Ideas for a trip to Phoenix, including Scottsdale, Cave Creek, Sedona and Grand Canyon:
For over 18 years, we’ve loved calling sunny Phoenix, Arizona our home, and we wouldn’t trade it for anything. We quickly fell in love with the abundance of sunny days and beauty of the desert. If you’re planning a visit to this amazing city, I’ve put together my top recommendations to help you make the most of your 5-6 days here, blending outdoor adventures like hiking, boating and desert dune buggy riding, plus our fave shopping areas and restaurants.
Saguaro cacti can grow up to 50ft tall and live up to 200 years. Look how small we look next to this giant!
Here’s my ideas for a trip to Phoenix, which should def include Scottsdale, Cave Creek, Sedona, and the Grand Canyon:
Scottsdale:
Hike part of Camelback Mountain- Echo Canyon Trail for panoramic views of the city and desert. Fun fact- my husband proposed to me on top of Camelback Mountain! There are also many fantastic hiking spots in the NW Phoenix area. Echo Canyon Trail at Camelback gets difficult at the end, so if you’re a beginner hiker, just hike up to the first main viewpoint and get a fantastic view of the city and mountains.
Lunch Chelsea’s Kitchen or lots of options!
Biltmore Fashion Square- fun shopping and restaurant area
Old town Scottsdale-walk around shops-boutique shops, art galleries and eat at The Mission, The Rusty Spur Saloon, lots of great restaurants here
Papago Park Hole in the Rock-we’ve never actually hiked up the short trail to see this, but have seen it from a distance.
Desert Botanical Garden
Scottsdale Fashion Square if you want to see a giant mall and some luxury shops
My son checking out the Tesla store inside the Fashion Square Mall
Scottsdale Water Front-walk around, artsy
N Scottsdale-Kierland Commons/Scottsdale Quarter for shopping, walking around and dinner-great restaurant options and don’t miss Restoration Hardware and a giant Pottery Barn!
My daughter admiring the saguaros, lit up for Christmas, at Scottsdale Quarter
Dune buggy ride in the desert and mountains- the best way to see the Arizona desert
2nd week of March is usually the peak of wildflower season in the mountains where we ride. Poppies and lupine cover the mountainsides.
If you don’t have access to a dune buggy, definitely try to get out for a hike or two and check out Lake Pleasant.
Wildflowers in the AZ desert in March, seen on our dune buggy ride
We have two dune buggies so that we can take out another family to enjoy our desert adventures together!
Sweet wild burro in the desert on our dune buggy ride in N Phoenix
Our family also loves going on rockhounding adventures on our dune buggy to find gems and mineral. Here are some geodes that we found!
Boating at Lake Pleasant and lunch at the marina at Dillons
Dillons on the marina has BBQ and American type food and usually live music.
Our kids favorite part of boating on Lake Pleasant is tubing!
We almost always see wild burros along the shoreline of Lake Pleasant when we’re out on our boat.
Trying out wake boarding on Lake Pleasant, AZ
Sedona:
Sedona is a must-do if you’re coming to Phoenix! It’s ahhhmazing. The red rocks in Sedona are stunning and the hiking is awesome!
Hike Bell Rock, Cathedral Rock, Devil’s Bridge or West Fork Trail.
Walk/hike along Oak Creek trails at Red Rock Crossing (where we got married)
Visit Chapel of the Holy Cross
Walk around artsy shops at Tlaquepaque village and shops in uptown
Sunset at Airport Mesa
Eat dinner at Mariposa or Dal and Diluca, many great restaurants in Sedona
Sedona has gotten super overcrowded with tourists unfortunately, so try to avoid a weekend if possible. I will add some pics of Sedona soon, once I can find some amongst by millions of photos clogging up my camera roll. lol!
Grand Canyon–
Just do a day trip and stay there a couple of hours and go up and back the same day. There’s not much to do here aside from taking a look at the amazing Grand Canyon. Worth it for sure, though!
Cave Creek Western town:
Buffalo Chip Saloon for country music, BBQ, line dancing and watch bull riding in the evening. I think bull riding is only on Friday nights.
Walk around town shops in afternoon
Biker bars and Steeler’s bar-Harold’s
Rodeo days in the Spring
My son and I watching bull riding at The Buffalo Chip Saloon in Cave Creek, AZ
Events
Phoenix seasonal annual events that are amazing:
January is the Barrett Jackson Auto Auction in N Scottsdale
Feb is the TPC Waste Mgmt Golf Open in Scottsdale
Luke Air Force Base Air Show in summer
Horse Races at TPC
My husband and I in front of a Bugatti in Scottsdale at the horse races
In the Spring and Fall there are tons of food festivals at the outdoor venues in Phoenix, Tempe and Chandler
We had some delicious food tastings at a Phoenix Food Festival
Fun family activities that are some of our favorites:
Top Golf in Glendale, near the stadium/Westgate area
Top Golf is a fun family activity and the kids also love taking their friends
Phoenix Suns Basketball Game
My kids getting an autograph from Phoenix Suns player, Monte Morris
Butterfly Wonderland in Scottsdale. It’s so cuuuute!
If you have little kids, McCormick Stillman Railroad Park in Scottsdale is great!
Some of our Favorite Restaurants:
Fave Pizza Places: Barro’s and Spinato’s . Barro’s is our go-to for takeout, we get it on Friday nights pretty often!
The Mama’s Signature is our fave pizza at Spinato’s
Family style Italian restaurant with fun vibe: Oregano’s
Affordable steakhouse: The Keg
Enjoying steak and loaded baked potato at The Keg in Desert Ridge, N Phoenix
Dessert at The Keg
Desert Ridge, where The Keg is, is a cute shopping and restaurant area
Scottsdale: Toca Madera-great food and amazing ambience, need reservation
Dining at Toca Madera in Scottsdale, AZ
The Beach House on Camelback, for yummy tacos/mexican for cheap and fast, only has outside seating
Kasai on N Scottsdale Rd for teppanyaki (tableside cooking and show) is one of our favorite places to go for a family dinner!
The scallops and steak are my favorite at Kasai
The tableside cooking show at Kasai is always fun!
Best ice cream place: Bruster’s- get the chocolate raspberry truffle
My favorite flavor of ice cream at Bruster’s is chocolate raspberry truffle. Yum!
Affordable yummy food: Osteria Mia at Norterra, one of our go-to’s for a quick date night.
We love the beet salad at Osteria Mia, N Phoenix, AZ
Modern Margarita in Desert Ridge, fun vibe and good food
Culinary Dropout/The Yard in N Scottsdale-fun place especially with younger kids who want to run around, they have corn hole, ping pong, etc in open air
Celebration dinner- A Different Point of View
Arizona Sunsets
There’s nothing like an Arizona sunset and our favorite place to watch it is in our backyard!:) There are plenty of amazing spots for sunset, make sure you catch a few while you’re in Phoenix!
Sunset in our backyard. Nothing like an AZ sunset!
Stay Tuned:
Stay tuned for more updates on this blog article! We’re always discovering new fun spots in the Phoenix and Scottsdale area! I also need to pull some more pics from my thousands of photos on my camera roll to add to this blog article…if I can find them lol. Anyone else have wayyyy too many photos?
I hope you enjoyed these highlights of places to visit around the Phoenix area if you have less than a week! Let me know if you have a top spot I should add to the list. You can always message me on Instagram and I’ll get back to ya!
XO-Amy, Modern Farmhouse Glam
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