Orbit In

About Orbit In

Orbit In is one of Palm Springs' purest mid-century experiences, a 1957 courtyard compound designed by Herbert Burns, the architect who helped define the city's apartment-hotel style. Tucked into the Historic Tennis Club neighborhood at the base of the San Jacinto Mountains, it was restored as a shrine to modernism and later joined local operator Town and Desert Hospitality, which also holds Burns' Hideaway and Desert Hills nearby. The furnishings are the real thing: pieces by Charles and Ray Eames, Eero Saarinen, George Nelson, Harry Bertoia, and Isamu Noguchi fill rooms themed around design icons. TIME called it modernist heaven and the place to stay. Adults-only and intimate, it treats the mid-century era as a living thing rather than a costume.

What Orbit In Is Known For

Very few properties anywhere commit to mid-century design the way Orbit In does. The furnishings are not reproductions styled to look the part, they are genuine pieces by the designers who defined the movement, arranged in a Herbert Burns building that was already a landmark of the form. That authenticity, paired with the ritual of the poolside Orbitini, is what earned it TIME's modernist heaven line and a devoted following of design pilgrims who return year after year.

Amenities

• Daily poolside Orbitini cocktail hour
• Authentic Eames, Saarinen, Nelson, Bertoia, and Noguchi furnishings
• Gated hot tub with fire pit
• Complimentary bikes
• In-room record players with vinyl
• Private rear patios in select rooms

The Room

Each room is furnished around authentic mid-century design, with themed rooms honoring the era's icons: the Eames Studio, the Frey Lounge named for architect Albert Frey, and a Rat Pack Room hung with photos of the entertainers and fitted with a turntable and vinyl. Original tile, vintage kitchen fixtures, and period furnishings run throughout, so the rooms read as curated rather than decorated. Several open to private rear patios. Record players with vintage records, quality bedding, and thoughtful touches like complimentary sun care products round out the stay. Every room opens directly onto the courtyard and pool.

The Grounds

The heart of Orbit In is its courtyard: a classic mid-century compound with rooms arranged around a quiet heated pool, loungers, and parasols, framed by dramatic mountain views. A separate gated hot tub sits beside a fire pit, and the Boomerang bar anchors the daily cocktail hour. Complimentary bikes are available for cruising the flat Tennis Club streets. Parking is free and on-site, and there are no resort fees. The whole property is single-story, so the desert and the mountains stay in constant view.

The Experience

The signature ritual is the Orbitini. Each afternoon the property pours its house cocktail during happy hour, and guests drift out to the pool to trade travel notes as the light softens on the mountains. Days here move slowly: a swim, a soak in the gated hot tub, a bike ride to downtown, a record spinning back in the room. The communal fridge keeps drinks and yogurt within reach, and the coffee is on all morning. It is a grown-up, unhurried kind of stay, the sort where you find yourself doing a lot of nothing on purpose and loving it.

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