A Travel Guide to Arizona
From busting cities, warm deserts to mountainous snowy peaks Arizona has it all including the Grand Canyon and a large number of state and national parks.
The Grand Canyon is a 227 mile gorge nearly 6,000 feet deep formed by the Colorado River and has become Arizona's most popular visitor attraction with almost five million visitors a year and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Monument Valley is the setting for hundreds of films with it's unique sandstone outcrops rising from the desert floor. Monument Valley is the home of the Navajo Nation who are the indigenous people and visitors need a pass from the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park.
Lake Powell at 186 miles long with 1,950 miles of shore is the second largest man-made lake in the USA and is a popular destination for visitors wishing to go boating, fishing, scuba diving, swimming, water skiing or just to enjoy the beauty of the area.
The Hoover Dam situated on the border of Arizona and Nevada was built to dam the Colorado River as it flowed through Black Canyon. Driving over the dam is an experience but there are also organised tours visting the inner workings of the dam and the power generation plant.
The Painted Desert is an area of badlands running from the Grand Canyon to the Petrified Forest made up of hills eroded to expose iron and manganese compounds which provide the appearance of being painted in bright hues.
The Arizona Petrified Forest National Park is the exposed remnants of forests entombed by volcanic ash millions of years ago and which once entombed and preserved have now become exposed by gradual erosion by the elements. The area is a hunting ground for paleontologists due to the large number of fossils found each year.
Phoenix, the state capital and the gateway to the Grand Canyon, is America’s sixth-largest city with plenty for the visitor to see and do. Luxury resorts abound and year around golf courses together with sports events, stylish shopping centres and wonderful cuisine make Pheonix a must to visit.
Scottsdale which borders Phoenix is a great base for a vacation with over 170 golf courses and other activities such as horseback tours, kayaking, hot air ballooning, climbing and plenty to do within the city itself.
There is a wide variety of self catering vacation rentals in Arizona ranging from city locations such as Scottsdale and Tucson to mountain cabins in the high country.
