The state capital and largest city in Arizona is Phoenix it is also the sixth largest city in the US. The city is located along the normally dry Salt River. It is known as the Land of the Desert Sun. Phoenix is one of the more attractive metropolitan cities in the midst of the Arizona desert and mountain ranges.

It continues to be an important farming and industrial centre for the south west. Since the 1950s, Phoenix has been voted Americas Best City five times.

Scottsdale and the Biltmore District of Phoenix along Camelback Rd are the Valley's main up scale shopping areas. Old Town Scottsdale is the most popular tourist shopping area in the Valley. Arizona Centre shopping complex sits among towering palms, dramatic fountains and lush gardens. The centre has over 50 shops and restaurants, a cinema, massive sports bars and open-air vendors.

The most elegant hall in the city is the 1929 Orpheum Theatre, a Spanish-colonial baroque building with immense style. Broad way shows and international touring companies appear here.

Phoenix offers a lot of night life from clubs, to operas, and every thing. There is a multitude of Arizona night clubs, bars and dance clubs spread across the valley The younger set hangs out in Tempe, around the massive university, where there are many bars.

Golf is perhaps the most popular activity in the city with nearly 200 golf courses. Golf is not cheap in to play here. Eighteen holes at some of the Valleys premier resorts cost in excess of one hundred pounds.

The Heard Museum was founded by Dwight and Maie Bartlett Heard in 1929 to house their collection of American Indian artifacts and art. The original museum was eighth the size of to day's building. It has grown to more than 2,000 pieces of landscapes, poetry and person recollections.

The Desert Botanical Garden offers the finest collection of desert plants from a round the world in a out door setting. The garden has more than 50,000 plants on display throughout five thematic trails, which illustrate topics such as plants, conservation, desert living, desert wild flowers and people of the Sonoran Desert. The garden has lectures and work shops on desert landscaping and horticulture, nature art and photography, botanical art and illustration, health and wellness, and natural history. In addition, the garden offers specialized tours, concerts, special events, seasonal exhibits, an out door cafe, a gift and plant shop.