Incorporated in 1881, Phoenix is young by historical standards but now ranks as one of the fastest-growing cities in the nation. Visitors, residents and businesses will find that Phoenix offers just about everything in the way of sports, recreation, arts, culture, dining, lodging and financial opportunities. Because of our beautiful weather, activities can be enjoyed year-round. Take time to explore the related links provided here for shortcuts to popular topics. Find out for yourself why Phoenix is such a dynamic city.

Recreation in Phoenix

Looking to get out and get active? In Phoenix, recreation is a year-round pursuit. You can mountain bike along world-class single-track trails or find solitude hiking in the expansive South Mountain Park/Preserve, known as the largest municipal park in the United States. Visit renowned arts and cultural venues or choose from more than 100 urban parks. Escape the heat at one of our 29 public pools, play a round at a championship golf course or join a sports league. Whatever your age or interest, the city of Phoenix has a park and recreation experience for everyone.

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Boating/Fishing in Phoenix North and West of Phoenix

Just northeast of Phoenix is a chain of lakes called Saguaro, Canyon, Apache and Roosevelt, all offering excellent fishing and water sports. Each lake has a marina with boat rentals available for guests' convenience. Driving distance from Phoenix to each these lakes range between 1/2 to 2 hours.

Encanto park Downtown Phoenix

Encanto Park is a family-friendly park. Offering kids rides, a miniature train, a pond complete with ducks and geese, and an 18-hole golf course, this park has it all. Plan a picnic in the afternoon and then tour the historic homes that surround this centrally located park.

Golf Valleywide Phoenix

Phoenix is home to hundreds of golf courses for every type of player and accommodating every budget. Weather you're looking for a links, desert or championship course, Phoenix has it all.

Hike Squaw Peak Phoenix

Climb to the top of Squaw Peak for breath-taking views of the Phoenix skyline. The trail is approximately 2 miles long and a path has been created to make your hike more enjoyable. At the top enjoy panaramic views of the city and all the valley's suburbs.

Horseback Riding

South Mountain Phoenix http://www.arizona-horses.com/ Hourly horseback riding available on trails through Phoenix mountain preserve. For more information please call 602-268-1261 or visit http://www.arizona-horses.com/

The Arts in Phoenix

Whether it's browsing through some of the Valley's best local art, exploring the remains of a 1,500-year-old Hohokam village, enjoying a night at the theatre or touring historic neighborhoods, Phoenix offers an abundance of arts and cultural attractions. On this page, you’ll find links to museums, historic properties, performing arts, art exhibits as well as information on Phoenix’s nationally recognized public art program. We also offer resources for artists, organizations and schools looking to be more involved in the city’s diverse arts community.

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Arizona Forklore Preserve
44 Ramsey Canyon Road, Hereford, AZ 85615. Phone: (520) 378-6165. Located in scenic Ramsey Canyon, the center preserves Arizona folklore through song, cowboy poetry and theater. Free admission. Donations accepted. Shows at 2pm, Sat and Sun. Reservations required. Web site

Arizona Theatre Company/Phoenix
222 E. Monroe, Phoenix, AZ 85003. Phone: (602) 256-6899. Performance times vary. Includes Audio Described & ASL interpreted performances. The Southwest's leading professional theatre company. Season Sep-May. Produces a diverse mix of contemporary, classical, drama, comedy and musicals. Web site

Arizona Theatre Company/Tucson
330 S. Scott Ave, Tucson, AZ 85702. Phone: (520) 884-8210. Includes Audio Described & ASL interpreted performances. The Southwest's leading professional theatre company. Season Sep-May. Produces a diverse mix of contemporary, classical, drama, comedy and musicals. Web site

Chandler Center for the Arts
250 N. Arizona Avenue, Chandler, AZ 85224. Phone: (602) 786-2680. The Arts Center hosts a variety of national and local performers on three stages. Visual arts, featuring professional and educational shows, are displayed in the Exhibition Hall. Call the Arts Center for information about upcoming shows and exhibits. Web site

Consanti Art Studio
6433 Doubletree Ranch Road, Scottsdale, AZ 85260. Phone: (480) 443-7695. Open daily. Paolo Soleri studios where his bronze and ceramic windmills are made and sold. Unique architectural structures blended with desert landscaping. Tours by reservations.

