A couple years ago I was sent to Scottsdale, AZ for a four month work assignment and I fell in love with the area. The weather in spring was so perfect for all the outdoor activities there are to do from hiking to pool days to patio happy hours to baseball spring training. I couldn’t believe I had never made a weekend trip to this great city. So here’s a post to inspire you to add it to your weekend warrior bucket list!

Hiking:

Scottsdale has quite a few mountains surrounding it and plenty of well maintained trails of different difficulty levels to get some fun exercise and enjoy the fresh air.

Pinnacle Peak

This hike is great if you are looking to see lots of cacti. You’ll get your fill of all different types of them along the trail. There is a decent incline which leads to some nice views of north Scottsdale. The full hike is 3.5 miles, but it is a there and back hike so you can turn around at any point if you want to go a shorter distance.

Camelback

Camelback is the most popular hike in the Phoenix area. Situated in the heart of the city it provides amazing 360 views from the top. It’s also the perfect spot to watch a completely unobstructed sunset. I love this hike because it is one of the more challenging ones. You will have to get on your hands and knees to navigate the back half of the trek. There are two trailheads with routes to the top: Cholla or Echo Canyon. Echo is said to be tougher, but I promise you’ll get enough of a challenge on Cholla. I recommend the Cholla trail at sunset if its hot out because that side is in the shade most the way. The Cholla hike is about 3 mi round trip including the walk from your car to the trailhead.

Piestawa Peak

This hike is said to be Camelback’s little sister. At about 3.5 miles round trip it is much less challenging then camelback and doesn’t have any scrambling over boulders. The trail has over 1200 foot elevation gain so it will give you a nice workout along the well maintained path. The peak has some rocks to climb out on and there’s pretty wild flowers along the way with nice views of the valley.

Siphon Draw to Flat Iron

About 30 min outside of town is Lost Dutchman State Park where you can hike into the Superstition Mountains. This is a nice park to visit with kids as there are picnic areas and plenty of easy walking trails. Siphon Draw to Flat Iron is a 6 mile out and back hike that starts very easy but becomes a scramble once you get to Siphon Draw. We visited on an overcast day and couldn’t see anything at the top of Flat Iron which was completely in the clouds but the view would be amazing on a clear day. The park does charge a $10 fee for out-of-state visitors.

Resort Pools:

Whether you chose to stay at one of the many resorts or just spend the day at one of their pools, soaking up some sun in Scottsdale is the perfect getaway from the winter blues. Here’s a couple popular ones and how to access them.

The Saguaro Hotel

This is my favorite pool to lounge at in Scottsdale. The vibrant colors and laid back atmosphere complete with poolside service of fruity frozen drinks put you perfectly in vacation mode. You can chose to stay here (its a great location for walking to downtown) or you can pay a small fee to valet park your car and walk into the pool- nothing is locked or reserved for guest other then a few cabanas that require reservation. There are two pools and some hammocks you can take a lovely afternoon snooze in also.

The W Hotel

This pool is much more stuffy then The Saguaro. There’s staff literally everywhere and the lounge chairs all say reserved for hotel guest, but no one seems to check. The crowd had jersey shore vibes, but did have good food and drinks to order from pool side wait staff. Accessing it worked the same- pay to valet  park and enter the hotel then take the stairs on the right in the lobby up to the pool deck.

Talking Stick

If your looking for a party this is the pool to come to on Saturdays during summer. In Scottsdale that’s April till labor day. The talking stick pool deck turns into a raging concert in the afternoon with access to the main pool requiring a ticket. They bring in some big name dj’s and it gets pretty wild.

Old Town Scottsdale

Downtown Scottsdale has incredible shopping, delicious restaurants, plenty of outdoor patios, fun bars, art boutiques and a golf cart taxi service to get you around. There are also beach cruisers everywhere that you can ride for a $1/hr. You just need to install the limebike or ofo app to unlock them and they can be left anywhere when you are done riding.

Desert Vibes

It’s fun to check out a totally different environment. I loved being greeted with cacti right from the airport. If you haven’t got your fill of cacti while hiking the botanical gardens are a great place to see all different types and flowers. The garden opens up to the natural environment so you feel like you are just roaming through the wide open desert.

Anywhere with palm trees is worth a trip for me! When you get tired of the long cold winter I highly recommend booking a trip to Scottsdale where its beautiful patio weather all winter long.

While you’re in Arizona stick around for a couple great day trips from the Phoenix area! Check out these post to plan additional days:

Grand Canyon – South Rim Only 3.5 hours away!

Sedona, AZ Beautiful red rocks less than 2 hours away!