Surprisingly enough, being that I live in West Texas, I am not a fan of the desert. I despise the heat and am constantly chasing views with lush trees and green grass. So, to say that I LOVE Phoenix, Arizona—a city well-known for its heat, cacti, and desert vibes—is kind of a big deal! Phoenix, Arizona is an exciting city surrounded by forest of large, unique saguaros! It is filled with activities for families, couples, solo travelers, and group getaways! It is a town that you will fall in love with and long to come back to time and time again.
Having family located in the area, I have visited Phoenix multiple times. I can say I haven’t even hit the surface of all there is to do here and have never done the same thing twice. There are hundreds of hikes, museums around every corner, and buildings throughout town decorated with colorful murals. New events and shows are constantly popping up and lets not forget to mention the wide palette of unique and delicious restaurants.
I think you kinda get the picture, it is a cool city and I love it! Don’t take my word for it though, listen to the biggest travel critics I know, my husband and kids! My husband who loves a relaxing vacation enjoys Phoenix and my crazy, energetic kids beg to go back! So if you are looking for the perfect destination to build lasting memories and loads of fun, welcome to Phoenix, Arizona.
Where To Stay?
Normally I am a tent camper all the way. It is just so much cheaper and my kids adore camping, but like I said I am not a heat person, so I do not highly advice tent camping in the Phoenix area. If you were to ask me where I would stay with my 4 kids in the Phoenix area, my no brainer answer will always be Cibola Vista Resort and Spa.
Why do you ask, well here are some bullet point reasons why you should consider this resort:
- Large assortment of activities: I am talking constant crafts, horseback riding, gardens, patio games, tennis courts, a meet the tortoise area, a spa, and so, so much more!
- Arizona Vibe: The whole resort feels lie you are walking through elegant southwest villa! It has such an Arizona vibe!
- Multiple pools: You CANNOT survive Phoenix without constant access to a pool, luckily this resort has multiple pools one hosting a 3 story waterslide and a short lazy river.
- Giant tubs: Even if the rooms sucked (which they do not) the tubs in each room would make up for that. These tubs are giant! They could fit me, my husband, and all of our kids in it!
- Comfortable rooms: The rooms are well taken care of with the same elegant villa vibe to them. They are comfortable, spacious, and have all the needs for an extended stay. Plus AC, which is what matters most in Arizona!
- Ideal location: It is located north of Phoenix in the small extension Peoria. It overlooks mountains dotted with large saguaro cacti, but a 5 minute drive to a large assortment of restaurants and shops. You are in Phoenix, without the hustle and bustle of traffic.
Cibola Vista Resort and Spa is one of my favorite resorts of all time. It is comfortable, well taken care of, and fun for all ages. My toddlers have enjoyed splashing around in its mini waterpark-like pool, my husband and I have spent a romantic getaway here, and I have even had a girls group trip here. It has been the perfect host to all of these events! We have enjoyed our stay here so much that it keeps beaconing us back, as it will your family!
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Things To Do In Phoenix, Arizona:
Try Prickly Pear Ice Cream
I almost guarantee one of the first things you are going to Google while visiting Phoenix, Arizona with kids is where to get ice cream! Ice cream was our saving grace after the many hikes we have done across town, and our favorite stop is Topo Arizona!
This tiny burrito stand is located southeast of Phoenix in Gilbert, and famous for its Prickly Pear Ice Cream! This delicious starburst-like ice cream is a Phoenix must! You cannot visit Arizona and not eat a cactus in some way and what better way than ice cream!
Location: 301 N Gilbert Rd bldg 2, Gilbert, AZ 85234
Use one of the Best Restrooms in the USA
In 2017 OdySea Aquarium was voted best bathroom in the USA. As soon as you purchase your tickets the first thing the employees will suggest is stopping in the bathroom. Not necessarily to use it, but because as you walk through the door where a mirror is normally is a large tank of giant sharks!
Okay if going all the way to Phoenix to visit a bathroom isn’t exciting, the actual aquarium is super cool. It is actually my husband’s favorite. This aquarium was so interactive with its unique tank designs with bubbles and tunnels for you to walk through. There are hundreds of species of aquatic creatures of all variety. It is fun and exciting for all ages!
Location: 9500 East Vía de Ventura Suite A-100, Scottsdale, AZ 85256
Hike to a waterfall
While Phoenix boasts hundreds of hikes, the real question is which ones should you do. One of our favorites is at White Tank Mountain Regional Park. This regional park is located on the west side of town and has several hikes available. Our favorite of these hikes is the White Tank Waterfall Trail.
That’s right even Phoenix, Arizona has a waterfall….of sorts. This trail leads through giant Saguaro cacti, up a rocky path, and into a beautiful canyon. At the heart of this canyon is the waterfall, or at least it can be considered a waterfall at certain times of year. Most of the time it is just a small pool of water with water trickling through the rocks, but regardless of how full the waterfall is, it is still beautiful!
This hike is so easy that even my 3 year old daughter was able to hike it without help. My kids loved the canyon at the end though not just for the view, but that it has hundreds of tiny little frogs hopping around, not much bigger than a pebble. They were so cute and my kids loved watching them hop around.
