Palm Springs

Palm Springs filled with winter and weekend houses in the mid-20th century, many of them for Hollywood, and architects including Richard Neutra, whose Kaufmann Desert House dates from 1946, Albert Frey, E. Stewart Williams and William Krisel built here in volume, leaving the midcentury modern houses the city is known for. Modernism Week each February runs tours into houses normally closed. The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway climbs from the desert floor at about 800 metres to 2,600 in the San Jacinto mountains in rotating cars that turn twice during the ascent, and the top can be up to twenty-two degrees cooler, with snow in winter.

What to look for

• Midcentury modern houses - Neutra, Frey, Williams, Krisel.
• Modernism Week in February - tours into normally private houses.
• A rotating aerial tram - cars turning twice on the climb.
• Snow at the top in winter - while the valley is warm.

When to go

November to April; summer regularly exceeds forty degrees. A full day.

Things to know

Summer heat is genuinely dangerous for outdoor activity. Most modernist houses are private - Modernism Week is the exception. Tram tickets sell out and the top is cold. Coachella season in April fills the valley.

Nearby

Joshua Tree is north-east; the Salton Sea is south-east.