Home to the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley and the Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona ranks highly on many visitors’ wish lists thanks to its breathtaking desert landscapes. But it has plenty to offer besides, including vibrant cities teeming with culture, one-of-a-kind museums and historic mining towns. As the Copper State prepares to host the Super Bowl in February 2023, we’ve rounded up its 30 most unmissable attractions (check state travel advisory and individual venue opening times before planning a visit).
Filled with a kaleidoscopic array of natural colours, the Petrified Forest looks almost too pretty to be real. The National Park, which stretches across miles of Interstate 40 in the north of the state, is best known for two incredible natural features. In the north, you’ll find the Painted Desert, a series of striped, multi-coloured hills formed over the course of millions of years, while in the south you’ll find the famous petrified trees, a collection of stunning fossilised logs filled with quartz crystals. Needless to say, you’ll want to spend plenty of time exploring the many trails here.
The lively city of Tucson is surrounded by jaw-dropping desert landscapes and enjoys a whopping 350 days of sunshine per year, making it a hotspot (literally) for hiking and sightseeing. But you may be surprised to learn it also has a UNESCO-recognised food scene, thanks to a melting pot of indigenous, Mexican and southwestern influences and a range of trailblazing restaurants. Once you’re full to bursting, stroll through downtown to enjoy a unique mishmash of Spanish and Mexican architecture and colourful adobe houses.
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We simply couldn't not include the Grand Canyon, which is easily the state’s most iconic attraction – and indeed one of the most popular sites in the US. This 6,000-foot-deep (1,828m), 277-mile-long (446km) canyon in northern Arizona has fascinated generations of visitors with its striking layers of red rock and labyrinthine gorge. Even though it brings in around five million people each year, it’s still possible to beat the crowds. Try going to the lesser-known North Rim, visiting at sunrise or during the quieter seasons of spring and autumn.
A relic of the Wild West that refused to become relegated to the history books, Tombstone has a legacy stretching back some 140 years. The Cochise County town started life in 1877, when prospector Ed Schieffelin arrived here in the hunt for silver. He struck lucky, discovering huge reserves of the stuff – as well as large gold deposits – and the town boomed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Yet unlike many similar places, Tombstone didn't become a total ghost town. Today, it’s filled with everything from saloon-style restaurants to Western boutiques, all paying homage to the days when prospectors and merchants ran riot here.
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With its sandstone buttes towering up to 1,000 feet (305m) above the valley floor, Monument Valley is unbelievably beautiful. The otherworldly landscape, which actually sits on the Utah-Arizona state border, is part of the Navajo Nation, a 16 million-acre region which is home to around 250,000 members of the Navajo tribe. Today, visitors can enjoy guided tours from Navajo operators, sample traditional cuisine and peruse local crafts within easy reach of the park’s visitor centre. You can even camp out here if you wish (although you’ll need to obtain a permit in advance).
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The fifth-largest city in the US, state capital Phoenix is a cultural hub with no shortage of things to do. Thanks to its large Hispanic population and proximity to Mexico, you can find incredible Mexican cuisine here, alongside French, Vietnamese and Brazilian food. There’s plenty of stunning architecture too, with an eclectic mix of Victorian buildings lining the city’s historic Heritage Square. It’s well worth visiting at the start of the month to go on one of the First Fridays evening art walks, which take you through galleries, artists’ studios and other cultural venues, popping into bars and boutiques along the way.
Although it may not be as well-known as big hitters like the Grand Canyon and the Petrified Forest, Watson Lake is certainly up there with Arizona’s most beautiful landscapes. This stunning natural lake, situated just four miles (6.4km) from downtown Prescott, provides a breathtaking backdrop for a number of outdoor pursuits, including swimming, hiking, boating, kayaking and more. For the best all-round tour, hike the six-mile (10km) Peavine Trail, which loops around its granite boulders and follows along the route of the former Santa Fe Railway, providing plenty of scenic vistas along the way.
The ultimate place to learn about Arizona’s indigenous art is at the internationally renowned Heard Museum in Phoenix. Founded in 1929, the museum’s mission is to “present the stories of American Indian people from a first-person perspective”. Its permanent HOME exhibition contains more than 2,000 artefacts including Hopi katsina dolls, a sculpture garden filled with native plants and trees, a 21-foot (6.4m) mural by a Yaqui artist and several interactive displays. The museum also hosts a dynamic calendar of seasonal exhibitions, such as a current collection of unique southwestern silverwork from the 19th and 20th centuries.
