There are lots of free things to do in Palm Springs that will break your boredom without busting your budget.
Let’s Start At The Very Beginning
Lounging by the pool is the #1 free thing to do in Palm Springs. It all starts here and helps set that stress-free relaxing stay you won’t want to leave. This is quality time everyone deserves.
Palm Springs 2
Listen to Live Music
Let’s begin our tour at the Agua Caliente Casino. Every Sunday, the top-notch talent fires up a spicy blend of salsa sounds and banda bravura, so dip in and groove out!
Palm Springs Casino
It’s always ladies night at Dead or Alive, a wine bar with attitude. Sit back and sip heartily on the patio, where you’ll TGI-Free-Friday! Check your calendar and check your inhibitions at the door, because there are always hip happenings at Ace Hotel & Swim Club. From live DJ sets to livelier jazz ensembles, dive into live music.
Palm Springs Ladies Night
Keep the vibes vrooming through VillageFest, the must-experience street fair on Palm Canyon every Thursday night. Artisans unveil innovative wares in the open air as succulent street food sizzles its way to perfection all around you. Enjoy a beverage and a show as various bands entertain passersby for the princely sum of zero dollars!
Palm Springs VillageFest
Art & About
Palm Springs Nighttime VillageFest
Maximize your freedom every Thursday. Not only is VillageFest the talk of the town, the Palm Springs Art Museum also offers free admission from 5pm-7pm. Modern and contemporary exhibits mingle with the vibrant traditions of Native American artifacts. Set your designs on the signature architecture that makes our berg so brilliant and plan your next visit to experience all the museum has is store. This truly is the intersection between tradition and expression.
Backstreet Art District is a great way to visit working artists studios. It is a unique community of artists’ working studios and galleries. The first Wednesday of each month is their Art Walk that begins at 5pm.
Art Wall
Walk This Way
If you prefer to keep your feet on the ground, traverse the terrain of our majestic landscapes, be they urban or mountainous.
Palm Springs Marilyn Statue
Click a picture of you with the 26-foot high Marilyn Monroe statue located just in front of the Palm Springs art museum. Right next to Marilyn is the Downtown Park. Pack a lunch and enjoy a relaxing afternoon with the beauty of the San Jacinto mountains as a backdrop.
Palm Springs Mountain Views
If you’re a shopaholic, check out the storefronts in our Uptown Design District. Cinephiles will swoon at the celebrities lining our esteemed Walk of Stars, peppered with legends of the silver screen.
We’re not done! There are lots of walking trails throughout Palm Springs. Some of the more popular include the North and South Lykken Trails, named after the owner of the first retail store in Palm Springs who loved to hike.
Palm Springs Hiking
Enjoy a Self-Guided Bike Tour
A great way to see Palm Springs is to explore the neighborhoods, and what better way than on a bike. Most hotels and resorts now offer complimentary bikes. When you check in, see about reserving a bike for a morning ride.
Palm Springs Biking
Explore Midcentury Architecture
A great way to learn more about our famous midcentury architecture is to do this is on a self-guided architecture drive tour. Get to know the neighborhoods and learn about the architects and developers that helped make Palm Springs so special.
There really are no limits to the free (or practically free) attractions here in town. So invest in the best, which is you and your time in Palm Springs!
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Studio S
AUGUST 10, 2026
The Secret to a Home That Feels Just Right
Behind every beautiful space is a thoughtful process, and ASID San Diego is helping homeowners understand the value of professional design.
A perfectly designed home rarely happens by accident. Those kitchens that feel effortless and rooms that seem to tell a story the second you walk in? They’re usually the work of someone who knows exactly what they’re doing.
It’s knowing which ideas will actually work, which materials will hold up over time, and how to turn a collection of choices into a space that feels intentional. That’s where a professional interior designer comes in.
For the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) California San Diego Chapter, the goal is to help people see interior design as more than just the finished look. Behind every well-designed space is a process built on technical expertise. Designers are educated in everything from professional software and construction details to building codes, space planning, materials, and functionality.
Courtesy of ASID
“People don’t always realize how much goes on behind the scenes,” Kirsten Recce , current president of the ASID California San Diego Chapter, says. “Our designers are not just doing furniture placement and color selection and picking out new fluffy pillows. That’s not what they’re trained for.”
ASID members bring formal education, continued learning, and industry knowledge to their projects, helping create spaces that are not only beautiful, but designed to work. A paint color that changes completely depending on the lighting. A material that looks beautiful in a showroom but doesn’t make sense for everyday life. A layout that photographs well but doesn’t function for the people living there. These are the details where professional guidance can make all the difference.
