Map view
South Kaibab Trail to Ooh Aah Point, Grand Canyon National Park
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Grand Canyon National Park, is the 15th site in the United States to have been named as a national park
- The Grand Canyon, a gorge of the Colorado River, is often considered one of the Wonders of the World
- The park received the second highest count of visitors of all American national parks after Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Chapel of the Holy Cross, Sedona
Best time to visit: March-May
Cost: $
- The Chapel of the Holy Cross is a Roman Catholic chapel built from 1954 to 1956 into the red rock buttes of Sedona, within the Coconino National Forest
- The chapel is under the auspices of the episcopal see of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix
Antelope Canyon
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: late March-early Aug
Cost: $
- Navajo Upper Antelope Canyon is a slot canyon in the American Southwest, on Navajo land east of Lechee
- The Navajo name for Upper Antelope Canyon is Tsé bighánílíní, which means 'the place where water runs through the (Slot Canyon) rocks'
- Lower Antelope Canyon is Hazdistazí, or 'spiral rock arches'
- They are accessible by Navajo guided tour only
The Wave
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: Jan-May, Sept-Dec
Cost: $
- Sandstone rock formation located in Arizona, near its northern border with Utah
- The formation is well-known among hikers and photographers for its colorful, undulating forms
- Due to the fragile nature of the formation and the large number of people wishing to visit it, a daily lottery system is used to dispense permits
Horseshoe Bend Trail
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: Jan-Feb, Oct-Dec
Cost: $
- Horseshoe-shaped incised meander of the Colorado River located near the town of Page
- The land south of the Bend's parking area, trail, and overlook are on the Navajo Nation territory.
- Horseshoe Bend is popular just before sunset, as large groups of tourists make the 1/2 mile long hike down to the over look point
- The overlook is 4,200 feet (1,300 m) above sea level, and the Colorado River is at 3,200 feet (1,000 m) above sea level, making it a 1,000-foot (300 m) drop
Heard Museum, Phoenix
Best time to visit: Jan-April, Nov-Dec
Cost: $
- Private, not-for-profit museum in Phoenix, dedicated to the advancement of American Indian art
- The museum presents the stories of American Indian people from a first-person perspective, as well as exhibitions of traditional and contemporary art by American Indian artists and artists influenced by American Indian art
Devil's Bridge Trail, Coconino National Forest
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: March-May
Cost: $
- One of six National Forests in Arizona, the Coconino National Forest contains diverse landscapes, including deserts, ponderosa pine forests, flatlands, mesas, alpine tundra, and ancient volcanic peaks
Hole-in-the-Rock, Papago Park
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: Jan-April, Nov-Dec
Cost: $
- Series of openings (tafoni) eroded in a small hill composed of bare red arkosic conglomeritic sandstone
- The sandstone was first formed some 6–15 million years ago from the accumulation of materials eroding from a Precambrian granite, long since eroded away
- The tafoni are thought to have been eroded by water
Queen Mine Tour, Bisbee
Best time to visit: April-May, Sept-Oct
Cost: $
- Hard hat tours through a century-old underground complex to learn mining history and disasters
Bridal Wreath Falls Trail, Saguaro National Park
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: Jan-Feb, Dec
Cost: $
- Park that consists of two separate areas that preserve Sonoran Desert landscapes, fauna, and flora, including the giant saguaro cactus
- Over the past 30 million years, crustal stretching displaced rocks from beneath the Tucson Mountains of the Tucson Mountain District to form the Rincon Mountains of the Rincon Mountain District
Casa Grande Neon Sign Park
Best time to visit: Jan-April, Nov-Dec
Cost: $
- Outdoor museum that features 14 signs that have been salvaged and restored from historic sites in and around Casa Grande
- The signs are lit every night from dusk until 11 p.m. and is free of charge
Walnut Canyon Island Trail, Walnut Canyon National Monument
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- National Monument with a 0.9 mi (1.4 km) long loop trail descends 185 ft (56 m) into the canyon passing 25 cliff dwelling rooms constructed by the Sinagua, a pre-Columbian cultural group that lived in Walnut Canyon from about 1100 to 1250 AD