Science fans need look no further as Phoenix is home to one of the country’s best science museums. Step inside the Arizona Science Center to learn about everything from the functioning of the human brain to what life is like for astronauts, as well as how renewable energy is being used around the world. Meanwhile at the Dorrance Planetarium, which is one of the largest in the US, you can discover the incredible secrets of our universe through one of its 360-degree immersive shows.
To discover Arizona’s complex history, the Tumacácori National Historical Park is a good place to start. Situated in the Santa Cruz River Valley, around an hour south of Tucson, the site is home to one of the state’s earliest missions, the Mission San José de Tumacácori. First established by Spanish settlers in 1691, the present-day mission dates to the 1750s, although the building was never completed. It was built on land held by the O’odham people for thousands of years and became a site of conflict between Spanish and indigenous people. Today, you can visit the church and hike through the park.
For a combination of stunning scenery and Wild West movie memorabilia, head to the Superstition Mountain Museum. Located at the foot of its namesake mountains, which are well worth exploring via the Apache Trail if you’ve the time, its 4,900-square foot (455sq m) exhibition hall houses an eclectic mishmash of Old West scenes from famous movies, horse-drawn carts and a historical model railroad. There’s also the Elvis Chapel, a small museum and wedding chapel paying homage to The King, whose western movie Charro! was filmed here.
What might look like little more than a giant golf ball in the middle of the desert is actually home to an intriguing UFO museum. The giant dome is located on a site near Yucca, western Arizona, which was chosen as it’s allegedly where a flying saucer crashed into Earth back in 1953. Although it’s not entirely clear why this bizarre structure was originally built – although at one point it served, inexplicably, as a real estate office – the giant sphere was revamped recently and now houses a museum dedicated to all things extraterrestrial.
From every angle, Antelope Canyon is totally mesmerising, with its vivid crimson walls taking on myriad organic forms. The slot canyon, located on land belonging to the LeChee Chapter of the Navajo people, was formed over thousands of years by flash flooding carving into the sandstone. Forceful winds also hurled sand at its walls, creating the swirling shapes we see today. To experience it at its best, head down at midday to see the light pierce through the rock – you can book a tour to walk through it, although bear in mind the canyon is just eight to 12 feet (2.4–3.7m) wide in places.
There are few places on Earth where you can see bluebells, cacti and butterflies in such close proximity, but at Phoenix’s Desert Botanical Garden you’ll find all this and more. Don’t miss the Desert Wildflower Loop Trail, which hums with pollinating bees and hummingbirds. Another trail explores how indigenous people of the Sonoran Desert have used native plants here for centuries. There’s also a butterfly pavilion, where visitors can enjoy being surrounded by some 2,000 of these gorgeous creatures, all of which are native species to the southwest.
With its impressive location, tucked in the limestone cliffs in the desert of Camp Verde, Montezuma Castle is sort of like an ancient skyscraper. Towing some 80 feet (20m) above the valley floor, the 20-room residence was built by the Sinagua people, beginning in around AD 1100, and served as an important shelter to escape floods. It was among the first four sites given the designation of National Monument back in 1906, with the site also including further dwellings around Montezuma Well, six miles (9.7km) from the castle.
A magnet for outdoorsy types, Sedona enjoys a picturesque location at the base of Oak Creek Canyon, surrounded by 1.8 million acres of national forest land. You could easily get swept away in all the activities to be enjoyed nearby, from hiking and biking to rafting and fishing, but the town itself is also well worth exploring. Thanks to its longstanding connection to the art world – surrealist painter Max Ernst and his wife Dorothea Tanning moved here in the 1940s – there are more than 80 galleries to explore, as well as street art and performing arts centres.
Influential American architect Frank Lloyd Wright was the brains behind this striking building, located at the foot of the McDowell Mountains near Scottsdale. After buying a plot of land, Wright began work on Taliesin West in 1937, wishing to create a winter retreat for himself and his students. He wanted the structure to reflect its surroundings, so he gave it canvas rooftops to ensure it got optimum sunlight, surrounded it with local rocks and sand, and used redwood beams to echo the desert’s colour palette. Today, visitors can take guided or self-guided tours around the building to learn about Wright’s life and legacy.
Perched in the red rocks high above the town of Sedona, the Chapel of the Holy Cross is one of Arizona’s most unexpected sights. The ultra-modern looking structure was completed in 1956 and was the brainchild of local sculptor Marguerite Brunswig Staude, who took inspiration from the striking design of the Empire State Building. The main stained-glass window is held together by a giant cross and offers a spectacular view from inside, so it’s well worth popping in (the church is open from 9am to 5pm every day and can be visited for free).
