriad water fountains; tennis lessons and play on 20 courts; three pools, including a children's area; lawn croquet; bicycle rentals; and basketball courts. There are seven restaurants on property, including a family-style teppan-yaki eatery, and a new bar. Additionally, the hotel recently introduced etiquette classes for adults, teenagers, or children. Not historic, not intimate, not familial, this is a 884-room business and convention hotel with enough bells n' whistles and fountains n' waterplay to amuse even sullen teens. If they love it, brand new condo towers have risen next door so watch out! The year-round Kid's Club (ages 4-12, 9am-5pm) is popular with kids and golfer parents who want to catch 18 holes. Call for information on frequent seasonal packages (the neat summer Family Fun package provides a room sleeping up to five, free pizza room service and in-room movies nightly, and free property-wide sodas for all kids under 17), plus holiday events for families.

Viceroy Palm Springs
415 South Belardo Road
Palm Springs, California 92262
760/320-4117, 800/670-6184
$$
The Viceroy, a fresh interpretation of the historic Estrella Bungalows, is in the heart of Palm Springs village and an excellent choice for the less sporting who enjoy posh desert dining and shopping more than golf. More deluxe and intimate than brash and big, this one is for the anti-resort crowd. Imagine a haunt favored by Bing Crosby and other Hollywood luminaries during the 30s and 40s, recently restored to its laid-back splendor in and out. Classic stucco bungalows have fireplaces and kitchenettes (some with full kitchens); patios overlook the irrigated greens and stark hills beyond. With 74 mostly modern rooms, contemporary furnishings in black, white and citrus tones, three small pools (including a family pool), stroller-friendly pathways, lawns dotted with shuffleboard courts, volleyball and barbecues, it's a particularly cozy place if you're traveling with little ones. A car is definitely in order for those with older children, who will long to try out the Oasis Water Park, nearby tennis facilities, ghost town in Yermo, Rancho Mirage children's museum and the Algodones Sand Dunes. Romantic rooms (double occupancy) are a steal in summer; the suites have a king bed and pullout sofa, and the more spacious villas have a separate bedroom with king bed, two bathrooms, and a sofabed for the kids.

For more hotel and attractions information contact the Palm Springs Bureau of Tourism 800/927-7256 or visit www.palm-springs.org.