You fly into Phoenix Sky Harbor. It’s one of the best-run big airports in the country, it sits just south of the Scottsdale line, and it’s roughly nine miles from the terminals to Old Town. What it doesn’t have is a train to Scottsdale, which surprises people who’ve read that the Valley has light rail. It does; it goes to Phoenix, Tempe and Mesa. Here’s how the last nine miles actually work, by budget and by where you’re headed.
The layout
Sky Harbor has two terminals, 3 and 4 (Terminals 1 and 2 closed in 1990 and 2020 and were torn down; the numbers were never reused). Terminal 4 is the big one, where the major carriers land. The free PHX Sky Train connects both terminals, the economy lots, the Rental Car Center and the 44th Street station, where it meets Valley Metro Rail and the city bus network. It runs around the clock, every few minutes, and it’s the first thing to understand about the airport, because the rental cars aren’t at the terminal and neither are the cheapest rideshares.
Rideshare and taxi
The default for most visitors, and the right one. Uber and Lyft pick up at designated curbs at Terminals 3 and 4, and the fare to Old Town on a normal day runs in the range of a decent lunch; North Scottsdale resorts cost more and take longer. The airport adds a pickup fee at the terminal curbs. Riders who don’t mind the Sky Train can ride it to the 44th Street station and get picked up there, where the fee is lower and the surge is often gentler. Taxis wait at the terminal curbs with regulated rates and no surge, which makes them the better call at 11:00 PM on a Phoenix Open Friday.
Times. Twenty to thirty minutes to Old Town or the Camelback corridor depending on the hour, thirty-five to fifty to Kierland, DC Ranch or the Princess, closer to an hour to Carefree. Rush hour on the 202 and the 101, roughly 7:00 to 9:00 AM and 4:00 to 6:30 PM, adds fifteen minutes.
Rental car
If you’re staying more than two nights or anywhere north of Shea, rent the car; the getting-around note explains why the city doesn’t work without one. The Rental Car Center is off-site and reached by the Sky Train, so budget twenty to thirty minutes from the gate to the driver’s seat, longer on a Friday afternoon in March. Reserve ahead in season; the lots empty during spring training and car week.
The route. From the center, the 202 east to the 101 north is the fast way to anything north of McDonald; 44th Street north to Camelback, then east, is the surface-street way to the corridor and Old Town, and prettier. A windshield sunshade is the first thing to buy from May to September; the Field Kit has the one we use.
Public transit
It’s cheap, it works, and it takes an hour. Ride the Sky Train to the 44th Street station, then a Valley Metro bus north up 44th Street and east along Camelback or Indian School into Scottsdale, with one transfer; the Scottsdale Road bus runs the length of the city from there. A fare card or the transit app covers it for a few dollars. Once you’re in Old Town, the free trolley runs the district and out to Fashion Square. It’s a legitimate option for a solo traveler with a carry-on staying in Old Town, and the budget guide is built around it. With luggage, a family, or a resort north of Shea, it isn’t.
Shuttles and resort transport
Shared-ride shuttle vans and pre-booked private cars run from the terminals at fixed prices, and for a group of four with golf bags a private SUV is often the same money as two rideshares with less friction. Several resorts run their own airport transport for guests, at a charge; ask when you book. The luxury properties will send a car and put it on the folio.
The other airport
There is a Scottsdale Airport, in the Airpark in the north, and it has no scheduled airline service. It’s one of the busiest general-aviation airports in the country, which means private jets, charters and flight schools; during car week and the Phoenix Open it’s the celebrity arrival point. If you’re flying commercial, you’re flying into Sky Harbor, and a rideshare quote to “Scottsdale Airport” is a mistake worth catching before you get in.
The Mesa question
Phoenix–Mesa Gateway, thirty-five miles southeast, is the low-cost-carrier airport, and the fare savings can be real. The cost is the drive: fifty minutes to an hour to Old Town on a good day, more at rush hour, and a rideshare bill that eats much of what the fare saved. Worth it for a family with a rental car and a week; not worth it for a weekend.
Which one, by trip
- A weekend in Old Town, no car: rideshare in, your feet while you’re here (the Old Town trolley loop has been suspended since 2020), rideshare out. Our 48 hours runs this way.
- A resort week in the north: rent the car at the center, or take the resort’s car and rent from the property’s desk later.
- A group with golf bags: a pre-booked SUV, and rent a car at the resort if you need one.
- A tournament team: a rental minivan from the center and the tournament-weekend guide.
- A budget solo trip: Sky Train, bus, a weekday trolley, and a hotel inside the Old Town grid.
Landing notes
Water before you leave the terminal; the desert starts at the curb. In summer the walk to the rideshare curb is the hottest ninety seconds of the trip, and the car will be an oven until the air conditioning wins. Sunglasses out before the doors. And if the sky to the south looks like a brown wall in July or August, that’s a dust storm and the monsoon manual explains why your driver just pulled over. Welcome to Scottsdale.