Why Scottsdale rewards a slow visit
Guests ask us about things to do in Scottsdale more than they ask about the houses. Fair enough. The things to do in Scottsdale are the reason the houses exist. We have lived here long enough to hold opinions, and this is what we tell people on arrival: the two hikes that matter, the museums that earn an afternoon, how to spend a day in Old Town and the drives that justify leaving the pool.
Scottsdale sits in the Sonoran Desert with mountains on most horizons and sunshine on something like 300 days a year. That shapes everything below. Mornings are for trails. Afternoons are for galleries and air conditioning. Evenings belong to the patio.
Hiking Camelback Mountain and the McDowell Sonoran Preserve
Camelback Mountain is the landmark you can see from almost anywhere in town, named for the hump in its profile. The trailheads sit in the Echo Canyon Recreation Area, and locals treat the climb as a daily workout, so the nearby streets fill with parked cars early. Go at first light. You get the parking spot and the cooler air, and the sunrise makes the effort feel small. There are routes of different difficulty. None of them is a stroll.
The McDowell Sonoran Preserve is the other essential. The city set aside more than 30,000 acres of desert and threaded it with over 100 miles of connected trails, which makes it one of the largest urban preserves in the country. The Gateway trailhead is the easy way in. Trails run from flat loops to long climbs and are open for hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding and rock climbing. If you want a guide, Arizona Outback Adventures runs trips into the preserve. Our own tip is to go early or late. That is when the wildlife is out and the light is at its best.
Pinnacle Peak is the shorter alternative when Camelback feels like too much.
Papago Park, Saguaro Lake and the Superstitions
Papago Park sits where Scottsdale meets Tempe and is on the National Register of Historic Places. The sandstone buttes are full of gaps and hollows you can scramble into, Hunt's Tomb is the odd little landmark on the hill, and the Phoenix Zoo is inside the park. Trails are short and saguaros are everywhere, so it works for anyone who wants desert without a summit.
Saguaro Lake is the water option. Rental shops along the shore carry paddleboards, and with the sunshine we get here the lake is in play most of the year. For a harder day, the Superstition Mountains east of town reward experienced hikers with rough trails and the kind of views that keep you up there for sunset.
Old Town Scottsdale: galleries, the trolley and the Arts District
Old Town is the original downtown and still the hub. Galleries, restaurants and bars fill the streets, and a free trolley loops the district so you can leave the car at the house. The Scottsdale Historical Museum shows what the town looked like when it was founded. Rent a bike or a Segway if you want to cover more ground than your feet allow.
Thursday is the night to come. The Scottsdale ArtWalk has run weekly for decades, which makes it the oldest art walk in the country, and the galleries in the Arts District stay open late with refreshments and live music. From January through March the district also hosts Celebrate Art, when emerging and established artists show side by side. On Saturdays the Old Town Farmers Market sets up with Arizona produce.
If you plan to spend most evenings here, Wild West Estate is the house we suggest. It sleeps 16 and sits close enough to Old Town that dinner is an easy decision.
The best museums in Scottsdale
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, in Old Town, runs several galleries and a sculpture garden with rotating exhibits on art, architecture and design. The SMoCA Lounge hosts an evening series with local musicians and authors.
Western Spirit: Scottsdale's Museum of the West is a 43,000-square-foot museum covering the art and artifacts of 19 western states. Work by Georgia O'Keeffe, Charles M. Russell and Fritz Scholder hangs alongside the objects of frontier life, and there is a cactus garden and an outdoor amphitheater outside.
The Musical Instrument Museum, in North Scottsdale, holds more than 15,000 instruments arranged by continent. Every guest gets a headset for a self-guided tour, and the ground-floor concert hall hosts hundreds of performances a year. Plan on a full afternoon.
The Desert Botanical Garden is technically a garden, but its ethnobotanical trail on how native people used desert plants makes it a history lesson too, and seasonal events change the experience through the year. The Heard Museum, for American Indian art and culture, and the Phoenix Art Museum, the largest art museum in the Southwest, are both a short drive into Phoenix.
Tours worth booking in Scottsdale
Flavors of Scottsdale is a three-hour walking food tour through Old Town that stops at five or six restaurants for bites and drinks. It comes in lunch, happy hour and dinner versions and doubles as orientation for the rest of your stay.
The Musical Instrument Museum offers a VIP tour of about an hour that goes behind the scenes and explains how the exhibits were built. Book it, then stay for the galleries.
For a night out with a group, Arizona Party Bike runs a pedal-powered pub crawl on a 15-passenger bike through the heart of Scottsdale with music on board between stops. It is exactly as silly as it sounds, which is the point.
Horseback rides, Jeep tours and ATV outings into the desert are all available through local outfitters. For a quieter evening, the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts runs a full calendar of touring Broadway shows, dance and live music.
Day trips from Scottsdale: Sedona, the Apache Trail and Tombstone
Sedona is about an hour and a half north. The red rocks are the draw, and simply finding a bench with a view is a good afternoon, but the hiking is world famous for a reason. Leave early and make it a long day.
The Apache Trail starts in Apache Junction, about 30 miles east of Scottsdale, and runs 46 miles through mountains and canyons past ghost towns you can wander, ending at Roosevelt Lake. Bring a swimsuit for the finish.
Tombstone is around three hours away, so it is a full day, but it is the frontier town from the movies, and several were filmed there. The O.K. Corral, the Bird Cage Saloon and the old graveyard are the stops.
The Grand Canyon is on the list for plenty of guests. Closer to home, a dawn hot air balloon over the Sonoran Desert fits inside a morning.
Three days in Scottsdale: a sample itinerary
Day one, the preserve. Get out early with a guide or on your own, then spend the afternoon at the pool. Day two, Old Town. Breakfast on the patio at Morning Squeeze, the farmers market if it is Saturday, a slow walk through the Arts District galleries and dinner at FnB, where the menu leans on Arizona-grown vegetables and Arizona wine. Day three, the Musical Instrument Museum for the afternoon, then Pita Jungle across the street for Mediterranean dishes that do not weigh you down.
That is the version for a long weekend. With a week you add a day trip or two and a lazy day that is nothing but the house.
Scottsdale for couples and solo travelers
For two, start with a sunrise hike from the Gateway trailhead, then take the quiet of SMoCA in the afternoon. Butterfly Wonderland, at Arizona Boardwalk, is an unexpectedly good place for photos of each other. Dinner is Café Monarch, where the menu rotates weekly around organic ingredients and the servers are trained in wine pairing.
On your own, paddleboard Saguaro Lake, take the quieter preserve trails with a camera, and book a show at the Center for the Performing Arts. Treat yourself to a steak at Dominic's Steak House on North Scottsdale Road. For either trip, Troon Ranch Casitas in North Scottsdale gives you a private casita without an oversized house around it.
Questions we get asked
How many days do you need in Scottsdale?
Three days covers the headline stops: a morning in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve, a full day in Old Town and an afternoon at a major museum. A week lets you add Sedona or the Apache Trail and still have a day that is nothing but the pool.
What is the best hike in Scottsdale?
Camelback Mountain for the challenge and the view over the whole valley. The McDowell Sonoran Preserve for variety, with more than 100 miles of trails from flat to steep. Either way, start early for parking and cooler air.
Is Old Town Scottsdale walkable?
Yes. The district is compact, a free trolley loops through it, and bike and Segway rentals are available if you want to cover more ground. Wild West Estate is the closest of our houses.
Which day trip from Scottsdale is best?
Sedona if you only take one, about an hour and a half north. The Apache Trail if you would rather drive than hike, since the 46-mile road does the work and ends at Roosevelt Lake.
