6 min readMeathead’s Guides are Men’s Health’s field manuals for doing a city right—where to train, what to eat, and when to go all out. Built around workouts, great meals, and local intel, these guides are for anyone who’s looking to do more than see the sights and pose for pics. Come hungry, bring decent shoes, and consider this a full-body itinerary.
FOR THE UNINITIATED, Palm Springs, California, might conjure up images of sunny golf courses and brunching gays. But for those in the know, this picture is just scratching the surface. This pocket of swimming pools and mid-century modern architecture sits at the north end of California’s Coachella Valley and is the doorstep to everything there is to enjoy about the desert. Sure, plenty of retirees flock to Palm Springs to live out their golden years, and it is indeed quite gay—but with its countless bars, restaurants, resorts, cafés, gyms, and outdoor activities, the city is much more versatile and active than you might first think.
If you’re a retrophile, Palm Springs is a dream come true. While only a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Los Angeles, it sits squarely 70 years in the past. At every turn are signs of the city’s mid-century modern style, like Twin Palms—also known as Frank Sinatra’s estate—even the local Bank of America has some serious retro swag.
Heading to Palm Springs? Here’s how to stay active, not miss a workout, and sustain your protein intake in this desert oasis. Who knows? Maybe you’ll catch someone’s eye when you’re strutting by the pool later, all under the watchful gaze of Mount San Jacinto.
FUEL UP
Koffi
What Palm Springs may lack in coffee roasters it makes up for in some serious alfresco vibes.
Locals love Koffi, whose locations have plenty of outdoor tables. Koffi North, Koffi Central, and Koffi South all offer front-row seats to those beloved mountains, which are particularly beautiful in the morning when the early light hits them.
If you’re entering the city from the north, another café worth visiting is Cartel Roasting Co. It’s one of the first coffee shops you’ll encounter, so it’s perfect for a pick-me-up before you reach your destination.
STRONGER TOGETHER
Atlas Training Gym
Atlas Training Gym is a high-end private training studio in the heart of Palm Springs. It’s got a whole roster of trainers who’ll do private sessions ($110) or small group training for three or four people ($65 per person for a single session).
Owner and founder Chad Ryan, 54, has lived in Palm Springs for two years after moving from Seattle. “I grew up in the Midwest, in Iowa, and I forgot how much I like small communities,” Ryan tells Men’s Health. He brings that community mindset to his gym, where the staff emphasizes connection just as much as training.
For visitors, Atlas also offers day passes and drop-in yoga on Saturdays.
GET YOUR HEART RACING
The BMW Performance Center West
Hollywood legend James Dean once raced cars in the desert, and today, so can you.
Ultimate thrill seekers can get behind the wheel of a Beamer at the BMW Performance Center West in Thermal, California—about a 40-minute drive from the Palm Springs airport—and take it for a spin around the facility’s three racing loops. Its website boasts “tight corners and fast straightaways” for “a ride you won’t soon forget.”
BUMP, GRIND, AND CLIMB
Take a Hike!
Nothing beats a morning hike. While the late-night partygoers sleep it off, you’ll be out hitting the trails—and Palm Spring’s got plenty of ’em.
Aarron Johnson, 41, owner of Trainer Joe’s Fitness in nearby Palm Desert, says one of his favorite hikes for getting his heart rate up is the Bump and Grind, a 3.1-mile loop with a moderate rating. As on many of the trails around Palm Springs, shade is scarce, so be sure to load up on sun protection!
Ryan, of Atlas Training Gym, recommends the South Lykken trail. It’s a moderate 2.2-miler with a 643-foot elevation change. You’ll be huffing and puffing by the time you reach the top, but Ryan says the views are well worth it.
Locals will warn you repeatedly that summer is not the time for hiking. Palm Springs gets hot—like, 100-plus degrees hot—between June and September.
“Summertime starts when they pull someone off of that hill,” Johnson says. So if you’re visiting Palm Springs between June and September, it’s best to avoid strenuous outdoor activity altogether.
And whenever you hike, always, always take plenty of water.
LISTEN UP, GENIUS
Travel Tip
Ryan recommends that summertime visitors forgo the trails and take the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway up Mount San Jacinto. Temperatures are usually 20 degrees cooler than at valley level, and there’s plenty of hiking and views at the top.
