“It wasn’t the outcome we wanted, but they balled out this season,” Perez said. “In the tournament, they balled out. No one expected us to go this far with as many freshmen as we had. But they just totally balled out this season. And we love our Wildcats.”
Arizona
Arizona: a first-time guide
For most, Arizona conjures up images of sweeping painted deserts, towering saguaro cacti, isolated winding highways and endless sunshine. Yet that’s just one piece of this tremendous and remarkably diverse state.
Home to the fifth-largest city in the US, one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, three national parks and nearly 21 million acres of National Forest land, Arizona is defined by stark contrasts. One moment you’re wearing a t-shirt walking in a hip city neighborhood, and a couple of hours later, you’re bundled up skiing at 10,000ft. This is a place where spiny cacti meet lush pine forests, where ancient cliff dwellings sit not far from retro neon signs along Route 66, and where Tucson – one of the USA’s two UNESCO Cities of Gastronomy – dishes out some of the best food the country.
With endless ways to get outdoors and new cultural experiences to discover, where do you start? The Arizona you want to experience – whether through dreamy deserts, through vibrant cities, in the high country or on scenic drives – is totally up to you.
When should I go to Arizona?
This depends on what kind of experience you envision and where you’re headed. In the southern part of the state, which includes Phoenix and Tucson, winter into early spring (December through April) is ideal weather-wise, with daytime temperatures ranging from the high 60°s to low 80°s F (19° to 28°C). The downside? Everyone wants to be in Arizona this time of year, from hiking and golf enthusiasts to sunshine-seeking visitors from colder climates and Spring Training baseball fans. Expect maximum traffic, crowds and rates for services like rental cars and lodging.
Up north, as Arizonans like to say, winter is very different. Towns in the White Mountains sit at elevations well over 8000ft (2438m) and soaring 10,000ft-to-12,000ft (3048m-to-3657m) mountains dot the San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff – so snow is as abundant as sunshine.
Arizona summers, on the other hand, aren’t for the faint of heart – at least not in the desert. Temperatures regularly surpass 110°F (43°C), and during monsoon season (June through September), the weather alternates between stiflingly dry and suffocatingly humid. Higher-elevation destinations such as Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon are pleasant and drastically cooler, making summer the perfect time to explore northern Arizona.
At an elevation 4350ft (1326m), Sedona falls in the middle, getting a dusting of snow a few times each winter and typically remaining mildly cooler than Phoenix in the summer.
Budget-conscious travelers should consider September or October a bit of a shoulder season, with fewer visitors and warm yet tolerable weather. If you’re okay with spending all your waking hours poolside or indoors, look for incredible staycation deals at upscale resorts June through August. If you’re planning outdoor activities, remember that Arizona is a very dry place, so be sure to bring more water than you think you’ll need – especially in the sweltering summer.
How much time should I spend in Arizona?
You can hit the highlights in any one of Arizona’s cities on a weekend trip – the key word being “one.” To do any meaningful exploring – and more importantly, to get a real sense of how astoundingly diverse and big Arizona is – you’ll need at least four to five days, ideally seven to 10.
Basing yourself in Phoenix for a five-day trip, you could take a road trip to Sedona or one of the state’s three national parks, hit some of the Valley’s famous urban hiking trails and eat and drink your way through Scottsdale. With a full week or more, you can venture further afield to Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend near Page, stay overnight in the Grand Canyon, or explore lesser-known but certainly worthwhile gems like Picacho Peak, quirky Bisbee or Kartchner Caverns.
Is it easy to get in and around Arizona?
Phoenix and Tucson both have international airports, with PHX the substantially larger one. While most visitors fly into one of these and then drive to their final destination, there are also smaller regional airports throughout the state. Wherever you land, plan to pick up a rental car right away. While bigger cities and tourist hubs have buses and other public transport options, Arizona is overwhelmingly a driving destination. Service areas are surprisingly lacking even in the biggest metros, and wait times are commonly 30-45 minutes – which feels more like an eternity when it’s 100°F (37°C) out.
