Scottsdale, AZ

James Beard Best Chef Southwest Charleen Badman's vegetable-forward kitchen tucked into Craftsman Court in Old Town. The all-Arizona wine list is unusual for the state and the menu rewrites itself with the season.

Old Town gastropub on 5th Avenue with bacon-fat popcorn, barrel-aged cocktails, and the original chopped salad locals send their visiting parents to. Dim, warm, and built for a long evening at the bar.

Modern Latin kitchen on Brown Avenue with the tableside guacamole everyone copies and a 12-hour smoked pork shoulder taco that justifies the trip. Date-night dim, loud at peak, and worth the noise.

Loud, dog-friendly Modern Mexican on Scottsdale Road with Brussels sprout nachos, a Sonoran hot dog, and frozen palomas the bar pours all day. The patio is the move and the prices stay reasonable for Old Town.

Four-course tasting-menu restaurant in a tiny Old Town courtyard, ranked among the country's most romantic dining rooms by the algorithms that track such things. The menu changes weekly and the experience is paced for a three-hour dinner.

Calabrian grocer-meets-restaurant on Via Linda, where Giovanni Scorzo cures his own salami, makes burrata in the back, and runs a daily-changing pasta menu. Half the dining room is buying tinned fish to take home.

Coastal-Mediterranean kitchen tucked into a courtyard off Marshall Way with maybe the most interesting wine list in Scottsdale. Chef Gio Osso's menu reads short and changes constantly; the pasta is always on it.

VPN-certified Neapolitan pizzeria on Scottsdale Road, the sister of the Phoenix original, with imported San Marzano tomatoes and a wood-burning oven hot enough to leoparded a margherita in 90 seconds. Casual lunches and a quiet dinner room.

Old-school dry-aged steakhouse on Camelback Road with a piano bar, tableside butter cake, and a 400-degree plate every steak hisses on. Built for a long anniversary dinner with a pour you'll regret tomorrow.

Big French Riviera-style patio on the Scottsdale Waterfront with canal-side tables and a Mediterranean menu built for sharing. The brunch scene is loud and the after-work happy hour packs the bar.

Chophouse-style seafood from the Mastro family near Scottsdale Fashion Square, with raw bar towers, dry-aged tuna, and the dressy crowd that comes with the territory. OpenTable Top 100 most years it's eligible.

Robatayaki Japanese steakhouse on Scottsdale Road with a serious sushi counter and one of the better happy hours in town. The omakase at the bar is more interesting than the dining-room menu.

Richard Sandoval's Pan-Latin kitchen at the Fairmont Princess golf course, with Peruvian, Mexican, and Argentine influences across one menu. Big patio, fire dancer on weekends, view of the green.

Michael Mina's butter-poached-steak chophouse at the Fairmont Princess. AAA Four Diamond, jacket-friendly, and built for a special-occasion dinner with the truffle mac and cheese everyone orders.

Resort-classic Mediterranean kitchen at the Royal Palms with a tiled fireplace dining room and a Sunday brunch that's been a Phoenix institution for 30 years. The wood-roasted lamb and the wine list are the reasons to go.

Beau MacMillan's Asian-inflected American kitchen perched at Sanctuary with a 180-degree view of Paradise Valley. Sleek dining room, infinity pool below, sunset table is the trophy.

Garden-set fine dining in the 1930s adobe ranch of cowboy artist Lon Megargee, on a courtyard with a 7,000-bottle wine list. Paradise Valley's top-ranked dining room and one of the prettiest patios in the metro.

Steak-and-Spanish kitchen at the Four Seasons Troon North with floor-to-ceiling glass facing Pinnacle Peak. Price-of-admission is the view, but the wood-grilled meats and Spanish wine list earn it.

Modern American at the Phoenician with a giant cinnamon roll, wood-fired pizzas, and a pool-view patio that doesn't read resort-bland. Brunch is the meal locals book even when not staying there.

