Dining & food
Barrio Café
Phoenix
Chef Silvana Salcido Esparza's 16th Street landmark elevates regional Mexican cooking to art, with murals outside and legendary cochinita pibil inside.
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Area & food guide
Phoenix
Arizona, United States
Phoenix is America's fifth-largest city and the heart of the Valley of the Sun — a sprawling desert metropolis where James Beard-winning kitchens, mountain preserves inside the city limits and a fast-growing arts scene share roughly 300 days of sunshine a year.
- James Beard-winning dining scene
- Mountain preserves inside the city limits
- Roosevelt Row arts district
- Gateway to Sedona and the high country
Dining & food
Dining & food
Chico Malo Mexican Restaurant
50 W. Jefferson St., Phoenix
Despite its cheeky name, Chico Malo delivers serious Mexican flavors with a bold, edgy spirit that keeps Phoenix coming back.
Dining & food
Chino Bandido
Phoenix
A only-in-Phoenix mash-up where Chinese wok classics meet Mexican staples — the jade red chicken quesadilla is the stuff of local legend.
casualfusionlocal-favorite
Dining & food
Durant's Fine Foods
Phoenix
Phoenix's red-boothed time capsule has served martinis and prime steaks since 1950 — regulars still enter through the kitchen's back door.
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Dining & food
Fry Bread House
Phoenix
A Tohono O'odham family institution honored as a James Beard America's Classic — come for pillowy fry bread piled with red chile beef.
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Dining & food
La Grande Orange Grocery & Pizzeria
Phoenix
Arcadia's beloved corner grocery-café — grab a famous English muffin at sunrise or a thin-crust pizza as the neighborhood drifts in all day.
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Dining & food
Los Dos Molinos
Phoenix
Set in a historic adobe below South Mountain, this New Mexico-style kitchen dishes out some of the Valley's fieriest Hatch chile plates.
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Dining & food
Pizzeria Bianco
Phoenix
Chris Bianco's tiny wood-fired room at Heritage Square is a national pizza pilgrimage — the James Beard-winning pies are worth the famous wait.
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Dining & food
Postino Arcadia
Phoenix
The original Postino, set in a converted 1940s post office, pairs bruschetta boards with easy wines on one of Arcadia's best patios.
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Dining & food
The Arrogant Butcher
2 E. Jefferson St. Ste. 150, Phoenix
A carnivore's cathedral and seafood lover's haven in one room: prime steaks, fresh catches, house cocktails, and the kind of convivial energy that keeps Phoenix coming back.
Dining & food
The Van Buren
401 W. Van Buren St., Phoenix
Downtown Phoenix's premier live music stage, where eclectic artists and an electric crowd converge for unforgettable nights in an intimate, vibrant setting.
Outdoors & parks
Outdoors & parks
Camelback Mountain — Echo Canyon Trail
Phoenix
Phoenix's most iconic summit in just 1.2 miles—a steep, thrilling scramble that rewards with 360-degree views over Paradise Valley, Scottsdale, and the entire Valley floor.
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Outdoors & parks
Desert Botanical Garden
Phoenix
Fifty thousand desert plants winding through Papago Park—the Valley's essential primer on Sonoran Desert ecology, magic when luminarias transform the grounds each winter.
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Outdoors & parks
Encanto Park
Phoenix
Minutes from downtown, a lush 1930s dreamscape of lagoons, paddle boats, and a charmingly vintage amusement park—a world apart from the surrounding desert.
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Outdoors & parks
Papago Park
Phoenix
Red sandstone buttes minutes from downtown anchor a network of easy trails and the iconic Hole-in-the-Rock—climb to sunset for one of the city's perfect photo moments.
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Outdoors & parks
Piestewa Peak Summit Trail
Phoenix
Phoenix's favorite pre-dawn lung-buster, this stair-stepped climb through the Phoenix Mountains delivers locals to a summit view of saguaro forest and glittering skyline.
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Outdoors & parks
South Mountain Park & Preserve
Phoenix
One of America's largest city parks at over 16,000 acres, laced with more than 50 miles of desert trails culminating at Dobbins Lookout's Valley-spanning vista.
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Outdoors & parks
Thunderbird Conservation Park
Glendale
Glendale's untouched upper-desert sanctuary threading 15 miles of trails through the Hedgpeth Hills—the West Valley's most rewarding sunset hike.
