Landmarks in Phoenix that should be on every local’s bucket list include the Arizona Science Center, the Phoenix Art Museum, the Heard Museum, Camelback Mountain, South Mountain, the McDowell Mountains, Papago Park, the Desert Botanical Garden, and the Phoenix Zoo. There are also some interesting architectural wonders, as the city was once home to Frank Lloyd Wright. The famous architect used the city as a canvas from the 1920’s until his death in 1959, with projects such as Taliesin West, the First Christian Church, and the David and Gladys Wright House. There is also a strange mansion known as the Mystery Castle, which contains a public cantina, church and dungeon. Built by Boyce Luther Gully in the 1930’s, the castle was constructed with a combination of salvaged car parts, telephone poles, rail ties, adobe, stone and goat milk.

Mountains

When you live in Phoenix it is impossible to ignore the call of the mountains. They are omnipresent. You can see them from your apartment, you can see them on your commute, and you can see them from any high rise office downtown. On your lunch break, it’s easy to sneak in a quick hike up the Camelback (a small mountain that looks like a resting camel). Down at Papago Park, you can tour ancient Hohokam caves. A hike to the peak of South Mountain is full of stunning views and diverse wildlife. For a weekend excursion, hike the Apache Trail through the Superstition Mountains, about an hour east of town. It is one of the most beautiful places on Earth.

Art

At the First Friday Art Walk in Downtown Phoenix, some 70+ art galleries, studios, bars, clubs and cafes join forces to throw one of the best parties for desert creatives. For a little less rowdy of an art tour, families can check out the Thursday Art Walk in Old Town Scottsdale.

Culture

A crash course in Phoenix culture begins at the library. This serene space has some of the best views in the city, glorious reading rooms flooded with natural light, as well as unique services like the Culture Pass - which is your free ticket to citywide attractions, including the Arizona Science Center, Deer Valley Petroglyph Preserve, Desert Botanical Garden, Desert Caballeros Western Museum, Heard Museum, Phoenix Art Museum and the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art.

Music

In Phoenix, live local music comes in a diverse spectrum of sound, including jazz, blues, country, reggae, punk, grunge, metal, folk, bossa nova, merengue, salsa, samba and swing. There are some really cool venues too. You can see live music under the stars at the Desert Botanical Garden. The Heard Museum hosts Latin bands at events like Fiesta de Familia and Fiesta de Frida. There are outdoor stages at the Desert Ridge Marketplace, where the bands range from outlaw country to indie rock, punk and folk. There unique coffee shops with a variety of local bands and open jams, and the center city area has dozens of live music venues where you can hear just about any type of music.

The first thing you will notice about driving around Phoenix is the vastness of it all. Not only are the city limits far-reaching (about 50 miles from north to south), but the streets are huge, with wide seven-lane thoroughfares and up to twelve-lane expressways. Efficient city planning puts this network on a perfect grid, making it easy to get around town with very little traffic worries.

While it does help to have a car, Phoenix commuters enjoy an intelligent public transportation system where light rail and bus schedules sync up nicely. The Phoenix Valley Metro Rail runs from Alhambra to Central City and east to Tempe, with bus routes connecting throughout the area. With a little research (see our neighborhood guide below!), you can find a highly-walkable neighborhood with easy access to public transportation.

Sports fans are a happy crowd in Phoenix. The Valley of the Sun hosts the annual Fiesta Bowl and the Cactus Bowl, both for college football. The University of Phoenix Stadium is where you go to see the NFL’s Cardinals fight their way into the Super Bowl. The Suns play basketball in downtown’s Talking Stick Resort Arena, along with the championship-winning Mercury (WNBA). Chase Field is where baseball fans cheer on the Arizona Diamondbacks (probably the best baseball field ever - with a retractable roof, air conditioning, and a swimming pool where you can catch home runs!). The NHL’s Arizona Coyotes reside in Phoenix, and NASCAR and drag race fans can get their fix at the Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park while golf enthusiasts enjoy the annual Phoenix Open and the LPGA’s Founder’s Cup.

Weather in the Valley of the Sun is absolutely beautiful for about 70% of the year. Sunny days, mild temperatures, dry air and the ability to wear short sleeves in the middle of January are great perks. But then summer comes along. Unrelenting 110-degree heat turns the city into a sizzling skillet (you can literally fry an egg on the sidewalk!), and temperatures will stay above 100 well into the night. Yet like any city with weather extremes, it’s easy to adapt. Invest in a car with good air conditioning, use an ice chest if your grocery store is more than 10 minutes from home, and look for rentals that have a swimming pool.

Phoenix weather is also regularly subjected to sustained drought and torrential downpours. This combination makes it simultaneously one of the sunniest places in the country, and one of the stormiest. During monsoon season, extreme winds kick up dust storms, followed by spectacular lightning and torrential rain. If you love thunderstorms, then get ready for the greatest show on earth.

Phoenix has grown from a cattle and cotton based economy to a diversified employment landscape of Fortune 500 companies, travel and hospitality, military, education and high-tech sectors. Major companies with headquarters in Phoenix include Intel and Avnet (electronics), Freeport-McMoRan (mining), U-Haul International, Best Western, PetSmart, Republic Services (waste), the Honeywell Aerospace Division. Even tech companies are making their way out to Phoenix, with names like DoorDash, Infusionsoft, and Vixxo opening up large satellite offices.