Explore Phoenix

St. Mary's Basilica, the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, is the mother church of the Catholic diocese of Phoenix, in the centre of downtown. The parish dates from 1881; the present church, in Mission Revival style with twin bell towers, was completed in 1914, and its stained-glass windows were made in Munich. It became a minor basilica in 1985, and Pope John Paul II visited in 1987.

Arizona Science Center is a science museum in Heritage and Science Park in downtown Phoenix, founded in 1984 and housed since 1997 in a building by the architect Antoine Predock. Four levels hold hands-on exhibits on physics, the human body, flight and the Earth, with a planetarium, a five-storey giant-screen theatre and live science demonstrations.

Phoenix Art Museum, founded in 1959, stands on Central Avenue in midtown Phoenix, in a complex enlarged by the architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien. Its collection of more than 20,000 works covers American and Western art, Asian, European and Latin American art, modern and contemporary art and fashion design, and includes the Thorne Miniature Rooms.

The Arizona State Capitol, completed in 1900 for the territorial government, stands at the west end of Washington Street in Phoenix. The building of tuff and granite, topped by a copper dome with a Winged Victory weathervane, now houses the Arizona Capitol Museum, with restored legislative chambers and exhibits on the state's history; modern office wings hold the legislature.

The Heard Museum, on Central Avenue in Phoenix, was founded in 1929 by Dwight and Maie Heard to show their collection of Native American art. In a Spanish Colonial Revival building around courtyards, its galleries present the art and cultures of American Indian peoples, especially of the Southwest, including hundreds of Hopi katsina dolls and an exhibition on Indian boarding schools.

The Phoenix Zoo is a non-profit zoo of about 50 hectares in Papago Park, on the east side of Phoenix, opened in 1962. Some 3,000 animals live along four trails themed on Arizona, Africa, the tropics and a children's area. In 1963 the zoo began a breeding herd of Arabian oryx that helped return the species to the wild.

Papago Park is a desert park of red sandstone buttes on the border of Phoenix and Tempe, about 12 km east of downtown. Short trails lead to Hole-in-the-Rock, a butte pierced by a natural opening used by the Hohokam to follow the sun, and to the white pyramid tomb of Arizona's first governor, George Hunt. The Phoenix Zoo and the Desert Botanical Garden lie within it.

The Desert Botanical Garden, opened in 1939, covers 56 hectares in Papago Park, about 12 km east of downtown Phoenix. Some 50,000 plants from the world's deserts grow along themed trails, among them the Desert Discovery Loop and the Sonoran Desert Nature Loop, with saguaros, agaves and wildflowers; in December the paths are lit by candle lanterns for Las Noches de las Luminarias.

Camelback Mountain is a peak of 824 metres between Phoenix and Scottsdale, about 13 km north-east of downtown, named for its outline of a kneeling camel. Two steep trails, Echo Canyon and Cholla, climb about 400 metres over rock and loose ground to the summit, with views over the whole valley; the Praying Monk rock stands on the camel's head.