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Arts & culture
Arts & culture
Arizona Outdoor Fun
61112 N Black Bear Ldg Dr, New River
Take command of Arizona's largest ATV and UTV fleet in New River, where every ride is your own high-octane adventure across the desert.
Arts & culture
Arizona Science Center
Phoenix
This downtown Phoenix institution sprawls across three floors of hands-on science, a planetarium show, and a giant screen—the ultimate escape when the heat peaks.
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Arts & culture
Heard Museum
Phoenix
A beacon of American Indian art and culture since 1929, the Heard pairs world-class collections with living traditions—including the legendary annual Hoop Dance Championship.
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Arts & culture
Musical Instrument Museum
Phoenix
Wander through 8,000 instruments from nearly 200 countries, each singing to you through wireless headphones as you approach—a sensory passport to global music.
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Arts & culture
Phoenix Art Museum
Phoenix
The Southwest's largest art museum holds over 20,000 works spanning centuries and continents, crowned by Kusama's mesmerizing infinity room where you vanish into light and mirrors.
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Arts & culture
Phoenix Fan Fusion
530 E McDowell Rd #107-80, Phoenix
Phoenix Fan Fusion brings pop culture, comics, cosplay and entertainment together in one annual celebration—a must for fans of all stripes.
Arts & culture
Roosevelt Row Arts District
Phoenix
Roosevelt Row is downtown Phoenix's beating creative heart—a walkable grid of grand-scale murals, galleries, vintage shops and indie cafés that pulses especially during the monthly First Friday.
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Arts & culture
Westgate Entertainment District
Glendale
Glendale's Westgate is an open-air playground of patios, fountains and energy—especially electric when the Cardinals take the field or a major concert rolls into town.
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Events & festivals
Events & festivals
Arizona Restaurant Week
Phoenix
Twice yearly, Arizona's kitchens showcase their best at fixed prices—spring and fall are your open season to taste through your wishlist without guilt.
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Events & festivals
Arizona State Fair
Phoenix
A Phoenix autumn ritual since 1884 — midway rides, big-name concerts and gloriously over-the-top fair food fill the fairgrounds each October.
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Events & festivals
Devour Culinary Classic
Phoenix
Arizona's marquee food festival gathers the state's best chefs among the cactus at the Desert Botanical Garden every winter.
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Events & festivals
First Friday Art Walk
Phoenix
On the first Friday of every month, downtown turns into one of the country's biggest open-air art walks — galleries, food trucks and street performers till late.
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Day trips
Day trips
Cave Creek & Carefree
Cave Creek
Twin foothill towns where the Old West lives on — saloon patios, western shops and galleries, with Spur Cross trails right out the back door.
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Day trips
Montezuma Castle National Monument
Camp Verde
A five-story cliff dwelling the Sinagua people built nine centuries ago, tucked into a limestone alcove ninety minutes up I-17 — an easy, awe-inducing half-day trip.
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Day trips
Saguaro Lake
Mesa
Canyon walls and saguaro frame this Salt River reservoir less than an hour from town — rent a boat or cruise it aboard the Desert Belle paddleboat.
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Day trips
Verde Canyon Railroad
Clarkdale
A vintage train glides through a red-rock canyon only rail can reach — ride the open-air cars and watch for bald eagles in winter.
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Neighborhood living guides in this area
Frequently asked questions
What is there to do in Phoenix?
Phoenix is America's fifth-largest city and the heart of the Valley of the Sun — a sprawling desert metropolis where James Beard-winning kitchens, mountain preserves inside the city limits and a fast-growing arts scene share roughly 300 days of sunshine a year. Highlights include Camelback Mountain — Echo Canyon Trail, Desert Botanical Garden, Encanto Park, Papago Park.
Where should I eat in Phoenix?
Well-known places to eat in Phoenix include Barrio Café, Chico Malo Mexican Restaurant, Chino Bandido, Durant's Fine Foods — each entry in the guide links to its official source.
What are the best outdoor spots in Phoenix?
Popular outdoor spots around Phoenix include Camelback Mountain — Echo Canyon Trail, Desert Botanical Garden, Encanto Park, Papago Park.
Which neighborhoods does the Phoenix guide cover?
The Phoenix guide covers our neighborhood living guides for Arcadia, Downtown Phoenix, Paradise Valley, Glendale (Arrowhead).