Every resort concierge desk in Scottsdale sells the same rack of brochures: jeep tours, hot-air balloons, horseback rides, a Grand Canyon bus. Some of it is wonderful. Some of it is a hundred and fifty dollars to sit in traffic. Our default advice is to hike the Preserve, which is free and better than any tour. But there are things a tour gives you that a trail can’t, and this is how to choose.
Jeep and off-road tours
Where they go. Not the McDowell Sonoran Preserve. Motorized travel is banned there, so the jeep operators run permitted routes in the Tonto National Forest northeast of Fountain Hills and around the Four Peaks and Bulldog Canyon country, forty-five minutes or so from a Scottsdale resort. That’s real Sonoran Desert, denser and wilder than most of the Preserve, with the Superstitions on the horizon. The drive out is part of the price.
What you get. Three to four hours, a guide who knows the plants and the history, a saguaro forest, usually a stop at a wash or an overlook, and a ride rough enough to feel like an adventure without hurting anyone. The good operators teach; you’ll come back knowing what a palo verde is and why the saguaro has ribs. Our plant field guide is the homework.
Who it’s for. Groups with mobility limits, kids who won’t hike two miles, and anyone who wants to see deep desert on a schedule. Hikers will find it slow.
The variants. Open-air Hummers, side-by-side UTVs you drive yourself, and “night” tours with thermal scopes for wildlife. The self-drive UTV runs are dusty, loud and fun for exactly one afternoon. Skip the night-vision gimmick; read the wildlife guide and sit on a resort patio at dusk instead.
Hot-air balloons
Worth it, once. A dawn flight over the north Valley desert is one of the few tours here we recommend without hedging. You launch in the dark from open desert north of the city, rise with the sun, float for about an hour at the pace of the wind, land wherever the wind says, and toast with a champagne breakfast in the dirt. It’s a two-hundred-dollar-a-person morning, roughly, and it’s the one that people describe at dinner parties a decade later.
The logistics. Pickup is early, often before 5:00 AM in summer, and the whole outing runs three to four hours. Sunrise flights operate year-round; sunset flights run only in the cooler months when the evening air is stable. Flights cancel for wind, so book early in your trip and leave a morning free to rebook. Wear closed shoes and layers; the desert before dawn is cold even in May.
When. November through March for the light and the temperature. Summer flights happen and are beautiful, but the landing field is hot by the time the champagne comes out. Our balloon guide compares the operators, prices and meeting points.
Horseback
Scottsdale’s ranch-riding tradition has thinned as the land under the stables got valuable, but three kinds of ride survive within an hour.
- Desert trail rides on tribal land. Fort McDowell Adventures, east of Fountain Hills on Yavapai Nation land along the Verde River, runs guided rides through genuine open desert and riverbank country. The most scenic option and the most honest.
- Cave Creek and Spur Cross. The ranch country north of Carefree still has working outfitters running rides into the Spur Cross conservation area and the Tonto foothills. Read the Cave Creek page for the town around it.
- Resort programs. A few of the north-end resorts arrange rides through partner stables. Ask; the offerings change with the ownership of the stables.
Our horseback riding guide rates the ranches one by one, and the Western heritage guide covers the culture around all of this, including the Arabian show barns you can visit in February.
The tours nobody books, and should
Guided Preserve hikes. The McDowell Sonoran Conservancy’s volunteer stewards lead free guided hikes in the Preserve through the season, from easy interpretive walks at Brown’s Ranch to real climbs. Check the Conservancy calendar. It’s the best free tour in Arizona.
Bell-casting at Cosanti. On weekday mornings you can watch bronze windbells poured at Cosanti. Not a tour. Better than most.
Stargazing. Fountain Hills is a certified Dark Sky Community, and ADERO on its ridgeline runs guided stargazing with a resident guide. A cheaper version: drive to the Fraesfield or Brown’s Ranch lot after dark in winter, turn off the headlights, and wait ten minutes.
The Salt River by kayak or tube. Half a tour, half a float; the wild horses come to the bank on their own schedule. Our Salt River guide covers it.
Old Town on two wheels. Segway and e-bike tours run through Old Town and along the Greenbelt; they’re a good ninety minutes for first-timers. Or rent the bike and follow our Greenbelt notes yourself.
What to skip
The Grand Canyon in a day. The South Rim is roughly four hours each way from Scottsdale. A one-day bus tour is nine hours on a bus for two at the rim. If the Canyon matters, spend a night up there; our day trips guide covers the drives that actually fit in a day, with Sedona at the top of the list.
Sedona bus tours. Same problem in miniature. Drive yourself; it’s two hours, and the point of Sedona is stopping where you want.
“Ghost town” and Old West shows that aren’t the rodeo. The real thing is in town every February.
Any tour in the afternoon from June to September. The good operators don’t run them. The ones that do are selling heat exhaustion. Everything above happens at dawn or dusk in summer; the summer sunrise rules apply to tours too.
The honest summary
Balloon: yes, once, at dawn in winter. Jeep: yes for the group that can’t hike, and pick the operator that teaches. Horses: yes, on tribal land or up in Cave Creek. Free Conservancy hike: yes, always. Everything else, we’d rather you spent the money on a spa day and walked into the desert yourself. It’s right there.