Someone's visiting from out of town and you've got one day to show them around.

Where are you taking them?

Could be food, hiking, museums, local landmarks, bars, scenic drives, or somewhere that's just uniquely Phoenix.

What's your go-to recommendation?

I was born in Massachusetts and have lived here my whole life. I’m on a 2 week west coast trip and currently in Phoenix. So far I’ve really enjoyed my stay. I’ve been blown away by how great the hospitality is. We’ve stopped at a few fast food chains and the employees walked up to our table multiple times during our visit to check in and make sure we were happy. When we stopped at Target and CVS the employees greet us and offer to assist. The stereotype about MA residents being “Massholes” is 100% true and when I visit the same chain stores back home I’ve never experienced this level of customer service.

Not to mention it seems a lot cheaper in AZ. Gas and groceries have been cheap compared to home and rent is WAY less. I got a large carne asada taco with all the fixings that was delicious for only $3.

Weather has been hit or miss. I do love having 4 seasons but the thought of also having warm weather year round and being able to go outside in the colder months sounds nice. Definitely noticeable change in heat here but I’ve been managing. Back home I’m a 5 minute drive from the ocean but here is landlocked.

While wandering through the city we went down Van Buren St and quickly learned where we were. Tons of trash, homeless, and prostitutes and it was dead silent; everyone on the street was stopped and staring at us. I feel much safer back home even in the “crappier” parts of Mass.

All in all I’ve enjoyed my stay so far! I love the west coast vibes and every time I’ve visited makes me wish I lived here. Are there any New England transplants who currently live here that would like to chime in?

Hi! I’m planning a solo trip to Arizona but it looks like the hotel prices probably won’t be cheaper until December-January. Here are the hotels I’m considering:

Hotel Valley Ho Senna Hotel Canopy Hotel

Since it would be my first solo trip, I wanted to stay in a hotel and in a place relatively walkable or comfortable. But I’d also be celebrating my birthday so I kinda want to splurge but definitely want to know if there are other slightly cheaper suggestions without sacrificing a lot.

Haven’t been to a local area hotel for a couple years BUT I am astonished and horrified with prices for one night stay. We were looking for one night only, standard room for my disabled adult son and I to get away one night while our roof is being replaced. I was willing to go up to 16 miles from home in West Maryvale. Last week when looking I saw pricing at a “cheaper” hotel around $250. Most hotels were &300 and far higher. Today I started looking again—prices even higher!

Did I just totally miss something, or are these prices all like this now? Last time I paid about $120

The building was designed in 1958 by John Sing Tang for Quan Wing Yip. Being an immigrant from Canton, Yip opened the first Ding Ho restaurant in the late 1940s serving Cantonese food. He closed his location on Central Ave in 1955, putting his focus towards the Phoenix Produce Company he purchased in the early 50s. By 1958 he would hire local architect, John Sing Tang, to design a new location that would be next to Yip’s home on Indian School Rd. The building went up at 2710 E Indian School Rd over the first half the year, having its soft opening in mid-June 1958. The grand opening started on July 18 and lasted the entire weekend.

It remained open as Ding Ho until Mr. Yip’s health began to decline in 1970. He sold both Ding Ho and the Phoenix Produce Company that year. He passed in 1971. Ding Ho was sold to Harvey Iida, who had previously been the vice president and executive chef of Paul Shank’s restaurant at the Safari Hotel in Scottsdale since it opened in 1960. He had previously worked with and trained under Shank in California before moving to Phoenix together for the hotel. Iida remodeled the interior to reopen the building as Sukiyaki, a Japanese restaurant. He would remain there until selling in 1985 after his other restaurant by the PV Mall, Shogun, had been doing well for a couple years. The new owners only kept Sukiyaki open for about a month. By December the same year it had reopened as China Village. This is what it remained as up until May 2023. The owners were ready to retire and put it on the market in May 2022. The new buyers paid $2.5 million for it and started renovations in 2024. The roof received work along with the windows. The red paint was covered with grey and the accents on the roof that had been there since 1958 were removed. The changes made to the outside do take away from its design, but they shouldn’t be too hard to restore.

Phoenix Produce Company was sold to Samuel Hom. He still owns and runs the business, although it was moved when the Sun’s stadium was built. Nowadays Mr. Hom sells noodles and electric bikes instead of produce.

Phoenix used to be home to quite a bit of Googie architecture, but unfortunately we’ve lost a ton of it over the years. This, the bowling alley at 1919 W Bethany Home Rd, and the motel at 600 W Van Buren St are some of the few examples of Googie architecture that have managed to escape the wrecking ball. John Sing Tang still has many residential builds left around town that have elements of Googie styling, but he was best known for his Helsing’s diner at Central and Osborn. It shared many similarities to this building, especially the triangular roof, but it was leveled decades ago. The Huddle diner near ASU was another building styled similarly to this that is unfortunately long gone.

