The 11 Best Hotels in Phoenix and Scottsdale

"With easy access to 55,000 acres of hiking and biking trails that criss-cross the saguaro-studded Sonoran landscape, days at the new Adero Scottsdale are made for outdoor adventures. But it’s after the seemingly alway-shining Arizona sun finally sets that things really get exciting. The hotel is the rare property to open within a Dark Sky community (of which Arizona only has a handful); this means, in layperson terms, that you’ll have access to some killer stargazing. The hotel’s on-site Dark Sky experts (fondly referred to as “Star Dudes”) lead stargazing sessions. For self-guided tours of the galaxy, telescopes along with daily night sky charts can be delivered to guest rooms; 177 of them, kitted out in desert hues with a midcentury vibe (Frank Lloyd Wright’s home Taliesin West is just a few miles away). If sipping while looking skyward is preferable, the outdoor lawn and patio at the hotel’s bar-restaurant Cielo, is a solid place to watch the surrounding McDowell Mountains turn a sherbety shade as the stars take the stage for the late show." - Lizbeth Scordo