GLBT Travelers - Palm Springs what to do

I want to do one more warm weather trip to round out "my getting out of NYC as much as possible from December through March." I already have trips planned to Miami, San Juan, Rio, and LA and was looking for a new destination. AA has NYC/PSP for $258++ (which would also make a semi nice 2012 qualification MR) and Palm Spring is one location I've wanted to visit. Also, I am starting to think of places to live post NYC (Manhattan is not kind to older people unless you have major money) so its a place I want to see what kind of vibe it has and is it a good place to grow older. I'm not looking for a FLL where older men try to without any shame act 25.

Any ideas for things to do, places to go and see. Unfortunately, with all the time that I have scheduled off and will want off for the remainder of 2012 I can only spare a couple of days there.

PS and FLL have a lot in common, but are also very different.
PS is small, yet has really good restaurants and nightlife. It is oriented to the West Coast. Many from LA,SFO, Portland and Seattle. I've even met guys from Anchorage there!

Like FLL there are many "seniors". 60's is considered "chicken" in PS (LOL). It's known as "God's Waiting Room" for good reason.

Coming, as you do, from NYC I think you'd die of boredom living full time in PS. FLL maybe a little better.

While I enjoy a few weeks in both , they really are nice places to visit but...........

PS is great if you golf, like to shop, are a porn star (chaser), or tan easily.

Various FT members have been getting together in Palm Spring annually for years. If you search this forum, you'll find lots of information on places to stay and things to do. I visit almost every year and have lots of notes, which I will send you if you PM me. But I have to agree with those that say that you'll get bored really quickly.

Agree with other posters that the pace of PS is VERY different than NYC. It is really a full on retirement community. There's no real industry there, so it doesn't support a lot of middle class working families. BUT since it's a retirement community and a big gay community as well, you do have a lot of infrastructure that's important for you. i.e. health care for seniors, gay resources etc. It gets extremely hot in the summers, 110 degrees is not uncommon. Cost of living is pretty cheap though, compared to NY, so at least you can afford to keep the AC on all day.

Any ideas for things to do, places to go and see

The whole point of Palm Springs is not to DO anything, it's designed for relaxing. You do have easy access to some nice West Coast cities, L.A., San Diego, San Francisco and Las Vegas as well.

I think the desert heat would drive me crazy in the summer if I had to live there full time without a job. But for a weekend or a few days, it's a really sweet getaway. (Also VX is launching direct service from JFK to PSP in December I believe and then PSP to SFO as well).

Agree with other posters that the pace of PS is VERY different than NYC. It is really a full on retirement community. There's no real industry there, so it doesn't support a lot of middle class working families. BUT since it's a retirement community and a big gay community as well, you do have a lot of infrastructure that's important for you. i.e. health care for seniors, gay resources etc. It gets extremely hot in the summers, 110 degrees is not uncommon. Cost of living is pretty cheap though, compared to NY, so at least you can afford to keep the AC on all day.



The whole point of Palm Springs is not to DO anything, it's designed for relaxing. You do have easy access to some nice West Coast cities, L.A., San Diego, San Francisco and Las Vegas as well.

I think the desert heat would drive me crazy in the summer if I had to live there full time without a job. But for a weekend or a few days, it's a really sweet getaway. (Also VX is launching direct service from JFK to PSP in December I believe and then PSP to SFO as well).

Since we already have a multiple page thread on gay retirement I don't want to rehash it here but PS has a lot I would want (warm weather, low cost of living, good services). What I was asking for is a good place to go in PS that would for the lack of better words give me a "feel" for the place. I've been to FLL and it seems like its a huge gathering of 55+ that still want to shop for clothes at Gaymart and go dancing every Saturday with their shirts off. I looking more for friendships, some activities such as hiking, biking, etc., a nice house, not looking to recreate my very fun filled circuit party days.

