Our near-perpetual sunny weather and broad spectrum of cultural and recreational activities makes Phoenix the epitome of a year-round vacation destination. The choice is really up to you, and these suggested seasonal itineraries can help you make it.
Top Activities
Grand Canyon: One of the world’s seven natural wonders, the Grand Canyon offers spectacular vistas of canyon walls that have been sculpted from earth over the millennia by the mighty Colorado River. The shifting sun creates a palette of constantly changing colors, experience nature on walks or mule rides into the Canyon
Heard Museum: The internationally acclaimed Heard Museum is one of the best places to experience the myriad cultures and art of Native Americans of the Southwest. The museum’s 10 spacious exhibit galleries and outdoor courtyards feature outstanding traditional and contemporary Native American art. The Heard Museum Shop offers authentic American Indian art.
Musical Instrument Museum: The Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) is a museums devoted to music. MIM’s collection is truly global, with 15,000 instruments and artifacts from every country in the world. Each exhibit includes high quality audio/video that allows guests to see and hear the instruments being played in the cultures where they originate.
Desert Botanical Garden: The Desert Botanical Garden offers the world’s finest collection of arid-land plants from deserts of the world in a unique outdoor setting. The Garden has 50,000 desert plants throughout five thematic trails that illustrate topics such as conservation, desert living, plants and people of the Sonoran Desert and desert wildflowers.
South Mountain Park and Preserve: Phoenix is home to the largest municipal park in the world covering more than 16,500 acres and contains more than 50 miles of hiking, biking and equestrian trails.
Ideas for First Time Visitors:
- Western Destinations
- Musical Instrument Museum
- Desert Botanical Garden
- Heard Museum
- Camelback Mountain
- Octane Raceway
- South Mountain Park
Ideas for Repeat Visitors:
- Phoenix Zoo
- Children’s Museum of Phoenix
- Scottsdale Fashion Square Mall
- Cactus League Spring Training
- Dolly Steamboat
- Montezuma’s Castle, Montezuma’s Well
Special Events
Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera
This exhibit offers a rare opportunity to see firsthand masterpieces by two of the most important and recognizable artists of the 20th century. Bank of America is the Presenting Sponsor for Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, making Phoenix its only North American stop on a world tour.
Thirty-three works by the famed Mexican artists, from the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection, are to be exhibited. The Gelmans were Mexican-based European emigres who were friends of the artists. On view will be Kahlo’s Self Portrait with Monkeys and Diego on My Mind, and Rivera’s Calla Lily Vendor and Sunflowers. In addition, the exhibit includes more than 50 photographs taken by Edward Weston, Lola Alvarez Bravo and Frida Kahlo’s father, Guillermo Kahlo, among others. The exhibit also will feature vintage clothing and jewelry from the Kahlo period.
Phoenix Comicon
Phoenix Comicon is the signature pop culture experience of the Southwest. It presents the chance for fans to meet with their favorite creators, actors, authors and get their autograph (and have a photo taken with them!). Comicon brings out the top comic book writers and artists in the industry, features many genres from pop culture (anime, authors, horror, and steampunk) and presents a full weekend of events and activities for you and your family.
Black White Blue Yellow
Black White Blue Yellow is an immersive four-channel video and sound installation by artist Steven Yazzie (Navajo/Laguna/European) exploring four sacred mountains that border the Diné/Navajo people.
BWBY is a journey and departure to sacred land and space, the source of cultural continuities: indigenous knowledge, mystery, discovery, fear, connection, and exploitation by contemporary societies. BWBY is a culmination of video and sound documentation that will bring the viewer into the complexities of these geographies in a temporal conceptual experience, designed to touch on the mountain’s symbolic nature residing deep within our human memory.
Local Transportation
Transportation Motor Coach companies in Phoenix
Distance from Major Airports
- Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (to downtown) – 5 miles