That city is a monument to man’s arrogance.

GO. TO. THE MIM! it’s the Musical Instrument Museum. It’s huge, it’s incredibly well organized and informative, and it’s fun for anybody (unless you kick puppies and have no soul).

Their collection is crazy impressive and spans the whole world and pretty much all time. I never knew how many cultures had bagpipes and accordions. Or how many weird types of horns were even possible.

if you are lucky, there’s a big, perpetual, gigantic thermonuclear explosion in the sky

I was just there 2 weeks ago. I’m not sure about your time, transportation, or proximity to it, but if you’ve never seen it, the grand canyon. I always thought it’d be touristy and not worth the hype, but it’s insane. 7,000ft up on a massively flat area and there’s just this massive hole in ground that’s 4x as wide as you are higher than sea level. I spent an hour hiking down south Kaibab (and 90+ mins coming back up) and didn’t even exit the white top portion of the canyon (down to ooh ahh point). It’s like 3 hours to drive but totally worth tagging onto my trip from across the country. It’s also a dark sky park. Yes, most of AZ is dark, but there’s something to be said for being in a designated stargazing area in the middle of the night. The other distant places I went to were the Meteor Crater, petrified Forest, Montezuma Castle, Sedona, and Lowell Observatory (flagstaff) where I touched the pluto discovery telescope and hung out for amazing telescope viewing from modern devices from 8-10p. Beware, north gets cold fast.

As for Phoenix, I didn’t have a car while I was actually staying there for a few days, so my travels were all walked from the Hilton resort against the Phoenix mountain reserve. I wondered if I could chuck it up that mountain and, sure enough, I could. I walked 45 mins to get there and 45 mins up to the peaks (mostly flat bike paths until the peaks) and had a gorgeous view of the city at sunset. I enjoyed the variety at 1227 Taproom with 25 beers on tap, several ciders and meads, and some seltzers as well as nearly-expired $4 mystery beer cans. The two mexican/taco joints there were cool too, but every other one I went to was cool too except for alibertos (chain) lol. For having such great winter weather, I did not get the feeling it was walk friendly. Maybe just the wrong section. Coming from a region known to be fast and rude, phx seemed so relaxed. I flew out of 30°F at home and was happy to just be outside in the 70s. Other suggestions here are probably better but it’s just amusing I was just there for the first time

There’s a cool covered outdoor bar with food truck but they are operating out of shipping containers that make up the walls. Its hard to explain, it’s called The Churchill. Freak brothers pizza is there and it’s badass. Even have vegan option that are actually good. https://maps.app.goo.gl/VGPyLLAHVNBSR1Bt6

Definitely check out the japanese friendship garden!

Whatever you do, hydrate.

Castles and Coasters. As well as tilt arcade.

Frank Lloyd Wright museum and house

The temperature

There are a ton of great restaurants like everyone has pointed out. Phoenix is huge and your experience is going to vary greatly in which areas you are in and you’re access to transportation. The mass transit is getting better but still not great. You can take Waymo (self-driving cars) to many places but it is better just to have your own car here. Check out Arizona Highways magazine for some outdoor stuff. There is a killer airplane museum in Tucson and a Titan missile solo you can go tour. Tons of car shows all over the place. I personally like catching the one at the Pavilions in Scottsdale. It is a great time of year to visit though and I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.

The aquarium is amazing, wish we had budgeted more time for it. The facility it is at has a whole days worth of activity there. The Olive Mill is a pretty good pace to check out as well, specially if you like olive oil. I wanted to go, but didn’t have time to visit Heard Museum.

Rainbows is happening downtown next weekend. The art museum is pretty good IMO, so is the musical instrument museum. If you’re able to eat at ChinoBandido get yourself some Chinese Mexican food, highly recommend the Jade red chicken, Machaca in a quesadilla, and some pork fried rice. Take a hike, Piestewa peak is mid difficult, camelback echo canyon is pretty tough. Mill Ave for college night life. Medieval times for a fun dinner theater. Tempe beach park is a nice stroll or biking area.

Have fun in the self driving cabs, get the Waymo app while you’re here. They only work in central Phoenix.

Ask locals who were present in 1997 about the Phoenix Lights.

I rather like the musical instrument museum. I’m trying remember my favorite food. It’s been a while. Los dos molinos? Don’t know if it’s the best, but I liked it.