Do
D-backs at Chase Field
The roof closes, the AC roars, and $4 hot dog nights make this the cheapest good time in August.
Downtown PhoenixAug 20 – Sep 27
$$Indoors
Date to confirm
Visitors in Town
What to show someone who's never been — without the tourist tax.
September · The Turn
September is the turn — mornings and nights are workable, afternoons still aren't. Plan around 7am and 7pm.
Eat
Pizzeria Bianco
The pizza that put Phoenix on the national map. Still the answer for out-of-towners.
Heritage Square
$$Indoor + out
Do
Cardinals home games
Retractable roof, retractable field, and the tailgate lots that open four hours early.
GlendaleSep 13 – Dec 27
$$$Indoors
Date to confirm
Eat
Barrio Café
Silvana Salcido Esparza's cochinita pibil and the mural district that grew around it.
16th Street
$$Indoors
Culture
Heard Museum
The definitive collection of American Indian art, and the one museum every visitor should see.
Midtown
$Indoors
Culture
Musical Instrument Museum
Every country on earth, with headphones that switch automatically. Kids lose their minds in the play gallery.
North Phoenix
$$Indoors
Culture
Taliesin West
Wright's desert laboratory, a UNESCO site. Take the earliest tour in September, the 4pm one in October.
North Scottsdale
$$Indoor + out
Culture
Roosevelt Row mural walk
The densest concentration of murals in Arizona, and it changes every few months. Free, always open.
Roosevelt Row
FreeOutdoors
Culture
Scottsdale ArtWalk
The country's longest-running weekly art walk. Marshall Way galleries, free, no crowd panic.
Old Town ScottsdaleThursdays, 7–9pm, year-round
FreeIndoor + out
Escape
Flagstaff for the day
Two hours north, thirty degrees cooler, pines and a downtown built for walking. The August cheat code.
Flagstaff
$Outdoors
Family
Desert Botanical Garden
Do the flashlight tour or the last hour before close. The butterfly exhibit reopens with the season.
Papago Park
$$Outdoors
Escape
Sedona red rocks
Two hours and a different planet. Go on a weekday or leave Phoenix before 7am.
Sedona
$$Outdoors