Places to Go: The Complete Arizona Guide for Every Season

The best places to go in Arizona include the Grand Canyon, Sedona’s red rock trails, and Monument Valley’s towering sandstone monoliths. With a state this large spanning desert cities and high country alike, the real challenge isn’t finding fun places to go, it’s figuring out which season actually suits which region.

What Are the Best Places to Go in Arizona in Summer?

Summer in the low desert cities can push well past 100 degrees, making Arizona’s high country the smarter summer destination. Sedona’s elevation keeps temperatures noticeably more comfortable than Phoenix or Tucson during the hottest months, and its red rock hiking trails, including Devil’s Bridge and Cathedral Rock, remain doable with an early morning start. Grand Canyon’s South Rim also sits at a high enough elevation to stay pleasant through summer, and this is genuinely the park’s busiest season, so booking accommodations and any guided tours well in advance matters more here than at any other time of year. Lake Powell rounds out the best summer places to go, since the reservoir’s more than 2,000 miles of shoreline become genuinely ideal for boating and waterskiing once temperatures climb.

What Are the Best Places to Go in Arizona in Winter?

Winter flips the seasonal logic entirely, making the low desert cities and southern towns the better choice while high country destinations turn cold. Phoenix and Scottsdale genuinely shine in winter, with mild daytime temperatures that make hiking Camelback Mountain or wandering Old Town Scottsdale far more comfortable than during summer’s brutal heat. Bisbee and Tombstone, both southern historic towns near Tucson, work well for a winter day trip, since their Old West storefronts and outdoor walking tours suit cooler weather nicely. Sedona still works in winter too, though expect icy mornings and evenings at higher elevations, with the tradeoff being noticeably thinner crowds at popular trailheads compared to peak season. Travelers specifically asking about the best places to go in Arizona in January should lean firmly toward Phoenix, Scottsdale, and the southern historic towns rather than the high country.

What Are the Best Places to Go in Arizona with Kids?

Destination	Best For	Notes
Grand Canyon South Rim	Easy access, scenic viewpoints	Most popular, well set up for families
Lake Powell	Swimming, boating	Houseboat rentals work well for groups
Petrified Forest National Park	Easy walking, fossil displays	Genuinely educational, moon-like landscapes
Saguaro National Park	Short scenic drives	Bajada Loop Drive suits younger kids

The Grand Canyon’s South Rim consistently ranks as the most family-friendly option on this list, dotted with accessible viewing platforms and requiring nothing more strenuous than a walk along the rim trail for a genuinely awe-inspiring payoff. Lake Powell offers a completely different kind of family day, with swimming and boating options that work well for kids of nearly any age, and renting a houseboat for a night or two turns a day trip into a proper mini vacation. Petrified Forest National Park suits families wanting an easy, educational stop, with fossil displays dating back 225 million years spread across scenic, moon-like terrain that kids consistently find genuinely fascinating rather than boring. Destinations requiring serious permits or off-road vehicles, including The Wave and Vermillion Cliffs, are better saved for a future trip without young kids in tow, given the physical demands and lottery-based access involved.

How Do You Get a Permit for The Wave?

The Wave, the iconic swirling sandstone formation inside Vermillion Cliffs National Monument, remains one of the most difficult places to go in Arizona purely because of how limited access is. The Bureau of Land Management issues 64 passes per day, a figure raised in recent years from the original 20, which works out to just 23,725 people permitted to visit in an entire year. Two lottery paths exist: an advance online lottery that opens applications well before your intended visit date, and a same-day walk-in lottery that awards a small handful of additional passes each morning. A common mistake first timers make is assuming a single lottery entry guarantees a spot, when the odds genuinely favor persistence, applying across multiple months if your schedule allows some flexibility, rather than betting everything on one single date.

Is Havasu Falls Hard to Get To?

Yes, genuinely so, though the difficulty is part of what keeps it feeling so secluded. Havasu Falls sits at the bottom of a narrow gorge on the Havasupai Indian Reservation, just outside Grand Canyon National Park, and reaching those icy blue falls and turquoise pools requires both a permit from the Havasupai Tribe and a genuinely strenuous hike. Permits for the entire season typically go live in February and sell out within minutes given how limited the number is, so travelers set on visiting need to be ready and online the moment the release window opens. Once you’ve secured a permit, booking an overnight stay at the campground or the lodge is mandatory, since day trips simply aren’t permitted here, making this one of the more demanding places to go on this entire list, but also one of the most rewarding for those who manage to plan it out.

What Is the Difference Between Upper and Lower Antelope Canyon?

Canyon	Accessibility	Best For
Upper Antelope Canyon	Easy walking, minimal climbing	First-timers, all skill levels
Lower Antelope Canyon	Some stairs and tighter passages	Slightly more adventurous visitors

Both slot canyons sit on Navajo Nation land just east of Page and require a guided tour to enter, since independent access isn’t permitted. Upper Antelope Canyon, nicknamed “The Crack,” ranks as the more popular and most photographed of the two, largely because it’s easily accessible with minimal climbing required, making it a strong choice for travelers of any fitness level or families with kids. Lower Antelope Canyon demands a bit more physical effort, with stairs and narrower passages throughout, but many photographers actually prefer it for the way light filters through its tighter formations. Calling ahead to ask about the best time of day for your specific tour matters here too, since seasonal light angles change dramatically how much illumination reaches into either canyon.

