Family
Desert Botanical Garden
Do the flashlight tour or the last hour before close. The butterfly exhibit reopens with the season.
Papago Park
$$Outdoors
Family Day
Plans that hold up with a stroller, a teenager, and a nap schedule.
September · The Turn
September is the turn — mornings and nights are workable, afternoons still aren't. Plan around 7am and 7pm.
Family
Children's Museum of Phoenix
Three floors of climb-on everything for the under-10 crowd. Go at open, leave before the meltdown.
Downtown Phoenix
$Indoors
Family
OdySea Aquarium
The rotating SeaTREK carousel is the whole reason. Freezing cold inside, which is the point in August.
Salt River
$$Indoors
Family
Phoenix Zoo
Back in play once mornings drop under 95. Arrive at open, out by 11.
Papago Park
$$Outdoors
Family
Butterfly Wonderland
A humid glass atrium full of butterflies. Weirdly calming for everyone, not just the kids.
Salt River
$$Indoors
Family
Arizona Science Center
Planetarium, giant screen, and enough hands-on floors to burn a whole 110-degree afternoon.
Heritage Square
$$Indoors
Family
McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park
Free to enter, $3 for the train and the carousel. The default Saturday morning for a reason.
Scottsdale
FreeOutdoors
Family
Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch
Flat trails, 300 bird species, and a fishing lake. Free, shaded, easy with a stroller.
Gilbert
FreeOutdoors
Eat
Pizzeria Bianco
The pizza that put Phoenix on the national map. Still the answer for out-of-towners.
Heritage Square
$$Indoor + out
Eat
Cocina Madrigal
Chef Leo's modern Mexican — the mole is the reason, the margaritas are the excuse.
South Phoenix
$$Indoors
Eat
The Churchill
Shipping-container courtyard of small local kitchens and a shaded bar. Everybody finds something.
Roosevelt Row
$Indoor + out
Eat
La Santisima
Gourmet tacos and a salsa bar people plan their route around.
Coronado
$Indoors