The concierge rack, sorted

Scottsdale tours, tickets and day trips, honestly sorted

Every resort desk sells the same rack: 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 still to hike the Preserve, which is free and better than any tour. This is the list for the things a trail cannot give you, with our verdict on each, the season it fits, and the guide we wrote before we ever linked to a booking page.

Booking links open Viator, where the operators list live dates and prices. They are paid links: the site earns a commission on bookings, at no extra cost to you. How the site makes money.

The short list

If you book one thing per trip, book one of these.

Tours & tickets

The six we send people to

Worth it, once
Sunrise hot-air balloon flight
The one tour here we recommend without hedging: launch in the dark north of the city, rise with the sun, an hour at the pace of the wind, champagne in the dirt. Every flight sold as Scottsdale launches from the north Phoenix desert, so the Phoenix listings are the right ones.
Season: Sunrise flights run all year; sunset flights only when the evening air is stable, roughly November to March. About a fifth of flights cancel for wind, so book early in the trip.
See options on Viator Our guide →
For the group that will not hike
Sonoran Desert jeep tour
Motorized travel is banned in the Preserve, so the jeeps run permitted routes in the Tonto National Forest past Fountain Hills: denser, wilder desert than most of the Preserve, with the Four Peaks on the horizon. Pick the operator that teaches; you should come back knowing why a saguaro has ribs.
Season: June to September, mornings and sunset only. An afternoon tour in July is selling heat exhaustion.
See options on Viator Our guide →
- Private four-person jeep tour
- Sunset desert tour with a local guide
Yes, on the right land
Desert trail ride
Five working stables within forty minutes still put strangers on horses and walk them into the desert. The scenic, honest options are the Verde River country on the Yavapai Nation and the ranch outfits up in Cave Creek; our guide rates them one by one.
Season: The stables move to dawn rides in summer and some close for the hottest weeks; full-moon rides are a cool-season thing.
See options on Viator Our guide →
- Small-group half-day ride with Scottsdale pickup
- Old West day with a ride and cowboy lunch
Lunch, solved, with homework
Old Town food tour
A mile and a half of Old Town, five or six locally owned stops, a chimichanga at the restaurant that claims to have invented it, and two drinks along the way. The best use of a first afternoon for a group that cannot agree on where to eat.
See options on Viator Our guide →
Half a tour, half a float
Kayak the Lower Salt River
Guided paddles from Saguaro Lake Ranch down the Lower Salt, where the wild horses come to the bank on their own schedule. Tubing season is a cheaper, rowdier version of the same river; the kayak is the one for the morning you want to see something.
Season: The river runs cold and fast in spring, warm and crowded in July. Morning launches in summer; the parking lots fill by nine on weekends.
See options on Viator Our guide →
Drive it, or let someone else
Sedona day trip
Two hours north and the only day trip we put at the top of the list. The point of Sedona is stopping where you want, so a car wins; the small-group tours earn their fare for a group without one, in winter when the switchbacks ice, or when you want Montezuma Castle and a guide thrown in.
Season: Sedona runs fifteen degrees cooler than Scottsdale, which makes it the summer escape and the winter trip that can see snow.
See options on Viator Our guide →
- Sedona full-day small-group tour from Scottsdale
- Red Rock Country and the ruins at Montezuma Castle

Paid links: Scottsdale.tips earns a commission if you book through Viator, at no extra cost to you. Operators are named because the guides already recommend them; nobody paid to be here, and the commission never changes what the guide says. How the site makes money.

The desert

The one tour worth the alarm, the rides for the group that will not hike, and the guided version of the trails you could walk for free.

Worth it, once

Sunrise hot-air balloon flight

The one tour here we recommend without hedging: launch in the dark north of the city, rise with the sun, an hour at the pace of the wind, champagne in the dirt. Every flight sold as Scottsdale launches from the north Phoenix desert, so the Phoenix listings are the right ones.

Season: Sunrise flights run all year; sunset flights only when the evening air is stable, roughly November to March. About a fifth of flights cancel for wind, so book early in the trip.

