Phoenix is a city that should not exist at the scale it does — a metropolitan area of 5 million people in the middle of the Sonoran Desert, dependent on the Colorado River water system and sustained by air conditioning so thoroughly that the outdoor temperatures between June and September are largely irrelevant to daily life. That this is an engineering accomplishment of the first order does not make it a comfortable fact to sit with; the water supply from an over-allocated river feeding the driest states in the country is the existential question of the American Southwest. In the meantime, Phoenix has world-class desert museums, Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural legacy, some of the best Mexican food in the United States, and a hiking culture that makes use of the Sonoran landscape in a way that no amount of urban sprawl has entirely overwhelmed.
Our bike trip from San Diego to St Augustine took us through Phoenix. First impression was of its huge size. We entered the North West part of Phoenix at Surprise and we had to cycle 40 more miles to reach the centre (Tempe). Additionally, Phoenix did not seem like one city with one centre; more a collection of districts. We arrived at the start of a September weekend and found hotel accommodation to be scarce. There was a football match involving Arizona State University and parents, alumni and others had come into Phoenix for the game.
A Little Background
The Salt River Valley was home to the Hohokam people for over a thousand years — a culture that built an extensive canal irrigation system, at its peak around AD 1000–1300, that is still the basis of modern Phoenix’s water infrastructure. The Hohokam abandoned the valley around 1450 for reasons that are still debated; when American settlers arrived in 1867 to establish an agricultural community by reactivating the ancient canals, one of them suggested the name Phoenix — a city rising from the ruins of a previous civilisation. The metaphor was apt, if optimistic.
Arizona achieved statehood in 1912 — the last of the contiguous 48 states to do so. The first air conditioning systems arrived in the 1950s; without them, Phoenix’s modern growth would have been impossible. The postwar decades brought military installations, retirees from the Midwest and Northeast, and a real estate development model that prioritised car-accessible suburban sprawl over walkable urban density — a model that shaped the Phoenix metropolitan area into one of the most geographically spread cities in the world.
What to See and Do
The Desert Botanical Garden in Papago Park is the finest desert garden in the world — 50 hectares of outdoor trails through the Sonoran Desert plant collection, with over 50,000 plants representing 4,000 species, including half of the world’s known cactus species. The Sonoran Desert Trail covers the core collection; the Plants and People of the Sonoran Desert Trail provides cultural context. Best visited in the early morning or evening; the spring wildflower bloom (late February to April) is spectacular. Adult approximately US$30.
The Heard Museum on Central Avenue is one of the most important museums of Native American art and culture in the United States — a serious, beautifully curated collection that includes the Fred Harvey collection of Southwest Indigenous art, major contemporary Native American works, and an unflinching account of the Indian boarding school era and its consequences. Adult approximately US$20. Allow two to three hours.
Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wright’s winter campus in Scottsdale (25 kilometres northeast of downtown), is the desert complex Wright built from 1937 onward as his winter studio, school, and laboratory — a collection of low, organic buildings in desert masonry and wood that responds to the Sonoran landscape with a sophistication that remains striking. The National Historic Landmark is run by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation; tours run daily (adult approximately US$30–85 depending on tour type). Essential for anyone interested in architecture.
Camelback Mountain, within the Phoenix metropolitan area, offers two trails (Echo Canyon and Cholla) to the summit at 820 metres — a moderately difficult hike with 360-degree views across the city and the surrounding desert. Start early to avoid the worst of the heat and to secure a parking space. Free; permit required on weekends, bookable online.
The South Mountain Park and Preserve is one of the largest municipal parks in the United States — 7,400 hectares of Sonoran Desert mountain terrain with hiking and equestrian trails within the city limits. The Dobbin’s Lookout summit road gives a view of the Phoenix basin that makes the scale of the metropolitan area comprehensible in a way that driving across it does not. Free.
The Phoenix Art Museum on Central Avenue — the largest art museum in the Southwest — has strong collections of Western American art, Latin American art, and fashion design, plus a solid European and American holdings. Adult approximately US$23; free on the first Friday of the month.
Day trip: Sedona — 180 kilometres north, where red sandstone buttes and mesas above Oak Creek Canyon constitute one of the more dramatic natural landscapes in the Southwest. The Chapel of the Holy Cross (a 1956 modernist chapel built into the rock face) and Cathedral Rock are the most photographed subjects; the Oak Creek swimming holes below the canyon are excellent in summer heat. Highway 89A through Oak Creek Canyon is the approach road of choice.
Getting There
Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) is 6 kilometres from downtown — one of the most conveniently located major airports in the United States. The Valley Metro Rail light rail connects the airport directly to downtown Phoenix, Tempe, and Mesa (approximately 20 minutes to downtown; US$2). Taxis and rideshares cost approximately US$15–25 to central Phoenix. Amtrak’s Sunset Limited (Los Angeles to New Orleans) passes through Maricopa, 50 kilometres south, not Phoenix itself — the nearest served station.
Weather
Phoenix is extremely hot from June through September — temperatures above 40°C are routine in July and August, and above 45°C are recorded several times per summer. October through April is the comfortable season: warm, dry days (22–28°C), cool evenings, reliable blue skies. The monsoon season (late June through September) brings brief, intense thunderstorms in the afternoon and evenings that temporarily reduce temperatures. Winter (December–January) has cooler days (15–20°C) and occasional near-freezing nights.
Cost and Hours
Phoenix has a wide accommodation range, from budget motels to the resort hotels of Scottsdale. Mid-range hotels in central Phoenix run US$120–220 per night; Scottsdale resort pricing is considerably higher. Allow three days minimum; four if including Sedona or the Arizona Museum of Natural History in Mesa.