Phoenix Travel Guide

Phoenix has transformed from a cattle town of 65,000 people in 1950 to a desert metropolis of 1.6 million. Explosive growth is a dominant feature of the city. People are moving to town from across the country. Downtown has sprouted a top-notch food-and-beverage scene anchored by flour-tortilla-and-steak-heavy Sonoran Mexican cuisine. Street art from Latino/a and Indigenous painters covers more and more facades every day. Despite the rapid change, many of the city’s core attractions remain the same. Against the odds and from the Salt and Gila rivers in a desert basin—one so hot it can ground jets in the summer—Phoenix arose. And it’s still rising today.