See options on Viator Read our guide first →

Worth a look

For the group that will not hike

Sonoran Desert jeep tour

Motorized travel is banned in the Preserve, so the jeeps run permitted routes in the Tonto National Forest past Fountain Hills: denser, wilder desert than most of the Preserve, with the Four Peaks on the horizon. Pick the operator that teaches; you should come back knowing why a saguaro has ribs.

Season: June to September, mornings and sunset only. An afternoon tour in July is selling heat exhaustion.

See options on Viator Read our guide first →

Worth a look

Fun for exactly one afternoon

Drive-it-yourself UTV run

Side-by-sides you drive on the same Tonto routes as the jeeps: dusty, loud and a genuine thrill for a bachelor party or anyone who wanted the jeep tour with a steering wheel. Guided convoys only; the desert out there has no signal.

Season: Morning or sunset runs in summer; bring a bandana for the dust in any month.

See options on Viator Read our guide first →

Worth a look

Yes, on the right land

Desert trail ride

Five working stables within forty minutes still put strangers on horses and walk them into the desert. The scenic, honest options are the Verde River country on the Yavapai Nation and the ranch outfits up in Cave Creek; our guide rates them one by one.

Season: The stables move to dawn rides in summer and some close for the hottest weeks; full-moon rides are a cool-season thing.

See options on Viator Read our guide first →

Worth a look

The trails are free; the guide is the product

Guided hike in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve

The Preserve costs nothing and the Conservancy’s volunteer stewards lead free walks all season. A paid guide earns the money for first-timers who want the geology and the plants explained, a sunrise start arranged, and someone watching the water and the clock.

Season: Summer hikes start at first light and are off the trail by mid-morning; our summer sunrise rules apply to guided groups too.

See options on Viator Read our guide first →

Worth a look

For the summit, not the stroll

Camelback Mountain with a guide

Camelback is the hike that fills the rescue reports. The guided versions pair you with a wilderness first responder on Echo Canyon or Cholla, start early and carry the water; if you have never scrambled, it is the sane way up.

Season: Closed to hikers on extreme-heat days by city order; in summer the guided groups go at dawn or not at all.

See options on Viator Read our guide first →

Or drive to a trailhead and wait ten minutes

Desert stargazing tour

Real dark starts forty minutes from Old Town, and a guide with a telescope and a thermos is the comfortable way to meet it. The free version is the Fraesfield or Brown’s Ranch lot after dark in winter with the headlights off.

Season: October to May; the monsoon clouds out most of July and August, and the moon matters more than the month.

See options on Viator Read our guide first →

The expensive hour

Helicopter flight from Scottsdale

Private flights out of a Scottsdale hangar over the Four Peaks, the Salt River lakes and the Verde Valley, with Sedona and the Grand Canyon as the long versions. A splurge that beats the Canyon bus by a day of your life, for a very different budget.

See options on Viator

Book the course direct first

Tee times and golf packages

Around 200 courses and no club card required: the famous resort tracks take public tee times, and twilight is the universal hack. The marketplace listings are the packaged version, with transport and a caddie-style host, for a group that wants the day arranged rather than the tee sheet.

Season: Rates swing by season: peak in February and March, bargains with cart and ice water from June to September.

See options on Viator Read our guide first →

Old Town, guided

Walking, eating and rolling through the historic district with someone who knows which storefront is from 1920 and which is from 2019.

Our route is free; theirs has a narrator

Old Town walking tour

Two hours through the real Old Town: the Civic Center lawn, Brown Avenue’s Western storefronts, the 1909 schoolhouse, the galleries and the canal. Our self-guided walk covers the same ground; a guide adds the stories and the people who still own the buildings.

Season: Evening departures only from June to September; the district is a griddle at 3 PM.

See options on Viator Read our guide first →

Worth a look

Every Scottsdale walking tour

Lunch, solved, with homework

Old Town food tour

A mile and a half of Old Town, five or six locally owned stops, a chimichanga at the restaurant that claims to have invented it, and two drinks along the way. The best use of a first afternoon for a group that cannot agree on where to eat.