Lets just say this hike is not just beautiful, but so much fun for the whole family!
Location: 20304 West White Tank Mountain Road, Waddell, AZ 85355
Trail: 1.9 miles
Visit an Old West Town
Being surrounded by skyscrapers, stuck in the traffic of honking cars, and listening to the constant sound of airplanes soaring in the sky; it is sometimes nice to go back in time and remember where this all came from.
The Pioneer Living History Museum is an old western town surrounded by desert. Walking through the old saloon, cabins, churches, and graveyards is a humbling way of reminding us of how this city began. While looking at old buildings is nice enough, what makes this museum pretty cool, is the reenactments that take place here. Here you can watch an old show on the stage, experience a gun fight, watch a war reenactment, and even experience to gold fever of mining come to life. This is a ‘living’ history museum after all!
Location: 3901 W Pioneer Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85086
Get a butterfly kiss
Did you know when a butterfly lands on you that is called getting a butterfly kiss? The real question is how do you get a butterfly to land on you? Imagine being a garden bubble with hundreds of butterflies, that kinda evens the odds.
Butterfly Wonderland is a bug paradise. You can walk through room of metamorphism and watch as caterpillars transform into beautiful butterflies. Enter into a garden of hundreds of species flying around. It is a beautiful experience. Lastly check out a zoo of other bugs and insects as well as stop at the vending machine for a treat. Not a treat of cookies and chips, but dare to try a treat of edible bugs!
Location: 9500 East Vía de Ventura F100, Scottsdale, AZ 85256
Explore a land of dinosaurs
I mentioned going back in time to visit the pioneer age, but lets go back even farther to visit Pangea: The Land of Dinosaurs itself. Instead of a safari of animals this is like a safari of dinosaurs. You can walk through a building decorated like a jungle, in this jungle are giant dinosaurs that move and roar. See if you can find all the dinosaurs on the scavenger hunt for a prize at the end!
Location: 9500 East Vía de Ventura c100, Scottsdale, AZ 85256
Have breakfast for dinner
Haymaker is an all-American restaurant with a large assortment of meals to choose from. They have burgers, BBQ, seafood, sandwiches, and best of all breakfast! Not just breakfast in the morning they serve breakfast all day long! I don’t know about your kids, but if there is one meal my kids will always eat its breakfast!
Location: 24762 N Lake Pleasant Pkwy, Peoria, AZ 85383
Have a self-photo shoot at Roosevelt Row
One of the reasons Phoenix, Arizona is such a pretty city is that it is covered in art. There are murals all around the city of buildings, skyscrapers, electric boxes, and walls! It is such a colorful city! While there are murals all over the city, the best place for a walking tour of some of these murals is Roosevelt Row.
Roosevelt Row is a street in Phoenix with many shops, apartments, and restaurants. Each of the buildings are decorated with fantastic works of art. There are murals of Phoenix history, murals of flowers, murals of Hispanic culture, murals of skeletons, murals that tell stories, and murals of important figures! There are so many murals! This walking tour is self-guided, free, and best of all so much fun!
Location: 918 N 2nd St, Phoenix, AZ 85004 and surrounding area
Refresh from the heat with fancy lemonade
Lets be for real, Phoenix is freakin hot!! I spends the majority of our trips sweating buckets. So while you are walking around admiring the murals of downtown Phoenix, do not pass up freezing cold iced lemonade at Hot Daisy Pizza!
I mean they had strawberry lemonade, regular lemonade, and raspberry lemonade! Nothing tastes so delicious in the intense heat as lemonade. Also just look at how adorable the straws are, they’re hearts!
Location: 610 E Roosevelt St UNIT 145, Phoenix, AZ 85004
Hike to the Hole in the Rock
The bummer part about hiking is usually the long drive out of town to get to the trailhead. This trail however is smack dab right in the hustle and bustle of Phoenix. You don’t even have to leave town to hike it. There is a giant rocky mound and towards the top of this huge boulder like mountain is a hole.
This hike takes you around and up the rocks so you can climb through the hole for a beautiful view of Phoenix. It is such an easy hike and super short!
Location: 625 N Galvin Pkwy, Phoenix, AZ 85008
Trail: 0.3 miles
Eat Korean and Greek food at the same time
It is common for cultures to combine and create a new type of restaurant. For example I have been to Mexican Vietnamese and Venezuelan American restaurants. Phoenix has its own unique combination of a Korean Greek restaurant, Greka Pita. Choose from not just Gyros, but Bulgogi, Baklava, and Udon; all in one restaurant!
Location: 1747 E Camelback Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85016
Hike by wild burros
What is a cooler way to experience Phoenix than to hike in the desert surrounded by Saguaros and wild burros? My favorite hike in the Phoenix area is to Yavapai Point which is an easy trail that leads you to an overlook of Lake Pleasant. This overlook is simply breathtaking as you have a panoramic view of the gorgeous blue lake, but also what almost looks like a lake of Saguaros. There is so much cacti on this trail!