Insider tip: in Phoenix, book an off-airport rental, then take the light rail to pick it up. Airport fees inflate the cost of both rental vehicles and rideshares.
Top things to do in Arizona
Adventures in the Grand Canyon State are as diverse as its terrain and climates. In just one weekend, you can hike through the desert, dine in a globally recognized food city, take in views from nearly 12,000ft (3657m) and much more.
Hike through the Superstition Mountains
There are so, so many amazing places to hike throughout Arizona – and the rugged Superstitions have a special allure. Situated in far east Mesa, these mountains are easily accessible from anywhere in Phoenix and under 2 hours from Tucson. Experts can embark on ultra-challenging treks and spend literal days on the trail, while first-timers can take advantage of fantastic short and (mostly) sweet hikes. Check out the Hieroglyphic Trail, Wave Cave Trail or Treasure Loop Trail, all under 3 miles.
Experience an energy vortex in Sedona
One of the things that draws visitors to Sedona in droves is its naturally occurring energy vortexes. Many people believe these bring intense spiritual, transformational and even healing powers – and whether you believe that or not, there’s absolutely no question that Sedona’s vibe has a heightened…something. Find out for yourself at one of the more accessible vortex sites around town: Bell Rock, Boynton Canyon, Cathedral Rock or Airport Mesa.
If it’s hot out, cool off in a swimming hole afterward, or check out the natural water slides at Slide Rock State Park.
Explore one of the state’s oldest neighborhoods in Tucson
In Tucson’s Barrio Viejo, you’ll find art galleries and studios, elaborate murals and dozens of incredible restaurants all tucked into (and in between) colorful adobe buildings from the 1870s and ’80s. If you time it right, you can hit 5 Points Market & Restaurant for breakfast, then sit down to dinner at The Coronet, where the menu constantly changes and the cocktails are always top-notch.
Ride a high-elevation scenic gondola
A quick visit may not be enough time to summit Arizona’s highest mountain, 12,633ft-tall (3850m-tall) Humphreys Peak – but you can still soak in similar views. The scenic gondolas at Arizona Snowbowl in Flagstaff whisk you up to 11,500ft (3505m), from where, on clear days, you can see the Grand Canyon and Sedona. The gondola runs almost year-round, with hiatuses between summer and ski season. In favorable-weather years, Snowbowl also opens a short gondola season for leaf-peeping in October.
On your way up (or back), stop by Mama B’s for a classic burger, fries and shake combo. The no-frills spot, formerly known as Mama Burger, is a local institution and has a fabulous mountain view to boot.
My favorite thing to do in Arizona
Horseshoe Bend is by no means a hidden gem – on the contrary, it attracts millions of visitors each year. Yet there’s a way to experience this iconic natural wonder without any of the crowds: by kayaking through it. As people crowd the viewing platforms trying to snap the perfect selfie, you’re 1000ft (305m) below, blissfully paddling the Colorado River, surrounded by impossibly steep canyon walls with no one around except some wild horses.
To check this epic adventure off your own bucket list, book a backhaul service with Kayak the Colorado or Kayak Horseshoe Bend. In both cases, a boat will take you and your kayak upriver, then you’ll paddle (on calm days, it’s really more of a float) back down to Lees Ferry. I’ve done this trip multiple times with both companies and in different seasons – while there’s truly no bad way to go about it, I do recommend staying in Marble Canyon since the area is super-remote, and you’ll need to be at the marina first thing in the morning.
How much money do I need for Arizona?
By and large, Arizona is largely affordable – though as everywhere, you can expect (much) higher prices on everything in bigger cities and big tourist destinations. While Sedona and Scottsdale have well-earned reputations for causing sticker shock, don’t be surprised by disarmingly high price tags in unassuming neighborhoods anywhere. Accommodation has the biggest variance, with options ranging from ultra-budget motel rooms to sprawling five-star resorts.
