Things to do, places to visit in Phoenix :
Downtown Phoenix: Some years ago Downtown Phoenix was a boring place that didn’t have much life and that would be almost empty after 6pm. Today it is a whole different thing! It’s had a very fast development and now has a great nightlife and many restaurants, bars, clubs, shops, small art galleries, hotels, festivals, parades and civic events that are frequently concentrated around Central Avenue. Also, the sports events are always important in Downtown Phoenix because they played a very important role in this area’s development.
Scottsdale Art District and Scottsdale Art Walk: Located along Main Street and Marshall Way in Downtown Scottsdale, the Scottsdale Art Walk is known as “America’s original art walk” and is home to more than a hundred art galleries that offer and exhibit fine visual art from all around the world. The Scottsdale Art Walk is a weekly gathering in which, every Thursday evening, the Scottsdale Art District galleries open their doors to the public so that everyone can see the great art work that numerous international artists have produced.
Desert Botanical Garden: Located in Papago Park in Central Phoenix and offering fifty acres of beautiful outdoor exhibits, the Desert Botanical Garden is considered to have one of the world’s finest collections of desert plants and is one of the world’s forty four botanical gardens accredited by the American Association of Museums. It is also accredited by the American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta. The garden is the best place to enjoy and admire the beauty of the deserts and their species, and it possesses more than 21.000 plants including 139 rare and endangered plant species from all around the world. It represents and exhibits several different ecosystems such as the semidesert grassland, a mesquite bosque and an upland chaparral scrub. It was founded in 1937. It is a member of the Museum Association of Arizona and National Center for Plant Conservation and it is considered one of Phoenix Points of Pride. It is nationally and internationally recognized and admired for its collections of plants, and for its educational and research programs.
Boyce Thompson Arboretum: Located in Superior, close to Phoenix, Arizona, the Boyce Thompson Arboretum is an Arizona State Park, a 323-acre desert botanical garden and arboretum that exhibits many of the treasures of the world’s deserts and dry lands; it has a 1.5 mile main trail, around 3.200 different desert plants and more than 250 species of birds. Some of its most representative collections are The Taylor Family Desert Legume Demonstration Garden, the Australian Landscape, and the Cacti and Succulents. The arboretum has plant sales as well as innovative educational displays about different subjects such as the native plants that are used by the indigenous people of the area. The wildflower season is a very special time to visit the park because it’s the moment when all the colors of the desert are displayed. It was founded in 1925 and it’s one of the largest and oldest botanical gardens in the State of Arizona.
Phoenix Symphony Hall: Created in 1972 as part of the Phoenix Civic Plaza in Downtown Phoenix, the Phoenix Symphony Hall is a multipurpose performing arts venue that has more than 2.387 chairs, accommodation for people with disabilities and high technology acoustics, lightning and sound systems. It is a cultural and performance icon of the Phoenix Metropolitan Area. It is home to and presents numerous performances from the Arizona Opera, the Phoenix Symphony and the Ballet Arizona. The venue is also used for various dance and entertainment performances, as well as for the Broadway touring companies and for different business seminars and conventions. It is a part of the list of the Phoenix Points of Pride. The venue appears in the movie “The Gauntlet” (1977), by Clint Eastwood.
Orpheum Theatre: Built in a Spanish Baroque style and located in Downtown Phoenix, the Orpheum Theatre is a small theatre that currently belongs to the City of Phoenix and that is home to the Phoenix Metropolitan Opera. It opened in 1929 and was originally used for the vaudeville acts of the nationwide Orpheum Theatre Chain. It’s part of the National Register for Historic Places since 1985.
Drive Apache Trail: This scenic drive starts in Apache Junction (around 25 miles east from Downtown Phoenix) and offers the most wonderful sights and the greatest adventure on the following 46 miles until you get to Roosevelt Lake. This daytrip is perfect for those who are not afraid of adventure and though drives, and who want to see beautiful and wild landscapes such as an incredible view of canyons, geologic formations, desert plants and trees, desert and lake views, mountains, deep forests, and wildflowers in season. The road was originally constructed in the 1930s. Some of the places that will appear during the drive are the Lost Dutchman State Park, Goldfield Ghost Town, Saguaro Lake, the Canyon Lake Recreation Area, the Theodore Roosevelt Dam site and the Tonto National Monument (you can choose if you want to stop in any of them). The United States Forest Service designated the Apache Trail a USFS Scenic Byway, and it is also an Arizona Scenic Historic Byway.