You might associate Arizona with blazing hot sunshine, but mountainous cities such as Flagstaff are blanketed in snow come winter. This northern town is home to the Snowbowl ski resort, situated on the slopes of a former volcano at up to 11,500 feet (3,505m) in elevation, and is popular with beginner and intermediate skiers and snowboarders. By autumn, it hosts popular music events including Pickin’ in the Pines bluegrass festival and Oktoberfest, while summer is the best time to visit the city’s craft breweries and soak up the sun.
Nicknamed the “Wickedest Town in the West”, Jerome is the place to visit for an insight into Arizona’s copper mining history. The town, located between Sedona and Prescott, was founded in 1876, after large copper reserves were found nearby and a mining community was quickly established. In its heyday, Jerome was home to as many as 15,000 people. But the economic downfall of the 1930s signalled its demise and by the mid-20th century it had become a ghost town. Today, it’s well worth peeking through its eerie, crumbling buildings to discover the stories of the merchants and miners who once lived here.
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This beautiful southeastern Arizona town has roots stretching back to the 19th century, when prospectors discovered copper, gold and silver in the surrounding Mule Mountains region. In 1880 the town of Bisbee was born, soon growing to be one of the largest in the area, with a population peaking at 20,000. Nowadays, the Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum offers a fascinating glimpse into the past, while many of its preserved 19th-century buildings have been transformed into art galleries, bars and restaurants.
Despite being located in one of the sunniest places on Earth, Yuma Territorial Prison was once home to thousands of inmates locked away in tiny, dark and airless cells. It goes without saying that the prison, which opened in 1876, has plenty of horror stories to tell. Those who broke prison rules were kept in a dark, solitary cell, while those who attempted to escape were attached to a ball and chain. The institution shut its doors in 1909 and now the buildings, including adobe structures, are part of Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park, comprising a museum that gives a fascinating insight into life behind bars in the 19th century.
Standing 183 feet (56m) high above a 400-foot (122m) long tunnel, this impressive natural wonder isn’t some feat of engineering. In fact, the rock bridge – which is thought to be the largest of its kind in the world – was created by Mother Nature thousands of years ago, when water gradually eroded an arch in a travertine dam. See it in all its glory by paying a visit to its namesake state park, which has three different hiking trails to explore as well as a picnic area, plus plenty of opportunities to spot the rich variety of wildlife that lives here.
Hankering after crystal clear waters and cactus-studded valleys? Salome Creek, tucked within central Arizona’s Sierra Ancha Mountains, is just the ticket. The lower part of the canyon is home to a mile-long (1.6km) stretch of water known as The Jug, which you can part-swim, part-wade through, during a stunning five-mile (8km) circular hike. It’s best to join a guided tour to visit unless you’re experienced at scaling canyons, as there’s a 50-foot (15m) waterfall at the end which you must abseil down.
The largest art gallery in the southwestern US, Phoenix Art Museum is home to some 20,000 works and artefacts. But one of its main draws is the permanent Yayoi Kusama exhibition (pictured), which has the rather poetic title: ‘You who are getting obliterated in the dance swarm of fireflies’. Fitting with the name, the installation consists of a dark room filled with mirrors and cascading LED light strings, making you feel as if you’ve walked into a huge and enchanting forest of lights. Elsewhere in the gallery, you’ll find a large collection of Monet paintings and a dolls-house-like collection of miniature rooms known as the Thorne Rooms.
At 50,000 years-old, Meteor Crater (also known as Barringer Crater) located just off the Interstate 40 in northern Arizona is actually young compared to other craters on Earth. What’s more, the 3,900-foot (1,189m) wide hollow is considered the best-preserved example out there. To visit the extraterrestrial attraction, you’ll need a ticket to the adjoining museum, which also has a 4D theatre for learning about the impact of asteroid collisions, an Apollo 11 Space Capsule and an interactive space exhibit.
With their vibrant cyan waters, it’s hard to believe Havasu Falls are real. And while they’re one of Arizona’s best-loved natural wonders, seeing them with your own eyes might be a little harder: they’re located on Havasupai Indian Reservation, so visitors need to buy a permit from the Havasupai Tribe to access the area (tourism is currently suspended at the site to restrict the spread of COVID-19). If you manage to get a permit, you’ll need to prepare for two to three days of challenging hikes across steep terrain and in hot conditions, before you can take a dip in the majestic falls.
It’s easy to see why this gorgeous canyon, located near Page, is one of the most photographed sights in the American southwest. It owes its distinctive U-shaped curve to the meandering course of the Colorado River, which gradually carved the sandstone rock into a ravine that plunges to 1,000 feet (305m). Adding to its appeal, it’s located just beyond the bounds of Grand Canyon National Park and is just five miles (8km) downstream of Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell, so can be visited easily from these top attractions.