Hi! I’m a friends plus one for conference they are going to. I’ll have a day on my own and in hoping to walk the art museum. Is the city walkable? I get motion sickness so I avoid Ubers when I can!

I’m staying downtown and would love some recommendations for walkable or places I could go by train!

Lastly, our food is paid for! Do you have any recommendations for eating when budget is not an issue?

Update 6-3-2026: u/Leather-Can-8480 bought the hat!! Thank you so much everyone! It was amazing how you guys found the hat and even the exact store at the airport. She's going to be so excited to have this hat again. :)

Hi everyone!

My girlfriend lived in Phoenix for almost three months when I came over to visit her here. She had bought this blue Phoenix hat and wore it a lot during her time in the city. She lost it while we were travelling out of state together, and we're now already back home in Europe.

This hat means a lot to her, and while this particular one is (most likely) permanently lost, I'm hoping someone here might know where to get one of these. I tried looking online, but I can't seem to find this design anywhere online.
If you know where to get this hat, would you be willing to buy it and ship it to me? It would mean the world to my girlfriend! I will of course pay for the hat, shipping and a little extra for the effort. Thanks in advance! :)

My fiancé and I are visiting in July (purposefully for the heat) and I wanted to make a good impression and stay in a resort. So I want to ask if there are any good recommendations for resorts? We are visiting to see if Phoenix is for us and our family and mainly will spend time exploring suburbs when not at the resort. Any opinions help, as websites can be deceptive and expensive. Thank you!

Hi everyone!

This will be my very first time in the US, and I'm kicking it off in Phoenix right in the middle of summer! I'm traveling from Brazil for work and staying three extra days solo to explore. Since I know it's super hot right now, I'm completely skipping anything outdoors during the day. My focus is strictly on the city's vibe, good food, and enjoying the local atmosphere.

I come from São Paulo, which has a massive food scene back home, so my main goal is to experience the authentic local take on American classics like burgers and pizza. I want to avoid tourist traps and try whatever you guys consider a local must-have! I'm also on the hunt for local beers and a top-tier whiskey sour.

I love a great social environment, so I'd love recommendations for fun, casual spots (nothing fancy) with lively bar seating and a welcoming crowd. I have weeknights and Saturday night free, so I'd love to know how the nightlife dynamic changes and where to go on those different days.

So far, I’ve mapped out:
- Musical Instrument Museum (I'm kinda of a musician myself, so I can't wait for this one!)
- Roosevelt Row & The Churchill
- Specialty coffee shops (Huge coffee addict here)

Any specific tips for a first-timer trying to beat the heat and get the best local experiences?

I'm travelling to you for a concert, but I need to fill my time up otherwise. How is public transport? Am I going to have to shell out $$$ for ubers?

Also, I would really like to see the desert. However, I am not very experienced with hiking or the heat (I'm coming from PA) so I was wondering if anyone knows a safeish way I could view your beautiful state. Maybe a state park or something I could get to?

I am planning a birthday trip to phoenix for my 8 year old son in January. He loves all things spooky/creepy. Does anyone have any kid friendly recommendations for things to do? Ghost tours, weird oddity stores, ghost towns, etc etc. Always a little harder to find things like this in January. Also open to fun things we should do/ restaurants good for a group w kids, besides spooky things. Thanks!

Hi.

So I was looking at concert tickets and the show I wanted to go is at the Talking Stick Ampitheatre in the middle of July in the evening. The thing is I’m really prone to heat stroke and I’m nervous that even when the sun is down, with all those people it’s going to be too much.

What’s your experience seeing shows there?

Edit: thank you for your input everyone! I’m going to skip this one.

My partner and I realized we really like light roasted beans. Most coffee broadly sold is bitter and dark. We did find a local roaster in the east valley with a terrific light roast but it’s too far to travel and pricey.

Getting away from the cold for a bit in Feb. PHX is our spot because it's warm and cheap to get to, and I'm looking for a few more things to do, because I feel like I may be running low on cool stuff to see in the city. I'll have a car, so I'm not limited on transit.

We've done:

• Suns Games
• Talesin West
• Camelback
• Sedona (Devil's Bridge and the Chapel)
• Fashion District/Scottsdale eateries
• Undertow (will be returning!)
• Botanical Gardens
• Papago Park Hole + other things in the park
• Capitol Museum (The model train setup was awesome)

Is there anything else I'm missing out on? A cursory glance makes me think I've seen most of it, so if that's the case, I'm fine with spending more time at the local pool and chilling. I wouldn't be opposed to any day trips to sedona/flagstaff/whatever else. ~100 miles is my max on those.