South Mountain Park: Located south of Central Phoenix and originally called Phoenix Mountain Park, the 16.000 acres of the South Mountain Park and Preserve make it the largest municipal park in the United States, one of the largest urban parks in North America and one of the largest in the world. The more than fifty miles of trails offer great scenic views of mountains and desert vegetation in their natural states, as well as numerous species of flora and fauna. It can be a plan of adventure for those who like hiking, horseback riding and mountain biking, but it can also be a more relaxed plan for those who prefer picnics, barbecues and gathering. Dobbins Point offers a wonderful view of the “Valley of the sun”. It was chosen as a Phoenix Point of Pride.
Historic Downtown Glendale: Located in the city of Glendale, Arizona, the Historic Downtown Glendale is the historic downtown section of the city, a perfect place for those who love antiques since it has more than a hundred antique and specialty shops and restaurants. There’s a trolley that goes around the area and you can hop on and off to see a little bit more and decide where you want to stay longer. Glendale Gaslight Thursdays make the third Thursday of each month special because businesses stay open late. Between May and October, there’s an open-air market in Murphy Park every Saturday. It was chosen by the USA Today as one of the top ten antique destinations.
Phoenix Art Museum (PAM): Located at Central Avenue and McDowell Road in Midtown Phoenix, Arizona, and originally called the “Phoenix Art Center”, it is the largest and primary general visual arts institution in the Southwestern United States; it hosts over two hundred visitors every year and receives an additional forty thousand through its outreach programs. It’s been situated in its current location since 1959, where it has been through two major renovations and expansions. It was designated a Phoenix Point of Pride. The admission to the museum is free for everyone on Wednesday’s evenings and on first Friday’s evenings.
Heard Museum: Founded in 1929, the Heard Museum is a unique educational and living museum that has a collection of more than forty thousand pieces of cultural and fine art, including a library and archives with over 34.000 volumes. Through thousands of artifacts and contemporary art works of the Native peoples, the museum educates the visitors about their heritage, cultures and arts. The museum has three locations: the Heard Museum of Native Cultures and Art is located in Phoenix; the Heard Museum North Scottsdale branch is situated in Scottsdale; and the Heard Museum West branch is located in Surprise. The museum has permanent exhibits like the famous Barry Goldwater collection of Kachina Dolls, but it also offers special exhibits throughout the year, as well as different annual events such as the World Championship Hoop Dance Contest (in February) and the Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair and Market (in March). It is recognized internationally for the quality of its collections, its educational programs and its festivals. The Heard Museum welcomes about 250.000 visitors every year. The Heard Museum of Native Cultures and Art (the main location) is a Phoenix Point of Pride.
Arizona Science Center: Located in the Heritage and Science Park at the heart of Downtown Phoenix, the Arizona Science Center museum seeks to turn learning into fun by inspiring, educating and entertaining people about science through interactive and hands-on exhibits for people of all ages. The Dorrance Planetarium and the five-story giant screen IMAX theatre are two of the great attractions of this science museum. It offers 350 permanent hands-on exhibits as well as several nationally traveling exhibitions and numerous additional programs. Some of the permanent exhibitions are “Many hands make a home”, “All about you”, “Networks”, “Fab lab”, “The world around you”, “How we live with the sun” and “Forces of nature”. The additional programs are different activities such as daily demonstrations, science summer camps, adult’s night out, science on wheels, field trips, teacher professional development, lecture presentations, family programs and more. It was founded in 1984 but its current downtown facility opened in 1997. It is one of the most successful cultural attractions in the state of Arizona. The museum welcomes over four hundred visitors annually.
Phoenix Zoo: Founded in 1962 and located in the Papago Park area of Phoenix, the Phoenix Zoo is a private organization (it’s supported by donors and private organizations), the largest non-profit zoo in the United States and one of the youngest zoos in the country. With 125 acres of land, the Phoenix zoo is home to around 1.200 animals including birds, reptiles, invertebrates, mammals and fish. The zoo has 2.5 miles of walking trails that are divided into four different trails or theme areas: the Africa Trail (animals from Africa), the Tropics Trail (residents of the rain forests), the Arizona Trail (American Southwest flora and fauna) and the Children’s Trail. It has several different attractions such as guided tours in the safari train and the safari carts, camel rides and the stingray bay. People may take their own bikes, skates, food and coolers. The zoo has a sanctuary to care for the endangered and unwanted animals, and it is very active with its wild life conservation programs. It was voted one of the nation’s top five zoos for kids and is a Phoenix Point of Pride.
