Why Not Make The Most Of Your Visit?

Arizona is home to sixty-seven natural and man-made lakes, 22 national parks, monuments and preserves and 16 state historical and recreational parks. Preserved Indian ruins, ghost towns and lost mines are among outdoor recreation opportunities, as well as four alpine ski areas and nine principal areas for cross-country skiing, plus over 200 golf courses throughout the state.

Experience Arizona will help you with places to stay while traveling through our exciting state.

How Far is It?
This device allows you to plug in any two cities in Arizona to find out the distance between them.

Flight Times From Phoenix

Grand Canyon Arizona National Park and Monument

One of the Seven Wonders of the World. Spectacular colors and breathtaking panoramas have made this one of the most popular attractions in the nation. Grand Canyon Chamber of Commerce (520) 638-2901. From Phoenix, it is 220 miles to the South Rim and 357 miles to the North Rim.

Additional link to Grand Canyon National Park and Monument

Canyon de Chelly
Ancient ruins of Canyon de Chelly (pronounced day-SHAY) where you are able to see shelters built into the canyon’s walls, on the ledges and overhangs. Brilliant red sandstone walls which are higher than the Empire State building at their deepest points. Wind and water have hollowed out numerous caves in the cliffs, and in almost every such niche is a prehistoric ruin. Navajo people live and work still in the canyon. Visitors can arrange for guided tours in advance.   More info information about Canyon de Chelly

Mogollon Rim Arizona – Grand Canyon
Zane Grey mountain country with vast panoramas, forests, and scenic trails: Rim Country

Chapel of the Holy Cross in Sedona was designed by sculptor and architect Marguerite Brunswig Staude. Finished in 1956, the church draws visitors from all over the world. Plenty of parking.

Grand Canyon Explorer
Take a Virtual Visit with Bob Ribokas.

El Dorado Hot Springs El Dorado’s subterranean hot springs are rich with minerals, but lacking iron or sulfur, so the water is odorless. Rustic sleeping cabins are also available.

Located at 411th Avenue and Indian School in Tonopah.

Route 66 Fun Page

Hoover (Boulder) Dam/Lake Mead
The tallest (726 feet) dam in the Western Hemisphere is a well-known site for water sports and fishing. There’s no bridge. To get from Nevada to Arizona you drive over the 1292 foot-long roadway atop Hoover Dam! The base is 660 feet thick. Completed in 1936, it would still be a considerable feat today. Lake Mead is more than twice as deep as Lake Erie. Lake Mead Visitor’s Center (702) 293-8990

Jerome Arizona
An abandoned mining camp perched on the side of Cleopatra Hill. Enjoy the shops, restaurants, and arts center which line the cobblestone streets of this “ghost town.” North of Flagstaff, high above on the mountainside, Jerome was once one of Arizona’s largest cities, perched so precariously on the mountain that a man could step from his back porch right into his neighbor’s chimney. Jerome Chamber of Commerce, (520) 634-2900, Box K, Jerome AZ 86331. From Phoenix, it’s 110 miles.

Kachina Mineral Springs in Safford: An artesian well emits mineral water at a piping-hot 108 degrees, then Kachina pumps the liquid into sunken baths. Kachina offers services of massages, body wraps and aromatherapy.

928-428-7212.

London Bridge in Lake Havasu Arizona
This 45-mile long lake has 23 miles of shoreline, public beaches, and swimming areas for boating, sailing, and fishing. England’s historic London Bridge is one of its most famous attractions. The bridge was dismantled in England and the 10,000 tons of granite blocks were numbered and shipped across the Atlantic to Arizona, where it was reassembled, stone by stone, in 1971. Lake Havasu City Convention and Visitors Bureau (800) 242-8278

Lake Powell - Glen Canyon Dam:
This recreational paradise stretches nearly 200 miles from northern Arizona into southern Utah and has 90 canyons which can be reached by boat for year-round water sports and sightseeing. Glen Canyon Bridge, the world’s highest single steel-arch bridge gives you grandstand views. From the Visitors Center you may take a free, self-conducted tour of the dam, in elevators that bore down through the concrete block for a close-up of the huge generators in the powerhouse.

