Avalon Hotel and Bungalows Palm Springs

A 1930s Hideaway Rewired in Technicolor

Long before Palm Springs became a byword for mid-century cool, this corner of downtown was already drawing Hollywood for the weekend. Built in the early 1930s as the Estrella Motor Inn, the property added its first bungalows soon after opening and quietly hosted the likes of Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe, who came for the privacy as much as the sun. The Kor Group took over in the early 2000s and brought in designer Kelly Wearstler, whose redesign kept the bones, the central courtyard, the tiled pathways, the casita-style villas, while layering in bold color and pattern. The result, renamed Avalon under Proper Hospitality in 2015, reads less like a renovation than a wardrobe change: same house, entirely new attitude.

Why It Works

We kept coming back to one detail: three separate pools rather than one obvious centerpiece, each with its own mood, set among grounds planted with pink grapefruit and ficus that make the property feel larger and softer than its downtown address suggests. The Spanish Revival shell survived Wearstler's redesign intact, so the color and pattern read as additions rather than a theme imposed from scratch. On a strip where boutique can mean small and plain, this one has scale, a working spa, two kitchens between the hotel and its sister property, and enough variety of room types that a couple can book the same address twice and stay somewhere different.

Why This Location

415 South Belardo Road sits at the quiet southern edge of downtown Palm Springs, close enough to walk to the restaurants and galleries along Palm Canyon Drive but shielded from the Saturday-night crowds by a run of private walls and mature trees. The San Jacinto Mountains rise directly behind the property, close enough that the tram station is a short drive rather than an excursion. It is a location built for coming and going on foot after dark, not for a rental car sitting in a lot.

Fast Facts

• Price: €€€€ (Luxe)

• Vibe: Spanish Revival, Hollywood glamour, color-drenched

• Rooms: Studios, suites and private villas, spread across low-slung Spanish-style buildings

• Best For: Couples on a design-led getaway, not a resort crowd

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: Three distinct pools, each with its own temperament rather than one shared deck

• Dining: Marlowe's for poolside California cooking, Melvyn's Restaurant at sister property Ingleside Estate for American classics

• Amenities: Estrella Spa, three heated pools, cabanas, fireplaces in select villas, access to Ingleside Estate's pool and fire pit

• Attractions: Palm Canyon Drive shops and galleries, Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, Downtown Park

Rooms, Bungalows and Villas

Accommodations run from compact studios to thirteen private villas and bungalows, several with their own sun terraces and fireplaces for the desert's cold-weather nights. The Spanish-style buildings are kept low and spread across the grounds rather than stacked, so no two rooms share quite the same outlook: some open onto a pool deck, others onto the courtyard's tiled paths. The villas are the ones to request for a longer stay or a group traveling together, since they come closest to a private house within the larger property.

Marlowe's, the Estrella Spa, and Life by the Pool

Marlowe's sits right at the pool's edge and runs from breakfast through late-night cocktails, built around straightforward California cooking rather than a chef's tasting menu. Treatments at Estrella Spa change with the season, and the spa itself is small enough to feel like a house amenity rather than a destination in its own right. Guests can also walk the short distance to sister property Ingleside Estate for Melvyn's Restaurant and a second pool scene with hammocks and a fire pit, a change of scenery without leaving on foot.

Before You Book

This is a property built around its grounds and its pools, so a stay here rewards slowing down rather than using the hotel purely as a base for day trips, though Joshua Tree and the Aerial Tramway are both within easy reach for those who want them. The adult-leaning pool areas and intimate scale suit couples and small groups more than families, and the walk into downtown after dark is one of the property's quiet advantages over hotels further from Palm Canyon Drive.