Phoenix, AZ in 9 Hours 2 Minutes

City Highlights

• Location: Phoenix, Arizona, USA

• Population (metro): 4.84 million

• Known for: The largest city in the Southwest, the City in the Desert, significant parks and recreation areas located in and around the city, thriving Hispanic culture

• Weather during visit: Mostly Sunny, 17-25 ºC (63-77ºF)

• Time in Place: 9 hours 2 minutes

The Valley of the Sun, home to Phoenix and several other cities, is a thriving desert environment crossed with a sprawling modern metropolis. With massive rock formations dotting the city and mighty saguaro cacti poking through the urban landscape, this arid environment has become a fantastic city for those visiting to escape: whether it be from cold weather or just from the strains of daily life. Like most major cities in the West, Phoenix has developed into an environment celebrating its natural wonders while expanding into a tech center and attempting to improve its urban design with infrastructure projects.

I visited Phoenix right as the weather back home was starting to turn cold (the first snow of the season occurred while I was out of town), and was primarily visiting for a meeting with a friend. However, I wanted to ensure that I had some extra time to visit a few sites while I was in town as it was my first time not only in Phoenix but Arizona as a whole. I was blown away by several aspects of the city and had an incredibly positive experience enjoying the heat in the Valley.

Arriving in Phoenix: Harbor in the Desert

The only way to reach Phoenix beyond driving is by flying, as the city has no outside passenger rail connections, and certainly no aquatic transportation in the sprawling Sonoran Desert. The primary international airport is Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX), which provides domestic services from San Diego to Boston, Anchorage and Honolulu to Orlando and Miami. There is also international service to destinations in Europe and Latin America. American Airlines has a large “fortress” hub at Sky Harbor, with 40% of all traffic through Phoenix in 2023 on American. The majority of international service is flown on American, and there are several Admirals Clubs located in Terminal 4. Delta, United, and several non-airline lounges also have locations in PHX. Other airlines with significant operations at Sky Harbor include Frontier and Southwest, with the latter offering some international service to Mexico. The Phoenix metro is home to several smaller airports as well, such as Phoenix Mesa-Gateway, a large hub for Allegiant Airlines, and Scottsdale, a bustling private jet destination.

Arriving at PHX I found the terminal to be standard with nothing immediately standing out one way or another. The airport is designed similarly to Fort Lauderdale or Los Angeles where a loop road with terminals running the outside of the loop and flanked by parallel runways. Outside of security, however, the concourse is notably nicer with a larger variety of shops, restaurants, and seating options available to passengers. Sky Harbor has historically ranked highly for its customer service and flight reliability, partially thanks to its favorable desert environment. PHX manages to maintain this high reliability without some tools used by other major airports, like specialized auto land approaches that allow pilots to land when they cannot see the runway before landing.

One of the best things about Sky Harbor is the relative ease of getting into the city which is largely due to the Sky Train, an automated people mover system designed to get passengers between terminals, rental car facilities, and public transportation options. The Sky Train runs frequently with extremely reliable service due to its autonomous running, platform screen doors, and large number of trains. A short five-minute ride from the terminal and I was at the 44th Street stop, the connection to Phoenix’s Valley Metro LRT system.

The Modern Iron Horse

Railways have historically played a key role in the economy of Phoenix, but primarily through the transportation of goods like ores and agricultural products. Passenger service has, at least in modern times, not shared this, as Amtrak ended service to Phoenix in 1996. Until 2008, the city was the largest in the United States without a form of regularly scheduled passenger rail service. This was rectified with the opening of the first phase of Valley Metro Rail, which moved the dishonorable distinction to Columbus, OH.

Valley Metro Rail is a nearly 50 km (29 mi) long light rail line with 41 stations providing service to approximately 33,000 daily riders. Since the line’s opening, there have been multiple service expansions, including the most recent opening on January 27, 2024, and a complimentary streetcar line running through downtown Tempe. The system primarily runs using Kinki Sharyo low-floor LRVs, with Brookville and Siemens units running on the Tempe Streetcar. Units are typically paired in sets of two or three, and much of the system runs in a Houston-style median alignment, allowing traffic to freely flow on either side of the tracks.

In addition to the light rail system, Valley Metro also operates an extensive bus network that spans significant portions of the greater metro area. During my time in Phoenix, I ended up using the bus system more than I did the light rail, and I found it to be rather enjoyable though nothing exceptionally remarkable; it is similar to other bus systems of its size in the US. One thing that is above average though is the number of bus shelters, especially helpful for keeping the large numbers of riders the system sees out of the sun while waiting for buses as headways on most lines are only every 30 minutes.

After departing from the 44th Street stop on the SkyTrain and taking a moving walkway across both the Grand Canal and half of Washington Ave, I was deposited directly into the light rail station. Here I was able to purchase a day pass for both the buses and light rail for $4 which I found to be a fantastic deal as a normal one-way ticket is $2 for either the bus or light rail. As of 2024, Valley Metro has also started rolling out new reloadable fare cards that will automatically include fare capping on daily, weekly, and monthly pass levels. This is a fantastic feature that more cities should implement. At the time of my visit, this new system was still in the pre-introduction phase and my day pass was a paper ticket with a magnetic stripe that was inserted into the dipper on buses and presented as proof-of-payment on the light rail.

