5 Best Sights in Phoenix, Scottsdale, and Tempe, Arizona

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.
Free
Mill Ave. and 10th St., Tempe, Arizona, 85287, USA
480-965–2787
asuartmuseum.asu.edu
Sights Details
Rate Includes: Free, Tues. 11–8, Wed.–Sat. 11–5. Summer hrs vary., Closed Sun. and Mon.

Frontier Town

The pseudo-Western Frontier Town has wooden sidewalks, ramshackle buildings, and souvenir shops.

Family Store/Mall Free
6245 E. Cave Creek Rd., Cave Creek, Arizona, 85327, USA
Sights Details
Rate Includes: Free

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.

Recommended Fodor's Video

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.

Tempe Town Lake

The human-made Town Lake has turned downtown Tempe into a commercial and urban-living hot spot, and attracts college students and Valley residents of all ages. Little ones enjoy the Beach Park, and fishermen appreciate the rainbow trout–stocked lake. You also can rent a boat and tour the lake on your own.