Phoenix travel guide
Where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Things to do in Phoenix, planned over three days
Best time to visit Phoenix
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Fall is the underrated best window, with highs falling to the 70s, patios back and prices below winter peak.
Winter is peak season and peak price, with highs in the high 60s to low 70s and cold desert nights.
Spring is co best weather, with wildflowers in a wet year and the baseball and fair window. March books out.
Summer is extreme heat and the bargain season. Hiking is dawn only or closed, and monsoon runs July to early September.
What's on
- Phoenix Pride October
A headline fall event as First Fridays and patio season return.
- Arizona State Fair October
Held at the fairgrounds in fall.
- Barrett-Jackson January
In neighbouring Scottsdale, with a Valley wide hotel spike. Book months out.
- WM Phoenix Open early February
In neighbouring Scottsdale, with a Valley wide hotel spike. Book months out.
- Devour Culinary Festival February
The state's best food festival, held at the Desert Botanical Garden.
- ZooLights December
Evening lights at the Phoenix Zoo in winter.
- Las Noches de las Luminarias December evenings
Evening luminarias at the Desert Botanical Garden. Timed entry sells out.
- Cactus League Spring Training late Feb to late Mar
Ten Valley ballparks, five within easy Phoenix reach.
- Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market March
The Heard's biggest weekend, with 600 plus Native artists.
- Arizona Restaurant Week May
The spring edition follows spring training, with fall dates also held.
Worth the trip for
Best things to do in Phoenix
Musical Instrument Museum
Hear instruments from about 200 countries through a headset as you tour, plus a hands-on gallery.
Heard Museum
The definitive museum of American Indian art and history, with Native work shown from a first-person view.
Desert Botanical Garden
Trails among red buttes teach you to read the Sonoran Desert, with saguaros, agaves and wildflowers.
Phoenix Art Museum
The largest general art museum in the Southwest, strong on American, Latin American and contemporary work.
Roosevelt Row
Murals, galleries and bungalow bars in the walkable arts district, at full strength on First Fridays.
Hole-in-the-Rock
A free ten minute climb through a red sandstone window to the classic city view, best at sunset.
Phoenix Zoo
A well regarded zoo in Papago Park that fills a half day easily with kids.
Heritage Square
The oldest surviving block in Phoenix, a free wander past Victorian houses and the original Pizzeria Bianco.
Where to stay in Phoenix
Downtown / Roosevelt Row
first trip, culture and food base
Light rail, walkable dinners, Chase Field, the Orpheum and First Fridays, though quiet on non event weeknights.
Midtown / Central Ave
quiet, local base
Leafy and light rail served by the Heard and Art Museum, with downtown dinners one rail stop away.
Biltmore / Arcadia / Camelback corridor
resort base, best for couples
Prestige resorts, Biltmore Fashion Park and Arcadia restaurants at Camelback's foot, but car dependent for downtown.
North Phoenix / Desert Ridge
families and MIM or golf trips
Destination resorts to stay in for themselves, with the MIM five minutes away and downtown 25 to 30 minutes away.
Tempe / ASU
budget and nightlife alternative
Cheaper hotels and Mill Ave bars on the light rail, as long as you know you are sleeping in a college town.
Think twice about
- Human Services Campus area southwest of downtown
Around 9th to 15th Aves and Madison to Jefferson, street homelessness, drug use and disorder remain the highest in the city.
- East Van Buren Street motel strip
The cheap motel corridor between about 16th and 32nd Sts, long associated with prostitution, drugs and weekly occupancy.
- MetroCenter and I-17 corridor
Around Dunlap and Northern in northwest Phoenix, a worn motel and strip mall corridor far from anything you came for.
- Maryvale and far west Phoenix
Residential, 25 plus minutes from everything and with no visitor infrastructure, so a poor base whatever the price.
Best restaurants in Phoenix
Bacanora
Sonoran live fire cooking in a small loud room, the hardest and most worth it dinner reservation in Phoenix.
Lom Wong
Regional Thai family recipes from Chiang Rai to the Moklen coast in a Row bungalow, unlike any other Thai room here.
Christopher's at Wrigley Mansion
Formal tasting menu fine dining in a glass pavilion above the city, the anniversary dinner.
Chilte
New wave Mexican in a converted motel on Grand Ave, ingredient obsessive and nationally noticed.
Pizzeria Bianco
Chris Bianco's famous wood fired pies in a brick building on Heritage Square, including the Rosa with Arizona pistachio and rosemary.
