I am planning a trip mid-march to attend the Tucson book festival. CC has always given me great travel tips, so I am asking again.
Trip will be 3 nights in Phoenix/Scottsdale and 3 in Tucson. We have accommodations for Tucson. Not planning on renting a car. Most time in Tucson will be spent at the festival. Must see sites so far are the desert garden, Frank Lloyd Wright house, Music museum, and Saguaro National Park.
Looking for recs for hotel in Phoenix, restaurants in both places, and sites for both places. Looking for a reasonably priced walkable hotel location. For activities, I walk but don’t hike and love all kinds of culture. For restaurants, willing to do one fancy meal.
Just curious. How will you get between Phoenix/Scottsdale and Tucson? Does someone else have a car?
The sites you list are good ones. I don’t have any hotel suggestions in Phoenix, but we like the Westin Kierland in Scottsdale which is walkable/connected to Kierland Commons shopping and restaurants (love the Tommy Bahama restaurant, great desserts). It’s in a great location, too, just off the 101.
How fancy is fancy? Scottsdale has some crazy fancy places (check out restaurants at the Sanctuary resort, the Phoenician, and the Montelucia). Our favorite is T. Cooks at the Royal Palms, rated most romantic restaurant in the valley most years. People like Dominick’s for steak and Mastro’s for seafood. Lon’s at the Hermosa Inn has a fantastic patio and food. Orange Sky at the Talking Stick Resort and Casino has good food and a fine top-story view. Different Point of View also offers a great vista and fine dining. The Jade Bar at the Sanctuary resort is a great place to have a cocktail and watch the sun set over Paradise Valley before either having dinner at Elements there or heading out to another venue for dinner. Really, just depends on the experience you’re looking for and how much you want to pay.
In Phoenix…I think you will need a car…or plan to do a LOT of uber/lyft.
Desert Botanical Gardens. Go early and do a docent led tour. Just a gorgeous place.
Musical Instrument Museum (MIM). Even people who don’t know about or like music love this place. Well worth the visit.
Phoenix Art Museum. I believe Wednesday nights are free. There is usually a special exhibit on the mezzanine level, but I don’t know what it is this year.
Well, along with one fancy meal, open to ideas for good food for the other nights as well. Hoping to find hotel and restaurants within downtown Scottsdale, would eliminate some of the uber/lyft needs?
“Downtown” Scottsdale is mainly Old Town, very touristy, mostly art galleries (some good), gift shops with southwest tchotchkes, Indian jewelry, and bars. If you decide to spend any time there, be sure to indulge in the historic Sugar Bowl with its Bil Keane (Family Circus) artwork on the walls. Not much else I’d recommend in that area.
I’ll let others reply. Mine is just one opinion. What makes Scottsdale interesting to me happens north of downtown. If you have kids in your entourage, definitely take them to the McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park which features model railroads, a railroad museum, train rides, carousel, ice cream parlor, and the Roald Amundsen Pullman Car, best known for being used by every president from Herbert Hoover through Dwight Eisenhower. Heck, adults love this place, too. (It was our son’s favorite place. Some weeks, we went three or four times. He took his new wife there last year as a must-see.)
Taliesen West, Frank Lloyd Wright’s winter home/desert laboratory, may also be of interest.
You will benefit from having a car! Phoenix/Scottsdale area is very flat, very spread out, and is easy to drive in.
We were there in December and agreed that having a car was a huge plus.
We stayed at the Phoenician thanks to my small pile of Marriott points. I highly recommend their casita rooms with a firepit. They are far from the main building with its noise and have a lovely view of the Camelback mountain. There is a trail to hike to the top of the mountain with the entrance to the trailhead an easy walk from the hotel. We have not had a chance to eat at the steakhouse at the Phoenician, but the food and wine at their Tavern was excellent. We also ate breakfast on the patio at Mowry and Cotton and enjoyed watching the falconer launching his Harris’ hawk to chase the pesky birds away.
I also highly recommend Lon’s mentioned by @ChoatieMom.
Oh, and the Botanical Gardens are a must see attraction in Phoenix. IMO.
I also highly recommend the Botanical Garden, and you can have lunch or dinner at Gertrude’s at the garden entrance, but plan on making a reservation.
