It’s not somewhere you’d normally think of for winter sun – but with “reliably rain-free” weather, beautiful landscapes and temperatures averaging 22°C, Arizona makes for a wonderful escape at this time of year, says Louise Roddon in The Times. A little way to the east of the state capital, Phoenix, lies the Scottsdale region, where there are “gorgeously flop-worthy” hotels offering “wellness” activities including “desert bathing”, outdoor yoga and “meditative stargazing”.
Scottsdale itself is a “low-key” town where one-storey stores sell Native-American trinkets and cowboy boots, but there are also some “unassuming-looking yet seriously cool” restaurants and bars. Among its best hotels is the Four Seasons, where the “appealingly homely” adobe casitas have balconies overlooking “jagged” Pinnacle Peak and the pale blue hills beyond.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Built in the 1950s, nearby Mountain Shadows is a “mid-century modern” boutique hotel that was once a favourite of the Rat Pack and still has a “buzzy vibe and pared-back glamour”. Next door sits Sanctuary Camelback Mountain, a spa resort where Jay-Z and Beyoncé honeymooned.
The forest itself is bleakly beautiful, and riding there beneath the navy-blue desert sky can be “unutterably lovely”. On the lower Salt River, which is wonderful for kayaking, herons fish, and violet and green swallows flit among the reeds. And no trip here is complete without a visit to Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wright’s winter home, with its windows overlooking cactus-strewn plains.
Premier Holidays (premierholidays.co.uk) has seven-night breaks from £2,649pp, including flights and car hire.
-
Political cartoons for February 10Cartoons Tuesday's political cartoons include halftime hate, the America First Games, and Cupid's woe
-
Why is Prince William in Saudi Arabia?Today’s Big Question Government requested royal visit to boost trade and ties with Middle East powerhouse, but critics balk at kingdom’s human rights record
-
Wuthering Heights: ‘wildly fun’ reinvention of the classic novel lacks depthTalking Point Emerald Fennell splits the critics with her sizzling spin on Emily Brontë’s gothic tale
-
6 gorgeous homes in warm climesFeature Featuring a Spanish Revival in Tucson and Richard Neutra-designed modernist home in Los Angeles
-
Touring the vineyards of southern BoliviaThe Week Recommends Strongly reminiscent of Andalusia, these vineyards cut deep into the country’s southwest
-
Nan Goldin: The Ballad of Sexual Dependency – an ‘engrossing’ exhibitionThe Week Recommends All 126 images from the American photographer’s ‘influential’ photobook have come to the UK for the first time
-
American Psycho: a ‘hypnotic’ adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis classicThe Week Recommends Rupert Goold’s musical has ‘demonic razzle dazzle’ in spades
-
Properties of the week: houses near spectacular coastal walksThe Week Recommends Featuring homes in Cornwall, Devon and Northumberland
-
Melania: an ‘ice-cold’ documentaryTalking Point The film has played to largely empty cinemas, but it does have one fan
-
Nouvelle Vague: ‘a film of great passion’The Week Recommends Richard Linklater’s homage to the French New Wave
-
Wonder Man: a ‘rare morsel of actual substance’ in the Marvel UniverseThe Week Recommends A Marvel series that hasn’t much to do with superheroes
