A trip to Arizona to discover Scottsdale and the surrounding area
And choose to leave in spring to discover the charm of Scottsdale
With a direct flight from Paris to Phoenix, launched last year by Air France, Scottsdale in the heart of Arizona has become a popular destination.
Named in 1894 after its founder Winfield Scott and considered the most beautiful urban center in Arizona, the city of Scottsdale is ideal for a first trip to discover this iconic region of the United States.
Nicknamed the "Beverly Hills of the Desert" for its calm and safe environment, it boasts 300 days of sunshine a year and a host of unique activities and experiences, following the perfect itinerary proposed by Experience Scottsdale.
Everything you need for a memorable and eye-opening trip.
Around Scottsdale, desert landscapes, brilliant light, unique nature and a plethora of activities.
Discovering Scottsdale and the surrounding region means contemplating the beauty of landscapes as far as the eye can see from the roads or from the air in a hot-air balloon, soaking up the energy that nature offers in its desert immensity, appreciating the vision of Franck Lloyd Wright, the architect of the Guggenheim Museum who built his winter villa in the desert, or being amazed by the existence of Cosanti, half organic village half laboratory studio created as a manifesto by Paulo Solari.
It's also about discovering the best restaurants, tasting local wines produced by passionate winegrowers... so many offers, so many possibilities, so many leisure activities, a plethoric choice of activities that confirms the motto "Dream bigger".
Hotels tested in Scottsdale: first the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Resort member of ALL (Accor Live Limitless)
Taken from the Phoenix airport by a gleaming, spacious and ultra-comfortable white Lincoln 4X4, we discover the hotel, set in 26 hectares of grounds with a golf course, in the heart of an immense garden. The vernacular architecture of the buildings, which resemble a Mexican hacienda, includes patios, courtyards, flowered walkways and outdoor lounges, punctuated by colonnades and embellished with palms and immense cacti.
In addition to its private golf course, it boasts 5 swimming pools, including a more discreet one for adults on a quiet roof terrace, a kids' club and several stores.
A giant spa offers XXL relaxation and complete wellness programs, as well as the experience of treatments and the quality of Sisley products, such as the Phyto-aromatic facial, which includes a massage after cleansing with prepides and enzymes, a radiance-enhancing treatment mask, and ends with the application of sun protection to give a perfect glowy complexion, ready for the scorching sun of the Sonoran desert.
With all the superlatives of an American-style welcome, the hotel boasts 5 restaurants, including La Hacienda, which we tried out during our stay.
A family resort, it's ideal for organizing a tribe outing to please young and old alike.
HotelValley Ho the urban chic of the '50s
Like something out of a period film, the iconic Down Town Scottsdale hotel was built in 1956.
Recently restored, it has nevertheless retained the 50s style that characterizes it as crystallized, so much so that its architecture and design have been preserved.
This independent hotel can boast of being one of the flagship locations, a living model, of this iconic style. Frequented by Hollywood stars when it first opened, it continues to delight with its bright colors, graphic furnishings and tower built in 1960, housing large suites with panoramic views of the surrounding desert and sublime sunsets.
Bungalows are scattered around the OHasis swimming pool, set in a quiet, leafy setting worthy of a Fureur de Vivre motel, as if James Dean were about to appear, cigarette to lips, emerging from a room overlooking the garden
241 rooms in all, the ZuZu restaurant offering seasonal American cuisine, a VH Spa for Vitality + Health, two swimming pools including the round OH pool, which hosted the festive Memorial Day pool party that day, offer the opportunity to live the American dream in the Fifties.
Restaurants to discover in Scottsdale
La Hacienda at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess welcomes guests in a decor inspired by Spanish-style architecture, with an inside-outside layout on a patio illuminated by string lights. The menu features Mexican cuisine with traditional European inspiration, led by Richard Sandoval in collaboration with Executive Chef Forest Hamrick. The culinary consultant and chef, whose preferred cuisine is, of course, Mexican, likes to showcase it around the world. That evening, a profusion of fajitas, tacos, giant prawns marinated in smoked chili sauce and grilled, several types of guacamole to share, all washed down with Passion fruit Margarita and 3 different types of tequila chosen from the 200 varieties offered by the "Tequila Resident Goddess", the in-house specialist in Mexican brandy, the famous beverage named after a town in the state of Jalisco, and made from the Agave Tequilana plant.