Bisbee or Tombstone: Which Old West Town Should You Visit?

Town	Known For	Distance from Tucson
Bisbee	Historic mining town, artist community, reportedly haunted	About 1.5 hours
Tombstone	O.K. Corral shootout reenactments, preserved 1880s main street	Near Bisbee

Bisbee has transformed from a historic mining town into a genuinely thriving artist community, with quirky, Old West streets that locals describe as very haunted, and a nearby detour to the smaller town of Lowell adds a vintage, movie-set feel worth the extra stop. Tombstone leans harder into its Old West identity, preserved to look almost exactly like life in the 1880s along Allen Street, with staged shooting reenactments at the O.K. Corral drawing steady crowds throughout the day. Travelers wanting art galleries, antique shops, and a slower, more atmospheric wander should choose Bisbee, while those wanting a livelier, more theatrical taste of Wild West history should choose Tombstone, and given how close the two towns sit to each other near Tucson, fitting both into the same day trip is genuinely realistic.

What Is There to Do Around Lake Powell and Glen Canyon?

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area spans more than 1.25 million acres straddling the Arizona and Utah border, and Lake Powell, formed by the completion of Glen Canyon Dam in 1963, anchors the area as one of the state’s most popular water destinations, drawing roughly 2 million visitors a year despite its massive shoreline rarely feeling crowded. Horseshoe Bend, the famous curve of the Colorado River, sits just a short drive from Page and requires only a 0.6-mile walk from the parking area to reach one of the most photographed viewpoints in the entire state. Beyond the lake itself, the wider recreation area includes Glen Canyon Dam, the more remote Reflection Canyon, and Rainbow Bridge National Monument, several of which sit just over the Utah border, making this whole cluster a natural add-on for anyone road tripping between the two states.

When Is the Best Time to See Monument Valley’s Mitten Shadow?

Monument Valley’s sandstone monoliths, towering 400 to 1,000 feet high and drawing roughly 350,000 visitors a year, gained global fame partly through the iconic Forrest Gump running scene along Highway 163. For photographers, the real prize is the Monument Valley Mitten Shadow, a rare phenomenon occurring only twice a year, generally in late March and again in mid September, when the West Mitten Butte and East Mitten Butte align perfectly at sunset to cast an overlapping shadow. Exact dates shift slightly year to year, so researching the specific timing ahead of a planned visit is essential if this phenomenon is the whole reason for the trip. Worth noting too: that classic shot down the long, straight stretch of Highway 163 actually requires crossing over into Utah, so travelers chasing that specific postcard image should plan accordingly.

What Are Fun Places to Go Near Phoenix and Scottsdale?

Phoenix and Scottsdale offer a genuine change of pace from Arizona’s outdoor-heavy destinations, blending a lively food and cocktail scene with cultural institutions that still carry the state’s distinct desert character. Old Town Scottsdale delivers a walkable mix of shops, restaurants, bars, and boutique hotels, while the surrounding area’s wellness resorts and spas make Scottsdale a natural place to pause a longer road trip and simply relax for a few days. Before leaving, hiking Camelback Mountain rewards the effort with genuinely sweeping panoramic views over both the city and the surrounding desert landscape, a fitting bookend to a trip built around Arizona’s wider natural attractions.

Final Thoughts

Finding the right places to go in Arizona really comes down to matching the season to the region rather than picking a destination first. Head to Sedona and the Grand Canyon in summer when the high country stays comfortable, save Phoenix, Scottsdale, and the southern historic towns for winter, and apply early and often if a permit-based spot like The Wave or Havasu Falls is on your list. Whether it’s a family day at Lake Powell or a solo chase for Monument Valley’s rare Mitten Shadow, the best places to go in Arizona reward travelers willing to plan around the calendar as much as the map.

FAQs

What is the best place to go in Arizona in January?

Phoenix and Scottsdale offer the most comfortable winter temperatures for outdoor activities like hiking Camelback Mountain, while nearby Bisbee and Tombstone also work well for a cooler-weather day trip focused on walking tours rather than strenuous hikes.

Is Vermillion Cliffs National Monument worth visiting?

Yes, particularly for travelers seeking a more remote, less touristy experience, though there are no paved roads within the monument, so accessing highlights like White Pocket and Coyote Buttes requires either an off-road vehicle or a guided tour.

How much does it cost to visit the Grand Canyon?

Entry runs $35 per vehicle and remains valid for 7 consecutive days, or travelers planning to visit multiple national parks within the same year can save money with an annual pass covering entry to parks nationwide.

What is Arcosanti?

Arcosanti is an experimental town in Arizona’s high desert north of Phoenix, built as a prototype arcology integrating architectural design with ecology, and while its tours have received mixed feedback, the unusual architecture remains genuinely worth seeing for anyone interested in alternative, off-the-beaten-path places to go.