Phoenix - Things to do

Dubliner28

Heading to Phoenix , 10 days holiday,

Recommendations please?

Whiplash85

Day trips to Sedona and Flagstaff are a must. If you had a couple of days to spare you could take a trip up to page for a couple of days via monument valley. Page has the horse shoe bend and Antelope Canyon. We went to the grand canyon one day and it was the third best thing we did that particular day. Thats how highly I recommend the aforementioned attractions.

iusedtoknow

My initial response is....leave. The beauty of Arizona is not in it's capital.

North has Flagstaff and Sedona. Sedona is a strange place, beautiful rock formation and new agers that seem to think that the place has healing powers, and of course the grand canyon. I'd recommend taking a couple of days up there, and trekking down to the floor.

Driving south to Tucson through the desert is nice as well.

Sam Hain

Phoenix is a pretty crap city. Downtown is dead except when the Suns play. Tempe and Scottsdale are nice areas and the best for socialising. As the others have said you can drive from Phoenix to Sedona, for a lot of red rock, vortexes and an abundance of scenic beauty. Places like the Grand Canyon and Havasu are also worth visiting, but you'll be doing plenty of driving.

Wompa1

Been in Phoenix for 3 years now. Downtown Phoenix has nothing...if you want to check out the baseball stadium it might be worth a look, otherwise, I'd avoid it.

I'd suggest checking out Scottsdale and Tempe. Drive over to the Zoo and go up to the hole in the rock for a nice view, there's also a nice free park by there too. The Hockey is starting back in a few days, that's great fun! Also it's NFL season, which isn't as fun but still worth witnessing. There's a nice park in a place called Fountain Hills that has the largest water spout thingy in the world...

You could drive up to Canyon Creek, the drive is pretty amazing and it's very close to the Phoenix Metro area. If you're into gambling, there's casinos all over the place.

It's worth driving up to Sedona and Flagstaff for a look too...The Grand Canyon is an obvious one. When you're up around Flagstaff you should check out Walnut Canyon. Sedona has Oak Creek Canyon, there's also an amazing Italian restaurant there!

Personally, I'd suggest avoiding Tuscon, I think it's a hole. I actually love Phoenix. Sedona and Flagstaff are very cool too.

Also eat! If you want authentic Mexican food there's a few great places in the valley. Los Glorias in a really crappy part of town but authentic and great. There's a less authentic but great place called Fajitas out that way too. If you want the best steak you've ever had go to the Stockyards. If you want the best BBQ, check out Lucilles in Tempe. If you want the best pizza...that depends on what kind of pizza you like. For that greasy New York style, I live Venezias. If you want a more gourmet type of Pizza, check out Nellos. For a gourmet Burger, check out Hillstone for a really good fast food burger, check out Smashburger....

Dubliner28

Thanks for the info lads

Paul_Hacket

Wouldn't choose Phoenix for a holiday, not a fan of the look of the city (it's a fairly charmless low rise sprawl), the traffic or the locals. It could work as a base for a vacation to head up to northern Arizona and Utah, which are spectacular. But you'd be better of using Vegas as a base to see those.

ProudDUB

Arizona was featured on yesterdays travel section on The Right Hook. The dude who presents it usually goes into that weeks featured location in some depth. A podcast of the show should be up on the Newstalk website by now. I think the Travel section comes on around 6.15ish or so.

dclifford

Arizona Coyotes play in Glendale in the NHL. You will get tickets easily on US ticketmaster or stubhub, hotel should be able to help out. NHL is definitly worth going to.
Wild horse pass outlet mall if you are planning shopping. There is not much downtown. Scottsdale and Tempe are good for going out.

Wompa1

In my opinion. Phoenix is actually one of the better places in America. But it depends on the type of person you are. If you like driving, it's great. The roads are perfect. It's so well planned.

It's got great parks. Like at Tempe Town Lake, Tumbleweed, Popago. Etc.

It has Canyon Creek right outside it, which is beautiful.

The downtown itself is like Canary Wharf in London. Mostly financial district. Dead after 8pm on a weekday. Dead on weekends.

Mill Avenue in Tempe is great for the younger crowd and has unbelievable lookin women. Scottsdale on the weekend is amazing.

You have upscale shopping in Scottsdale Fashion Square and The Biltmore. Outlets in Wild Horse Pass, Anthem and Glendale.

The Hockey is amazing. There's NFL, NBA and MLB too. As well as college sports.

And like I said. The food is incredible.

The only real downsides of the place to me is the heat in the summer, the fact it's sos spread out makes the bus system ****e...they are extending the light rail thankfully.

The drive to San Diego is interesting. The drive up north is really cool too, if you're up to that

mikewest

If you ever played golf then Scottsdale is fantastic in the late autumn, winter and spring.
And old town Scottsdale is excellent for a night out and actually looks good during the day as well.
For the best burger check out In n Out burger, California chain that have a few spots in Phoenix. Very simple menu, Burger, Cheese Burger, Double cheese burger, Fries. That's it and queues round the block.
If you like planes check out the Air Museum in Tucson and then a trip to the boneyard but you have to do that on a weekday, there is also a strangely disturbing Titan missile museum the other side of Tucson from the Air Museum with a lovely drive there if you let the sat nav take you by the back roads.
Sedona and Oak Creek on the way north to the Grand canyon have to be seen to be believed and if you have the time the painted desert far to the east of the Grand Canyon is stunningly beautiful late in the evening just before they close the park.
If you are hitting Mill Avenue in Tempe some evening then make your way to the Arizona Mills mall earlier in the day and load up on some really good value in clothes. It also has a fantastically huge Imax cinema screen
Oh yeah and you are only 5 hours drive from Vegas.

