Phoenix, Scottsdale, and Tempe
We’ve compiled the best of the best in Phoenix, Scottsdale, and Tempe - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
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1. Taliesin West
North ScottsdaleTen years after visiting Arizona in 1927 to consult on designs for the Biltmore hotel, architect Frank Lloyd Wright chose 600 acres of rugged Sonoran Desert at the foothills of the McDowell Mountains as the site for his permanent winter residence. Today it's a National Historic Landmark. Wright and apprentices constructed a desert camp here using organic architecture to integrate the buildings with their natural surroundings. In addition to the living quarters, drafting studio, and small apartments of the Apprentice Court, Taliesin West has two theaters, a music pavilion, and the Sun Trap—sleeping spaces surrounding an open patio and fireplace. Five guided tours are offered, ranging from a 90-minute "insights" tour to a three-hour behind-the-scenes tour, with other tours offered seasonally; all visitors must be accompanied by a guide. Wear comfortable shoes for walking.To reach Taliesin West, drive north on the 101 Freeway to Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard. Follow Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard for a few miles to the entrance at the corner of Cactus Road.
12621 Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd., Scottsdale, Arizona, 85259, USA888-516–0811Sight Details
Rate Includes: $38–$75, Daily 9–4, with evening tours most days. Call to confirm -
2. Arcosanti
The evolving complex and community of Arcosanti was masterminded by Italian architect Paolo Soleri to be a self-sustaining habitat in which architecture and ecology function in symbiosis. Building began in 1970, but Arcosanti hasn't quite achieved Soleri's original vision. It's still worth a stop to take a tour, have a bite at the café, and purchase one of the hand-cast bronze wind bells made on-site.
Arcosanti, Arizona, 86333, USA928-632–7135Sight Details
Rate Includes: Tour $15, Daily 9–5; hourly tours 10–4 (no noon tours) -
3. Arizona Museum of Natural History
Kids young and old get a thrill out of the largest collection of dinosaur fossils in the state. You can also pan for gold and see changing exhibits from around the world.
53 N. Macdonald St., Mesa, Arizona, 85201, USA480-644–2230Sight Details
Rate Includes: $12, Tues.–Fri. 10–5, Sat. 11–5, Sun. 1–5., Closed Mon. -
4. Arizona State University
What began in 1886 as the Tempe Normal School for Teachers, a four-room redbrick building and 20-acre cow pasture, is now the 750-acre Tempe campus of ASU, the largest university in the Southwest. The university has five campuses across the Valley, with the Tempe campus serving as headquarters. As you walk around campus, you'll wind past public art and innovative architecture—including a music building that bears a strong resemblance to a wedding cake, designed by Taliesin students to echo Frank Lloyd Wright's Gammage Auditorium, and a law library shaped like an open book—and end up at Sun Devil Stadium, which is carved out of a mountain and cradled between the Tempe buttes.
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5. Arizona State University Art Museum
This museum is in the gray-purple stucco Nelson Fine Arts Center, just north of Gammage Auditorium on the Arizona State campus. For a relatively small museum, it has an extensive collection, including 19th- and 20th-century paintings and sculptures by masters such as Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Rockwell Kent. Works by faculty and student artists are also on display, and there's a gift shop.
Mill Ave. and 10th St., Tempe, Arizona, 85287, USA480-965–2787Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free, Tues. 11–8, Wed.–Sat. 11–5. Summer hrs vary., Closed Sun. and Mon. -
Recommended Fodor’s Video
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6. Besh-Ba Gowah Archaeological Park
For a step 800 years back in time, tour the 2 acres of the excavated Salado Indian site at the Besh-Ba Gowah Archaeological Park on the southeastern side of town. After a trip through the small museum and a video introduction, view remnants of more than 200 rooms occupied by the Salado during the 13th and 14th centuries. Public areas include the central plaza (also the principal burial ground), roasting pits, and open patios. Besh-Ba Gowah is a name given by the Apaches, who, arriving in the 17th century, found the pueblo abandoned and moved in. Loosely translated, the name means "metal camp," and remains left on the site suggest it was part of an extensive commerce and trading network.
