Papago Park

The park's dramatic buttes are made of red sandstone and conglomerate, rock formed from ancient sediments and stained warm by iron. Over long ages, wind and water weathered the softer pockets in the stone, hollowing out the caves, alcoves, and windows that give the buttes their distinctive Swiss-cheese look. The most famous of these is the Hole-in-the-Rock, a broad natural opening high in one butte.

The Hole-in-the-Rock is more than a scenic curiosity. The ancient Hohokam people who farmed this valley used the opening to track the sun, watching where its light fell through the hole across the year to mark the seasons and time their planting. Standing inside it today, looking out through the stone window at the sprawling modern city, you feel the deep continuity of people using this same red rock for a very long time.

Long before Phoenix existed, the Salt River Valley was home to the Hohokam, master desert farmers who dug hundreds of miles of irrigation canals to water fields of corn, beans, squash, and cotton, sustaining large communities in this dry land for centuries. The park's buttes stood at the edge of that world, used for astronomy, ceremony, and shelter.

The Hohokam are the ancestors of today's O'odham peoples, including the Akimel O'odham, or River People, whose communities remain in the region as part of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community and the Gila River Indian Community. When later settlers built Phoenix, they reused and rebuilt the very canals the Hohokam had dug, which is part of why the city took the name Phoenix, a place risen from what came before.

Papago Park manages to be many things at once. Its trails wind among the buttes and desert flats, easy enough for families and rewarding for the views, while stocked lagoons draw anglers and a golf course and ball fields fill other corners. Ramadas and lawns make it a favorite for picnics and gatherings, all within minutes of downtown.

The park also hosts two of the Valley's great institutions. The Desert Botanical Garden displays thousands of desert plants from around the world in beautifully designed grounds, a showcase of Sonoran and global desert life, while the neighboring Phoenix Zoo draws families year round. Together they make Papago Park not just a scenic escape but a full day's worth of desert experience.

The cooler months from fall through spring are the prime season in the Valley of the Sun, with warm, sunny days perfect for hiking the buttes, picnicking, and touring the garden and zoo. Spring can bring desert wildflowers and blooming cactus, and the mild evenings are ideal for a sunset climb to the Hole-in-the-Rock.

Summer in Phoenix is famously hot, with intense midday heat that makes early morning or evening the only comfortable times to be outdoors. Visitors who come in the warm months hike at dawn, carry ample water, and save the middle of the day for the shaded and indoor attractions. Whatever the season, the red buttes glow their richest at sunrise and sunset, the best hours to see the park at its most beautiful.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.