- Other contemporary habitations of the Sinagua people are preserved in the nearby Tuzigoot and Montezuma Castle national monuments
Double Butte Loop Trail, Papago Park
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: Jan-April, Nov-Dec
Cost: $
- Papago Park is notable for its many distinctive geological formations and its wide variety of typical desert plants, including the giant saguaro cactus
- The park also features the Desert Botanical Garden, picnic areas, several small lakes, hiking trails, bicycle paths, a fire museum, as well as Hunt's Tomb, the pyramidal tomb of Arizona's first governor, George W. P. Hunt
Musical Instrument Museum
Best time to visit: Jan-April, Nov-Dec
Cost: $
- Opened in 2010, it is the largest museum of its type in the world
- The collection of over 15,000 musical instruments and associated objects includes examples from nearly 200 countries and territories, representing every inhabited continent
- Some larger countries such as the United States, Mexico, India, China, and Brazil have multiple displays with subsections for different types of ethnic, folk, and tribal music
#29 in Best Museums in the USA
Dynamite and Goldmine Trail Loop, San Tan Mountain Regional Park
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: Jan-April, Nov-Dec
Cost: $
- San Tan Mountain Regional Park is a large rural/suburban park located in Pinal County
- It encompasses over 10,000 acres and preserves a portion of the San Tan Mountains
Eagles Nest Trail, Red Rock State Park
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: March-May
Cost: $
- Red Rock State Park features a red sandstone canyon outside the city of Sedona
- The main mission of this day-use park is the preservation of the riparian habitat along Oak Creek
Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park
Best time to visit: April-May, Sept-Oct
Cost: $
- Former prison located in Yuma, opened on July 1, 1876, and shut down on September 15, 1909
- The site is now operated as a historical museum by Arizona State Parks as Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park
Wildcat Trail, Monument Valley
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Monument Valley (Navajo: Tsé Biiʼ Ndzisgaii, meaning valley of the rocks) is a region of the Colorado Plateau characterized by a cluster of sandstone buttes, the largest reaching 1,000 ft (300 m) above the valley floor
- It is located on the Utah-Arizona state line, near the Four Corners area
- The valley is a sacred area that lies within the territory of the Navajo Nation Reservation, the Native American people of the area
Blue Mesa Trail, Petrified Forest National Park
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: March-Oct
Cost: $
- Petrified Forest National Park is named for its large deposits of petrified wood
- The park encompasses semi-desert shrub steppe as well as highly eroded and colorful badlands
Desert Botanical Garden Loop
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: Jan-April, Nov-Dec
Cost: $
- Botanical garden located in Papago Park, in Phoenix
- Established at this site in 1939, the garden now has more than 50,000 plants in more than 4,000 taxa, one-third of which are native to the area, including 379 species, which are rare, threatened or endangered
- It focuses on plants adapted to desert conditions, including an Australian collection, a Baja California collection and a South American collection
Grand Canyon Village, Grand Canyon National Park
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Grand Canyon Village is located on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon
- Located in Grand Canyon National Park, it is wholly focused on accommodating tourists visiting the canyon
- Its origins trace back to the railroad completed from Williams, to the canyon's South Rim by the Santa Fe Railroad in 1901
- Many of the structures in use today date from that period
- The village contains numerous landmark buildings, and its historic core is a National Historic Landmark District, designated for its outstanding implementation of town design
Hanging Garden Trail, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Recreation area covering 1,254,429 acres (5,076.49 km2) of mostly rugged high desert terrain
- The recreation area is named for Glen Canyon, which was flooded by the Glen Canyon Dam, completed in 1966, and is now mostly submerged beneath the waters of Lake Powell