Wompa1

mikewest wrote: »

If you ever played golf then Scottsdale is fantastic in the late autumn, winter and spring.
And old town Scottsdale is excellent for a night out and actually looks good during the day as well.
For the best burger check out In n Out burger, California chain that have a few spots in Phoenix. Very simple menu, Burger, Cheese Burger, Double cheese burger, Fries. That's it and queues round the block.
If you like planes check out the Air Museum in Tucson and then a trip to the boneyard but you have to do that on a weekday, there is also a strangely disturbing Titan missile museum the other side of Tucson from the Air Museum with a lovely drive there if you let the sat nav take you by the back roads.
Sedona and Oak Creek on the way north to the Grand canyon have to be seen to be believed and if you have the time the painted desert far to the east of the Grand Canyon is stunningly beautiful late in the evening just before they close the park.
If you are hitting Mill Avenue in Tempe some evening then make your way to the Arizona Mills mall earlier in the day and load up on some really good value in clothes. It also has a fantastically huge Imax cinema screen
Oh yeah and you are only 5 hours drive from Vegas.

I actually prefer SmashBurger myself! If you go to certain In-N-Outs they can be quiet like in Chandler. The cool thing about them is everything is fresh and they have a secret menu that you can find online now but originally was just word of mouth. Like ordering your 'fries' or chips animal style, or burger Garden Style

I'd also stress Arizona mills early in the day...it's very rough at night. It's kind of fallen behind...Some of the shops in the Outlets are much better value than those in the malls. But all fair points! The food and quality of service here is just amazing...but that's everywhere in the states. Mexican food is unique here though, I much prefer it here rather than in California..San Diego is also about 5.5 hours of a drive from here. And the difference in the sand once you hit the border is pretty cool

Wompa1

ProudDUB wrote: »

Arizona was featured on yesterdays travel section on The Right Hook. The dude who presents it usually goes into that weeks featured location in some depth. A podcast of the show should be up on the Newstalk website by now. I think the Travel section comes on around 6.15ish or so.

Just listened to it there..the guy mentioned Tuscon and wasn't going to mention Phoenix because it's too Philistine....what a gob****e. Tuscon is a sh1thole!

"Also if you go to the Grand Canyon you're going to stay at Flagstaff or Sedona"...not true. Many people stay in Williams and get the Grand Canyon Railway...

ProudDUB

Sorry, probably should have mentioned that the guy doing it, can be a bit of a travel snob. Phoenix is probably too built up, too urbanized and too full of golfers, snow birds & shopping malls for his tastes. Thought he gave some good tips on the Grand Canyon & Vermillion ridge though.

Dubliner28

Thanks again lads for the tips

Snoopy1

i had a great time in phoenix, all the locals were lovely

MadsL

If you are in AZ and don't stay and eat here, trust me you are missing one of the true gems of the Southwest.

http://www.laposada.org/

Rated as one of the top three restaurants in the U.S. in the 2009 Conde Naste Gold List

InTheTrees

Wompa1 wrote: »

The downtown itself is like Canary Wharf in London. Mostly financial district. Dead after 8pm on a weekday. Dead on weekends.

A good point. This is a common confusion when visiting the USA.

Dont confuse "Downtown" with "City Centre", in other words dont assume that downtown is going to be the center of city life. More often than not the "downtown" clump of skyscrapers is the financial district and as Wompa1 says is about as lively as the city of London; dead after 6pm and lifeless on the weekends. ANd the only shops are office supplies, luggage and sandwich places.

"Downtown Los Angeles" is the same. Its the banking industry center. Many other US cities are the same too.

Snoopy1

InTheTrees wrote: »

A good point. This is a common confusion when visiting the USA.

Dont confuse "Downtown" with "City Centre", in other words dont assume that downtown is going to be the center of city life. More often than not the "downtown" clump of skyscrapers is the financial district and as Wompa1 says is about as lively as the city of London; dead after 6pm and lifeless on the weekends. ANd the only shops are office supplies, luggage and sandwich places.

"Downtown Los Angeles" is the same. Its the banking industry center. Many other US cities are the same too.

This is not true
I stayed in downtown phoenix and the block I was in was full of restaurants and bars

InTheTrees

Snoopy1 wrote: »

This is not true
I stayed in downtown phoenix and the block I was in was full of restaurants and bars

Sheesh. I said "more often than not" didn't I?

So downtown phoenix is the hub of life in the city is it? Okay.

Hidalgo

Spent a few days around Tempe and Scottsdale about 10 yrs ago. Lovely and clean college town.
If there's a college football game on that would be a great spectacle.
Even if you're not an American football fan the tailgate party beforehand would be well worth a visit.

Wompa1

InTheTrees wrote: »

Sheesh. I said "more often than not" didn't I?

So downtown phoenix is the hub of life in the city is it? Okay.

Definitely not the hub of life but they've done a good job over the last few years of making it more of an appeal to young people. They opened up CityScape that has a lot of pubs and restaurants and it has a great underground, alternative, Jazz, Blues type of music scene. I was just in the Orpheum recently, it's an amazing venue.

I've gone into the downtown area for a few gigs and sporting events on weekends and weeknights....dead as can be. Apparently there's plans to build a few more skyscrapers and there's a lot of apartments going in there. In 10 years it might be a different scene

Snoopy1

Wompa1 wrote: »

Definitely not the hub of life but they've done a good job over the last few years of making it more of an appeal to young people. They opened up CityScape that has a lot of pubs and restaurants and it has a great underground, alternative, Jazz, Blues type of music scene. I was just in the Orpheum recently, it's an amazing venue.

I've gone into the downtown area for a few gigs and sporting events on weekends and weeknights....dead as can be. Apparently there's plans to build a few more skyscrapers and there's a lot of apartments going in there. In 10 years it might be a different scene

I stayed in cityscape, really nice place