Lake Powell backs up behind the dam for a distance of 186 miles, with numerous side canyons forming a jagged shoreline of 1860 spectacularly beautiful miles. Lake Powell Visitors Center, (520) 645-2741.

Lava River Cave: A subterranean cave where temperatures hover around 40 degrees all year. About two hours drive north of Phoenix, the cave is 1.5 miles long, easy hike but you need two reliable light sources and good hiking hiking shoes. Directions: Drive nine miles north of Flagstaff on Highway 180, turn left (west) on Forest Road 245. Continue 3 miles to Forest Road 171 and turn left (south). Go one mile to Forest Road 171B and turn left.

Boyce Thompson Southwestern Arboretum
It’s the ultimate nature experience! Where the frantic pace of the world fades to the songs of birds in a rich growth of vegetation nestled against the striking slopes and rocky crags of Picketpost Mountain just east of Phoenix. Come and connect with your inner spirit in the serenity of nature at Boyce Thompson Southwestern Arboretum.

Meteor Crater Arizona
A Star Fell in Arizona! The best preserved and largest impact site on earth, with topographical terrain that resembles the surface of the moon. About 50,000 years ago, a huge iron and nickel meteorite came whistling in from the north over Grand Canyon and plowed into the ground 20 miles west of Winslow. (which wasn’t there at the time). The meteorite came in at an angle and buried itself some 1500 feet below the original ground level, beneath the south rim. Flagstaff Convention and Visitors Bureau (800) 842-7293

Montezuma Castle Arizona
A well-preserved ancient Indian cliff dwelling built more than six centuries ago. Everything about the name is wrong. It’s not a “castle”, but a large apartment house, built high up in a cliff cave. And Montezuma, the great Aztec emperor of ancient Mexico, never heard of the place. The building is four stories high, with two rooms below the first floor serving as a basement. Since these rooms are 80 feet above the valley floor, this makes it one of the country’s highest basements! The original inhabitants abandoned the dwelling in the year 1100.

Oak Creek Canyon Arizona
Oak Creek winds through this rugged canyon, which is flanked with red rock cliffs. A favorite recreational area with Oak Creek heavily stocked with trout. Sedona/Oak Creek Canyon Chamber of Commerce (800) 288-7336. From Phoenix, the distance is 120 miles.

Sedona Arizona
Located in the heart of Red Rock Country. A paradise for artists, photographers, and lovers of unique scenery and art. (Sedona Chamber of Commerce (800) 288-7336. From Phoenix, it’s 115 miles. Tlaquepaque Shopping For a weekend visit, one could stay at the Briar Patch Inn surrounded by the red rocks of Sedona. Lots of wildlife around, and free breakfast at the inn.

Painted Desert Arizona
High desert region with a brilliant array of colors splashed across the landscape. Quite a few million years ago, this country was the floor of the ocean. Successive layers of sediment were stained or dyed by the mineral laden waters. Erosion chewed out great gullies, exposing vary-colored cross sections of cliffs and filling stream beds with sands of every hue. Holbrook/Petrified Forest Chamber of Commerce (520) 524-6558

Petrified Forest
No Place for Whittlers – A 160-million-year old forest with the largest find of petrified wood in the world. The stone trees capture all the colors of the rainbow. Besides the Painted Desert, there are six distinct forests with thin the 141 square miles of Petrified Forest National Park. But, you’re a couple of million years too late to find any wood, or shade, among the thousands of trees. For, as the name of the Park says, all the trees here have turned to stone. Petrified Forest National Park (928) 524-6228.