See options on Viator Read our guide first →

Worth a look

The state makes serious wine now

Arizona wine: tasting rooms and Verde Valley tours

The Old Town tasting rooms are walkable and cheap; the guided day up to the Verde Valley vineyards near Cottonwood and Jerome is the expensive version with a driver, which is the point after four tastings.

See options on Viator Read our guide first →

A good ninety minutes for first-timers

Segway and e-bike tours

Old Town on a Segway, or the car-free Greenbelt path on an e-bike past the ballpark, the lakes and McCormick Ranch. Or rent the bike and follow our Greenbelt cut-throughs yourself; the path is the same.

Season: Summer tours run at sunrise and after sunset; the Greenbelt has shade in places, Old Town has none.

See options on Viator Read our guide first →

Worth a look

The orientation lap

Scottsdale sightseeing tour

An open-air jeep or small van around the city in a few hours: Old Town, the Camelback views, the galleries, a sunset. Fine on arrival day if nobody wants to drive; skip it if you have read the neighborhoods guide and have a car.

See options on Viator Read our guide first →

Worth a look

The river and the lakes

Under an hour from Old Town, the desert grows a river. Kayaks, wild horses and a steamboat in a slot canyon.

Half a tour, half a float

Kayak the Lower Salt River

Guided paddles from Saguaro Lake Ranch down the Lower Salt, where the wild horses come to the bank on their own schedule. Tubing season is a cheaper, rowdier version of the same river; the kayak is the one for the morning you want to see something.

Season: The river runs cold and fast in spring, warm and crowded in July. Morning launches in summer; the parking lots fill by nine on weekends.

See options on Viator Read our guide first →

Worth a look

The Superstitions, done for you

Apache Trail and the Dolly Steamboat

Goldfield’s ghost town, the hairpins of the Apache Trail, a ninety-minute cruise through the slot canyons of Canyon Lake and lunch at Tortilla Flat, in a van so nobody has to drive the trail back. The drive is an hour from Scottsdale and worth it under your own power too.

Season: A cool-season trip: the trail has no shade and the boat deck is a frying pan from June to September.

See options on Viator Read our guide first →

Worth a look

Day trips

Sedona is the one to book. The Grand Canyon in a day is the one we would talk you out of, with the honest version of it if you go anyway.

Drive it, or let someone else

Sedona day trip

Two hours north and the only day trip we put at the top of the list. The point of Sedona is stopping where you want, so a car wins; the small-group tours earn their fare for a group without one, in winter when the switchbacks ice, or when you want Montezuma Castle and a guide thrown in.

Season: Sedona runs fifteen degrees cooler than Scottsdale, which makes it the summer escape and the winter trip that can see snow.

See options on Viator Read our guide first →

Worth a look

We would talk you out of it

Grand Canyon in a day

The South Rim is roughly four hours each way: a one-day tour is nine hours in a van for two at the rim. If the Canyon matters, spend a night up there. If a day is all you have, the small-group van with a Sedona stop is the least bad way to do it, and the helicopter the expensive one.

Season: The rim sits at 7,000 feet: snow and closed viewpoints from December to February, and a jacket in any month.

See options on Viator Read our guide first →

Worth a look

Tucson, Jerome, the Superstitions

Every day trip from Scottsdale

The full list of guided days out, for the ones our day-trips guide covers that are easier with a driver: Jerome and the Verde Valley, the Superstitions, Tucson’s Desert Museum.

See options on Viator Read our guide first →

Tickets and museums

The indoor plan for a 112° afternoon, and the gardens and galleries worth a timed ticket.

The plant field guide, planted

Desert Botanical Garden

The best classroom for the saguaro, the palo verde and the teddy bear you do not hug, on the Scottsdale line in Papago Park. Timed tickets sell out on cool-season weekends and during the winter light nights; the sunset walks are the way to see it in summer.

Season: October to May for the garden itself; June to September go at opening or on a sunset walk.

See options on Viator Read our guide first →

Plan three hours

Musical Instrument Museum

Fifteen minutes west of Kierland and the best indoor afternoon in the Valley: four thousand instruments, headphones that play as you walk up to each display, and a concert hall worth checking the calendar for.

Season: Air-conditioned, which is the whole point from June to September.