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Basic room for two (major city or tourism hub): $130–300 per night
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Basic room for two (smaller town): $60–120 per night
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Upscale hotel room (city, low season): $170–400 per night
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Upscale hotel room (city, peak season): $350-1000 per night
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Daily resort fee (applicable mostly in Tucson, Phoenix and Sedona): $30–55
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Airbnb (entire house, city or tourist area): $100–1500 per night
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Airbnb (entire house, smaller town): $70–175 per night
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Coffee: $4–8
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Sandwich: $8–18
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Fast-casual dinner for one: $16–25
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Average sit-down dinner for two: $60–100
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Pint of beer at the bar: $4–10
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Cocktail: $12–18
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Paletas (traditional Mexican frozen ice pops, usually made with fresh fruit): $3–7
Do I need a passport to cross from Arizona into Mexico?
While you should have a valid passport for any international travel, for US citizens, a passport card is sufficient for land crossing into Mexico from Arizona. With a look similar to a driver’s license, these provide proof of US citizenship (though they’re not valid for international air travel). Citizens with other nationalities should count on using their passports to cross into Mexico.
Watch your step in the Arizona desert
A lot of native venomous critters live in Arizona, particularly in the desert. These include rattlesnakes, scorpions and spiders – and while you should be mindful, there’s no reason to be afraid of them. Like most wildlife, these animals generally don’t want anything to do with humans and only strike or bite as a defense mechanism. When you’re out in nature, pay careful attention to your surroundings and watch your step, especially around bushes and large rocks.
Amid the ongoing spring heat, Arizona is in store for even hotter summer months. FOX 10’s Irene Snyder learns how Arizonans can stay safe and cool, while avoiding fire risks.
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The University of Arizona men’s basketball team closes out their historic season after losing to the University of Michigan in the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats had a tremendous season, breaking program records and earning several different recognitions and awards.
Over the course of the season, the Wildcats dominated with a 36-3 run, breaking the program record for most wins in program history. Previously, this record was 35 wins during the 1987-98 season.
Many of Arizona’s players were recognized for their outstanding work during the season. Notably, senior Jaden Bradley was named Big 12 Player of the Year. Freshman Koa Peat and Bradley were selected to the West All-Region team. Peat also earned the Most Outstanding Player across the western regionals. Another notable recognition was Bradley and freshman Brayden Burries earning All-American honors.
Head coach Tommy Lloyd also received lots of well deserved praise for the way he led this team. He was named Big 12 Coach of the Year and Naismith Coach of the Year. After much discourse during the coaching carousel and the possible coaching job at the University of North Carolina, Lloyd recently agreed to a five-year contract extension with Arizona.
Regular Season Dominance
Right off the bat, the Wildcats showed promise in their team. The Red-Blue showcase was a great introduction to the team and demonstration of their talent for this upcoming season. As many predicted, they dominated in the preseason matchups against Saint Mary’s College and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, blowing both teams out of the water.
Arizona continued to exert this dominance in their non-conference start to the season in November against tougher opponents. Their first competition was against the reigning NCAA Champions, No. 3 University of Florida, in Las Vegas. The Wildcats took the win 93-87, which was just the start of what was to come. Koa Peat made his college debut with a bang and proved he was a force to reckon with. Peat recorded 30 points on his debut, which also turned out to be his career high. When Arizona took the win against Florida, this was eye opening for a lot of people about the promise and talent that this team had to offer.
They had a close call against UCLA about two weeks later, taking the victory by a mere 4 points, 69-65. Arizona jumped significantly in the rankings since playing Utah Tech, where they were ranked No. 13, to taking the No. 5 spot. They only continued to climb in the AP rankings, inching up one position at a time. They were ranked No. 4 when they took the victory against No. 3 University of Connecticut, who won the national championship back in 2024. This win was just five days after they beat UCLA.
The Wildcats jumped right past the No. 3 spot after the UConn victory to the No. 2 spot as they took on the University of Denver, Norfolk State University and No. 20 Auburn University at home. After these three games, the Wildcats hit double digits and were holding a 10-0 record.
Christmas came early for the Wildcats as they grabbed the No. 1 spot in the AP polls in early December before playing No. 12 University of Alabama. Arizona held the No. 1 spot for nine consecutive weeks, which broke the program record that was previously held at eight weeks. They closed out their 2025 by adding four more victories to their roster, along with that No. 1 position.