Deer Valley Rock Art Center
3711 W. Deer Valley Road, Phoenix, AZ 85080. Phone: (623) 582-8007. Museum, nature & interpretive trails, rock sites with over 1,500 petroglyphs. Article | Web site

DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun
6300 N. Swan Road, Tucson, AZ 85718. Phone: (520) 299-9191. Free admission. Open daily. The 40,000-square-foot gallery features work by Arizona artist Ted DeGrazia. Exhibits include oils, watercolors, bronzes, ceramics, lithographs and jewelry. Web site

Desert Caballeros Western Museum
21 N. Frontier Street, Wickenburg, AZ 85390. Phone: (520) 684-5794. Open daily. Museum of western art and history featuring the largest collection of authentic cowboy gear in the Southwest. Web site

Fleischer Museum
17207 N. Perimeter Drive, Scottsdale, AZ 85255. Phone: (602) 585-3108. Free admission. Open daily. This was the first museum outside of California devoted to American Impressionism paintings of the California School. Over 200 paintings, a library and gift shop. Web site

Herberger Theater Center
2222 E. Monroe Street, Phoenix, AZ 85004. Phone: (602) 254-7399. Call for performance times and admission. The theater's two stages provide an intimate setting for ballet, performances by the Arizona Theatre Company and others. Web site

Heard Museum
22 East Monte Vista, Phoenix, AZ 85004. Phone: (602) 252-8840. Open daily. World-renowned museum devoted to Native American art and culture. The museum houses an extensive collection of historic and contemporary art and historical exhibits. Special performances by dancers and artists. In-depth | Article | Web site

Mesa Arts Center
155 N. Center Street, Mesa, AZ 85211. Phone: (480) 644-2242. Free admission. Historic buildings, arts center with classes, gallery, theatre, concerts and events. Web site

Mohave Museum of History and Arts
400 W. Beale Street, Kingman, AZ 86401. Phone: (928) 753-3195. Open daily. The museum is devoted to the history of Mohave County and northwest Arizona. Displays include 10 dioramas, portraits of U.S. presidents and a wooden 100-year-old Santa Fe caboose. Gift shop with books and Native American crafts. Web site

Museum of the Southwest
1500 N. Circle I Road, Willcox, AZ 85643. Phone: (520) 384-2272. Free admission. Open daily. This 2-story museum and information center is devoted to the history of the Southwest. Displays include 19th century weapons, mineral collections, maps, paintings and Native American artifacts.

Navajo Nation Museum
27002 Highway 264, Window Rock, AZ 86515. Phone: (520) 871-6673. Free admission. Open Mon-Fri. This museum is devoted to Navajo history, culture and arts. Displays include a dinosaur skeleton, Anasazi artifacts and 19th century utensils. Wide variety of Navajo crafts and books. Web site

Phippen Museum of Western Art
4701 Highway 89 North, Prescott, AZ 86392. Phone: (520) 778-1385. Open Mon-Sat. admissions information. This museum is devoted to western art and heritage. Art includes work by George Phippen, Ernest Chiriacka, Bill Freeman and others. Also features local artists, lecture series and traveling exhibitions.

Phoenix Art Museum
1625 N. Central Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85004. Phone: (602) 257-1222. The largest in the Southwest, the Museum features over 16,000 works in its collection of American, European, Asian, Latin American, Contemporary, and Western American art, and fashion design. In-depth | Web site

Phoenix Symphony Hall
225 E. Adams Street, Phoenix, AZ 85004. Phone: (602) 495-1999. Box office is open 9:30am-5pm Mon-Fri. Call for performance times and admission. Phoenix's premier performance venue. It is home to both the Phoenix Symphony and Arizona Opera Company. Venue info | Web site

San Pedro Valley Arts and Historical Museum
180 S. San Pedro Street, Benson, AZ 85602. Phone: (520) 586-3070. Free admission. Donations accepted. Exhibits feature pioneer and Native American artifacts, and Butterfield Stage displays. Art gallery and museum gift shop.

Scottsdale Center for the Arts
7380 East 2nd Street, Scottsdale, AZ 85251. Phone: (480) 994-2787. Open daily. Call for current event listings. Dance, theater, classical, jazz and world music. Galleries open through intermission on performance evenings. Located in the heart of downtown Scottsdale. Web site

Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art
7374 East 2nd Street, Scottsdale, AZ 85251. Phone: (480) 994-2787. Open daily. Call for current exhibitions. The museum explores modern culture from the perspectives of art architecture and design. Adjacent to the Scottsdale Center for the Arts. Web site

Sedona Arts Theatre Company
15 Art Barn Road, Sedona, AZ 86336. Phone: (928) 282-3809. Call for show information and ticket pricing. Staged performances in the Charles W. Raison Theatre for over 40 years. Acclaimed performances are compared to many national companies.

Shemer Art Center
5005 E. Camelback Road, Phoenix, AZ 85018. Phone: (602) 262-4727. Free admission. The museum regularly displays traditional and contemporary art, and is housed in a historic Spanish-style home. Concerts, sales and lectures are also offered at the center. Web site

Smoki Museum
100 N. Arizona Street, Prescott, AZ 86302. Phone: (520) 445-1230. Free admission. Call for hours. The museum is devoted to ancient Southwest history. Native American artifacts include prehistoric pots, bowls, stone implements, bead work and a collection of Hopi life paintings by Kate Cory. Web site

Sylvia Plotkin Judaica Museum
10460 N. 56th Street, Scottsdale, AZ 85253, 480-951-0323. Closed all Jewish and national holidays. The SPJM is the only Judaica in the Southwest featuring a permanent collection of holiday and life cycle Judaica, including a composite Tunisian Synagogue using authentic artifacts collected from Tunisia. The museum also features traveling exhibitions with a vast range of Judaica topics.

