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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A zoo opened in 1988 on the edge of the Huentitán canyon in the north-east of the city. Its sections by continent hold big cats, elephants, giraffes, primates, bears and birds, with an aviary, a herpetarium, a safari train and a cable car with views into the canyon.

A 19th-century cemetery in the historic centre, opened in 1848 and closed to burials in 1896, laid out by Manuel Gómez Ibarra behind a neoclassical portico. It is now a museum, visited by day among its tombs and arcades and on evening tours that tell the legends of the place.

A former orphanage and hospice founded by Bishop Juan Cruz Ruiz de Cabañas, built by Manuel Tolsá from 1805 around 23 courtyards and a domed chapel. The chapel carries José Clemente Orozco's murals of 1936–39, including The Man of Fire in the dome; it is now a museum and a UNESCO World Heritage site.

A covered market of about 40,000 square metres next to the Hospicio Cabañas, officially Mercado Libertad, designed by Alejandro Zohn and opened in 1958. Its three floors hold stalls of food, fruit, clothing, leather, crafts and electronics, with cheap eateries on the upper level.

A neoclassical theatre in the historic centre, opened in 1866 behind a portico of Corinthian columns and named after the liberal general Santos Degollado. Its horseshoe auditorium has a ceiling painted with a scene from Dante's Divine Comedy; it is home to the Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra.

A Franciscan sanctuary of the 17th century in the centre of Zapopan, about 7 km north-west of central Guadalajara. It keeps a small wooden figure of the Virgin brought from Spain in the 16th century, carried in a procession of hundreds of thousands every 12 October; a Huichol museum stands beside it.

A museum of the INAH in an 18th-century seminary building facing the Rotonda de los Jaliscienses Ilustres. Its rooms around a courtyard cover the palaeontology, archaeology and history of western Mexico, from a mammoth skeleton and shaft-tomb figures to colonial painting.

A circle of 17 fluted columns in a garden north of the cathedral, built from 1952 in honour of notable people of Jalisco. Bronze statues of writers, artists, politicians and scientists stand around it, and the remains of several of them lie in an urn chamber beneath.

The cathedral of the Archdiocese of Guadalajara in the historic centre, begun in 1561 and consecrated in 1618, with neo-Gothic spires covered in yellow tiles added after earthquakes in the 19th century. It stands between four squares laid out in the shape of a cross.

The seat of the government of Jalisco on the Plaza de Armas, a Baroque building completed in 1790. Above its main staircase José Clemente Orozco painted a mural of Miguel Hidalgo in 1937, and a museum on the upper floor covers the history of the state.

A neo-Gothic church dedicated to the Blessed Sacrament, designed by Adamo Boari and built between 1897 and 1972. Its stained-glass windows came from France, and the clock in its tower has mechanical figures of the twelve apostles that come out at set hours.

A triumphal arch of pink stone over Avenida Vallarta, built in 1939–41 as the city's entrance on the new road from Mexico City and Morelia. Its double arch in a Baroque revival style carries the city's coat of arms, and a viewing platform sits on top.

Hoover Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam across the Colorado River in Black Canyon, on the border of Nevada and Arizona, about 40 km south-east of Las Vegas. Built between 1931 and 1936, it rises 221 metres and holds back Lake Mead. A visitor centre, an overlook and guided tours of the power plant and the dam's interior are open to the public.

Las Vegas Motor Speedway is a motor-racing complex about 25 km north-east of downtown Las Vegas, opened in 1996. Its 2.4 km oval, banked at 20 degrees, holds two NASCAR Cup Series races a year, alongside a drag strip and a dirt track. In the winter months the grounds host Glittering Lights, a drive-through display of holiday lights.