Scottsdale has more resorts than it has reasons to need them, and most “best Scottsdale resorts” lists are just the biggest ones in alphabetical order. This is the ranking we give friends who ask, and it’s built on the same thing they care about: what you get for what you pay. Every resort here has a full guide on this site with the history, the room to ask for and the table to book. If you haven’t decided which part of town to sleep in yet, start with where to stay, because the zone matters more than the thread count.
A note on the map: several of the city’s most famous resorts are technically in Paradise Valley or Phoenix. Nobody here holds that against them, and neither do we. We say where each one actually sits.
How to read the price bands. We use the same four tiers as our resort guides. $$$$ is the top of the Arizona market in season; $$$ is a full resort at a merely painful price; $$ is where the value lives. Peak season runs from January through April, when the Phoenix Open, spring training and the snowbirds all want the same rooms. From June through September the same resorts cut their rates hard, which is the whole argument of our summer resort playbook. Most of the big resorts add a nightly resort fee on top of the room rate, so compare the total, not the headline.
The ranking
1. The Phoenician
The Phoenician is the complete answer. Charles Keating built it in 1988 as a gilded monument to other people’s money; four decades, a federal seizure and a $118 million renovation later, it has become the most well-rounded resort in the city: a 27,000-square-foot pool complex with the mother-of-pearl pool, 18 holes, a three-story spa, and Camelback Mountain filling the view from nearly everywhere. The rooms, casitas and Canyon Suites finished another refresh in 2026. Dinner at J&G Steakhouse on the terrace at sunset is the meal people fly home talking about.
- Who it suits: anyone who wants the big Scottsdale resort done right, from couples to multigenerational families.
- Where: the Camelback Corridor, about five minutes by car from Old Town. The address says Scottsdale; the city line puts it just inside Phoenix.
- Price and season: $$$$. Book early for February and March; it’s one of the best summer deals in the city when rates drop.
2. Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale at Troon North
The Four Seasons is the opposite of the Phoenician: 210 adobe casitas scattered through the boulder fields below Pinnacle Peak, no lagoon, no spectacle, and the best service in Arizona. Guests get preferred access to Troon North’s two courses, the Pinnacle Peak trail is minutes away, and the night sky is dark enough to justify the drive. Talavera is the dinner; the whole kitchen got a new program under a new executive chef in 2026.
- Who it suits: golfers, hikers, honeymooners and anyone who came for quiet.
- Where: Pinnacle Peak and Troon, 30 to 40 minutes from Old Town. You will drive to everything else.
- Price and season: $$$$. The high desert runs a few degrees cooler, which makes April and October especially good here.
3. Sanctuary Camelback Mountain
Sanctuary is terraced into the north slope of Camelback on the old John Gardiner tennis ranch: 109 casitas and mountain homes, an infinity pool that looks across Paradise Valley, a spa with an Asian-garden calm, and Elements and the Jade Bar for the best sunset table in the Valley. It is small enough that you never queue for anything, which is most of what luxury means.
- Who it suits: couples, honeymooners, and anyone who would pay extra not to see a lanyard.
- Where: Paradise Valley, about ten minutes from Old Town.
- Price and season: $$$$. The resort has announced a refresh of its rooms and casitas starting in summer 2027, so ask about construction if you book that season.
4. JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn
Camelback Inn opened in December 1936, which makes this winter its ninetieth season, and it is still the resort the others copied: adobe casitas between Camelback and Mummy mountains, 36 holes at Camelback Golf Club, and a motto, “Where Time Stands Still,” that the place still means. The spa reopened in 2026 after a transformation the resort put at $25 million, with new hydrotherapy pools and a private spa villa that opened that summer. Dinner is Lincoln Steakhouse; the Sunday brunch has been a Valley institution for generations.
- Who it suits: heritage lovers, spa people, golfers who want two courses at the door.
- Where: Paradise Valley, about ten minutes from Old Town.
- Price and season: $$$$. The casita layout makes it good for families who want a little space without a mega-resort.
5. Hotel Valley Ho
The Valley Ho is the one we’d send a first-timer to. Edward Varney’s 1956 midcentury masterpiece was restored to the last breezeblock, it finished an $18 million room renovation in 2026, and it turns seventy in December. It’s the best walkable resort in the city: the OH Pool is a scene, ZuZu is the room for the showstopper cake, and the Main Street galleries are a ten-minute walk.
- Who it suits: design people, first-timers, couples who want to walk to dinner.
- Where: the west edge of Old Town.
- Price and season: $$$. Summer weekday rates here are one of the city’s genuine bargains.