Charles Wiley's seasonal American at Mountain Shadows with a glass-walled dining room and a patio facing Camelback. Brunch is the meal that built the reputation; dinner gets quieter and more interesting.

Richard Blais's Roman-Italian dining room at the Grand Hyatt Scottsdale, with a tableside tiramisu cart and an open kitchen. Newer addition to the resort circuit and quieter than the Old Town Italians.

Matt Carter's chef-driven Italian on Scottsdale Road, with house-made pastas, a custom hearth grilling premium proteins over wood, and a bar program that punches above the room. Energetic, loud, and reliable.

Three-time Beard finalist Jason Franey's Roman-Italian at the W Scottsdale, with a tableside martini cart and a villa-themed dining room. Decadent on purpose and earns it more often than not.

Joey Maggiore's old-school red-sauce Italian on Shea, with antipasto, limoncello, and zabaione carts that wheel around the dining room. Yelp's Best New Restaurants 2025 list and the easiest seat for a long family dinner.

Two-mile climb through northern McDowell Sonoran Preserve to the Lookout Viewpoint cliff, named for the granite formation that looks exactly like a thumb. The 4.7-star AllTrails standard for the preserve.

4-mile out-and-back on a manicured switchback trail wrapping around Pinnacle Peak in north Scottsdale, with two named overlook benches and almost no off-trail confusion. The cleanest moderate hike in the area for first-time desert hikers.

Main entry to McDowell Sonoran Preserve with paved parking, restrooms, water, and access to the 4.4-mile Gateway Loop. Volunteer Stewards at the trailhead steer first-timers to the right loop for their fitness level.

Easy-to-moderate four-mile out-and-back through saguaro and ocotillo on the south side of McDowell Preserve, with the Taliesin West overlook spur as the turnaround. The most-shared local hike for visitors with mixed fitness in the group.

Moderate 3.8-mile climb on the east side of McDowell Preserve to a 360-degree summit over Phoenix, the Superstitions, and Four Peaks. The local consensus pick for first-time desert peak-baggers.

Easy-moderate 4-mile out-and-back at the Tom's Thumb trailhead with interpretive signs explaining the 500,000-year-old landslide and the dramatic boulder field that resulted. Wide, well-graded, and great for kids old enough to read the panels.

North-end McDowell Preserve trailhead into the most open, least crowded section of the preserve. Wide network of flat-to-moderate loops where you can hike an hour without seeing anyone.

1.2-mile each-way climb to the 2,704-foot Camelback summit with rails, scrambles, and one of the harder "urban" hikes in the country. The view at the top is the photo most Phoenix visitors come for.

The other Camelback Mountain route — 1.5 miles each way from the east-side trailhead, with a longer ridge approach before the same scramble finish. Reopened after multi-year restoration and now better-marked than Echo Canyon.

Quarter-mile family scramble in Papago Park to a wind-eroded sandstone arch with an open city view. Five minutes up, but the geometry of the rock and the sunset light make it the most-photographed short hike in town.

3.5-mile moderate ridge hike in Phoenix Mountains Preserve with views back to Camelback, Papago, and South Mountain. Less famous than the Camelback trails and less crowded — the local move.

9.4-mile loop combining Gateway, Bell Pass, and Windgate trails in McDowell Preserve, climbing to the highest accessible pass with a 360-degree desert panorama. The local long-day standard.

5.8-mile moderate loop in Cave Creek Regional Park north of Scottsdale — open Sonoran desert vegetation, distant mountain panoramas, and intriguing rock formations. The locals' loop when McDowell trailheads are full.

4-mile out-and-back to a McDowell ridge with one of the cleanest sunrise panoramas in the Scottsdale system. Less crowded than Tom's Thumb, similar payoff.

9-mile mostly-flat loop in the northern McDowell Preserve — open desert, granite outcrops, fewer hikers than the southern trailheads. The locals' long flat ride or run when Tom's Thumb is too steep and Brown's Ranch is too short.

