Phoenix is the capital of Arizona and the sixth largest city in the United States. If you like life in a booming city, Phoenix is for you. It is home to the Heard Museum, the internationally acclaimed center for Native American culture and arts. It boasts a ballet company, an art museum, a botanical garden and a Symphony Hall. It also has 34 golf courses. Phoenix is city life at its best.
Tucson is Arizona's second-largest city. It is one of the oldest continually inhabited regions on the North American continent. Tucson has 350 sunny days each year, and is known for its outdoor activities: the El Tour de Tucson bike race, the WGC-Accenture Match Play Golf Championship and La Fiesta de los Vaqueros, the Tucson Rodeo.
While Tucson and Phoenix are located in the Sonoran Desert, the city of Flagstaff, at 7000 feet, is surrounded by Ponderosa pine forest. Flagstaff is a small city, but it boasts more than 200 restaurants and nightspots. It has a university, and a variety of cultural, scientific and historic attractions.
City of Show Low is located in the White Mountains. If you enjoy swimming, boating, hiking and skiing, Show Low is a great place for you to live. With a population of 11,473, it has a small-town feel, but with six radio stations and two television stations, three shopping centers and 14 hotels, it has many of the amenities of a small city.
If you're looking for a home in the Wild West, Tombstone, Arizona, is your town. In Tombstone, horses and carriages share the street with cars. Men and women in 19th-century western garb walk the sidewalks. Granted, they are actors playing to the tourists, who are Tombstone's main source of income. But in its many original 1880s buildings, and numerous museums, Tombstone keeps its Western heritage alive.
Sierra Vista in southern Arizona is a birder's paradise. Known as the Hummingbird capital of the United States, it is a great place to watch not only flocks of migrating birds, but also many other kinds of wildlife. The lush Ramsey Canyon Preserve and the San Pedro Riverbank contain many fine hiking trails. If you enjoy wildlife and a small-town atmosphere, Sierra Vista is a great place for you to settle down.
If you are interested in hard-core desert, Yuma is your town. Though located at the confluence of the Colorado and Gila Rivers, Yuma is surrounded by desert landscapes. With more sunshine than any other city on earth, and with its low sandy plains and dunes, Yuma offers what most people think of when they think of desert.
Sedona, Arizona, is a place for spiritual and personal enrichment. If you are looking for the town in Arizona with the highest concentration of people who do dream analysis, card readings, astrology, energy healing, meditation and other alternative spiritual practices, that place in Sedona. With its beautiful red rocks and evergreen vegetation, Sedona has gained a reputation for being a "global power spot."
Green Valley is the perfect place to retire. A short drive from the amenities of Tucson, Green Valley is itself a small city of 50,000 people. Green Valley has 300 days a year of sunshine. Its average temperature is 85 degrees. It offers golfing, hiking, 12 active recreation centers and many active senior clubs.
Prescott is one of the lesser-known cities in Arizona. The first capital of the Arizona Territory, Prescott was originally on mining center. Prescott has many Victorian-style homes, and a downtown with many historic buildings. As the host of Frontier Days and the world's oldest rodeo, Prescott celebrates its heritage. If you would like a city with a strong sense of history and a climate moderated by 5,400 feet of altitude, Prescott is the town for you.