6. The Boulders Resort & Spa
The Boulders is where the desert wins. The casitas are molded around granite boulder piles on 1,300 acres at the Carefree line, two Jay Morrish courses thread through the rocks, and the 33,000-square-foot spa leans into the setting. It is older and wilder than the Four Seasons, and some people like it more for exactly that reason.
- Who it suits: golfers, nature people, anyone who wants to feel far away.
- Where: the Carefree line, about 45 minutes from Old Town. The mailing address says Carefree; the county map puts the resort inside Scottsdale.
- Price and season: $$$$. Plan your off-resort dinners in Cave Creek or Carefree; the little marketplace at the entrance is gone.
7. Omni Scottsdale Resort & Spa at Montelucia
Montelucia is an Andalusian village of bell towers and plazas set directly under the north face of Camelback, with the closest full-frontal view of the mountain of any resort on Lincoln Drive. Joya Spa is one of the best resort spas in the Southwest, the 293 rooms were renovated in 2023, and Prado does the Spanish dinner.
- Who it suits: couples, weddings, spa-first trips.
- Where: Paradise Valley, about ten minutes from Old Town.
- Price and season: $$$$. Pay for a south-facing room; the mountain is the product.
8. Fairmont Scottsdale Princess
The Princess is the biggest show in town: about 750 rooms on 65 acres beside TPC Scottsdale, pools with waterslides, a lagoon, Bourbon Steak, and two weeks a year when it becomes the center of Arizona, the WM Phoenix Open in February and Christmas at the Princess from late November. The rooms and the original Princess Pool were redone recently, and it shows.
- Who it suits: families, golf groups, anyone who wants a resort that’s an event.
- Where: Princess & WestWorld, about 25 minutes from Old Town.
- Price and season: $$$$. Phoenix Open week books a year out at peak-of-peak rates; early December midweek is the sweet spot.
9. The Hermosa Inn
The Hermosa is cowboy artist Lon Megargee’s 1930s adobe home grown into 43 casitas and villas, still independent, with no convention wing and no scene. Book a casita with a fireplace for a winter trip and dinner on the patio at Lon’s, the most romantic restaurant patio in the Valley.
- Who it suits: couples, and anyone who prefers a hideaway to a resort.
- Where: Paradise Valley, about 12 minutes from Old Town.
- Price and season: $$$$. It’s at its best on a cold January night.
10. Royal Palms Resort and Spa
Royal Palms is a New York financier’s 1929 Spanish Colonial winter estate at the foot of Camelback, a hotel since 1948 and now a 119-room Hyatt-run hideaway on nine acres of courtyards, fountains and fireplaces. It’s in Phoenix, about two miles west of Fashion Square, and on the Scottsdale side nothing quite matches it for old-world romance. T. Cook’s is the dinner.
- Who it suits: couples, history lovers, and the anniversary trip.
- Where: the Phoenix end of the Camelback Corridor.
- Price and season: $$$$. Valet only, and there’s a resort fee.
11. Mountain Shadows
Mountain Shadows is the 1959 Rat Pack resort rebuilt from scratch in 2017 as a crisp modernist hotel with Camelback looming across Lincoln Drive. The 18-hole par-3 Short Course is the most fun round in the city, and Hearth ‘61 is a local favorite, not just a hotel restaurant.
- Who it suits: modernists, casual golfers, couples who want design over grandeur.
- Where: Paradise Valley, about ten minutes from Old Town.
- Price and season: $$$. Pay for a room facing the mountain.
12. Andaz Scottsdale Resort & Bungalows
The Andaz replaced the old Cottonwoods with 201 single-story bungalows styled with work from the Cattle Track artists’ compound next door. It’s intimate, stylish, and minutes from Old Town without Old Town’s noise. Weft & Warp handles dinner.
- Who it suits: design-minded couples who find the Valley Ho too busy.
- Where: Scottsdale Road at the Central Scottsdale edge, technically in Paradise Valley, about six minutes from Old Town.
- Price and season: $$$$. Ask about the studio sessions at Cattle Track when you book.
13. The Westin Kierland Resort & Spa
The Westin Kierland is the family resort that adults like too: a 900-foot lazy river and a FlowRider for the kids, 27 holes, a Scotch library and a bagpiper who plays the sun down every evening. A six-month renovation finished in October 2026, with a bigger Scotch Library, a new speakeasy, pool upgrades and a redesigned lobby bar. The sleeper asset is that Kierland Commons and Scottsdale Quarter are across the street, so you can walk to dinner.
- Who it suits: families, golfers, groups with mixed agendas.
- Where: Kierland, on the Phoenix side of Scottsdale Road, about 25 minutes from Old Town.
- Price and season: $$$. The lazy river is packed by 11 a.m. in season; go early.
