Start from 116 curated places around Phoenix, AZ, then choose the recommendations that fit your guests.
Restaurants & cafés
Pizzeria Bianco
Chris Bianco's original 1994 wood-fired counter inside Heritage Square, the place that made Phoenix a serious pizza city and still the bar everyone is judged against. Six pies, a few salads, and a James Beard Outstanding Restaurateur on the line.
Bacanora
James Beard Best Chef Southwest 2024 winner Rene Andrade's open-flame Sonoran cooking on Grand Avenue: tomahawks over mesquite, pineapples on hooks, agave cocktails, natural wine. Small room, three nights of seatings, books out a month ahead.
Trails & outdoors
Camelback Mountain via Echo Canyon Trail
The Valley's bucket-list summit hike: 2.6 miles round-trip, 1,400 feet of elevation, and the last half mile is a true rock scramble with handrails. Most-hiked challenging trail in Phoenix and the photo at the top is genuinely worth the work.
Piestewa Peak Summit Trail #300
Phoenix's other landmark urban summit, 2.2 miles round-trip with 1,100 feet of elevation, and the most-hiked trail in the city by review count. Steep, rocky, and the 360-degree summit panorama is the cleanest view of central Phoenix.
Things to do
Musical Instrument Museum
World's largest musical-instrument museum and TripAdvisor's #1 Phoenix attraction, with 15,000-plus instruments from every country, headphone-driven exhibits that play recordings as you walk past, and a hands-on Experience Gallery where kids actually play. Easily a half-day visit.
Phoenix Art Museum
Largest art museum in the Southwest, with strong American Western, Latin American, and Asian galleries, plus a contemporary wing that punches above its weight. The Yayoi Kusama Fireflies infinity room is the photo every visitor gets in line for.
Landmarks & sights
Desert Botanical Garden
Fifty-five acres of curated Sonoran desert in Papago Park, with five themed loop trails, a butterfly pavilion in spring, and the country's largest Agave collection. The Sonoran Loop is the one to walk if you only have an hour.
Heard Museum
World-class collection of American Indian art and history with permanent galleries on the Boarding School era and contemporary Indigenous artists, plus one of the country's deepest katsina doll collections from Barry Goldwater. The courtyards alone are worth an hour.