(Alcohol abuse is dangerous for your health)
Opened in 2008, La Mission is located next to Scottsdale's oldest church, and offers Latin cuisine with a French twist, in a sophisticated, woody baroque decor with subdued lighting, the result of chef Matt Carter's formative years. Malbec-braised chops, guacamole prepared in front of you, grilled corn on the cob, marinated chicken, salmon with chimichurri, shrimp with chorizo, a feast washed down with Spicy Margaritas and good cheer. A must-visit address in town
After dinner, it's a short walk to the Rusty Spur Saloon, the oldest bar in town, housed in an old bank dating back to 1931, for local beer and live country rock bands. You can show off your Santiag boots, bought that very day in town, to match the cowboy Saloon style.
The Americano Steak House
In the heart of North Scottsdale, in a trendy casual setting with a large open kitchen, the restaurant is prized for the quality of its meats, fresh pastas, antipasti and its wine cellar, which features over 200 bottles chosen from a vast selection of Italian and local American wines. Led by chef Scott Conant, the cuisine draws on American must-haves mixed with Italian inspiration.
Farm & Craft
With a health and wellness focus, like a table d'hôtes, this restaurant, to be discovered at lunchtime, is ultra-specialist when it comes to healthy food, offering gluten-free menus, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory diets, sprinkled with probiotics to reduce stress according to the season, and organic products accompanied by vitamin-rich juices.
Virtu Honest Craft
Inspired this time by the Mediterranean basin, in homage to his Italian roots, chef Gio Osso's cuisine is frank and generous, with menus that change weekly.
FnB with chef Charleen Badman
A locavore cuisine created by chef Charleen Badman, who uses only products from local farms and produce, acclaimed by the James Beard Foundation in 2019, and hosted by co-owner Pavle Milic, sommelier-oenologist and wine producer, who distills his good humor at every table and provides excellent advice to help diners discover the local wines that accompany romesco beans, grilled cabbage and black beans, hard-boiled eggs with anchovy and carrot mayonnaise, and half a roast chicken with chickpeas, zucchini, carrots and Chermoula. A treat for the palate.
Postino Highland
Set on the terrace in the cool of the automatic sprays that refresh the air, tasting a farandole of small plates, panini and fresh salads and platters of charcuterie and cheeses is accompanied by local beers. The restaurant was designed by Lauren and Craig of Upward Projects, and is housed in the former Valley National Bank, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright's apprentice Franck Henry.
Set in a train car inspired by a Prohibition-era Pullman presidential boxcar, Phoenix's most popular speakeasy transports you straight to 1920s New York City and offers inspiring signature cocktails. The perfect place for a date or to sample house creations such as "A Fight a Night" made with bourbon or "Mae West" with VOSP Remy Martin Cognac and caca
Culture: first a visit to Taliesin West, Franck Lloyd Wright's winter home
In 1927, the architect discovered the desert and this part of Arizona, which he immediately appreciated.
It was here that he wished to spend his winter seasons with his family and disciples, amidst the arid, unchanging landscape that inspired him.
He moved here in 1937 to build the house Taliesin Westin the middle of the desert, in the heart of the McDowell Mountains, an organic house connected to the environment and nature of the Sonoran Desert.
With the help of 30 apprentices and his family, the architect gradually built a villa out of stones found in the desert, assembled with cement made from the surrounding sand, which gives this honey color to the facades and walls erected, embracing the graphic lines of the mountains, giving the impression of blending totally into nature in harmony with the light.
Here Franck Lloyd Wright creates spaces for living inside out, imagining contours in connection with nature, such as the triangular-shaped swimming pool to represent the mountain.