14. Grand Hyatt Scottsdale Resort
The old Hyatt Regency at Gainey Ranch was reborn in October 2024 as Arizona’s first Grand Hyatt after a $115 million renovation. The 2.5-acre water playground with ten pools, a sand beach and a three-story slide is still the draw, and so are the gondolas on the lagoon. It sits in the geographic middle of the city, which makes it the compromise pick for a group that wants both Old Town and the north.
- Who it suits: families, and anyone who wants the pool to be the whole day.
- Where: Gainey Ranch, about 15 minutes from Old Town.
- Price and season: $$$$. Hit the pools at opening, before the towel rush.
15. The Scott Resort & Spa
The Scott is a 1961 hotel that has worn five names and wears this one best: green tile, palms, a Bauhaus-meets-Havana lobby, two pools (one with a sand beach) and The Canal Club. It’s the grown-up version of staying near Old Town, close enough to walk to Fashion Square and far enough from the bar blocks to sleep.
- Who it suits: couples and friends’ trips that want style without a pool party.
- Where: Scottsdale Road just north of Old Town.
- Price and season: $$$. Fall midweek rates undercut most design hotels in town.
Just off the list
- Kimpton Miralina, the former Scottsdale Plaza Resort, reopened under the Kimpton flag in January 2026 and is still finishing a renovation of its villas and a private “Enclave” of residences, due to wrap up in early 2027, with a Katsuya restaurant to follow. Ask us again next year.
- CIVANA in Carefree and ADERO on its Fountain Hills ridgeline are wellness retreats first and resorts second. CIVANA’s included class calendar and aqua circuit are a real bargain; ADERO began a phased renovation in 2026, so ask what’s open.
- Caesars Republic and Hotel Solaya are the best of the newer Old Town hotels: one a glass tower with a rooftop pool attached to Fashion Square, the other the old Saguaro reopened in 2026 under Hyatt’s JdV flag on the Civic Center park.
- The Ritz-Carlton at The Palmeraie in Paradise Valley has been “opening soon” for years. We couldn’t confirm it was taking guests as of October 2026, and we don’t rank a resort we can’t check into.
The best Scottsdale resort for…
- Golf: the Four Seasons for Troon North, the Boulders for 36 holes in the rocks, the Princess for the TPC Stadium Course next door. Our no-membership golf guide covers the rest.
- Spa: Sanctuary for calm, Montelucia’s Joya for ritual, the rebuilt spa at Camelback Inn for the full program, and CIVANA for a wellness week that doesn’t cost destination-spa money. Ranked in detail in the spa guide.
- Families: the Princess, the Westin Kierland and the Grand Hyatt. In July, Great Wolf Lodge and its indoor waterpark beat them all. More in Scottsdale with kids.
- Couples: Sanctuary, the Hermosa Inn and Royal Palms. Our couples’ weekend builds the trip around them.
- Value: The Scottsdale Resort at McCormick Ranch, freshly renovated and plugged into the Greenbelt bike paths; the two-bedroom villas at the Hilton Scottsdale Resort; and the lakeside rooms at The McCormick. Any resort in this list in August.
- Walking to Old Town: the Valley Ho, The Scott, Hotel Solaya and Caesars Republic. We mapped every option by walking distance in resorts near Old Town.
- A resort for the day, not the night: most of these sell pool and spa access to non-guests. See resort pools and day passes.
Questions people ask
What is the best resort in Scottsdale? For most people, The Phoenician: the best combination of pools, spa, golf, food and Camelback views, five minutes from Old Town. If you want quiet desert over a big resort, the Four Seasons at Troon North.
Which resorts are actually in Scottsdale? Fewer than the addresses suggest. By the county’s city-limits map, the Four Seasons, the Princess, the Grand Hyatt, the Valley Ho, The Scott and, despite its Carefree mailing address, the Boulders are inside Scottsdale. Camelback Inn, Sanctuary, Montelucia, Mountain Shadows, the Hermosa and the Andaz are in the Town of Paradise Valley. The Phoenician, for all its Scottsdale address, sits just inside Phoenix, as do the Westin Kierland and Royal Palms. Every one of them functions as a Scottsdale resort.
When are Scottsdale resorts cheapest? From June through mid-September, when rates at the top resorts fall to a fraction of their March prices. The trade is the heat, which is why the pool matters more than the location in summer.
What is the best Scottsdale resort for families? The Fairmont Scottsdale Princess for its pools, lagoon and December lights; the Westin Kierland for its lazy river and walkable dinners; the Grand Hyatt for its water playground.
Is it worth staying in Old Town instead of at a resort? For a first trip with nights out, yes: the Valley Ho gives you a real resort pool and a walk to dinner. For a trip built around the spa, golf and the mountain, stay on the Camelback Corridor and take a ten-minute ride into town.