Two-million-gallon aquarium in the Salt River Reservation east of Scottsdale, the largest in the Southwest. The rotating viewing room and the shark-themed bathroom (voted #1 in the country) are the talked-about features.

America's largest indoor butterfly conservatory, in the same complex as OdySea. Three-D film entry, an emergence gallery with live chrysalises, and a humid greenhouse where butterflies will land on you.

Smithsonian-affiliated museum in Old Town celebrating the American West across 19 states, with rotating major loans and the kind of Western art collection that makes the case for the genre. Recent True West Magazine #1.

Compact contemporary art museum in the Civic Center mall with rotating shows and James Turrell's permanent Knight Rise Skyspace installation in the back garden. The Skyspace alone justifies the visit.

Rotating immersive-art exhibition inside Scottsdale Fashion Square, with about a dozen large-format installations changing yearly and a full bar in the middle. Adults-and-older-kids audience; under-five kids miss most of it.

Indoor-outdoor electric kart track in the Talking Stick complex with 45-mph karts, a track-side bar, mini-bowling, and arcade. Adult-friendly racing experience that doesn't feel like a kid's birthday party.

Free 9,000-square-foot museum sandwiched between the Penske luxury dealerships at the north end of Scottsdale, with a dozen Indy 500 winners and NASCAR cars across two floors. The cleanest 45 minutes in town.

Spring training home of the Diamondbacks and Rockies on the Salt River Reservation, the first MLB facility on tribal land. Eleven-thousand-seat ballpark, twelve practice fields, and decades of Best Spring Training Facility wins.

1992 spring training home of the San Francisco Giants on Osborn Road, a five-minute walk from Old Town. The location — bars, restaurants, and Old Town nightlife on the way out — is the differentiator.

Salt River Reservation casino with 700+ slots, two high-limit rooms, table games, and a 25th-floor pool deck with a Camelback view. The serious-gambling option in the metro that doesn't feel like a strip mall.

125-acre zoo in Papago Park with Sumatran tigers, Bornean orangutans, Komodo dragons, and the Stingray Bay touch tank. December's ZooLights is the family event that books out every weekend.

Largest visual art museum in the Southwest, with 19,000-piece permanent collection, a serious modern wing, and the Yayoi Kusama Fireflies infinity room that draws a line every weekend. Rotating major exhibitions arrive several times a year.

Country's leading Native American art museum in a 1929 Spanish Colonial complex south of downtown Phoenix. The unflinching boarding-school exhibit and the contemporary indigenous art galleries are the standouts.

Two-hundred-country musical-instrument collection in North Phoenix where wireless headsets switch instrument audio at each case. The Experience Gallery lets you actually play a theremin and a Javanese gamelan.

Old Town's oldest cowboy saloon since 1958 in a former 1921 bank building, where the vault now holds liquor. Live country music seven days a week, no cover, and the country-and-tourist crowd that comes with the territory.

Three-floor live-music venue and night club on Stetson Drive with national touring acts on the main stage, a country bar upstairs, and a more casual lounge below. The biggest live-music room in Old Town.

Free 30-acre park around a working narrow-gauge train, an antique carousel, a model-railroad building, and a giant playground. Free entry, three-dollar ride tickets, and the standard kid afternoon in Scottsdale.

Eight-hundred-seat hall on the Civic Center campus presenting touring music, dance, comedy, and lectures across an opinionated season. The serious arts programming the city is sometimes overlooked for.

Old Town comedy club running touring stand-up four nights a week — small room, brick wall, two-drink minimum. The grown-up evening alternative to the Old Town bar circuit.

Maricopa-County-run nature center at the entrance to Cave Creek Regional Park — live native-animal displays, ranger-led talks, and interpretive trails. The kid-friendly indoor stop tied to the outdoor day.

Frank Lloyd Wright's winter home and architecture school dug into the McDowell foothills, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Wright designed it as a desert laboratory, and the low-slung stone-and-redwood compound still feels like the architectural argument it was meant to be.