After a notable regular season run, the Wildcats established themselves as a force to be reckoned with. They became the first team in AP Poll history to beat five ranked teams in their first nine games.
Undefeated Conference Run
The Wildcats began their new year and conference season on the road as they took their first Big 12 victory, 97-78, against the University of Utah. The following Wednesday, the Wildcats returned home for their first conference game in the McKale Center to face another team of Wildcats, Kansas State University. They blew them out of the water, taking a 101-76 victory. Throughout the course of the season, Arizona had 17 wins where they took the victory by 20+ points.
They continued asserting their dominance on both their home court and on the road. The first rivalry game of the season against ASU was a close one, but Arizona came out unscathed taking an 89-82 win. The Wildcats picked up three more wins against the University of Central Florida, the University of Cincinnati and West Virginia University before heading back to Utah to take on No. 13 BYU.
This was a close victory with the Wildcats beating the Cougars 86-83. The Arizona freshmen met their match with BYU freshman AJ Dybantsa, who was a contender for the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft, but still is uncertain if he will enter the portal this season. Dybantsa recorded 24 points for the Cougars while Burries lead the Wildcats with 29. The Wildcats pulled through with a late rally to take the victory and remain undefeated in their season.
The Wildcats closed out January with another win against the school up north but this time in enemy territory. Following their game against ASU, Arizona took a victory against Oklahoma State University at home. This marked the Wildcats’ 23rd win, which was an Arizona program record, as well as achieving the best start in Big 12 history. Arizona and the University of Miami Ohio were the remaining undefeated teams at this point in the season.
Looking forward to their next game, they were taking on No. 9 University of Kansas on their home court. The Jayhawks handed Arizona their first loss of the season in a hard fight. Kansas was able to maintain their perfect home record on Big Monday, going 39-0 under head coach Bill Self. Going into this game, Arizona knew it would be a tough one as Kansas had home court advantage, but they also possess dominant freshman and veteran players. They were led by Flory Bidunga and Melvin Council Jr., who each collected 23 points.
After this loss on Monday, Arizona looked forward to their next home game against No. 16 Texas Tech University on Valentine’s Day. Not only was it a special day because it was Valentine’s Day, but it was also ESPN’s College Gameday, where 14,688 fans sold out the McKale Center to watch this nationally televised spotlight on the Wildcats.
This was the fifth time that Arizona has been the host, with the last time being in 2022. It was also the first time that a game was played in the new McKale Center at ALKEME Arena after the announcement of a 15-year naming rights partnership between Arizona Athletics and ALKEME Insurance. During this game, Arizona also honored former Wildcat guard Caleb Love who was welcomed into the Ring of Honor with a ceremony at halftime.
The Texas Tech game was a nailbiter, with the lead changing 11 times and having 11 ties. The game eventually went into overtime after Ivan Kharchenkov shot late free throws, but unfortunately the Red Raiders were too strong and took the win 78-75. JT Toppin collected 31 points and 13 rebounds while Christian Anderson recorded 19 points and six 3-pointers for Texas Tech. Arizona fought until the end and put up a good fight with both Burries and Tobe Awaka scoring in double figures.
Because of these two back-to-back losses, Arizona took a fall in the AP rankings from No. 1 for nine consecutive weeks to No. 4 as they prepared to take on No. 23 BYU for the second time this season.
Arizona managed to get back in the winning column to close out the rest of their season taking on some familiar faces like BYU and No. 14 Kansas for the second time this season, as well as new ones. They took victories against No. 2 University of Houston, Baylor University, No. 6 Iowa State University and University of Colorado, Boulder to round out the season. They managed to get redemption against Kansas and avenge their first loss of the season with a 20+ point victory margin 84-61 at home.
They secured the Big 12 regular-season title and earned the No. 1 seed heading into the Big 12 Tournament.
Big 12 Champions
After the Wildcats closed out their conference season against Boulder with another victory, they looked towards the Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City. Arizona was the No. 1 seed and automatically advanced to the quarterfinals, where they took on No. 8 seed UCF. It was a clean sweep victory 81-59 to advance to the semifinals.
