Phoenix and Scottsdale have a lot of the charm of other desert gay getaways like Palm Springs (just a 4-hour drive away)-but are more accessible and provide a lot of great entertainment options. Sometimes considered a desert version of Miami’s South Beach, this oasis boasts popular nightlife and glamorous resorts, and it's a major art center for the metropolitan Phoenix area. Part of the greater Phoenix area, Scottsdale is an upscale resort town and shopping destination.
The many slick and trendy dining, shopping, and gay nightclub options - coupled with the sunny dry climate and abundance of outdoors diversions - make this an increasingly popular lesbian and gay travel destination. The city sits low in an arid valley surrounded by mountains and high desert, its once-rugged terrain having been replaced to a large degree by massive blocks of residential subdivisions, strip retail and office developments, and oasis-like golf and tennis resorts.
Little more than a desert frontier settlement just a century ago, Phoenix has grown rapidly into one of the American West’s most dynamic and exciting getaways.
