Lake Havasu City

If there's an Arizona Riviera, this is it. Lake Havasu has more than 45 miles of lake shoreline—it's actually a dammed section of the Colorado River—and the area gets less than 4 inches of rain annually, which means it's almost always sunny. Spring, winter, and fall are the best times to visit; in summer, temperatures often exceed 100°F. You can rent everything from water skis to Jet Skis, small fishing boats to large houseboats. The lake area has about a dozen RV parks and campgrounds, more than 120 boat-in campsites, and hundreds of hotel and motel rooms. There are golf and tennis facilities, as well as fishing guides who'll help you find, and catch, the big ones. This city of about 58,000 has grown rapidly over the past couple of decades, and downtown has become steadily more upscale—at least compared with the rest of northwestern Arizona.