Various FT members have been getting together in Palm Spring annually for years. If you search this forum, you'll find lots of information on places to stay and things to do. I visit almost every year and have lots of notes, which I will send you if you PM me. But I have to agree with those that say that you'll get bored really quickly.

Agree, we should almost have a master thread on PSP as there is a lot of good info/advice in the Do threads as well as others specific to PSP. OP should really do some homework.

Agree, we should almost have a master thread on PSP as there is a lot of good info/advice in the Do threads as well as others specific to PSP. OP should really do some homework.

To be fair though - the Do threads (as well as many of the other ones on PSP) focus on the gay resorts (and their atmosphere). Not a lot of info on what to do.

FWIW, I've often thought of the idea of Master Threads for locations for our GLBT forum but never implemented it since the scene seems to change "all the time" and the forum isn't really busy enough to discourage new threads (not that people shouldn't search for existing info and add / ask questions in them) and organize the forum in ways that busier core forums need to be organized (like "my" two other forums Hyatt and National).

Also, I am starting to think of places to live post NYC (Manhattan is not kind to older people unless you have major money) so its a place I want to see what kind of vibe it has and is it a good place to grow older. I'm not looking for a FLL where older men try to without any shame act 25.

I spent a few years going to PS for the same reason. There is truth that the PS men tend to be older, but there is also a good mix of younger guys too. As a result of my travels there, I finally bought a house in July as a vacation/retirement home. I have met some great guys there, and the older men tend to act their age. Much of the gay population in PS are transplants from LA and SF, but I have met quite a few guys from the east coast as well.

Any ideas for things to do, places to go and see. Unfortunately, with all the time that I have scheduled off and will want off for the remainder of 2012 I can only spare a couple of days there.

PS has activities outside of the bars and clubs. The art museum has a decent art collection, there are many art galleries, and there are several parks and wildlife areas to explore.

My friends in PS say this is always a great week:

Modernism Week in Palm Springs - February 16-26, 2012 (http://www.modernismweek.com/)

PS has activities outside of the bars and clubs. The art museum has a decent art collection, there are many art galleries, and there are several parks and wildlife areas to explore.

I know it's ridiculous to compare a world class city like New York to Palm Springs, and certainly the Desert Art Museum is "decent." There's also the Air Museum, the tram, Agua Caliente Cultural Museum, nearby Joshua Tree National Park, a great collection of mid-century modern architecture,
Moorten Botanical Garden and the Village Fest on Thursday nights. That's pretty much it. I don't know the OP, but even with regular trips to LA or San Diego, I can't imagine not getting really, really bored after a short while.

I know it's ridiculous to compare a world class city like New York to Palm Springs, and certainly the Desert Art Museum is "decent." There's also the Air Museum, the tram, Agua Caliente Cultural Museum, nearby Joshua Tree National Park, a great collection of mid-century modern architecture,
Moorten Botanical Garden and the Village Fest on Thursday nights. That's pretty much it. I don't know the OP, but even with regular trips to LA or San Diego, I can't imagine not getting really, really bored after a short while.

I was responding to the end of his post, which says he has a couple of days to spend. I do not disagree that the activities available would run out after a certain period.

For the short-term purposes of the OP, there's plenty to do in PS for a long weekend/short week for even the most jaded New Yorker. Modernism Week is a fun event, with lots of interesting stuff to do.

We've been going for the last 5 years, and this year are starting to re-do things which we did the first year (Joshua Tree, for instance). More fun, though, are the friends we've started collecting who we get to hang out with. Some are in PS, some are in LA and come in while we're there, others travel with us/in conjunction with us.


Longer term, for a longer commitment, there are some conscious shifts you're going to have to do to down-gauge and slow down if you're making a move. The heat will enervate you...there's no doubt, but we're told you adjust. As with FLL, there is a certain amount of "alcohol fueled" life which you need to come to grips with.

