Old Town Scottsdale

Main St & 5th Ave District, Scottsdale, AZ 85251 · Free to explore

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Old Town Scottsdale is the rare neighborhood that actually delivers on its reputation. Within a walkable mile you move through Art Gallery Row — home to over 80 galleries and one of the densest collections of fine art dealers in the American Southwest — past Western-style storefronts that date back over a century, through the Scottsdale Waterfront’s outdoor dining terrace, and into a nightlife corridor that gets going around 9pm and doesn’t stop. No other square mile in Arizona packs this much variety. It is the reason Scottsdale consistently ranks among the most visited cities in the United States relative to its population size.

The key to Old Town is understanding its geography. Main Street and Marshall Way are where the serious art galleries are. Fifth Avenue is boutique shopping and casual dining. The nightlife corridor runs along Scottsdale Road and the cross streets south of Indian School. For the best dinner in the neighborhood before heading out, the Toca Madera Scottsdale experience is genuinely unlike anything else in the Valley — fire performers, live music, and some of the most inventive modern Mexican food in the state. Go on a Thursday or Friday night and plan to stay for hours.

Taliesin West — Frank Lloyd Wright

12621 N Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd, Scottsdale, AZ 85259 · franklloydwright.org

Taliesin West is Frank Lloyd Wright’s winter home, studio, and architectural laboratory — built by hand starting in 1937 from local desert rock, sand, and redwood. It became his primary residence for the rest of his life, and today it operates as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the headquarters of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. The campus is not a museum in the passive sense. It’s a living architectural school where students have been working and studying since Wright himself was alive. Walking through it feels less like tourism and more like being let in on something still active.

Several tour options run year-round, ranging from a 90-minute introduction to an after-dark “Behind the Scenes” tour that lasts three hours and covers areas most visitors never see. The Shelter Tour — the shortest option — is plenty for most first-time visitors. If you plan outdoor activities like this alongside hiking, checking Scottsdale’s weather by month is worth doing before you book — the campus sits in the open desert and the exposed grounds get brutal from June through September.

McDowell Sonoran Preserve

Multiple trailheads — Scottsdale, AZ 85255 · Free · scottsdaleaz.gov/preserve

The McDowell Sonoran Preserve covers over 30,500 acres inside Scottsdale’s city limits and connects to a trail network spanning more than 225 miles. This is not a manicured city park — it is a fully intact Sonoran Desert wilderness that the city had the sense to protect in 1995 while most of the surrounding land was still getting subdivided. The terrain ranges from flat, fast-moving desert washes to technical rocky ridgelines above 4,000 feet with views that reach across the entire Valley. The Tom’s Thumb Trail is the most iconic, but the Sunrise and Lost Dog Wash trails are where most locals actually go week to week.

What separates the McDowell from other urban trail systems is how genuinely remote it feels five minutes in. Coyotes, javelinas, Gila woodpeckers, and the occasional bobcat are regular sightings — not surprises. The preserve connects directly to the regional trail system, meaning experienced hikers can string together multi-hour routes that cross into Cave Creek Regional Park. For visitors who’ve also been exploring things to do in Phoenix, the McDowell is a step up in seclusion — bigger, quieter, and less crowded than Camelback on any given weekend.

Saturday morning should start with a hike — the McDowell Sonoran Preserve trailheads are least crowded before 7am. From there, brunch in Old Town, an afternoon at the Scottsdale Waterfront or Taliesin West, and dinner at one of the top restaurants on Main Street or 5th Avenue. Saturday night in Old Town is legitimately one of the best nightlife experiences in Arizona — lively, walkable, and varied enough that you can end up somewhere completely unexpected. Sunday morning: coffee along the Arizona Canal, then either more hiking or a resort pool if you’re staying somewhere that has one.

Yes — if you approach it correctly. Summer in Scottsdale means restructuring your day around the heat: hike before 7am, hit a resort pool or indoor venue midday, and save Old Town dining and nightlife for evenings when it cools down. The huge upside is price. Resort room rates and pool day passes drop dramatically from June through August, and the best restaurants are easier to get into. If you want the luxury Scottsdale experience at a fraction of the cost, summer is genuinely the best time to get it.

The McDowell Sonoran Preserve trail system is entirely free — and with 225+ miles of trails, you could spend weeks exploring it without paying a dollar. The Old Town Public Art Trail is self-guided and free, with over 100 sculptures along the route. The Arizona Canal walking and biking path runs for miles and costs nothing. SMoCA (Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art) is free every Thursday evening. And wandering Old Town itself — the galleries, the architecture, the street scene — is free as long as you can resist the restaurants and bars, which is difficult.

They serve different purposes and do both well. Scottsdale is more polished, more walkable in its core, and better set up for a concentrated vacation — you can stay in Old Town and cover dining, nightlife, shopping, and hiking within a tight radius. Phoenix offers more cultural depth: the Heard Museum, Desert Botanical Garden, Roosevelt Row, and the Arizona Science Center are all in Phoenix, not Scottsdale. The best approach is to treat them as one destination — base yourself in Scottsdale and plan a half-day trip into Phoenix for cultural institutions. The drive is 15–20 minutes each way.