1324 S. Jesse Hayes Rd., Globe, Arizona, 85501, USA928-425–0320Sight Details
Rate Includes: $5, Closed Mon. and Tues. July–Sept., Daily 9–4:30 -
7. Boyce Thompson Arboretum
At the foot of Picketpost Mountain in Superior, the Boyce Thompson Arboretum is often called an oasis in the desert: the arid rocky expanse gives way to lush riparian glades home to 3,200 different desert plants and more than 230 bird and 72 terrestrial species. The arboretum offers a living album of the world's desert and semiarid region plants, including exotic species such as Canary Islands date palms and Australian eucalyptus. Trails offer breathtaking scenery in the gardens and the exhibits, especially during the spring wildflower season. A variety of tours are offered year-round. Benches with built-in misters offer relief from the heat. Bring along a picnic and enjoy the beauty.
37615 U.S. 60, Superior, Arizona, 85273, USA520-689–2723Sight Details
Rate Includes: $15, Oct.-Apr., daily 8–5; May-Sep. daily 6-3 -
8. Butterfly Wonderland
North ScottsdaleThe largest butterfly pavilion in the United States gives kids (and their parents) a close-up view of thousands of butterflies in a temperature-controlled rain forest environment. You should also make time to check out the honeybee exhibit and the 3D theater.
9500 E. Via De Ventura, Scottsdale, Arizona, 85256, USA480-800–3000Sight Details
Rate Includes: $25, Mar.-Aug. daily 9–6; Sep.-Feb daily 9-5 -
9. Casa Grande Ruins National Monument
This site, whose original purpose still eludes archaeologists, was unknown to European explorers until Father Kino, a Jesuit missionary, first recorded the site's existence in 1694. The area was set aside as federal land in 1892 and named a national monument in 1918. Although only a few prehistoric sites can be viewed, more than 60 are in the monument area, including the 35-foot-tall—that's four stories—Casa Grande (Big House). The tallest known Hohokam building, Casa Grande was built in the early 14th century and is believed by some to have been an ancient astronomical observatory or a center of government, religion, trade, or education. Allow an hour to explore the site, longer if park rangers are giving a talk or leading a tour. On your way out, cross the parking lot by the covered picnic grounds and climb the platform for a view of a ball court and two platform mounds, said to date from the 1100s.
1100 W. Ruins Dr., Coolidge, Arizona, 85228, USA520-723–3172Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free, Daily 9–5 -
10. Cave Creek Museum
Exhibits at the Cave Creek Museum depict pioneer living, mining, and ranching. See an original 1920s tuberculosis cabin and a collection of artifacts from the Hohokam and Yavapai tribes.
6140 E. Skyline Dr., Cave Creek, Arizona, 85327, USA480-488–2764Sight Details
Rate Includes: $7, Oct.–May, Wed., Thurs., and weekends 1–4:30, Fri. 10–4:30, Closed June–Sept. Closed Sat.--Tues. -
11. Deer Valley Petroglyph Preserve
Indigenous SightThis is the largest concentration of ancient petroglyphs in the metropolitan Phoenix area. Some 1,500 of the cryptic symbols are here, left behind by Native American cultures that lived in the Valley (or passed through) during the last 1,000 years. After watching a video about the petroglyphs, pick up a pair of binoculars ($1) and an informative trail map and set out on the ¼-mile path. Telescopes point to some of the most skillful petroglyphs; they range from human and animal forms to more abstract figures.