Well the trip is planned for early March and I am looking forward to it. As discussed many times before finding a place to retire as a gay man is not easy and our community has not yet come to full terms about growing old. Sadly I see too many older gay men constantly trying to insert themselves in the world of youger gay men with horrific results but thats another thread for another time.

Thanks for everyone's input and info.

Enjoy your trip and report back!

In my two years living in Palm Springs my favorite thing to do was long drives. Convertible is great, as is a Hog (Harley Davidson). Here are a couple favorites:

1. San Francisco. This requires a commitment of several days and rewards you handsomely. There is the obvious attraction of ending up in San Francisco. But the journey is wonderful. Drive north through Desert Hot Springs (no freeways) and up the canyon, on the other side is Twentynine Palms, your country's biggest Marine Corps base. From here plot a trip north and west any way you want. My preferred way is the desolate desert roads. The Tehachapi pass through the Sierras is not to be missed. Highway 99 through the San Joaquin valley IS. Fresno is not the centre of the gay universe but I can attest that there is action there. Come home a different way from the way you went.

2. Las Vegas. A New Yorker without a sense of humor should never go to Vegas because you won't enjoy it. But if you can easily imagine yourself getting "into" the absurdity of the place and enjoying the memory, then go, and enjoy the desert drive from Palm Springs. Look at your map and plot a course that avoids freeways as much as possible. If you go through Amboy, CA you've got it right. Zero inhabitants, zero buildings, zero industry, one immaculate, modern, US post office. Hilarious. Scenery utterly beautiful, if you like the desert. If you don't, don't go to Palm Springs in the first place.

San Diego or Los Angeles. Either is 2 hours away and you can certainly find stuff to do. The San Diego drive is more pleasant.


Other things to occupy yourself in Palm Springs: If you're living there, there are lots of associations and organized activities/events/groups for people with the same issue. Gay businesses and residents have done a good job of creating meet 'n greet opportunities. If you end up living there you will not be isolated. If you're just visiting a few days, none of these is available or relevant, but as you look the place over, remember that meeting people is different when it's home. It'll just happen.

I miss the place a lot, as much as I now live in a bustling metropolis with a booming real estate market and a healthier economy. My visit to PSP last year really tugged at my heartstrings. I hope you feel the same.

Just a trip report about my little venture to PSP. From a scenic/beauty standpoint the place is stunning. Very much a charm about the place, almost seems like a Western updated version of Mayberry.

As it turned out my hotel was right next to what was a gay strip that included a couple of bars and cafes. The cafes were quite nice with good food and very reasonable prices (dinner including dessert and a couple of glasses of wine for about $30). There was a cheezy Gaymart clothing store (looked more like a dollar store from the outside) but the clothing was not expensive at all. Unlike Universal Gear in NYC where a pair of no name jeans goes for $200.

As expected, most of the bar scene was older but I've never been a bar fly and really do not plan to become one ever.

I have plans to go back and want to explore some of the area. This trip I mostly sat around the hotel pool where I had the beautiful pool area to myself the entire day (towards the end of the day an older couple ventured out but the woman did not like the hot sun.)

I certainly would much prefer PSP to FLL. It seems that at PSP nothing is much more than a 10 minute drive unlike FLL which is an entanglement of traffic lights. Heck, the airport was 5 minutes to downtown (but downtown was not what most urban residences would think of a downtown). And an outside airport with power outlets, how cool!

I think you have discovered what I and others have discovered about PS.. it is not the active bar scenes of FL, NY, of SF, although you will see a number of guys drinking as an everyday routine. I bought my house there last year and will be moving full time in May. What I like is the slower pace, the friendliness and laid-back attitude of the people, and the serenity. There are still plenty of things to do, but it does not involve driving in heavy traffic (as you noticed).

There are some beautiful scenic drives close by as well. Last week I drove to Idyllwild, Coachella Preserve, and Whitewater preserve. 3 very different, but very beautiful areas. Lots of hiking in all 3 places.