Erica Cerulo

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.

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

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.

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).

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

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.

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

THE brunch/lunch spot.

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.

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.