United States · Arizona
Where to Stay in Scottsdale, Arizona
Desert light and gallery walls mark Scottsdale, a city in the Phoenix area of Arizona known as The West's Most Western Town.
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Where to stay in Scottsdale
Each area has its own feel; here's who each one suits.
Where a traveller stays in Scottsdale turns on the split between the old town arts district and the resort corridors that spread across the desert to the north, because the museums and the galleries gather downtown while the golf and spa grounds run out beyond the center. The two sides call for different stays. Downtown gathers the arts.
Around the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art and Western Spirit: Scottsdale's Museum of the West, hotels sit within walking reach of the gallery blocks and the old town square, and the Udinotti Museum of Figurative Art lies close by the streets. The northern corridors run out into the desert, where the resort grounds spread toward the foothills beyond the Phoenix area, so a base there sets the open country on the doorstep. Spring games fill Scottsdale Stadium.
West of the old town, the ballpark draws crowds through the training season, giving a base close to the games a short ride from the galleries. Each district holds to its own rhythm. A traveller who wants the museums near the door stays in the old town by the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, while the desert corridors suit a stay tied to the resorts.
About Scottsdale
What is Scottsdale known for?
Scottsdale is known as an arts and Western-heritage city in the Phoenix area of Arizona, a place whose downtown carries the slogan The West's Most Western Town. Its galleries lead the draw. Art and the frontier past shape its name, with the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art holding its shows downtown, Western Spirit: Scottsdale's Museum of the West keeping the record of the frontier, and the Udinotti Museum of Figurative Art set among the arts district of the old town.
What are the main landmarks in Scottsdale?
The main landmarks of Scottsdale gather in the old town and its arts district. Museums lead the center. The Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art holds its galleries downtown, Western Spirit: Scottsdale's Museum of the West keeps the record of the frontier, and the Udinotti Museum of Figurative Art sits among the arts blocks, while Scottsdale Stadium draws the spring training crowds to the west, and the Louise Lincoln Kerr House and Studio marks the ground of a noted local musician near the old town.
What is the history of Scottsdale?
Scottsdale took its name in 1894 after Winfield Scott, a retired army chaplain whose land in the desert of Arizona drew the first settlers to the ground east of Phoenix. The desert shaped the town. The early settlers farmed the irrigated land and traded from the old town core, and the frontier character that gave the city its slogan, The West's Most Western Town, grew from those first years on the open country.
Houses and institutions from the founding decades still stand across the old town. The Edward L. Jones House and the Frank Titus House keep the ground of the early families, and the Louise Lincoln Kerr House and Studio marks the home of a musician who worked in the desert city. Western Spirit: Scottsdale's Museum of the West later gathered the record of the frontier, while the arts district that grew around the old town square carried the town's name across Arizona.
Where is Scottsdale?
Scottsdale sits in the desert of eastern Maricopa County in the Phoenix area of Arizona, where the flat ground of the old town gives way to the foothills that rise to the north. The land runs open and dry. The old town and its arts district stand on the level desert floor, and the resort corridors spread northward toward the higher ground, while the ridges of the desert wall the city on its eastern side beyond Phoenix.
What is the climate of Scottsdale?
Scottsdale has a hot desert climate in the Phoenix area of Arizona, with very hot dry summers and mild winters. Summers run fierce and dry. The warm months bring extreme heat and clear skies across the desert floor and the foothills, while the winters stay mild and draw travellers to the open country, and the dry air holds through most of the year over the old town and the resort corridors.
How do you get to Scottsdale?
Scottsdale is reached by road and air through the Phoenix area of Arizona, where the freeways cross the desert. Most visitors reach Scottsdale on the freeways. The corridors run in from the metro routes that cross the valley floor, and the old town center with the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art sits a short distance from the freeways and the airport approaches that serve the wider Phoenix area.
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Updated September 2026