We'll be in Scottsdale this weekend for 3 days and staying at Marriott Old Town Suites due to $79 rate. We'd prefer a resort, but its not in the budget. I'd like to find some places to walk around sunset time to see pretty mountain background. I'm considering hotel grounds of Santuary at Camelback or maybe driving to Boulders hotel. Are there any easy trails/parks (since it will be so hot, no big hikes) or other natural places in the Scottsdale area to see the scenery?

Thank you for your help.

You should look into using priceline for scottsdale. They have a resort category. This time of the year you can probably do well on priceline.

The Marriott in Camelback has some beautiful views - we had brunch there one morning. You might want to have a sunset dinner there.

It's not exactly what you're asking but when in Phoenix, I love to drive along the Apachie Trail, located about a half hour or so east of Phoenix. I think the views are spectacular.

From what I remember when going to Elements (the restaurant at Sanctuary), the view from the restaurant is fantastic, but I'm not sure you can really walk around much and/or see much. It's been about a year, but my impression is lots of trees that would cut off your view.

When you say "walk around", I'm going to assume you aren't looking for a place to eat and watch the sunset. (Elements would fit that bill, as does Alchemy at CopperWynd in Fountain Hills).

If you want to be "up" enough to see, you might try Papago Park in South Scottsdale. It's about a five minute walk up Hole in the Rock, which is a nice red rock itself. Or go to the Desert Botanical Gardens late in the day (also in Papago Park). You could also drive to the top of South Mountain (about 45 minutes from downtown Scottsdale) which lets you look out over most of Phoenix.

The Phoenician is a beautiful place to walk around - they have a beautiful
cactus garden, lighted at night
and the views/sunsets from the bar and dining room are fabulous.
We sat out on the deck and listened to
a great pianist while watching the sun go down.

thanks everyone for the suggestions

just so you are not misled; the apache trail might be half hour out; closer to an hour; but then you are only at the beginning. If you drive another hour, you are now facing another hour and a half or two back...not exactly what your asking for.
Walk near the 4 seasons in Scottsdale, you can walk -hike 10 or 15 minutes up the trail to get a great view of the desert at sunset. That whole are is up high so you can see views from a lot of differenct locations.

We found Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West very interesting.

I'd drive up to Sedona for a day (and sunset).

I also thought Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West was VERY interesting. To be honest, I wasn't sure I would enjoy it - I was pleasantly surprised.

I also enjoyed the Desert Botanical Garden in Scottsdale. However, I'm not sure I would do it in the heat of the summer. I was there in early February.

http://phoenix.about.com/cs/sports/a/piestewapeak01.htm
I'd take a walk around the Biltmore too.

If possible, take the Friday night tour of TW (too late for sean1 on this trip). It is absolutely magical - and easy to imagine what things were like when FLW set up shop WAY out in the desert. Scottsdale has creeped up to his doorstep now

The Desert Botanical Garden is just beautiful.