Glai Baan
Serious Thai street food in a vine covered midtown house, the mid priced dinner locals queue for.
Valentine
An Arizona ingredient restaurant and bar in a mid century furniture store room, the date night pick.
Fry Bread House
Tohono O'odham owned fry bread tacos and hominy stew, the cheapest essential meal in Phoenix.
Outdoor things to do in Phoenix
Camelback Mountain
The signature summit, a steep rocky scramble to the best 360 degree view in the Valley. Start before sunrise.
Piestewa Peak
The locals summit, climbing about 1200 feet in 1.2 miles to a panorama. Sunrise is the move.
South Mountain Park and Preserve
One of the largest US municipal parks, with the National Trail, bike loops and Hohokam petroglyphs.
Dobbins Lookout
A free drive up lookout in South Mountain Park that is the sunset version of the park.
Papago Park
Flat desert loops, Hole-in-the-Rock and Hunt's Tomb inside the city, doable with kids or grandparents.
Hole-in-the-Rock
The easy dawn version of Papago's red butte climb, paired with the Botanical Garden for a half day.
Papago Golf Club
The beloved municipal course in Papago Park and ASU home course, the round locals recommend first.
Raven Golf Club Phoenix
A pine lined course at the foot of South Mountain, the best public round in the city for the money.
Best hotels in Phoenix
Kimpton Hotel Palomar Phoenix CityScape
The downtown default, a full service Kimpton with a rooftop pool at CityScape.
FOUND:RE Phoenix
Art forward boutique by Roosevelt Row, the best value design stay downtown with rates from about 95 dollars.
Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel
A reliable full service downtown hotel for event and game nights.
The Westin Phoenix Downtown
The other reliable full service downtown option for event and game nights.
The Clarendon Hotel
A mid century boutique with a rooftop deck, the midtown local favourite.
Rise Uptown Hotel
A colourful boutique at Camelback and Central with a rooftop lounge, a top mid range pick.
Hampton Inn Phoenix-Midtown
The practical cheap sleep on the light rail line in midtown.
Arizona Biltmore, LXR Hotels & Resorts
The 1929 Wright influenced grande dame of the Biltmore corridor, the resort splurge.
Is Phoenix expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | $98 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | $275 a person |
| Splurge | $550 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Musical Instrument Museum: a few days ahead
- Desert Botanical Garden: a few days ahead
- Orpheum Theatre: weeks ahead
- Phoenix Symphony: weeks ahead
- We-Ko-Pa Golf Club: weeks ahead
- Troon North Golf Club: weeks ahead
- Lower Salt River: a few days ahead
- Float Balloon Tours: a few days ahead
- Book hotels first from October to April, then Bacanora, Lom Wong, Christophers and Chilte.
- Desert Botanical Garden timed entry sells out in peak season and for Luminarias nights.
- We-Ko-Pa and Troon North golf book 2 to 4 weeks out from January to March.
- Book balloon flights with a spare morning in case of wind.
Is Phoenix safe?
- Heat is the top danger. Hike dawn only from May to September and treat headache or stopped sweating as an emergency.
- Watch for rattlesnakes, scorpions and javelinas at trailheads and resort edges.
- Trailhead car break-ins are the main property crime. Leave nothing visible.
- Monsoon brings flash floods and dust storms. Never drive through flooded washes and pull fully off the road in a haboob.
- Check your government's current travel advice before you go.
Phoenix travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Basing in Scottsdale when your list is Phoenix, or the reverse, adds a 25 minute drive each way daily.
- Camelback is not a casual pre brunch stroll. Piestewa Freedom Trail or Papago is the casual version.
- Downtown is quiet on non event Sundays and Mondays, and several top tables are Wednesday to Sunday only.
- Timeshare and resort credit presentations at corridor resorts, and Van Buren airport hotel bargains.
- The Grand Canyon as an afterthought day trip.
Getting around Phoenix: public transport and more
- Valley Metro light rail runs Sky Harbor to downtown, Roosevelt Row, Midtown, Tempe and Mesa.
- Everything off the rail spine needs a car, and trailhead parking fills by 8 to 9am on winter weekends.
- Sky Harbor is 10 to 15 minutes from downtown, with a free Sky Train to the light rail.
- Arizona does not observe daylight saving time, so check flight and tee time maths in March and November.
Who Phoenix suits
| Solo travellers | Great |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Good |
| Families | Great |
| Bachelorette parties | Good |
Make Phoenix your trip
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