…Additional Petrified Forest Link

Roosevelt Dam
This dam forms Lake Roosevelt, which is one of several scenic spots along the Apache Trial. The lake is a popular spot for fishing, boating, swimming, and water skiing. Roosevelt Dam is the largest masonry dam ever built. The Apache Trail is the result of evolution. Originally it was just what the name says, a trail used by Apache war parties. Apache Junction Chamber of Commerce (480) 982-3141

Roper Lake State Park in Safford has an outdoor stone-and-cement soaking pool and many amenities, including camping and RV spaces, day-use picnic ramadas. Two lakes are stocked for fishing. 1- (928) 428-6760.

Sunset Crater National Monument $3 per person, also good for Wupatki National Monument.  1-928-526-0502

San Carlos Warm Springs The pools bubble up at several spots in the San Carlos River. An access permit can be obtained from the San Carlos Apache Tribe’s Recreation and Wildlife Department. Camping is also available. 1-928-475-2343.

Sunrise Ski Area
Owned and operated by the White Mountain Apache Indian Tribe, this popular ski area boasts one of America’s longest ski lifts. (520) 367-4290. From Phoenix, it’s 215 miles.

Snow Bowl
High on the slopes of Mount Agassiz is one of the state’s most popular ski resorts, Arizona Snow Bowl, only a short drive from Flagstaff, where all kinds of accommodations are ample. Arizona Snow Bowl (520) 779-1951

Tombstone Arizona
A museum town filled with the history of the Old West. Once a famous mining camp. While the mines held out, Tombstone was the rip roaringest town the West has known. The end of Tombstone’s mining prosperity came, not as the result of running out of ore, but paradoxically for an Arizona community, because of too much water. An underground stream so strong and endless that it flooded all the mines in the vicinity literally drowned the boomtown. Tombstone, the city too tough to die, grows the world’s largest rose bush! It lives on as a place where you can rub shoulders with the past. Tombstone Visitor’s Center (520) 457-3929

Tonto Natural Bridge in Payson. In one of the narrow V-shaped ravines that stem from the Mogollon Rim, a series of underground springs with mineral-laden waters have built up large deposits of travertine (calcium carbonate) through which Pine Creek, a year-round stream flowing through the canyon, has eroded a passageway leaving the rocks above standing a natural bridge. The formation has been protected as the Tonto Natural Bridge State Park since 1990.

Verde Canyon railroad with the train leaving a depot in Clarkdale. The trip takes two hours along the Verde River, on the well named Starlight Express. (800) 293-7245.

Walnut Canyon National Monument

White Mountains Arizona
Indian mountain country covered with the world’s largest Ponderosa Pine forest. Camping, hiking, picnicking, and trout fishing are popular pastimes in these delightful mountains.

As Flagstaff has its San Francisco Peaks overlooking one end of the Mogollon Rim, so Springerville has its Mt. Baldy looking down from its lofty 11,590 foot altitude on the Rim’s other end. Old Baldy and its sister peak, Mt. Ord, dominate the White Mountains. Water originating in their winter snow packs ends up as drinking water in Los Angeles, and helps irrigate rich farm land around Phoenix.

White Mountains has a hamlet in Greer, Arizona.  Someplace cool to go to in the heat of the summer.

Starry night in Greer, the photo appeared in the National Geographic:

Wupatki National Monument

Muleshoe Ranch Nestled in the Galiuro Mountains east of Tucson,
the ranch guests can soak in two rustic, tree-shrouded tubs and enjoy the scenery.
1-520-507-5229.

Arizona State Parks

Oak Creek

The most beautiful hike in the canyon – and possibly the most well-loved hike in Arizona – is the gorgeous West Fork of Oak Creek. The West Fork is located entirely in the Secret Mountain Red Rock Wilderness, an unspoiled, narrow sheer-rockwalled canyon that is lush and heavily wooded. The first three miles features easy walking for everyone from toddlers to seniors. The last eight miles are the province of the serious backpacker. During the fall foliage season the canyon is astounding. The creek enters to the left of the low red rock wall, in the shadowed area.

Mission San Xavier del Bac
Perhaps the most beautiful of all the old Spanish missions, White Dove of the Desert, just nine miles south of Tucson.

