Dan worked his third travel nursing contract at a hospital in Glendale, Arizona while we lived in Phoenix. Since we started considering travel nursing years ago, we’ve both known that Arizona would have to be a stop for us. Before living in Phoenix for Dan’s contract, we had only been there once before, but we loved it and had such a special trip hiking in the Grand Canyon. Something about the desert and how different it is to anything we grew up with was particularly alluring, and we had a great time exploring it.

While we were living in Phoenix we managed to take a few trips to other parts of Arizona. Our first trip outside of Phoenix was to Prescott, the Christmas capital of Arizona. We had a great time walking the beautifully lit town square and sipping on hot cocoa while we tried to get in the Christmas spirit for our first Christmas away from family. Next up was Sedona which was such a beautiful place to visit. While Prescott and Sedona were just day trips, we got to take two slightly longer trips to Tucson and then to the Grand Canyon. My cousin and I also made a daytrip over to Theodore Roosevelt Lake and Tonto National Monument which was incredible! We would highly recommend all of these places, which are all within 4ish hours driving from Phoenix.

In this post though, I’m going to talk a bit about some of our favourites in Phoenix!

OUR PHOENIX FAVOURITES

Activities

Phoenix Zoo – The Phoenix Zoo is incredibly beautiful and so much fun! We went twice during our three months in Phoenix and absolutely loved it. It’s definitely our favourite zoo so far!

Desert Botanical Garden – Dan and I both love botanical gardens, and the Desert Botanical Garden was a great one! We also loved the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson.

Hiking – While we only hiked on North Mountain, Camelback and South Mountain are also popular places to hike!

Events

Enchant Scottsdale – This was such a cheerful and fun Christmas event that helped us to enjoy our first Christmas just the two of us. The maze is so fun!

Vintage Markets/Pop Up Events – There are tons of pop up events in Phoenix, just keep an eye out for flyers and events on social media! We made it to a vintage market where we picked up some great finds!

Uptown Farmer’s Market – We also loved checking out all of the local farmer’s markets in Phoenix. The weather is so nice that some of them seem to run all year! This one was not too far from where we lived and had such great offerings from local prickly pear teas to goat cheese to fresh pressed juice food trucks.

Shopping

Desert Ridge Marketplace – We loved our first outing to the Desert Ridge Marketplace at Christmastime. They had decked the place out to be all Christmasy which was so fun, and they have a great selection of shops and restaurants at this outdoor mall!

Scottsdale Quarter – This is another beautiful outdoor shopping center with all kind of great stops. There’s a movie theater along with a bunch of restaurants and open areas to sit or for kids to play. We had dinner near here one night and then enjoyed walking around and window shopping.

Scottsdale Fashion Square – Neither Dan nor I had ever been to a mall quite like this before. This was another window shopping outing for us as this is a luxury mall. It was fun to see all of the huge luxury brands, though we only went into a couple because most were gated with a bouncer outside the door!

Old Scottsdale – Old Scottsdale is a part of the city that’s been transformed into an homage to the Old West. It’s fun to walk around and there are tons of little shops and saloons to check out. The Merchantile of Scottsdale is a fun shop in this area!

Restaurants

Torchy’s Tacos – Yes this is fast food, but I’d probably call it semi-fast food as there’s no drive-through and it’s DELICIOUS! We went a bunch if I’m honest. It’s my new favourite “fast” food. Their queso is sooo good!

SkyTop at Adero Resort – This was a slightly (ok, extremely) more fancy place we went to for dinner and it was just so beautiful and everything so delicious. My mom and stepdad gifted us a special dinner here for Christmas and we had such a great time. We had one of their private bubbles, which was a cool experience, and got to watch the sunset from our table as we ate.

Fame Caffe – This super cute café/restaurant was a fun lunch stop with a great menu!

The Vig – We lived right by the Vig and ended up getting takeout from them for New Year’s Eve which was so tasty! Before leaving, we had a nice dinner here with one of our neighbours and got to enjoy the beautiful restaurant and fun atmosphere.

Churn – This ice cream place did not disappoint! I read that it was one of the top ice cream parlors in Phoenix and knew we had to check it out.

Babbo Italian Eatery – We had a special goodbye dinner with another neighbour here and enjoyed it’s Olive Garden-esque menu! Tasty bread and pasta for days!

Other

Sprouts Farmers Market – While it sounds like a farmer’s market, it’s actually not, but it’s a great grocery store with a bunch of organic options and a great sale section!

what are your top recommendations for Phoenix, Arizona?