Arizona’s natural beauty is striking, with both a deep human history and stunning landscapes of red rock canyons brimming with saguaro cacti and towering waterfalls. Many of the best places to visit are outdoors, and the breathtaking national parks and monuments are not to be missed. But this list also includes an underground restaurant, a mesmerizing art installation in Phoenix, and an indoor mangrove swamp.
Best Places to Visit: Grand Canyon National Park, Underrated Hidden Gem: Petrified Forest National Park, Best for Families: Horseshoe Bend, Best for Hikes: The Wave, Best for Art Lovers: Yayoi Kusama’s Firefly Infinity Mirror Room
Whether you’re ready to lace up your hiking boots or love photography, read on for our top 20 most beautiful places to visit in Arizona.
Grand Canyon National Park
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You can’t leave out the Grand Canyon. It’s Arizona’s number one tourist attraction and its size is staggering. It stretches almost 300 miles across the state, averages 10 miles wide and is one mile deep. For comparison, the Mariana Trench, the deepest point on Earth, is 7 miles deep. Hike, bike or hop on the park shuttle to explore this beautiful national park.
Petrified Forest National Park
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Arizona has only three national parks (out of 22 managed by the National Park Service), and while the Grand Canyon gets all the attention, Petrified Forest National Park is lesser known. This stunning park is known for its Rainbow Forest, a colorful collection of petrified trees that are over 200 million years old. It also contains petroglyphs and paleontology exhibits.
Horseshoe Bend
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Horseshoe Bend has become one of the most photographed places in Arizona. The perfect horseshoe-shaped bend in the Colorado River is located within Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, near the town of Page, Arizona, and near the vast Lake Powell.
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Formally known as Coyote Buttes North, the Wave is just one feature of the vast 112,500-acre Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness. These spectacular rock formations resemble waves made of sandstone and are so photogenic that they have long fascinated tourists and photographers who go through a competitive permit process and are willing to brave the arduous 6.4-mile round-trip hike to get there.
Yayoi Kusama’s Firefly Infinity Mirror Room
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The Phoenix Art Museum’s Firefly Infinity Mirror Room was conceived by renowned Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. Her piece, “Disappearing in a Swarm of Dancing Fireflies,” is exactly what it sounds like: a mixed media installation that uses LED lights and mirrors to create the effect of being surrounded by fireflies in the middle of the night. It’s truly magical.
Havasu Falls
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The stunning turquoise waters of Havasu Falls have been attracting visitors for years. The falls are located on Havasupai land near the isolated community of Supai and Grand Canyon National Park. Access to the village, the falls, and the spectacular, closely guarded views requires ample advance planning and permits.
Wupatki National Monument
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Wupatki National Monument is a must-see for travelers interested in how ancient people survived and thrived in the hot Arizona desert. The monument is set in a beautiful landscape, but it’s the pueblo ruins that are the real attraction. Three structures still stand, dating back to the early 1100s. The sandstone and limestone buildings pay tribute to the thriving community of pueblos who lived and traded there.
Grand Canyon Caves and Grottoes
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Caverns Grotto offers the most unique dining experience, dining 210 feet below the surface in a 345-million-year-old cave network. The menu is simple, but the views are out of this world. Subterranean diners are treated to 360-degree views of the ancient caverns that stretch for 60 miles from Peach Springs, Arizona, to the Grand Canyon.
Biosphere 2
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Billed as “the world’s largest geoscience experiment,” Biosphere 2 is a controlled environment created to understand Earth’s ecosystems and the effects of climate change. Visit this University of Arizona lab to experience its diverse environments, including lush mangrove swamps and moist rainforests, a far cry from the arid desert that covers much of the state.
Canyon de Chelly National Monument
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The vast Canyon de Chelly National Monument has been inhabited by various Native American groups for thousands of years. This stunning monument features 800-foot-tall spires, prehistoric rock art, towering sandstone cliffs and stunningly lush desert canyons. The park is located on Navajo land in the northeastern part of the state.
Antelope Canyon
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The canyons in this corner of the state are on Navajo land and require a tour guide to enter, but it’s well worth planning ahead to hike the narrow canyon and watch the light reflect off the red rocks. There are two locations, Upper and Lower Antelope Canyon, and both are among the most beautiful areas of Arizona and are simply stunning.
Meteor Crater National Historic Site
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If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if a meteorite hit Earth, head to Meteor Crater National Monument near Winslow, Arizona. Nearly a mile wide and 550 feet deep, the crater shows what would happen if a 150-foot-wide meteorite hit Earth. Visitors can walk along the crater’s rim or view the devastation from the visitor’s center at the crater’s edge.
Saguaro National Park
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Part of the national park, which is shared by the city of Tucson, it plays an important role in protecting the cactus-filled Sonoran Desert landscape. But in addition to being home to the largest cactus colony in the USA, Saguaro National Park also offers trails to petroglyphs and drives through the Arizona desert’s most spectacular scenery.
Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park
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Imagine this: a vast valley dotted with towering sandstone pinnacles that rise up to 1,000 feet high, seemingly rising from the earth. This is Monument Valley, a park on the Navajo Reservation that offers some of the most incredible desert scenery in the world. After taking in the views, visit artisans selling handmade jewelry and Navajo goods.
Montezuma Castle National Monument
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Located in Camp Verde, Arizona, this monument protects a group of rock-cut dwellings built by the Sinagua people between approximately 1050 and 1425. The 20-room dwellings are beautifully preserved and show how these ancient people survived in the harsh desert.
Desert Botanical Garden
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Arizona’s desert regions are home to an incredible variety of plants and trees, a fact that’s celebrated at Phoenix’s Desert Botanical Garden. The 55-acre garden focuses on local plants but also displays thousands of species of desert wildflowers, trees and cacti from around the world.
Chiricahua National Monument
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Utah isn’t the only state with bizarrely shaped hoodoos and precariously balanced rocks: Chiricahua National Monument in southeastern Arizona has been nicknamed the “Rock Wonderland” for its surreal rock formations, and the park also protects human habitation dating back thousands of years.
Coconino Lava River Cave
A visit to this mile-long lava tube cave in Coconino National Forest, about a 30-minute drive from downtown Flagstaff, is a magical experience. Geologists estimate that the cave was formed by a nearby volcanic eruption about 700,000 years ago. Evidence of the lava “rivers” that carved the cavern can still be seen, including “lava rocks” (tiny stalactite-like formations formed by the dripping) and a wave-like floor.
Walnut Canyon National Monument
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Walnut Canyon National Monument is one of Arizona’s geological wonders. The canyon is deep, 350 feet below the rim, and is located southeast of downtown Flagstaff, Arizona. Walnut Canyon is an amazing place, but the park also protects the ruins of ancient cliff dwellings built into the rock.
Chapel of the Holy Cross
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The Chapel of the Holy Cross is built among the vibrant red rocks of Coconino National Forest just outside of Sedona, Arizona. The church attracts pilgrims who come to worship there and tourists who visit for its interesting architecture. It is one of the most unusual churches in the United States and offers spectacular views across the desert landscape.
