We keep a running list of what our guests actually do — not a tourist-brochure list, but the outings people mention in reviews and thank-you notes. Distances below are real-world drive times from the house in Desert Ridge. Mix one morning adventure with one cool-indoors stop and an afternoon at the pool, and you have the formula for a perfect Phoenix day.
Lookout Mountain Preserve
Our closest trail and the one we walk ourselves — a short, punchy summit with 360° Valley views. About an hour round trip. Go at sunrise and you will share it with more jackrabbits than people.
Get directions ↗Musical Instrument Museum (MIM)
Routinely the most-praised stop in our guestbook. 8,000+ instruments from every country on earth, brilliant wireless audio that plays as you approach each exhibit, and a hands-on room where kids can bang a giant gong. Allow 2–3 hours.
Get directions ↗Desert Ridge Marketplace & High Street
Your everything-hub: restaurants, an AMC theater, weekend live music on the District Stage, and a splash pad that saves summer afternoons. High Street next door adds date-night dining and bars.
Get directions ↗Piestewa Peak Summit Trail
The Valley’s second-most-famous hike — 1.2 steep miles to a true summit panorama. Less crowded than Camelback and, in our opinion, the better sunrise. Bring double the water you think you need.
Get directions ↗Camelback Mountain (Echo Canyon)
Phoenix’s iconic climb: handrails, boulder scrambles, and a summit view that earns its reputation. It is genuinely strenuous — parking fills by 6 AM on weekends, so go early or go to Piestewa instead.
Get directions ↗Pinnacle Peak Park
North Scottsdale’s gentler classic: a smooth out-and-back through giant granite boulders and saguaro forest with mountain views the whole way. The trail our guests with kids and grandparents like best.
Get directions ↗OdySea Aquarium & Butterfly Wonderland
The Southwest’s largest aquarium (watch the sloth feeding) shares a campus with a rainforest butterfly atrium. One parking lot, two attractions, an easy full morning with children.
Get directions ↗McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park
Rideable miniature trains, a 1950 carousel, museums and shaded playgrounds. Tickets cost pocket change and toddlers treat it like Disneyland. A Scottsdale institution since 1975.
Get directions ↗Topgolf Scottsdale
Climate-controlled hitting bays, food and drinks, and games that make non-golfers competitive. Our go-to suggestion when groups want a fun evening that is not another dinner.
Get directions ↗Salt River Tubing & Kayaking
May–September: rent a tube, float the lower Salt River, and watch for the famous wild horses that wade in to drink. Go on a weekday morning; bring water shoes and a cooler tube.
Get directions ↗Desert Botanical Garden
140 acres of the world’s desert plants in bloom against the Papago Buttes. Magical at golden hour, and the winter Las Noches de las Luminarias evenings — thousands of hand-lit candles — sell out for a reason.
Get directions ↗Phoenix Zoo
One of the country’s largest non-profit zoos. Do the Africa Trail before 10 AM when the animals are active, then let the kids loose on the giant splash pad. November–January brings the ZooLights evenings.
Get directions ↗Heard Museum
The benchmark for American Indian art and history, downtown. The hoop-dance championships (February) and the kachina collection are extraordinary. Pair it with lunch on Roosevelt Row.
Get directions ↗Spring Training at Salt River Fields
February–March: the Diamondbacks and Rockies share the prettiest ballpark in the Cactus League. Lawn seats cost less than a movie, autographs happen along the fences, and the sunsets are free.
Get directions ↗Sedona Day Trip
Red-rock cathedrals, energy vortexes, and the best photo backdrop in Arizona. Leave by 7 AM, hike Cathedral Rock or Devil’s Bridge, browse Tlaquepaque, and you are back for an evening swim at the house.
Get directions ↗Phoenix Art Museum
The Southwest’s largest art museum — Monet to Thiebaud plus Yayoi Kusama’s mesmerizing infinity mirror room, “You Who Are Getting Obliterated in the Dancing Swarm of Fireflies.” Free admission Wednesday evenings.
Get directions ↗Castles N’ Coasters
A classic family amusement park: four mini-golf courses, go-karts, bumper boats and a log flume. Old-school in the best way — evenings are cooler and the neon makes it.
Get directions ↗Cave Creek & Frontier Town
Saloons, turquoise shops, barbecue and live country music in a town that never stopped being Western. Pair it with a saguaro-forest trail ride at a nearby ranch for the full Arizona postcard.
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