Southern Arizona Travel Guide

The Southern Arizona Travel Guide is a resource for those planning a road trip or vacation to the region. The southern half of Arizona, including the metropolitan Phoenix and Tucson areas, is within the Sonoran Desert. While the region is extremely warm during the summer, mild, dry, and sunny weather is the rule from mid-autumn through mid-spring. This section covers the Metropolitan Phoenix - Maricopa County areas.

This guide offers descriptions of many points of interest, links to many references, travel itineraries, and suggested visit times.
See below for Phoenix Metro Points of Interest and the complete Index for this guide.

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Guide to Metropolitan Phoenix Points of Interest

This symbol indicates links into the American West Travelogue.

The Phoenix metropolitan area includes the large cities of Phoenix, Tempe, Scottsdale, Mesa, and Glendale. The region is noted for winter resorts, lots of golf, ideal weather, and plenty of recreation. Teams in the four major professional sports are located here, as well as Arizona State University. Major League Baseball's spring training ("Cactus League") takes place here in February and March. In recent years, dining, entertainment, and cultural options have increased enormously. The metro area boasts a system of municipal and regional parks perhaps without equal in size and number. These parks are largely preserves of unspoiled and scenic desert and mountains with wonderful opportunities for hiking, biking, horseback riding, camping, or just enjoying peace and quiet.

General Guides to the Area

• Arizona Guide (State Office of Tourism)
• azcentral.com (The Arizona Republic)
• Greater Phoenix Guide (Convention and Visitors Bureau)
• Calendar of Events (Phoenix CVB)
• Phoenix Visitor Guide (azcentral.com)
• Scottsdale Convention and Visitors Bureau
• Tempe Convention and Visitors Bureau
• Mesa Convention and Visitors Bureau
• Official Glendale Visitors Guide

Spectator Sports
The Phoenix area offers a wide variety of professional sports, including the Arizona Cardinals (NFL), Arizona Diamondbacks (MLB-NL), Phoenix Suns (NBA), Phoenix Coyotes (NHL), Phoenix Mercury (WNBA), Arizona Rattlers (Arena Football), Arizona Sting (Lacrosse). Major League Baseball's Cactus League Spring Training is extremely popular. The athletic teams of Arizona State University, the Sun Devils play in Tempe, Arizona.

• Phoenix Area Professional Sports (State Office of Tourism)
• MLB Cactus League Spring Training (Official)
• Arizona State University Sun Devils

Recreation
Southern Arizona is especially noted for its many beautiful golf courses which have particularly excellent conditons in the winter and spring. Maricopa County maintains a system of truely excellent regional parks around the edges of the metropolitan area. The parks are large in area, largely unspoiled, and usually of interesting terrain that features mountains and deserts. Miles of trails of available for hiking, biking, and horseback riding. Some of the parks have horseback riding concessions open during the winter. Lake Pleasant Regional Park is one of the area's most popular destinations for boating and fishing. The Phoenix Mountain Preserve is the nation's largest urban park system, and South Mountain Park is the nation's largest urban park. The preserves offer miles of unspoiled trails with the city of Phoenix, again available for hiking, biking, and horseback riding. The trail to Piestawa Peak, the highest point in Phoenix, is thought to be the nation's busiest trail. Scottsdale's McDowell Sonoran Preserve also offers unspoiled outdoor experiences. Scottsdale's Pinnacle Peak Park features the popular Pinnacle Peak Trail.

• Phoenix Metro Area Golf Courses (Arizona Golfer)
• Phoenix Area Golf and Related Activities (Phoenix CVB)
• McDowell Sonoran Preserve (City of Scottsdale)
• Pinnacle Peak Park (City of Scottsdale)
• Maricopa County Parks and Recreation (Official)
• Lake Pleasant Regional Park (Official)
• Phoenix Mountain Preserves and Other Trails
• South Mountain Park

Cultural and Other Attractions
As one of the nation's fastest growing cities, Phoenix continues to offer new and upgraded cultural venues along with more traditional attractions. The Heard Museum is considered one of the nation's finest for Native American culture and art. The recently remodeled and expanded Phoenix Art Museum has received rave reviews. The Arizona Science Center, opened in 1997, offers a planetarium, IMAX theater, and a wide variety of exhibitions. The Herberger Theater, the refurbished Orpheum Theatre, and Symphony Hall offer performing arts and big-name entertainment. Popular Papago Park features the outstanding Desert Botanical Gardens, the Phoenix Zoo, and a large park with fishing lagoons and trails.

• Arizona Science Center
• Phoenix Art Museum
• Heard Museum
• Desert Botanical Garden
• Phoenix Zoo
• Herberger Theater
• Phoenix Symphony

The town of Cave Creek is located in the foothills about 20 miles north of Phoenix. In an era of rapid growth, Cave Creek continues to maintain a unique old west character and charm, featuring funky western-style saloons, interesting restaurants, western shops, rodeo events, art galleries, and live music. The desert mountains around Cave Creek offer excellent recreation. Cave Creek Regional Park has a nice campground, an excellent network of trails, picnic and play areas, ranger-led activities (in season), and a horseback riding concession (in season). The less developed Spur Cross Ranch Conservation Area, one of the region's newest parks, features remote trails and a gorgeous riparian area along perennial Cave Creek. More recreation is available in nearby Tonto National Forest.

• Cave Creek Visitors Guide (Chamber of Commerce)
• Cave Creek Visitors Guide
• Spur Cross Ranch Conservation Area (Maricopa County)
• Spur Cross Ranch Conservation Area
• Cave Creek Regional Park
• Tonto National forest - Seven Springs
• Cave Creek Regional Park (Maricopa County)
• Horseshoe Lake (Tonto National Forest)
• Bartlett Lake (Tonto National Forest)

Index to the Southern Arizona Travel Guide

• Southern Arizona Travel Guide - Introduction
  
  
• Metropolitan Phoenix Points of Interest
  
  
• Central & Western Arizona
  
  
• White Mountains & Mogollon Rim
  
  
• Metropolitan Tucson Points of Interest
  
  
• Southeastern Arizona
  
  
• Travel Itineraries