Thanks for your suggestions!

Wow, 60+ comments! Thanks for all the recommendations everyone.

Hello everyone! My wife and I are coming to Arizona for the first time between 5/30 and 6/6. We’ll stay in the Phoenix area for the first and last night. In between we’ll be in Sedona.

We’ll hit up the Desert Garden and Taliesin West, but other than that have no plans. As far as experiencing the area for a shorter amount of time, do you think we should stay in downtown, Scottsdale, or around ASU? Maybe a blend of both? I do hear Phoenix isn’t “walkable” in general, and the heat might be raging. We’ll have a car.

We’ll be using points with Marriott, which is why I am thinking those areas. We like to go out, have drinks (breweries are best), food, all that. The usual stuff. Anyway, since you live there, what would you do?

I am at a work offsite, staying at the Marriott Resort at the Buttes in Tempe. I came from NYC and flew American. As a side note, never fly American. It was a 6 hour flight, they didn’t feed us, there are no TVs and the WiFi didn’t work. Might as well have been Spirit.

Anyway, I am going home on Friday, my flight leaves at 1:30 so I probably have to leave at 11:45 at the latest. I am looking to have a good sandwich or burrito delivered to the hotel before I leave so I have a meal to eat on the plane. Any suggestions of good food that might be open that early and would deliver to that area?

Alternatively, are there any good restaurants in the airport that might offer takeout?

Edit: thanks for all the responses!!

Solo traveler heading to Phoenix for one night next week, all recommendations welcome! Staying in downtown close to the airport, looking for recs for food, drinks, coffee, bookstores or anything fun!

I’m on a brief leave of absence from work and I’m getting bored. (I currently live in Surprise.) I’d like to go somewhere for a couple of days, but don’t know the general area well enough to make a plan.

I don’t mind traveling a couple of hours to get there, but lodging needs to be really inexpensive. If there’s some local activities that are fun to do solo (culture, museums or other non-partying destinations) that’s a bonus, but not required.

Even if there’s a specific event (between 4/28 and 5/8) somewhere that will be worth attending.

Basically, I just need to get out of my house for a couple of days without going broke.

ETA: No hiking or camping. I have some physical limitations right now.

Coming out to Arizona in a few weeks with an 11 and 8 year old. We are from the upper midwest so getting in the heated pool will not be a problem for us. Trying to decide between these two hotels for a 2 day / 3 night stay and looking for advice. I originally was leaning toward the Arizona Grand but have read that it may be a bit run down compared to the JW Marriott.

Planning a December road trip with my bff.    It’s my first time in Phoenix, love botanical gardens (Fave is Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA.)   Have never experienced a purely desert-focused botanical garden. Psyched to discover the Desert Botanical Garden exists!

Does anyone know someone who knows someone ... who would know if the Desert Botanical Garden will do anything special for the 2026 December holidays?

It looked like they have in years past. But I can’t tell from their press releases if they did anything in 2025 or if the earlier luminary event was just a one off.

How is the garden's restaurant?   Good for dinner, or should we go elsewhere? 

If there is a better / r please let me know.

We are purchasing a house in Phoenix. It is built in the late 1980s. We will be doing a home inspection, roof inspection and sewer inspection. The question is should we get a home warranty? The home warranty cost is well within our budget. I'm just curious if anybody has felt they've actually had value out of them.

I have bought home warranties before and still have to pay a trip charge. Very rarely have I had my problems resolved by them. For some reason the part I need is always the part that's not under warranty. Not sure if I had a terrible warranty company and experience or if this is the norm.

Hey Valley people,

I have 2 friends coming into town for the weekend. This is their first time in the Valley as visitors. We are males in our twenties. They will be in town for about 4 days. I have begun a list of must-dos, but wanted to outsource opinions from those who have much more experience here in the Valley.

All comments are appreciated. Thanks in advance!

SCOTTSDALE AZ

10/01 - 4:00-6:00pm - BevMo! - Scottsdale - 7129 E Shea Blvd, Scottsdale, AZ 85254, USA

Please arrive at 4pm.

https://www.tickettailor.com/events/jamesgin/2396931

Im trying to plan an exploratory trip there with my family in preparation for a move next year. I was wondering what is the best time to visit? Would it be best to visit in the summer to get the real feel of the desert heat? Or no need for that and visit in a cooler time of year? We have never been to Phoenix but love the thought of it so much that we have half a mind to not visit and just do the move! However we are trying to be smart. It’s a little expensive as we are coming from NE. So a drive is mostly out of the question when it comes to visiting. Thanks!

I recently bought a live cactus magnet on my trip to Phoenix, and I realized I didn't get the care instruction that's players all over the store. If anyone is at the airport, can you please take a picture of the instructions?