In the semifinals, they faced No. 5 seed Iowa State for the second time this season. Bradley cemented his name as the Big 12 Player of the Year after shooting a 3-pointer buzzer-beater to win the game and send Arizona to the finals. The Wildcats won 82-80 in a crazy finale.
Arizona faced No. 2 seed Houston in the finals of the Big 12 Tournament before stamping their ticket to the NCAA Tournament after a close win 79-74. This was the first time that Arizona has won the Big 12 Championship title since joining the conference back in 2024.
March Madness
Because of their pure dominance throughout the season and the Big 12 Tournament, Arizona was the No. 1 seed in the western region for the NCAA Tournament. All of Tucson buzzed with excitement over the start of the tournament, and most people made their brackets with Arizona taking the victory at the end of it all.
They headed down to San Diego for the first round of the tournament, where they played against No. 16 seed Long Island University. They took their first victory of the tournament with over a 30-point margin.
Later that weekend, Arizona advanced to play No. 9 seed Utah State University to finish out their weekend in San Diego. This was another victory to add to Arizona’s roster with the Wildcats’ winning 78-66.
Arizona returned home to Tucson, where they were greeted by loving fans showing their support upon their arrival to McKale Center at ALKEME Arena. They had a quick turnaround, though, as they were headed up to San Jose for the second round of the tournament. That Thursday, they took on No. 4 seed University of Arkansas in the Sweet 16.
In this matchup, Arizona showed strong offense with both Burries and Peat scoring 21 points, Kharchenkov scoring 15 and Bradley, Awaka and Motiejus Krivas tallying 14 points each. The Wildcats advanced to the Elite Eight after a 109-88 victory over Arkansas. This was their first appearance in the Elite Eight since 2015.
The Elite Eight matchup was against No. 2 seed Purdue University. Arizona got off to a slow start, letting Purdue take the lead for the majority of the first half and going into halftime. The Wildcats made a strong comeback in the second half to come out with the 79-64 victory taking them to the Final Four for the first time since 2001.
Arizona was heading to Indianapolis for the Final Four where they were set to play the No. 1 midwestern seed University of Michigan. Arizona fans migrated to the midwest to support their Wildcats as they ended the 25 year drought since they had played in the Final Four. Unfortunately, this game did not go as the Wildcats had hoped. They were unable to find their rhythm against Michigan’s tough defensive strategy with their strong offense and high shooting percentage.
Arizona fell to Michigan 91-73 in the Final Four round of the NCAA Tournament. Though they did not win it all after a very tough game, this does not diminish everything this team has done this season and everything they have done for the Arizona basketball program. This team will stand as one of the greats and did the Arizona and Tucson community proud on the national stage.
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Fan cheer and hold up signs as they wait at McKale Center on April 5, 2026 for the Arizona men’s basketball team to return from Indianapolis after their Final Four loss to Michigan the night before.
The two didn’t know each other, but engaged in conversation while they waited next to each other.
On the other side of the barricade was Tucsonan Beth Cole, who graduated from the university in 1997, the same year the Wildcats took home the national championship. She was out at McKale Center to show her love for the Final Four team.
“It’s a big thing for the city of Tucson, for the university,” she said. “It’s not a celebration like a national championship, but we should still be really happy and really proud and rally behind the team and coaching.
“They’ll be back,” she added.
The return of the Wildcats was a family affair for many Tucsonans, who showed up and showed out with kids in tow.
The Brown family, consisting of Devon and Chelsie, who are Arizona alums, and their two young sons, showed up around 11:30 a.m. to wait for the Wildcats. They held “welcome back” and “thank you” signs along the barricade for their favorite team and players.
Their sons also participate in Arizona’s youth basketball camps.
“We’re diehard Arizona fans,” Devon Brown said. “We were students years ago … and our kids, they scream ‘Bear Down,’ and they’re already choosing to come to the U of A when it’s their turn. Our circle of friends, our family, we’re all U of A alums.
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