While waiting for my bus, I noticed a lot of fancy-looking cars with a variety of spinning sensors on them and no one behind the wheel. In fact, there was often no one in the vehicle at all. This was my first time seeing fully autonomous vehicles on public roadways in person, but this has become a normal sight for Phoenix. The city is used as one of the testing grounds for Waymo, a ride-hailing service similar to Uber or Lyft except for using a fleet of Jaguar EVs specially equipped with LIDAR and other sensors that allow for driverless operations. I did not use a Waymo personally while in Phoenix, and thus cannot comment directly on the passenger experience, but from what I have been told by a friend local to Phoenix is that they are generally around the same prices as an Uber when factoring in the tip, but the pickup times can vary greatly. There is a great video showing the inside of a similar Waymo vehicle in San Fransisco by David Imel here. I did manage to get a few good photos of Waymos in Phoenix, including this one which highlights a safe, effective, and comfortable vehicle that helps get people where they want to go quickly, with a Waymo in front of it.

I boarded a northbound 44 bus after about a 15-minute wait, with the bus running on time but only with 30-minute headways, a potential area of improvement for Valley Metro as the bus was nearly full for my entire journey. While never full, there was a high amount of people getting on and off at nearly every stop. Phoenix is an incredibly sprawling city with a variety of development types. The bus took us through dense urban areas, office parks, and suburban neighborhoods alike. The further north we went, generally, the less dense the developments were. It was interesting to have the roads curve through mountains, lined with luxury houses climbing up the sides. After about an hour, I reached my stop at Tayto & Mayo, right near the entrance of the Musical Instrument Museum.

A Musical World Tour

One thing that I wanted to make sure I visited while in Phoenix was the Musical Instrument Museum, an impressive facility constructed in 2010 that houses over 15,000 instruments from every corner of the globe. After checking in at the front desk with my prepaid ticket that cost $20 online, I was given an exhibit guide along with a headset. The headset is part of what makes the museum so special. Musical instruments do not (usually) make sound on their own, and it would be rather difficult to find enough trained musicians to perform on the often antique and fragile instruments housed in the museum. This is not even to mention the level of noise that would produce. Instead, at each exhibit (and sometimes multiple times per exhibit) TVs are showing a performance that your headset wirelessly links to when you get close, syncing the headset’s audio to the performance. It is a brilliant solution to a unique problem posed by the nature of such a museum and makes the experience more immersive for guests.

When the museum states it exhibits instruments from around the world, it is not kidding. Even the smallest countries, ones that many people may not even know exist, are well represented with a display. After a brief introduction video, an escalator takes you up to the main exhibit floor. The docents pointed me to the right, leading me into the Africa wing, which is probably the largest collection in the museum thanks in large part to the diversity present. In addition to each nation having instruments on display, there are also descriptions of how the instruments are made, the history of their use, and their cultural relevance historically and presently. It is incredible to see just the sheer number of instruments available from even the smallest countries, and how they each have something unique about them compared to their neighbors.

After Africa was Asia, Given that Asia is home to some of the largest and most diverse countries in the world, there were often multiple sections for a given country, each diving into specific topics like a certain ethnic group’s culture or religion, with more depth than could otherwise be explained in a single exhibit. During my time in the Asia section, a few school groups were touring the area as well. Curators were present able to answer the children's questions and provide a few demonstrations of instruments. also got to see a few examples of my favorite instrument I discovered in the museum, the khong mon, a tuned brass gong-chime from Thailand (a demonstration of this is available here).

There were then sections on Oceania (including some very impressive slit-drums from Vanuatu), South America, and Central America. Across the main hall from the large exhibit space that I was in for the previous 3 hours was the section on North America and Europe. One thing that the MIM does remarkably well is not prioritize the music of the Eurocentric canon of music over that from other countries, instead allowing for music from around the world to speak for itself. I was exposed to gumboot dancing from South Africa, mountain horns from Tibet, religious music from India, thumb pianos from Togo, and communicative drumming from across Polynesia before I even made it to the so-called “Western Canon”. Unfortunately, this deep dive into non-Eurocentric music meant that I spent the vast majority of my allotted time for the museum exploring these sections, and I didn’t get to thoroughly explore the North America and Europe sections. One thing I did notice from my brief walk through the North American section, however, was a point to include music from Native American tribes, as well as emphasize the musical contributions of non-European musicians to modern American music.

After about three and a half hours exploring (but not completing) the museum’s collections, I was nearly done with my visit. My trip was not complete, however, without first stopping at the automated music wing to watch a demonstration from MIM’s largest instrument, the orchestra Apollonia. Apollonia is a European dance organ first constructed in 1926 and features a variety of drums, organs, and other instruments to produce fully orchestrated pieces at the push of a button. Weighing over two tons and having over 600 organ pipes, Apollonia was incredibly fun to see in action, and no trip to the museum is complete without seeing it in person.