Saguaro National Monument
The monarch of Arizona’s desert is preserved in this National Monument, is divided into two equidistant sections, the western part near the Arizona Desert Museum, and the eastern portion which is a fully developed park containing maintains as well as desert. There’s a nine-mile loop drive through the Cactus Forest, populated by venerable giants, where you can also get out and walk among the goliaths. From Phoenix, it’s 113 miles.

Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum
Located in a luxuriant cactus forest, 15 miles west of town. Mingle with birds in walk-through aviaries, visit coyotes, javelinas and giant desert tortoises. 2021 N. Kinney Rd., AZ 85743. (520) 883-1380 . Recorded Information: (602) 883-2702.

The Book of Answers about Arizona

Old Tucson Studios
201 S. Kinney Rd., Tucson, AZ 85746 Phone: 520-883-0100 ext. 282

Kitt Peak National Observatory
When astronomers first approached Papago tribal leaders for permission to establish a great observatory on their Kitt Peak, they were not favorably impressed. What they saw looking through Steward Observatory’s telescope changed their minds. Today America’s most advanced astronomical complex occupies the 200-acre site, and the Indians are among its most ardent supporters.

Colossal Cave

They say about the rarest thing in the world is a dry cave, but this is one of them. There’s not a trace of the great underground river which hollowed out the countless chambers, nor of the lime-laden dripping springs which built the caves many columns. Back in the 1880′s Colossal Cave was known only to outlaws, who used it as a hideout. Colossal Cave, can be found 20 miles east of Tucson.

Lava River Cave Peaks Ranger Station, 5075 N. Highway 89, Flagstaff, Arizona 86004, (928) 526-0866 Important for your safety: Wear warm clothes and sturdy shoes. Bring two or three light sources. Very unusual hike will take you down a 700,000 year old lava tube discovered by lumbermen around 1915. Trailhead: From Flagstaff, go northwest on US 180 to mile marker 230 (9 miles). Turn left (W) on FR 245 and follow it 3.6 miles to its intersection with FR 171. Turn left (S) on FR 171 and go 1.0 miles to FR 171B. Follow this .25 miles until its end. The cave entrance is 300 yards east of the end of the road. Look for a large circle of rocks that mark the cave entrance.

Kartchner Caverns
One of Arizona’s newest wonders. 50 miles south of Tucson, between Benson and Sierra Vista. Stalagmites hang like colossal icicles, mirrored by stalactites projecting up from the floor. One stalactite and stalagmite in the Throne Room are joined to make a 58-foot column, tallest one in Arizona. A series of air locks allow the caves to remain at 70 degrees which is they way the caves were discovered in 1974. There is a 50% summer discount, usually enjoyed by Arizona residents, not tourists.

Hydrology of Kartchner Caverns

Grand Canyon Field Institute offers guided educational tours at Grand Canyon National Park led by expert instructors. Backpacking, camping, hiking, and whitewater rafting. Topics include geology, ecology, archaeology, history, photography, and more.

Native American Reservations and Sites

Arizona is home to 21 Native American tribes, the largest of which are the Apache, Pima, Hopi and Navajo. Like the colorful threads in a Navajo rug, the history of these Native American tribes is an intricate weaving of ritual, honor and strength. Although each tribe is unique in terms of its culture and traditions, all are proudly united by their Native American heritage.

The famous Four Corners, the only place in the United States where four states (Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado) come together at one point. Activities and attractions abound such as Ceremonials, a three-day rodeo, arts and crafts shops, camping, hunting and fishing. The tribe is noted for blanket and tapestry weaving, basketry, and silver goods.

Tonto National Monument - Tonto Cliff Dwellings -
This prehistoric apartment house was originally two stories high and had 19 rooms, several of them upstairs. Because of the dry climate, artifacts uncovered from caved rooms are in an excellent state of preservation, and may be seen at the monument museum.