WELCOME TO BOOT CAMP
Trainer Joe’s Fitness
If boot camp–style circuit workouts are your thing, head to Trainer Joe’s Fitness in Palm Desert. It offers small group training classes as well as one-on-one sessions. Johnson, who opened Trainer Joe’s in 2016, says one of his gym’s main focuses is functional training—things like digging (using macebells), rowing, and other movements that replicate everyday motion.
CHEAT MEAL (AND DEAL)
The Heyday
The Heyday is where you go if you like a little flair with your fare. It does burgers very well, but it’s the martini-and-burger special for $19.75 that’s the real game changer. With a smashburger in one hand and an ice-cold martini in the other, you’ll feel both primal and sophisticated at the same time—think James Bond on a road trip. Refuel after a workout with the double patty burger, and order a basket of chicken wings for good measure. The martini won’t help with muscle recovery, but who cares?
Craving even more burgers and cocktails? Head to 1501 Uptown Gastropub for its burger (or switch it up and go for the Cubano) and classic gin concoctions.
HER MAJESTY OF HISTORY
The Palm Springs (Wo)Man
Palm Springs has a rich and vibrant queer history that’s infused into everything but the palm fronds. Throw a rhinestone in any direction and you’re likely to hit a bar or restaurant covered in rainbows. A hallmark of queer Palm Springs is its drag culture, and few drag queens know the layout and history of the valley like Anita Doll, the drag persona of local resident—and, it turns out, history buff—JD Cargill.
Cargill, 49, is the creator and owner of Drag & Fly Tours, which offers excursions through the city aboard a zhuzhed-up bus, led by drag queen tour guides you’d best refer to as “tour goddesses.”
As Anita Doll, Cargill has led over 170 bus tours since launching the company in 2024. History aside, a lot of the amusement on the excursions happens between the guests on the bus and the pedestrians on the street, according to Cargill.
“Every now and then a guy will moon us. That’s always fun,” Cargill says. See below for some personal picks from the head tour goddess herself.
- Best brunch: Holiday House. Don’t skip the tiramisu French toast.
- Best drag show: Vanity Halston at One Eleven Bar. Head over to nearby Cathedral City for one of the Coachella Valley’s best drag performances.
- Best mocktail: Lola Rose. Order the ahi crudo; you won’t be disappointed.
- Best cultural experience: Agua Caliente Cultural Museum. Anita’s number one tourist recommendation. No story of Palm Springs can be told without the Agua Caliente.
- Best sunbathing: Casa Oliver. Just because I don’t want any tan lines, darling. That’s right, Casa Oliver is a clothing-optional resort.
- Best hike: Tahquitz Canyon. Your reward on this hike—aside from the endorphins you’ll generate—is a 60-foot waterfall. Pro tip: The waterfall is seasonal, so be sure to check the website.
TIKI TAKE-OVER
Bootlegger Tiki
Bootlegger Tiki perfectly captures that sense of escapism that defined tiki bars of the mid-20th century, with their—probably problematic—fixation on Polynesian culture. The kitsch is intentional, and Bootlegger Tiki’s got a lot of it.
There’s a drink served in a ceramic snake and another that comes in a Chinese to-go container, garnished with a fortune cookie. The space is intimate, so if you’re going during peak drinking hours, it’s a good idea to make a reservation.
And for a more modern drinking vibe, check out Bart Lounge, a gay bar in nearby Cathedral City that serves up live music and entertainment with its cocktails in a neon-lit hideout.
KICKING IT
FootGolf at The Lights at Indio GC
Ever been on a golf course and thought, This would make the perfect soccer pitch? Palm Springs has you covered. It’s called FootGolf at The Lights at Indio GC, and it bills itself as the only course in Palm Springs that’s lit up at night.
The rules of footgolf are practically the same as those of golf: Get the soccer ball into a 21-inch hole in as few shots as possible. You’ll still have to deal with bunkers, though.
Photo Credit for Lead Image: Marc Glassman/Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. Jennifer Yount. Jay Diebel. Amber Duffle. The Parker Palm Springs. Stefan Krause. Getty Images. Courtesy of Visit Greater Palm Springs (2), Drag & Fly Tours, The Lights at Indio Golf Course, Philip Ross (2).
