Phoenix Tours & Things to Do — 2026

It depends on what you're after. For the big bucket-list trip, a Grand Canyon day tour from Phoenix runs up to the South Rim and back. To experience the landscape closer to the city, a Sonoran Desert jeep, UTV, or kayak tour is the signature Phoenix outing, and a sunrise hot-air balloon flight over the saguaro country is the splurge. For the city itself, a ghost and haunted-history walk of the old downtown is the most popular pick, and a food tour of a downtown or Scottsdale neighborhood rounds out an easy first day in the Valley.

Yes, but plan for a full day — the South Rim is about three and a half hours each way from Phoenix. Guided day tours handle the long drive, the park entry, and the viewpoints. If you'd rather cut the drive, Flagstaff is only about 90 minutes from the South Rim and makes a closer base for the canyon. From Phoenix, book ahead in the cooler months when these trips are busiest.

Phoenix sits in the Sonoran Desert, so the outdoor options are the highlight. Off-road jeep and UTV/ATV tours run the desert trails and washes; guided kayaking on Saguaro Lake gives a cooler, water-level angle on the Sonoran cliffs; and at sunrise, a hot-air balloon flight lifts off over the saguaro country. The mountain preserves and desert parks are also laced with hiking trails, and the dark desert skies are excellent for stargazing after the city lights drop away. The guided tours mostly run around sunrise and sunset to beat the midday heat, and the cooler months are the prime season.

They're small-group, on-foot, and story-driven, working the old downtown and historic neighborhoods after dark — the territorial-era buildings, the old hotels and saloons, and the pioneer and mining history the desert town was built on. Some fold the hauntings into a round of the downtown's historic bars. Because the guide makes the tour, it's worth reading recent reviews before booking. They run year-round, are busiest around Halloween, and the cooler evenings make the after-dark walking easy.

You can — Sedona's red-rock country is about two hours north of Phoenix and makes a long day trip. That said, if the red rocks are your main goal, Flagstaff is the closer gateway: it's only about 30 minutes from Sedona down Oak Creek Canyon, so a Sedona trip is easier anchored from there. From Phoenix, Sedona usually comes paired into a longer northern-Arizona day-trip loop rather than on its own.