Every December, somebody’s cousin from Ohio says it doesn’t feel like Christmas without snow. Then they spend an evening walking the canal in a light jacket, a hot drink in hand, with the lights doubled in the water and the sky going pink over Camelback, and they stop saying it.
Desert Christmas is its own thing, and it’s better than its reputation. The lights go up around Thanksgiving, the weather is the kind people move here for, and the town runs close to full occupancy from the second week of the month to New Year’s. Here’s what’s worth your evenings, and what the brochures leave out.
What December actually feels like
December averages around 66°F in the afternoon and around 44°F at dawn, and on clear nights it drops lower. Frost on the windshield in the north-side neighborhoods is normal. The sun sets around 5:20 PM, so the lights are on by dinner, and the temperature falls fast once the sun is gone.
- Bring a real coat. Not a hoodie. Visitors pack for “Arizona” and spend the first night shopping for one.
- The pool is a heated-pool-only proposition. Hot tub, yes. Cannonballs, no.
- Expect a wet day or two. A Pacific storm usually passes through, and in a good year the McDowells and Four Peaks catch snow you can see from town.
- The hiking is the best of the year. Midday is warm, the trails are dry, and you can start at 9:00 AM without doing any math. Our North Scottsdale hikes note has the routes.
Christmas at the Princess: the maximalist option
Christmas at the Princess turns the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess into a ticketed holiday park from around Thanksgiving week into early January: millions of lights, an outdoor ice rink, a light show over the lagoon, trains, carousel rides, and a heavily produced Santa. It’s been running since 2010 and it’s the biggest holiday production in the Valley.
It’s also ticketed by the night with demand-based pricing, which means the same evening can cost very different amounts depending on when you go. The rules:
- Go on a weeknight in the first week or two of December. Full production, a fraction of the crowd, the lowest prices.
- Book the ice rink slot when you buy entry, not when you arrive. Rink capacity goes first.
- Avoid the weekends right before Christmas unless the crowd is the point.
Dinner at the resort is the easy move and books fast in December. Dinner in Old Town on the drive home is the local one.
The Railroad Park lights: the one locals love
The holiday lights at McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park are the tradition people who grew up here actually talk about. The park’s miniature trains run after dark through more than a million lights and a few dozen displays, with the carousel and the model-railroad building open alongside. It’s small, sweet, and done in about an hour and a half, which is exactly right for small children.
It also sells out. Tickets go on sale in the fall, recent seasons have used timed entry, and the last two weekends before Christmas are a different event — long lines for the train, a packed model-railroad building, and the s’mores gone. Book the first slot on a Tuesday or Wednesday early in the month, and you’ll ride twice before the carousel line forms. Prices, dates, and closed nights change year to year; check the park’s site before you plan around it. The park page has the daytime version, and our kids note has the rest of the family playbook.
Scottsdazzle: the free one
Scottsdazzle is the city’s umbrella for five weeks of holiday events across Old Town, from late November through New Year’s Eve, and nearly all of it is free. The opening tree-lighting sing-along at the Waterfront draws the season’s biggest crowd. The tree stays lit all month either way.
The weekends carry the scheduled programming — markets, carolers, Santa appearances, district events — and the calendar changes weekly, so check it. The weeknights are the better show. Walk the Waterfront and the Soleri Bridge on a random Tuesday in mid-December and you’ll have the lights and the canal reflections to yourself. Carriage rides run through the season and book up on peak nights; reserve, don’t stroll up.
The bar with the lights
The Coach House, Scottsdale’s oldest tavern, disappears every winter under thousands of Christmas lights until it’s visible from blocks away. It’s a no-frills tavern, it’s open early and late, and in December it’s a legitimate stop on the light tour. Go for one drink.
Beyond the city line
Two long-running Phoenix traditions are worth the short drive: the Desert Botanical Garden’s luminaria nights in Papago Park, with paper-bag lanterns lining the desert paths, and the Phoenix Zoo’s holiday lights. Both are ticketed, both sell out, and both are in Phoenix, not Scottsdale.
And don’t wait for the next traveling spectacle. Enchant filled the Salt River Fields outfield for two winters and left. The traditions rooted here are the ones that last.
The holiday-week math
The week between Christmas and New Year’s is one of the busiest of the year. Resorts run holiday rates, the restaurants people want book out, and the popular trailheads are full by mid-morning. Early December, before the school breaks, is calmer and noticeably cheaper, and every light display in this note is already on. If you have any flexibility, that’s the week.
New Year’s Eve in Old Town belongs to the bar district. If that’s not your night, book a nice dinner early and be home by the time the countdown starts. After that, the city exhales for about two weeks before Car Week fills it up again.
Our December night
A morning hike in a jacket you’ll shed by 10:00 AM. An afternoon on a patio in the sun. The first train slot at the Railroad Park if there are kids along, the Princess on a weeknight if there aren’t. Then the drive south down Scottsdale Road to Old Town, the Waterfront tree, the canal, and one drink under the Coach House lights. No snow. Nobody misses it.