While the view and trail are beautiful, the coolest part is the wildlife! While hiking we have found tarantulas, eagles, and even wild burros!
Location: 45602 Cottonwood Ln, Yarnell, AZ 85362
Trail: 3 miles
Dine on a meatball and mac n cheese
There are some dishes from my childhood that just make me so nostalgic that I have to order it at a restaurant if its offered! Mac n’ Cheese brings out my inner child so of course when visiting an the Twisted Italian that’s what I am gonna order. Of course this restaurant has a twist to their mac n’ cheese; right in the middle of the delicious pasta is a giant meatball. A combination that I had never tried before, but it worked!
Now if you aren’t lookin for mac n’ cheese, then you have to try their lasagna. I shouldn’t say just lasagna, I mean GIANT lasagna. We have ordered only the queen size and it was literally bigger than our heads, I cannot imagine how big the king sized is!
Location: 9940 W Happy Valley Pkwy #1080, Peoria, AZ 85383
Admire the LDS temples and gardens
One of the most beautiful places to visit in almost any city are the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints temples. While most people really only visit the well known Salt Lake City temple in Utah, there are temples all over the world!
Each of these temples have gorgeous architectural temples, most white! While you can’t walk into the temples without being members of the church, surrounding the buildings are incredible gardens that you can visit for free!
Locations:
Phoenix Arizona Temple- 5220 W Pinnacle Peak Rd, Glendale, AZ 85310
Mesa Arizona Temple- 540 E 2nd Ave, Mesa, AZ 85204
Gilbert Arizona Temple- 3301 S Greenfield Rd, Gilbert, AZ 85297
Play at the Children’s Museum of Phoenix
Whenever I mention to my kids that we are visiting a museum this is the museum they always picture. Walking through the doors to find a giant junkyard that you can climb through, rooms of fake food to shop and cook with, playhouses, and so much more. This children’s museum is quite large and will took us about 3 hours to really explore.
Location: 215 N 7th St, Phoenix, AZ 85034
Cool off at the splash pads
Playgrounds and splash pads are the underused gems that every city and town offers. I could pay over a hundred dollars to take all of my kids to a children’s museum or a zoo, or I could visit a playground/splash pad for free. Point is I take my kids to incredible sights, but their favorite by the end of every trip is the free playground or splash pad we played at. Phoenix and its surrounding towns have so many fun and refreshing splashpads to visit!
Locations: for a list of the splash pads click here.
Day Trips from Phoenix:
Tonto Natural Bridge State Park
Just a few hours away, Arizona transform to a desert to lush green mountains full of natural wonders. One of the many wonders in the Payson, Arizona area is Tonto Natural Bridge State Park. This state park has a giant natural arch and even a waterfall.
You can hike to the base of the arch and even climb through its cave like underbelly. My kids has a blast climbing the rocks, playing in the water underneath, and even the hike was fun!
Location:
Picacho Peak State Park
South of Phoenix is another really beautiful natural wonder to visit and hike around, Picacho Peak State Park. After driving through the barren flat desert all the sudden you will find a large rocky mountain and this is Picacho Peak! It is a beautiful state park with several hikes ranging between short and easy to long and more difficult.
Location: 15520 Picacho Peak Rd, Picacho, AZ 85141
Reid Park Zoo
There is a zoo in Phoenix, Arizona that is huge and very nice, but if you are looking for a beautiful zoo that is maybe not so giant, than Tucson has you covered. This zoo is still big, just not as big as the Phoenix one. What I love about this zoo is the variety of animals, the interactive design, and the mist that is blown throughout the zoo.
Location: 3400 E Zoo Ct, Tucson, AZ 85716
Saguaro National Park
Arizona has a national park unlike any other, just a short distance from Phoenix. The 2 sections of Saguaro National Park are located in Tucson, Arizona. No where else in the world will you find this many incredible Saguaro cacti to hike around. There are countless numbers of hikes to try and most of them are so easy even my toddlers hiked them with no difficulty. This is just the best way to really enjoy these native Arizona plants.
Location:
Rooster Cogburn’s Ostrich Farm
Between Phoenix and Tucson is one of the quirkiest roadside stops ever, and we will forever love. This ostrich farm is such a unique animal interaction exhibit. Go from animal to animal to feed and pet them. I am talking not just ostriches, but donkeys, ducks, bunnies, deer, lorikeets, and even stingrays, plus many other animals!
Feed the goats with a goat feeding pully system, watch ducks dive for their food, feel the kiss of a stingray while it searches your hand for food, and feed a goat with your mouth at the goat kissing booth! It is such a fun experience for all ages.
Location: 17599 E Peak Ln, Picacho, AZ 85141
Final Thoughts:
I didn’t even break the surface of all there is to do in Phoenix, Arizona. It is a place that will dazzle you each time you come and one that will beacon you back time and time again. I have made so many memories in this hot desert town, and hope to create even more. This is a destination for families who want to create memories that will last the test of time.
Whether you are looking for amusement, adrenaline, relaxation, or just a getaway; Phoenix, Arizona offers it all.
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