Pueblo Grande Museum and Archeological Park: Located a few minutes away from the Sky Harbor International Airport in Metropolitan Phoenix, the Pueblo Grande Museum and Archeological Park is the site of a 1.500 year-old Hohokam village ruin in which are exhibited the ancient cultures of the prehistoric Hohokam residents who lived, farmed and prospered for centuries, and who built the first irrigation system. Visitors can see and learn about the Hohokam's methods of adobe construction through the public displays that are distributed along the ruins: an authentic excavated prehistoric ball court; irrigation canals; an 800 year-old (Classic period) football field-sized Hohokam Platform Mound ruin; two full-scale reproductions of prehistoric Hohokam dwellings; an outdoor walking trail featuring native plants; several indoor exhibits geared towards all ages; picnic area; and special programming, events and lectures. It is Phoenix’s only National Historic Landmark and it was also designated as an Arizona Point of Pride.
Montezuma Castle and Tuzigoot: This is a day trip that’s one and a half hours north of Phoenix. The trip consists of visiting two National Monuments: the Montezuma Castle and Tuzigoot, which are managed by the National Park Service. The Montezuma Castle was a 20-room dwelling built by the peaceful Sinagua farmers in the 12th century and it stands in a cliff recess a hundred feet above the Verde Valley. Tuzigoot is an Apache word that means "crooked water"; it is a remnant of a Sinaguan village built above the Verde Valley before the year 1400. Tuzigoot is great for children because people can walk up, in and around the monument. The Montezuma Castle was so securely built that it is now one of the best preserved prehistoric structures in the Southwestern United States.
Enchanted Island Amusement Park: Located at Encanto Park in Phoenix, this is a paradise for children, an island that’s surrounded by fish, ducks and swans, and that offers different activities and rides such as a train, parachutes, a carousel, pedal-boats across fish-filled lagoons and many others.
Encanto Park: Located in Central Phoenix, Encanto Park is a public park and one of the oldest parks in the city. With 222 acres, the park offers different attractions such as a swimming pool; a lagoon; picnic areas; a nature trail; boat rentals; two golf courses; fishing; the Enchanted Island Amusement Park; lighted basketball, handball and racquetball courses; a softball field; a playground, and more. It is a Phoenix Point of Pride.
Wet ‘n’ Wild Phoenix: With around 35 acres of land and over thirty rides, Wet ‘n’ Wild Phoenix is a water park located in North Phoenix at Adobe Dam Regional Park and is the largest theme park in the state of Arizona. Some of the attractions and rides featured in the park are a water coaster, a funnel ride, a family raft ride, a bowl ride, a mat racing slide, tube slides, body slides, a half-pipe ride, a lazy river, a wave pool, an activity pool and two kid’s play areas. It opens its doors on July 1st every year.
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA): Founded in 1999 and located in the Old Town district of downtown Scottsdale, Arizona, the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art an educational institution with exhibitions that are focused on contemporary and modern art, architecture and design. It is Arizona’s only permanent museum dedicated to this kind of art works and design. The museum features and outdoor sculpture garden and it has five different galleries in which the changing exhibitions and collections are displayed. It is a place that provides an experience of modern and contemporary art and culture. The Museum presents a variety of educational programs and special events for adults and families, including lectures, docent-led tours, workshops and classes. The museum’s minimalist building was designed by the prestigious Phoenix-based architect Will Bruder.
Scottsdale Fashion Square: Located on the northwest corner of Scottsdale Road and Camelback Road in Scottsdale, Arizona, and with around two million square feet of retail space, the Scottsdale Fashion Square is the largest shopping center in the state of Arizona and in the American southwest, as well as one of the thirty largest malls in the United States. It is also one of the top ten most profitable shopping malls in the country with over 740 dollar-sales per square foot (more than four hundred dollars over the national average). The shopping center offers several food and entertainment options as well as many stores such as Barneys New York, Dillard’s, Macy’s, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, H&M, Forever 21, Crate & Barrel, and many more.
Chase Field (formerly Bank One Ballpark): Located in Downtown Phoenix, the Chase Field is a baseball stadium known for being the first baseball facility in the world to combine a retractable roof, air conditioning and a natural turf field. It is home to the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball. This state-of-the-art facility opened in 1998 and is a tourist attraction that can also be visited for those who don’t want to go see a game, but only to have a good time eating at Friday’s Front Row Sports Grill. Also, fifty percent of the ticket price is credited to your food and beverage bill.
The Grand Canyon: Many resorts in Phoenix and the Scottsdale area offer daily van tours to the Grand Canyon, in which people can relax and enjoy the beauty of the desert landscapes of Arizona while learning about its history. Some of the stops of the tour are the pine forests of Flagstaff, the Navajo Indian Reservation, the historic Cameron Trading Post and the Grand Canyon National Park, including the Grand Canyon Village.
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