See options on Viator Read our guide first →

Before you buy anything on Main Street

Heard Museum

The Native American art museum that should come before the Old Town galleries: the reference collection for the turquoise, the pottery and the weaving you are about to be sold, and the boarding-school exhibit that explains the century behind it.

See options on Viator Read our guide first →

The 112° plan

Phoenix attraction tickets

Admission for the Phoenix heavyweights twenty minutes away: the zoo next to the garden, the aquarium and the science center. OdySea Aquarium and Butterfly Wonderland on the Salt River sell their own tickets and are not listed here.

See options on Viator Read our guide first →

Worth a look

Phoenix Zoo tickets

Getting here

There is no train from the airport. A booked car is the quiet option for a family with luggage or a dawn flight.

For luggage, kids and 5 AM flights

Booked car from Sky Harbor

Rideshare covers the twenty-minute run to Old Town for most people. A booked private transfer makes sense for a family with car seats and golf bags, a north Scottsdale resort at surge pricing, or a flight that lands after the trolley stopped running years ago.

See options on Viator Read our guide first →

What to skip

The Grand Canyon in a day, unless a day is truly all you have. Nine hours in a van for two at the rim; spend a night up there instead.
Sedona bus tours when you have a car. It is two hours, and the point of Sedona is stopping where you want.
Night-vision wildlife gimmicks. Read the wildlife guide and sit on a resort patio at dusk.
“Ghost town” and Old West shows that are not the rodeo. The real thing is in town every winter.
Any desert tour in the afternoon from June to September. The summer sunrise rules apply to tours too.

And the things you cannot book here because they do not sell through a marketplace: Taliesin West tours (ticketed direct by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation), the free Conservancy hikes, bell-casting mornings at Cosanti, OdySea Aquarium and Butterfly Wonderland (their own box office), and spring training tickets.

What fits when

Terracotta is the season we would book it in. Each month’s own guide repeats the list that fits it.

Experience	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Sunrise hot-air balloon flight
Sonoran Desert jeep tour
Drive-it-yourself UTV run
Desert trail ride
Guided hike in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve
Camelback Mountain with a guide
Desert stargazing tour
Helicopter flight from Scottsdale
Old Town walking tour
Old Town food tour
Arizona wine: tasting rooms and Verde Valley tours
Segway and e-bike tours
Scottsdale sightseeing tour
Kayak the Lower Salt River
Apache Trail and the Dolly Steamboat
Sedona day trip
Grand Canyon in a day
Desert Botanical Garden
Musical Instrument Museum
Heard Museum
Phoenix attraction tickets
Tee times and golf packages

Everything Viator lists for the city, including what we left off: all Scottsdale tours and tickets on Viator →

Questions people actually ask

Do I need to book tours before I arrive?

For a balloon flight, a Sedona day and anything in February or March, yes: the good operators sell out a week or more ahead in the season, and balloons cancel for wind about a fifth of the time, so book early in the trip and leave a morning free to rebook. Old Town walking and food tours, the river and the museums can usually be booked a day or two out.

Which tours run in summer?

Sunrise balloons, dawn and sunset jeep and UTV runs, morning kayak launches on the Salt River, evening Old Town tours and the indoor museums. Nothing in the desert in the afternoon from June to September; the good operators do not offer it, and the ones that do are selling heat exhaustion.

Is the Grand Canyon doable as a day trip from Scottsdale?

It is sold that way, and it is nine hours in a van for about two at the rim. If the Canyon matters to you, spend a night up there. If one day is all you have, the small-group van with a Sedona stop is the least bad version, and Sedona alone is the better day.

Why does the site link to Viator?

Because most Scottsdale operators list there, it shows live dates and prices that a static guide cannot, and the cancellation terms are the same for everyone. Scottsdale.tips earns a commission on bookings made through its links, which costs you nothing extra and never changes which tours the guides recommend. The free versions (the Preserve, the Greenbelt, our Old Town walk) are listed first on purpose.

Curated by the Scottsdale.tips editors • Operators, prices and cancellation terms live on the booking page and change by season; the verdicts here are ours and do not.