Spring Holidays in Scottsdale: Valentine's Day Through Mother's Day

Why spring holidays in Scottsdale work so well

Spring holidays in Scottsdale fall in the season the desert was made for. From February through mid-May the days are warm and the trails are in bloom, while the rest of the country is still waiting for winter to loosen its grip. Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter and Mother's Day each give you an excuse for a long weekend here, and each one has its own set of traditions in town.

This guide runs through them in calendar order. Pick your holiday and book the house. The weather does the rest.

Valentine's Day in Scottsdale

Valentine's Day is the romantic weekend of the year here, and February is a good month to be outside. The McDowell Sonoran Preserve has more than 115 miles of trails, open sunrise to sunset, and the Gateway Trailhead is the central way in. A late-afternoon hike that ends at sunset is our standard recommendation. Much of the desert is blooming by mid-February.

The Desert Botanical Garden is the other sunset option, with more than 50,000 desert plants and a sky that goes red and purple over them. For a bigger gesture, Rainbow Ryders will take the two of you up in a hot air balloon and pour prickly pear mimosas when you land. Butterfly Wonderland is a glass atrium filled with hundreds of species of butterflies and is quieter than it sounds. And the LOVE sculpture by Robert Indiana at the Scottsdale Civic Center is where half the engagement photos in town get taken.

Dinner needs a reservation weeks out. Valentine's is one of the busiest restaurant nights in Scottsdale.

• Mastro's City Hall on East Camelback Road. Prime steaks and fresh seafood, with a serious cocktail list, in an elegant contemporary room. Dinner service begins at 5.
• Cafe Monarch, downtown, for New American cooking in a room built for two.
• Marcellino Ristorante, upscale Italian with handmade pasta.
• The chains are here too, The Melting Pot and Ruth's Chris among them, if that is your tradition.

A Valentine's nightcap in Old Town

Afterward, walk Old Town. It is where the late-night bars are, and a nightcap at the Rusty Spur Saloon or Old Town Tavern ends the evening the way locals do it. For two people, one of our Troon Ranch Casitas in North Scottsdale is the right size. Nobody needs eleven bedrooms on Valentine's Day.

St. Patrick's Day in Scottsdale

St. Patrick's Day is not a travel holiday for most people, which is exactly why it works here. You escape the last of the cold back home and land in a town that takes the day seriously.

The Scottsdale Shamrock Crawl takes over Old Town on the Saturday closest to the 17th, running through the afternoon. A wristband gets you free entry to every participating bar and a set of penny drink specials, and the bars go all out on decorations. It is an adult afternoon. For a group doing the crawl, Wild West Estate is close to Old Town and sleeps 16.

For an all-ages day, the Phoenix St. Patrick's Day Faire fills Margaret T. Hance Park in downtown Phoenix. Bagpipers and Irish step dancers, live Irish music, an arts and crafts fair and a children's area, with Irish beer on tap for the parents. It runs all day on the same Saturday.

Runners have the Shamrock Half Marathon, with a 10K and a 5K alongside it, staged at Kiwanis Park in Tempe with an early morning start. Early registration opens well ahead of race day.

Easter in Scottsdale

Easter weekend is family weather. The big community event is the Great Egg Hunt and Family Fair at the Arizona Boardwalk, the entertainment district that surrounds OdySea Aquarium. Put on by Family Fun AZ, it has two separate egg hunts, interactive games, bounce houses, face painting, coloring contests and a visit from the Easter Bunny, with local food and craft vendors around the edges. It is free, but families have to register in advance. While you are there, OdySea's underwater exhibits are worth the afternoon.

Easter brunch is a competitive sport in Scottsdale. The Capital Grille and Social Tap Eatery both run Easter brunch menus, from chicken and waffles to avocado toast, with mimosas and Bloody Marys assumed. Arrive early or reserve, because the tables fill.

Or host your own. Casa Palacio has the grounds for an egg hunt and a grotto pool for afterward. The tennis court keeps the uncles busy. Twenty people, one house, no reservation required.

Tents by the Tracks and other spring festivals

Every spring, McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park hosts Tents by the Tracks, a weekend festival of food trucks and live music, with artisan vendors filling in between. It draws food people and music people in equal numbers, and it is an easy day for a family because the park's train and carousel are right there. Check the entertainment lineup on the park's event page before you go so you can time the bands you want.

Afterward, the natural move is a stroll through downtown Scottsdale for the galleries and a late dinner. Our estates are a short drive from the park, so the weekend does not require a car full of tired people to go far.

Mother's Day in Scottsdale

Mother's Day here is a weekend, not a brunch reservation. Start her at Spa Avania at the Hyatt Regency Scottsdale, where the consultants build a personal program: a massage and a soak in the therapeutic salt room, with the mineral pool afterward. Book the morning slot so the rest of the day is hers.

Brunch is ZuZu at the Hotel Valley Ho, which sets out a seafood bar and omelet specials for the day, plus its famous Bloody Marys. While she is at the spa, someone slips into Old Town to Super Chunk Sweets and Treats for the gift. Their meringue bouquet is the one.

Dinner is The Capital Grille on the north side of Scottsdale, a chophouse with prime cuts made to order and a clubby room that skews younger than the name suggests. And if she hikes, Camelback Mountain in May is the last comfortable window before the summer heat arrives a few weeks later. Trails run from easy to steep, and the view from the top covers the whole valley.

Questions we get asked