As the tour progresses, the decorative elements and rooms left in their original state demonstrate the genius's vision and modernity. The master's home, production studio and architectural laboratory, a Unesco World Heritage site in 2019, was constantly embellished, modified and transformed until his death in 1959. This masterpiece has become as much a landmark in the world's architectural landscape as the Guggenheim Museum in New York or the Waterfall House in Pennsylvania.
Cosanti, architectural and social manifesto
Created as an architectural and social manifesto, housing gallery, studio and residence, the site was imagined by Paolo Soleri,a former student of Franck Lloyd Wright. He distanced himself from his master to give his vision of architecture to Cosanti in 1956, a few kilometers from Taliesin West. Here, the Italo-American architect built the "Earth house" with his wife, a model of organic housing and living space, all round as if sprung from the earth in osmosis with Arizona's desert landscape, giving an almost meditative vision of life inside architecture and the prototype of community living that he finally expressed at Arconsanti in 1970, a hundred kilometers from Phoenix.
Today, the studio continues to spread Paolo Soleri's vision, style and work through ceramic and bronze creations from the Cosanti foundry, such as garlands and installations of engraved metal bells that tinkle delightfully at the first breeze. A poetry invented by Paolo Soleri.
Nature around Scottsdale: hiking in the desert
Hiking in the Mc Dowell Sonoran Reserve, an unspoilt area in the Sonoran Desert surrounded by the Mc Dowell Mountains, is a must if you want to better understand the unique environment offered by the desert, by immersing yourself totally in it.
Here, the locals come to jog or walk their dogs along the paths defined by The Gateway Trailhead, since 2009, installed in an ecological architecture from which all hikes start.
You'll follow an REI (Recreational Equipment Inc., specialized in outdoor activities) guide, well-versed in all the local animal and plant species, such as Creosote, a plant with multiple anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties, or the varieties of cactus, sometimes 15 metres high and 200 years old, such as the Saguaro species, native to the Sanaro desert and a symbol of the American West.
We learn in no particular order that cacti grow by 30 cm every 10 years, that theIron Tree, whose density and strength are similar to iron, is the world's strongest and heaviest cactus, standing no more than 4 metres tall, that the Jumping Cholla cactus is called Teddy Bear because of its downy spines, and that it is rich in vitamin C and magnesium.
Voyage into the air, nature seen from an inflatable balloon
Discovering the Sonoran Desert in a hot-air balloon is a must in Arizona.
You need to leave very early, and take off after the balloon is inflated after 1/2 hour to enjoy the sunrise, piloted by a balloon travel specialist for 30 years, and climb to over 1,500 meters. Floating in the air, quietly observing the immensity of the desert, the surrounding mountain ranges and the sky at your fingertips, is a unique way to discover nature and its landscapes, which take on another dimension when seen from above, giving the impression of gently gliding.
It's a feast for the eyes, and surprisingly, there's no sensation of vertigo. Balloon trips are available from November to March.
A Balloon Experience by Hot Air expeditions has been in business for 30 years and has held the title of "Best Balloon Flight in Phoenix" for 26 consecutive years by Fodor's Travel.
Kayak down the Lower Salt River
Sitting in a double kayak, armed with paddles, you follow the course of the river to admire the unspoilt beauty of the landscapes, always dotted with cactus, home to blue herons and eagles, allowing wild horses to drink on its shores and just enjoy nature, sometimes paddling on faster streams gorging your lungs with fresh air, and admiring the cloudless azure blue sky and the time passing as the river flows by. A wonderful, refreshing way to relax completely.
General information @ExperienceScottsdale.
The latest practical news from Scottsdale
Air France is increasing the frequency of its direct flights between Phoenix and Paris to five times a week from May 5, offering an estimated economic impact of $103 million for the state.
www.airfrance.com.
Waymo, the automated driverless cab company, continues to expand its autonomous transportation services, with Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport as its main destination.
www.waymo.com
To prepare your trip @ExperienceScottsdale
