Trip Guide for Phoenix, AZ including Scottsdale, Cave Creek, Sedona and Grand Canyon

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 left the second cloudiest city in the US, Pittsburgh, for the sunniest, Phoenix, back in 2006 and never looked back. 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:

Where to STAY? There are so many gorgeous resorts in Scottsdale, like The Phoenician  if you have the budget or The Fairmont Princess in Scottsdale is a good location.  If you want to be a little bit more north, a little more in the middle for your travels between Scottsdale, Cave Creek and Sedona, check out The JW Marriott, it’s a great resort as well, in Desert Ridge.  Or find a nice Airbnb like this one, if you’re traveling with a family and need the space.

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, Native American shops, cowboy shops, art galleries. Eat at or pop your head into The Mission and the Catholic Church attached, The Rusty Spur Saloon, lots of great restaurants and there’s a cute Farmer’s Market on Saturday mornings right near The Mission restaurant.  We parked right behind The Mission and it’s a perfect spot.  We took about 3 hours walking around and visiting the farmer’s market, going into a bunch of shops and having lunch.

The cutest ice cream place, pink diner style, in Old Town Scottsdale

We got a scoop of cookie dough and a scoop of strawberry cheesecake and they were both delicious!

One of the many shops in Old Town Scottsdale with a Native American and SW flair!

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!

My husband and I got married in Sedona!

HIKES:

Hike Bell Rock, Cathedral Rock, Devil’s Bridge or West Fork Trail.

Walk/hike along Oak Creek trails at Red Rock Crossing (paid parking area)

THINGS TO DO:

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 Dahl 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!

WHERE TO STAY:

We’ve stayed a few different hotels in Sedona and an Airbnb is always a great option, if you want to have more space for a family and have the budget! Here are the hotels I recommend:

Enchantment Resort, Sedona 

Amara, Sedona

Hilton, Sedona

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. We’ve been to this twice and it’s awesome!!

Feb is the TPC Waste Mgmt Golf Phoenix Open in Scottsdale, a huge party and golf tourney

Luke Air Force Base Air Show in summer-this is amazing.

Horse Races & polo matches at TPC

My husband and I in front of a Bugatti in Scottsdale at the polo match

In the Spring and Fall there are tons of food festivals at the outdoor venues in Phoenix, Tempe and Chandler. We have been to a bunch of them and one of our faves is Taco Fest.

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! We had our son’t birthday party there when he was little.

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, you’re welcome, lol!

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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