20 Attractions to Explore Near Phoenix Zoo

This is a municipal park in the cities of Phoenix and Tempe, Arizona, United States. It has been designated as a Phoenix Point of Pride. It includes Hunt's Tomb, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This is a hilly desert park covering 1200 acres in its Phoenix extent and 296 acres in its Tempe extent.

The National Historical Fire Foundation is a museum dedicated to the historical preservation of firefighting equipment used throughout the years around the world. Its artifacts were originally the private collection of George F. Getz Jr which has five large exhibit galleries.

Desert Botanical Garden is a 140-acre botanical garden located in Papago Park, at 1201 N. Galvin Parkway in Phoenix, central Arizona. Founded by the Arizona Cactus and Native Flora Society in 1937 and established at this site in 1939, the garden now has more than 50,000 plants, in more than 4,000 taxa, one-third of which are native to the area, including 379 species, which are rare, threatened or endangered.

Tovrea Castle at Carraro Heights is a historic landmark in Phoenix, Arizona. The castle was built in the early 1900s by Alessio Carraro. It was inspired by the architecture of his homeplace in Italy and the castle was originally designed to be a hotel centrepiece of a planned resort. But it became a private residence soon after its construction in 1931. The castle sits atop a hill in the middle of a barren desert and is surrounded by cacti gardens.

Tempe Town Lake is an artificial perennial reservoir located just north of Tempe Butte at the confluence of the intermittent Salt River and the ephemeral Indian Bend Wash in Tempe, Arizona. The reservoir receives much of its water from the Colorado River via the Central Arizona Project. On July 20, 2010, a portion of the west side of the dam that contained the water in the lake collapsed sending a flood of water into the Salt River, draining the lake.

Pueblo Grande Ruin and Irrigation Sites are pre-Columbian archaeological sites and ruins, located in Phoenix, Arizona. They include a prehistoric platform mound and irrigation canals. The City of Phoenix manages these resources as the Pueblo Grande Museum Archaeological Park. It features a large platform mound with retaining walls. This massive structure contains over 20,000 cubic meters of fill. There were also many dwellings, and at least three ball courts and more.

The Arizona State University Art Museum is an art museum operated by Arizona State University, located on its main campus in Tempe, Arizona. The Art Museum has some 12,000 objects in its permanent collection and describes its primary focuses as contemporary art, including new media and "innovative methods of presentation"; crafts, with an emphasis on American ceramics; historic and contemporary prints.

Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West is located in Old Town Scottsdale, Arizona on the former site of the Loloma Transit Station , and opened in January 2015. The two-story, 43,000-square-foot museum features the art, culture and history of 19 states in the American West, including Arizona. According to museum Director Mike Fox, “We are not a museum of objects, but a museum of ideas.”

The Knights of Pythias Temple, located in Louisville, Kentucky, is a historic building that serves as a symbol of fraternal and community pride. Constructed in 1914, the temple was built to house the local chapter of the Knights of Pythias, a fraternal organization dedicated to promoting friendship, charity, and mutual assistance among its members.

Camelback Mountain is a mountain in Phoenix, Arizona, United States. The English name is derived from its shape, which resembles the hump and head of a kneeling camel. The mountain, a prominent landmark of the Phoenix metropolitan area.

McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park is a 40-acre railroad park located in Scottsdale, Arizona. It features a 15 in gauge railroad, a Magma Arizona Railroad locomotive, a railroad museum, three model railroad clubs and a 7 1⁄2 in gauge live steam railroad.

The Arizona Science Center is a science museum located in Heritage and Science Park in the heart of downtown Phoenix. Home to over 350 permanent hands-on exhibits, the Center provides 400,000 annual visitors with interactive experiences. It has featured a number of nationally traveling exhibitions. Along with daily demonstrations throughout the Center, the Center provides shows in the Dorrance Planetarium and in a five-story, giant screen IMAX Theater.

The Arizona Museum of Natural History is the only natural history museum in the greater Phoenix area and is located in Mesa, Arizona. It exhibits the natural and cultural history of the Southwestern United States.

The Phoenix Art Museum is the largest museum for visual art in the southwest United States. Located in Phoenix, Arizona, the museum is 285,000 square feet. It displays international exhibitions alongside its comprehensive collection of more than 18,000 works of American, Asian, European, Latin American, Western American, modern and contemporary art, and fashion design.

The Mesa Arts Center is a performing and visual arts complex in downtown Mesa, Arizona. At more than 210,000 square feet square feet, the $95 million facility, completed in 2005, is the largest comprehensive arts campus in the state which encompasses four performance venues

Ro Ho En, the Japanese Friendship Garden of Phoenix, is a Japanese stroll garden located at 1125 N. 3rd Avenue in Phoenix, Arizona. The garden encompasses 3.5 acres and includes a tea garden and tea house. It is a joint project of the sister cities of Phoenix, Arizona, and Himeji, Japan.

The Arizona State Capitol is located in Phoenix, Arizona and was the last home for Arizona's Territorial government until 1912. The three branches of state government initially occupied the four floors of the statehouse. As the state expanded, the branches relocated to adjacent buildings and additions. The 1901 portion of the Capitol is now maintained as part of the Arizona Capitol Museum with a focus on history and culture. The re-opened library from 1938 occupies part of this museum as well.

Mystery Castle is located in the city of Phoenix, Arizona, in the foothills of South Mountain Park. It was built in the 1930s by Boyce Luther Gulley for his daughter Mary Lou Gulley. The sprawling 18-room, three story castle is built from a wide range of materials — stone, adobe, automobile parts, salvaged rail tracks from a mine, telephone poles, etc. It features a chapel, cantina, and a dungeon.

Taliesin West was architect Frank Lloyd Wright's winter home and school in the desert from 1937 until his death in 1959 at the age of 91. Today it is the main campus of The School of Architecture at Taliesin and houses the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. It is open to the public for tours and is one of the prime attractions in Maricopa county.

The Arizona Commemorative Air Force Museum, a.k.a. Airbase Arizona Aircraft Museum, was established in 1978, in Falcon Field in Mesa, Arizona. It is the 10th unit of the Commemorative Air Force and the home of one of the largest Commemorative Air Force units in the world. On exhibit are World War II artifacts, helicopters and classic American and foreign combat planes, many of which are the last remaining warbirds of their kinds.