I’ve been to Phoenix/Scottsdale a number of times and enjoyed visiting both the Desert Botanical Garden and Talesin West. We also did a day trip to Acrosanti. It’s an experimental community about 50-60 miles from Phoenix that was the brain child of an Italian architect. It also has a bronze bell factory on the site (I bought some wind chimes). The place is a little weird, but interesting.
If I were going to stay “in” Scottsdale (closer to Old Town), I’d choose either the Camelback Inn or the Hermosa Inn (home of Lon’s restaurant noted above).
In 1998, we spent our 17th anniversary at the Camelback Inn (DH had never been to AZ). This was in October. We fell in love with the area and moved ourselves and our two-year-old from Boston to Scottsdale in April of '99, only time we ever made a non-job-related move. No regrets (except for schools, but that’s a whole 'nother issue).
Talking Stick Resort. It is a casino, but they have a very nice heated pool. Plenty of restaurants on property that range from super nice to normal. My wife and kids liked the spa.
I’ve stated at both the Westin Kierland and The Phoenician mentioned already and enjoyed both very much. Lots of restaurants within walking distance of the Westin as noted. Relatives live near Old Town and I’ve stayed at a Marriott in that area and thought it fine, liked the other two areas better.
I’ve always rented a car when visiting. If you’re planning on visiting any of the above mentioned sites I would think a car would be beneficial.
The Music museum and Taliesin West are in the general area of N Scottsdale. Resort hotels that I like in the area are the Westin, Marriott Desert Ridge, and Fairmont Scottsdale Princess (there’s a ton of other cheaper and more business-traveler oriented hotels as well).
The Westin is essentially adjacent (have to cross a not-busy street) to a couple of upscale outdoor malls, Scottsdale Quarters and Kierland Commons. They’re good for a day’s wondering around and shopping. There’s some very nice restaurants there, although none I would describe as destination or special-occasion restaurants.
Fairmont Scottsdale is a really nice property, but not walkable to anywhere interesting.
Marriott Desert Ridge is a somewhat long walk to Desert Ridge Marketplace which is a larger, less upscale version of Kierland and Quarters (its a short drive from the Westin though). Adjacent to it is High Street, another nice outdoor mall. The Marriott has an outstanding restaurant called Tia Carmen that I highly recommend.
Old Town is kinda interesting but touristy as others have mentioned. There’s some nice art galleries and a lot of good restaurants. At night there’s a bustling bar scene. There’s several well-known hotels in the area but I’ve never stayed at any, personally. Old Town is pretty walkable, but spread out. Oh, the canal also passes through Old Town and there’s a “river walk” that’s nice but very short. Sometimes there’s outdoor evening events there which can be fun. There’s also a huge high-end indoor mall called Scottsdale Fashion Square adjacent to Old Town.
From what you describe, personally I’d stay at the Westin and rent a car or take a look at Old Town. They’re very different environments depending on what you prefer.
I wanted to add that while the Phoenician is a fabulous hotel, it’s in kind of a weird location for driving to the Music museum and Taliesin West. You have to drive on local roads for a while to reach the highway, and then it’s another 20-25 mins from there. There’s nothing interesting that’s really walkable from the hotel.
But not too far from the Phoenician is the Biltmore Mall, which is a very nice upscale outdoor mall. You also wouldn’t be too far from Pizzeria Bianco which regularly wins awards for one of the best pizzas in the US.
There’s tons of fantastic restaurants downtown, actually. Including my favorite coffee place in Phoenix if you’re into that sort of thing. It’s also not too far from Old Town.
If you hit the Biltmore area, another fine dining establishment is the Wrigley Mansion:
Originally constructed in 1931 in the desert foothills of Phoenix by chewing gum magnate William Wrigley Jr., Wrigley Mansion is more than a majestic historic estate, it’s also a love story that’s spanned nearly a century.
Perched atop a private knoll in the heart of the luxurious Biltmore neighborhood, Wrigley Mansion commands the most dramatic views in Phoenix, from the saguaro- studded mountains to the distant city skyline. Still adorned with original tilework that was shipped from the Wrigley family’s tile factory on Catalina Island, and carted up the hill by donkey, Wrigley Mansion’s spectacular architecture combines elements of Spanish, California Monterey, and Mediterranean styles.
That was a big plus for our short stay. But anyone staying there needs a car to explore the area.