The original 1888 townsite turned walkable arts-and-shopping district, where adobe storefronts share blocks with chef-driven restaurants and the Thursday-night ArtWalk. Most visitors never leave a four-block core, but the side streets behind Main are where galleries and the older saloons sit.

Paolo Soleri's living studio compound in Paradise Valley, where the famous bronze and ceramic windbells are still cast by hand in the same earth-formed apse. The grounds are free to wander and feel like a half-buried sculpture park.

Mid-century plaza framed by SMoCA, the performing arts hall, and a man-made lake threaded with bronze sculptures. The 2023 renovation added shaded lawn, a misting play area, and a new restaurant pad, turning a dated complex into the city's outdoor living room.

A short canal-side promenade along the restored Arizona Canal, with restaurant patios on one side and a pedestrian bridge to Fashion Square on the other. Locals walk the path at dusk for the desert sunset reflected in the water.

Fifty-five-acre garden in Papago Park with five thematic loop trails and one of the best cactus collections in the country. The Chihuly installations come back periodically, but the permanent Sonoran Desert nature loop is the year-round draw.

Thirty-acre park built around a working narrow-gauge train, an antique carousel, and a model railroad building most adults didn't know they wanted. Free admission, three-dollar ride tickets, and a giant playground make it the cheapest family afternoon in town.

The country's premier museum of Native American art and history, in a 1929 Spanish Colonial Revival compound just south of downtown Phoenix. The Boarding School gallery is the unflinching exhibit most visitors remember years later.

Two-hundred-country collection in a purpose-built North Phoenix building, where wireless headsets switch instrument audio as you walk past each case. Even people who don't think they care about music end up staying four hours.

Twin-spired French Gothic cathedral on Capitol Hill holding the largest collection of F.X. Zettler Munich stained glass in the country. Even non-Catholics come for the morning light through the clerestory.

Free single-room museum tucked between the Penske luxury-car dealerships at the north end of Scottsdale, displaying about a dozen Indy 500 winners and NASCAR cars from the team's six-decade run. A 30-minute stop more rewarding than its parking-lot location suggests.

Paolo Soleri's last completed work, a pedestrian bridge over the Arizona Canal aligned so its bronze pylons cast a moving shadow on the plaza tracking the sun. Functional public sculpture you only fully understand by standing on it at noon.

560-foot-tall fountain that shoots up from a small lake on the hour, year-round — once the tallest in the world. Quick stop a short drive northeast of Scottsdale, anchored by a walkable lake-loop park.

Small 1933 adobe Catholic church built by Mexican settlers in Old Town Scottsdale, still used for services. A quiet five-minute history detour off the gallery walk in the Civic Center area.

Free four-acre public botanical garden on Easy Street in downtown Carefree — rare Sonoran desert specimens, sculptures, and a labeled self-guided walking path. The non-touristed alternative to Phoenix's Desert Botanical Garden.

62-foot-wide bronze-and-stone sundial in downtown Carefree — one of the largest in the western hemisphere, built in 1959 and still accurate. Quick photo stop with the desert garden a block away.

Cave Creek's historic main street — old-west saloons, art galleries, a small mining-and-ranching museum, and the bull-rider's Buffalo Chip dance hall. The non-touristed western-heritage day-trip the Old Town crowd skips.

Granite outcrop summit at the end of the Pinnacle Peak Trail with a 360-degree view of the McDowells, Four Peaks, and Camelback. The Scottsdale viewpoint locals send out-of-towners to for a sunrise hike-and-photo.

Small mock-frontier strip in Cave Creek — gift shops, ice-cream parlor, a candy store, and a 1880s gunfighter actor on weekends. Kid-friendly, kitschy, and the right counter-program to a serious gallery day.

11-mile linear park-and-lake chain through central Scottsdale — five lakes, paved paths, ramadas, and the city's solution to flood control through public greenspace. The everyday Scottsdale park where the rest of the trail system threads in.