And with that demonstration, my time at the Musical Instrument Museum was complete. They list on their website that most visitors spend around 3 hours exploring, but I could have spent multiple days there combing through the archives of musical history. There are also plenty of other sections of the museum that I did not visit or have yet to mention, such as an interactive room where patrons can try their hand at instruments from the collection, a cafe with a decently large menu, and the ever-necessary museum gift shop with various instruments that visitors can take home with them. It is rather apparent in this report, but I loved the MIM; it was everything I hoped it would be and then some. One thing that I neglected to see on the museum’s website before my visit that almost caused me trouble was a no backpack policy inside the exhibits, but I was thankfully using my sling that day, and they let me in with it provided I kept it flipped to my front during the visit; further reason that you should use slings and similar bags for daypacks instead of a true backpack. All of the docents, curators, and other staff were remarkably friendly and informative, leading to a fantastic museum experience. The next time I visit Phoenix I will certainly be paying them another visit.

City in the Desert

Leaving the museum and walking back to the bus stop, I was able to enjoy the warmer weather and low humidity that Phoenix is famous for. During my visit, it was warm but never overly hot, a welcome change from the (literally) freezing weather that I had left back home. The sun was rather intense compared to what I was used to though, but there was one of the numerous bus shelters available at the stop while I waited the ten or so minutes for my bus. I managed to take the 44 to the 3 bus with a relatively short wait (around 5 minutes), bringing me back towards PHX before curing east to see another must-visit item from my list: Papago Park and its Hole in the Rock.

The bus dropped me right at the entrance to the Phoenix Zoo, a helpful connection with a few lines sharing the terminus creating a sort of mini hub. From the stop, it was around a 10-minute walk to the visitor center for Papago Park via some of the park’s many walking trails. A further 5 minutes of walking led me to Hole in the Rock. Next to the parking lot for the site was one of the few ponds in the park, contrasting nicely against the sandy red soil that inhabits the desert southwest. There was also a good variety of flora and fauna to view, such as American Coots, rabbits, songbirds, palms, and various types of cacti. The pond even had a few people fishing out of it, most likely largemouth bass stocked from the park’s in-house fishery.

Hole in the Rock is a natural formation caused by the erosion of sandstone. It is not a new formation, and there is evidence that the native Hohokam people were able to track solstices and equinoxes using marked sticks and the sun’s position in the hole. The cave is reachable by a deceivingly easy hiking trail, but be warned that the trail has multiple points where footing can be uneven and there are several sharp drop-offs, including from the cave mouth itself. The view from the top, however, is spectacular. You can see views of downtown Phoenix, Sky Harbor Airport, and the Maricopa Mountains beyond. This is also another point to see just how sprawling the metro has become with development stretching out as far as the bound of the mountains will let it.

From the backside of the hole, you can see other attractions of Papago Park, like the Desert Botanical Gardens and other geologic formations along the Double Butte Trail. I spent a good hour in the cave, just watching people come and go, planes take off and land, enjoying the beautiful sight before me. Now and then I could see hikers climbing up the other peaks located within the park or would notice a particularly large saguaro dotting the landscape like alien trees on a foreign planet. Never before had I visited a space that felt so extraterrestrial and familiar at the same time; a space that seemed hostile to life yet full of it at once.

Having spent a couple of hours total in the area, I made my way back to the bus stop in front of the zoo, this time grabbing a 56 bus for a short ride through Arizona State University’s campus before dropping me off at the light rail station for Priest and Washington. The Kinki Sharyo trainsets felt modern and well cared for. Most important of all, however, was the excellent air conditioning. Each station on the LRT system is designed to complement its surroundings, which makes for enjoyable variety along the route, especially with some stops having elaborately designed canopies that not only shield riders from the sun but look aesthetically pleasing while doing so. The airport station is a great example of this, my personal favorite of the ones I saw, and also my stop for this trip. It was a rather short trip, but I ended back where I started, finishing the loop. While I spent more time in Phoenix on this trip, most of that was with a friend, not doing the normal traveling things.

Phoenix is a large city, and I did not get to explore a signification portion of it during my trip. My goal was to simply find a few things that interested me, and spend some quality time enjoying them instead of hopping from point to point quickly like I normally do. My “power trips” are often designed as a “greatest hits” version of exploring a city, noting all the unique sites I want to see, and figuring out how I can do all of them in a very short timeframe. There are plenty of things that I want to see in Phoenix that I didn’t get to on this trip, like the statehouse and downtown, but I don’t regret my choice to have a slower trip this time around. Each method is unique and special in its own right, and it was almost meditative to be able to slow down and enjoy the space that I was in. Phoenix is a city that deserves more exploration on my part, but I am glad that I have something to look forward to on my next visit.