Taliesin West
12621 Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd., Scottsdale, AZ 85261. Phone: (480) 860-2700. Guided tours with discussion of Wright's architectural concepts. Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, the home was the architect's primary residence for 20 years. It's a National Historic Landmark and a mecca to architecture students and Wright devotees from around the world. In-depth | Web site

Tucson Museum of Art
140 N. Main Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85701. Phone: (520) 624-2333. Open daily. Free admission on Tuesdays. Located near Tucson's oldest district, the museum Houses a collection of pre-Columbian and Western art, as well as special traveling exhibits. Web site

University of Arizona Museum of Art
PO Box 21002, Tucson, AZ 85721. Phone: (520) 621-7567. Admission is free. The UA Museum of Art offers a vista of visual arts, free to the public, through changing exhibitions and a dynamic, growing permanent collection. Located on The University of Arizona campus in Tucson, the Museum is in walking distance from the Center for Creative Photography and the Arizona State Museum. Visitor parking is available at the UA garage on Park Avenue just north of Speedway Boulevard (free on Sundays). Web site

Yuma Art Center
281 Gila Street, Yuma, AZ 85364. Phone: (520) 783-2314. Open daily. Closed July through August. Displays the work of contemporary Arizona artists. Exhibits includes paintings, ceramics and sculpture.

Great Facts about Phoenix

Situated in the southwestern part of the United States, Phoenix is Arizona’s capitol and the sixth largest city in the United States, with almost 1.5 million residents and growing. The city takes up more than 500 square miles, geographically exceeding Los Angeles. Phoenix has more than 300 sunny days a year and an average temperature of 74 degrees – an unbeatable combination that has made the city a prime destination for tourists, business and industry. The city enjoys a Standard & Poor’s bond rating of AA+ and is the center of a $50 billion regional marketplace. Motorola, Intel, Honeywell and Boeing are among the companies that have major operations here.

About the Phoenix Metropolitan Area

The population of Maricopa County is about 3 million people. Maricopa County's population is largely comprised of the Phoenix metropolitan area, which consists mostly of the cities of Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert, Glendale, Peoria, and several other neighboring cities and towns.

The Phoenix metro area is just over 9,000 square miles in area.

About the People

• There are basically an equal number of men and women in the state.
• About 58% of the people have had at least some college education.
• There are 15 institutions of higher learning, including Arizona State University and Thunderbird, The American Graduate School of International Management.
• Over 40% of the people in the metropolitan area are single (includes children).
• About 25% of the population is Hispanic/Latino, 4% is African-American,
• 2% is Asian and 2% is Native American.
• Although Phoenix is well known as a retirement spot, only 12% of the population is over age 65 (compared to 17% in Miami).
• The average wage in the Greater Phoenix area in the year 2000 was close to $35,000. About 30% of the households have an annual income greater than $50,000.

About the Environment

The skies are clear 59% of the time, partly cloudy 22% and cloudy 19%. Annual rainfall is about 7 inches. July is technically the hottest month, but in June and August when the temperature gets over 115 degrees it all feels the same to me. The unofficial Phoenix greeting is ". . . but it's a dry heat!"

The major industries are manufacturing (hi-tech), tourism and travel.

The sales tax is in the 7-8% range, and varies slightly depending upon the city.

As in any large city, Phoenix is trying to deal with crime issues. Gang-related and drug-related crime are most common in west and south Phoenix. The areas in Tempe, near ASU that are off the beaten path can be dangerous.

Other Phoenix Stuff

• There are four area codes in the Phoenix area: 602, 480, 623 and 928. To obtain specifics about how to call different parts of the valley, see the area code page.
• Phoenix is on Mountain Standard Time, and never moves the clock forward or back. Only the Navajo nation observes daylight saving time.
• The average price for a new single-family home is $138,270 (1999) and the average property tax is about 10%.
• Phoenix originated in 1866 as a hay camp.
• There are six major lakes within an hour's drive from Phoenix

Arizona Stuff

• State Flower: Saguaro Cactus Flower
• State Bird: Cactus Wren
• State Tree: Palo Verde
• State Fossil: Petrified Wood
• State Gemstone: Turquoise
• State Amphibian: Arizona Tree Frog
• State Reptile: Arizona Ridge-Nosed Rattlesnake
• State Nickname: The Grand Canyon State (yes, Grand Canyon IS in Arizona, NOT Nevada)