Still, one of the biggest misconceptions about hiring an interior designer is that it’s reserved for massive renovations, luxury homes, or people who already know exactly what they want. The process can feel intimidating. Where do you begin? Is a designer worth the investment? What if you only need help with one room?
ASID’s answer: start with one hour.
ASID’s Spruce Up events break down one of the biggest barriers between homeowners and professional design: knowing where to begin. Held twice a year, the community program gives homeowners the chance to work directly with an ASID designer through a one-hour, $125 consultation in their own home. Whether you’re looking for advice on furniture placement, window treatments, kitchen and bath updates, remodeling ideas, vacation rentals, color selections or something else entirely, the upcoming September 2026 event offers an approachable way to get expert guidance before committing to a full project. Signups are open through Sept. 7, with consultations taking place Sept. 21 through Oct. 31. Proceeds benefit ASID San Diego’s educational and community programs. Register here!
Courtesy of ASID
“It’s a great opportunity for people who are in that exploratory phase,” Recce says. “Maybe they’re not sure they want to hire an interior designer yet, or they think it sounds daunting or expensive. This gives them a chance to discover what working with a designer is actually like.”
Design is personal. A good designer isn’t just creating a beautiful room; they’re helping create a space that fits the way someone lives.
“We’re a resource to all of San Diego County,” Recce says. “It doesn’t cost anything to pick up the phone and call and ask. We’ll answer.”
Mai Vue was just 34 weeks pregnant when she delivered her baby. Her pregnancy had been complicated, and she’d had a recent second trimester pregnancy loss, which led to her receiving specialized care from Sean Daneshmand, MD, a Scripps Clinic perinatologist who oversees high-risk pregnancies. Dr. Daneshmand and his team took care of Mai during her pregnancy, through the birth of her healthy baby girl and beyond. Mai was part of a program Scripps launched to provide support to new moms in the weeks and months after delivery. The postpartum program, known as Scripps Health’s Fourth Trimester Continuum of Care, provides care for women with high-risk pregnancies to optimize their health after childbirth and reduce the risk of complications in future pregnancies. Click here to learn more.
For more nutrition, wellness, and healthy living tips, sign up for the San Diego Health newsletter here.
It’s estimated that one in five people in the U.S. will develop skin cancer at some point in their lives. When you factor in living in a sun-soaked city like San Diego and the outdoorsy lifestyle that comes with it, that figure can jump to as high as one in three, which makes early detection and intervention all the more important. Dermatologists at Bighorn Mohs and Dermatology Center are using innovative imaging methods and advanced surgical techniques to diagnose and treat skin cancer. For certain cancers in sensitive spots, like the face, dermatologists perform Mohs surgery, removing skin tissue layer by layer until reaching healthy, cancer-free tissue. They also use a process called immunohistochemistry to view tissue samples taken during Mohs surgery in far greater detail than previous methods. Read more about how Scripps is advancing skin cancer care here.
For more nutrition, wellness, and healthy living tips, sign up for the San Diego Health newsletter here.
When endurance athlete Isaac Sanchez learned he had cancer, he felt blindsided. He was healthy, surfed often and was training for an Ironman triathlon. But he had to put that on hold to undergo treatment. His physicians at Scripps Cancer Center developed a plan to treat the cancer in his tonsil and lymph nodes that included six-and-a-half weeks of near-daily radiation and weekly chemotherapy. He also worked with a Scripps Cancer Center dietitian to enhance his nutrition to promote strength and healing. Today, Isaac’s back to doing what he loves. Read more of his story here.
For more nutrition, wellness, and healthy living tips, sign up for the San Diego Health newsletter here.
While glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agents have been used to treat Type 2 diabetes for more than 20 years, their recent emergence as weight-loss wonder drugs marked a new frontier in medicine. But their effectiveness has left some patients wondering what to do once they’ve reached their goal. Stopping the medication could mean regaining some, if not all, of the weight. A Scripps Clinic internal medicine physician recently conducted a small study of whether GLP-1 patients who had reached their goal weight could maintain that weight by taking their regularly prescribed injection every other week instead of weekly. Spoiler alert: 30 of 34 patients did. Read more about the study here and what that may mean as pharmaceutical companies roll out oral GLP-1s.
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Chemotherapy and radiation have long been considered gold standards of cancer treatment, but they can cause severe side effects. A promising new approach called theranostics—a combination of “therapeutics” and “diagnostics”—could offer patients with certain types of metastatic cancers new hope. It’s a two-step process that uses a drug that binds to specific receptors on cancer cells. Advanced imaging detects this radioisotope, allowing doctors to then use a second radioisotope that binds to the cancer cells and destroys them. Click here to learn more about how specialists at Scripps Cancer Center are using theranostics.
For more nutrition, wellness, and healthy living tips, sign up for the San Diego Health newsletter here.