3711 W. Deer Valley Rd., Phoenix, Arizona, 85308, USA623-582–8007Sight Details
Rate Includes: $7, Oct.–Apr., Tues.–Sat. 9–5 -
12. Desert Caballeros Western Museum
One of the best collections of Western art in the nation includes paintings and sculpture by Frederic Remington, Albert Bierstadt, Joe Beeler (founder of the Cowboy Artists of America), and others. Kids enjoy the re-creation of a turn-of-the-20th-century Main Street that includes a general store, period clothing, and a large collection of cowboy gear.
21 N. Frontier St., Wickenburg, Arizona, 85390, USA928-684–2272Sight Details
Rate Includes: $12, Mon.–Sat. 10–5, Sun. noon–4, Closed Mon. June--Aug. -
13. Frontier Town
The pseudo-Western Frontier Town has wooden sidewalks, ramshackle buildings, and souvenir shops.
6245 E. Cave Creek Rd., Cave Creek, Arizona, 85327, USASight Details
Rate Includes: Free -
14. Goldfield Ghost Town
Goldfield became an instant town of about 4,000 residents after a gold strike in 1892; it dried up five years later when the gold mine flooded. Today the Goldfield Ghost Town is an interesting place to grab a cool drink, pan for gold, go for a mine tour, or take a desert jeep ride or horseback tour of the area. The ghost town's shops and saloon are open daily and gunfights are held on weekends.
4650 N. Mammoth Mine Rd., Goldfield, Arizona, 85219, USA480-983–0333Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free -
15. Hassayampa River Preserve
Self-guided trails wind through lush cottonwood-willow forests, mesquite trees, and around a 4-acre, spring-fed pond and marsh habitat. Waterfowl, herons, and Arizona's rarest raptors shelter here.
49614 U.S. 60, Wickenburg, Arizona, 85390, USA928-684–2772Sight Details
Rate Includes: $5, Sun.-Thu. 6-8; Fri.-Sat. 6-10., Closed Mon.--Wed. -
16. Jail Tree
Prisoners were chained to this now 200-year-old mesquite tree on the northeast corner of Wickenburg Way and Tegner Street. The desert heat sometimes finished them off before their sentences were served.
Wickenburg, Arizona, 85390, USA -
17. LEGOLAND Discovery Center Arizona
Imagine thousands of square feet full of LEGO bricks, and not having to clean up any of them. No, it's not a dream---it's LEGOLAND. Kids can see giant LEGO creations as well as play, build, and watch. Buy a dual ticket with the adjoining Sea Life Arizona Aquarium and save on admission.
5000 Arizona Mills Cir., Tempe, Arizona, 85282, USA855-450–0558Sight Details
Rate Includes: $25 -
18. Lost Dutchman State Park
As the Phoenix metro area gives way to cactus- and creosote-dotted desert, the massive escarpment of the Superstition Mountains heaves into view and slides by to the north. The Superstitions are supposedly where the legendary Lost Dutchman Mine is, the location—not to mention the existence—of which has been hotly debated since pioneer days.
5470 N. Apache Trail, Apache Junction, Arizona, 85119, USASight Details
Rate Includes: $7 per vehicle -
19. Mesa Grande Cultural Park
Unpreserved in the middle of the city for years, this amazing, six-acre historic site features a group of Hohokam structures dating to 1400–1100 BC. Once protected only by locals and the occasional landowner, it's now operated by the Arizona Museum of Natural History.
1000 N. Date St., Mesa, Arizona, 85201, USA480-644–3075Sight Details
Rate Includes: $5, Oct.–May., Wed.–Fri. 10–2, weekends 10–4, Closed mid-May–mid-Oct. Closed Mon. and Tues. -
20. Old Town Scottsdale
Old TownKnown as "the West's Most Western Town," this area has rustic storefronts and wooden sidewalks alongside some of the best dining and window-shopping in town. It can be exceptionally touristy in some areas, but it's also the closest you'll come to the "Old West" as it was 80 years ago. High-quality jewelry and Mexican imports are sold alongside kitschy souvenirs.
Main St. from Scottsdale Rd. to Brown Ave., Scottsdale, Arizona, 85251, USA
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