Urban Parks

Goodyear Community Park, 3151 N. Litchfield Road, Goodyear, AZ 85338

It is a skate park, 623-882-7525. Other amenities include: Splash Pad, 2 Volleyball courts, 4 Tennis courts, 2 full Basketball courts and 2 softball fields, 1 little league field, 7 ramadas with barbecue grills.

Red Mountain Park, 7745 East Brown Road, Mesa, AZ. Open Sunrise to 10PM daily.

The park consists of six soccer fields, a three-diamond baseball complex, a four-diamond softball complex, a volleyball court, picnic ramadas and a fishing lake. There is a 65,000 square-foot activities center also for indoor activities.

Desert Breeze Park, 660 N. Desert Breeze Blvd., E., Chandler. Open 6:30AM to 10:30PM daily.

The Hummingbird Habitat at Desert Breeze Park is part of a demonstration garden that familiarizes visitors with Southwestern plants that are beautiful, low water usage, and part of the natural environment that supports area wildlife. Interpretive trail markers help identify plants. The lake, walking trail, picnic pavilions, playground, restrooms. Desert Breeze’s train and carousel combo is very popular with children. There is also 38 acres of ballfields and tennis courts for bigger kids and adults.

Pecos Park, 48th St. and Pecos Rd. in Ahwatukee Foothills. Open 5:30 to 10PM daily.

This 66-acre park includes soccer and softball fields, tennis, volleyball and basketball courts; room for lacrosse. There is a swimming pool with a large play area and water slides, a lap pool, a diving pool, picnic areas and ramadas, skate park,interactive spray playground, and dog park.

Golden Eagle Park, 15900 Golden Eagle Blvd. in Fountain Hills. Open 6AM to 11PM daily.

25-acre active recreation area adjacent to the middle school/high school. The park includes four multi-purpose ball fields with Musco lights, covered dugouts and seating for 550 spectators, 4 lighted tennis courts,2 lighted basketball courts with bleachers, two lighted sand volleyball courts with a shower tower, a children’s playground, a 2,500 square foot restroom/control center building, a large group Ramada with barbecues (seating for 96), 223 parking spaces, a horse shoe pit, open turf area, eight chilled drinking fountains, one pedestrian foot bridge, three pedestrian wash crossings, three park entry gates, picnic Ramada at volleyball courts, shaded waiting area for tennis courts, and a shaded seat wall at the children’s playground.Park’s horseshoe pit, two play areas and swing sets are the winner with kids.

Freestone District Park, 1045 E. Juniper Ave., in Gilbert. Open 6AM to 10PM daily.

The 22,000 square foot skate park is an in-line and skateboard paradise. There are 2 lakes, basketball courts, sand volley ball courts and batting cage (lit for night time use).

Desert Mountain Park, Ocotillo and Hawes Roads in Queen Creek. Open 7AM to 10PM daily.

The amenities include twins of youth baseball, youth softball and multi-purpose fields, volleyball and basketball courts, as well as, parking lots, one large, and five small, picnic ramadas; a play station and a sand dig play area for children; park benches, landscaping, a storage-and-automatic pump irrigation system, a desert botanical garden, and an equestrian staging area. The baseball and softball fields have a raised spectator plaza, enclosed dugouts and Princess77 golf-style turf.

Superstition Shadows Aquatic Center (480)-474-5210 1091 W. Southern Ave., Apache Junction. Pool with gadgets that dump, spray and shoot water. “The Red,” one of two water slides, dishes out plenty of terror for daredevils.

There are special skate parks around the valley:

McDowell Mountain Ranch Skatepark – Scottsdale

Snedigar Sports Complex – Chandler

Anthem Skate Park

Glendale Skate Park

Desert West Skateboard Plaza in Phoenix

Skate Park at Tempe Sports Complex

Source: Arizona Office of Tourism

Map of Tribal Lands in Arizona

Route 66 Magazine

Arizona National Parks
Payson Web Page
Arizona State Parks
Arcosanti: an Urban Laboratory
Picture Atlas of Arizona
The Phoenix Zoo
Arizona Highways
Places to Go

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