Highlights

We are happy to accommodate Groups who want to add a night or two, or further customize their trip.

StarrGroups Flexible Pricing:

• Customizable Comps
• Net Rates
• Luxury or First Class Hotels & Meals
• Motorcoach Transportation & Professional Tour Managers are available

Whatever you want, StarrGroups will be happy to structure tour prices to match your needs.  Just let us know!

Itinerary

Day 1 – Phoenix, AZ – Drury Inn Phoenix Happy Valley

Arrive today in Arizona for a five-night staycation at the Drury Inn Happy Valley, near Phoenix. Just north of downtown, Happy Valley overlooks the mountains of the Sonoran Desert and provides you with a great location sightseeing.

Dinner is on your own this evening, but your group can take advantage of Drury Inn’s Happy Hour known as “the 5:30 Kickback” (HH) featuring a rotating menu of hot foods and cold beverages. (HH)

Day 2 – Desert Botanical Gardens – Heard Museum – Old Town Scottsdale 

This morning you visit the Desert Botanical Gardens. If you thought the desert was all dirt and tumbleweeds? Think again. This 55-acre Garden is home to thousands of species of cactus, trees and flowers from all around the world.

Next is a guided tour at the Heard Museum featuring 12 exhibition galleries, an outdoor sculpture gardens, a contemporary art gallery and trading-post style shopping. The Heard Museum sets the standard for collaborating with American Indian artists and tribal communities and provides visitors with a perspective on the art of Native people.

You will have time for a Southwest-inspired lunch (on own) at the Museum’s renowned Courtyard Café. There are freshly prepared salads, sandwiches and entrees, many of which feature American Indian and locally sourced all-natural ingredients.

Your afternoon is filled with exploring Old Town Scottsdale with its many art galleries, shops and boutiques. There are contemporary public art installations, world-class museums and historic sites from the late 1880s. It’s an effortless blend of urban chic and Old West charm, and it gives this city’s downtown a one-of- a-kind flair.

Dinner is at the Old Town Tortilla Factory, in the heart of the charming art district. Built from an historic 75-year old Scottsdale adobe home. it captures the timeless charm of the Southwest. This restaurant boasts a 1400 square foot flagstone patio that is surrounded by green vegetation and shaded by 100-year-old pecan trees. In the winter months the patio is heated to spring like temperatures and in the summer months it is cooled with a state-of-the-art mist system. (B,D)

Day 3 – Taliesin West – Olive Mill Tour, Tasting & Lunch – Musical Instrument Museum

Start the day with a visit to Frank Lloyd Wright’s, Taliesin West.  This beloved winter home and desert laboratory, was established in 1937 and diligently handcrafted over many years into a world unto itself. Deeply connected to the desert from which it was forged, Taliesin West possesses an almost prehistoric grandeur. It was built almost entirely by Wright and his apprentices, making it among the most personal of his creations.

Next, enjoy a Queen Creek Olive Mill Tour.  During your Olive Oil 101 Educational Tour, you’ll learn how extra virgin olive oil at Queen Creek Olive Mill is made, how to use it in the kitchen, and why it’s so darn good for you! Experts will teach you how to correctly taste olive oil (no bread) and help you shop in the gourmet Marketplace. You continue your culinary experience with a farm-to-table style lunch featuring locally sourced ingredients masterfully paired with olive oil to a savory perfection.

The afternoon features a visit to the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix. It is the largest museum of its type in the world. The collection of over 15,000 musical instruments and associated objects includes examples from nearly 200 countries and territories, representing every inhabited continent. It is a unique experience of sight, touch and of course sound.

Returning to the hotel, enjoy a free evening.  Dinner is on your own or you can take advantage of Drury Inn’s Happy Hour known as “the 5:30 Kickback” (HH) featuring a rotating menu of hot foods and cold beverages. (B,L, HH)

Day 4 –  Goldfield Ghost Town – Superstition Scenic Railroad – Dolly Steamboat Cruise

This morning you tour the Pueblo Grand Museum & Archeological Park. This ancient village appears to have been settled sometime before A.D. 500 and was abandoned around 1450 for reasons not quite known.

The afternoon features the valley’s favorite ghost town…Goldfield. Here you will see historic buildings and hear the extensive mining history of the town. Excellent exhibits of the mining tools that old timers used to extract gold and silver are everywhere. 

The Goldfield Mine Tour is an underground guided tour that takes you back in time to 100 years ago. The guides are well versed in the history of the mine, town, gold mining equipment and procedures. Hang on tight as an exploding dynamite simulator shakes the mineshaft.

Also included today is a ride on the Superstition Scenic Narrow Gauge Railroad.  This 36″ gauge train consists of a Plymouth diesel pulling a passenger car and a caboose. A mile and a half of track circles the town, and the narrated journey lasts 20 minutes. The engineer tells of the history of Goldfield, the Superstition Mountains, and the desert southwest in general.

Ending the day, you dine in style on the Dolly Steamboat Twilight Dinner Cruise. At this magical time of day, you should see Canyon Lake wildlife, like bighorn sheep and bald eagles as they settle in for the night. You will have a chance to capture memorable photos of incredible rock formations framing Canyon Lake and enjoy a delicious meal under the Arizona night sky.  (B,D)

Day 5 – Full Day Sedona Tour – Bell Rock – Chapel of the Holy Cross 

Today is a guided tour that takes in the breathtaking landscapes of a desert playground around Sedona. It begins with the Sedona Pink Jeep Tour.  It’s an easy two hour ride with spectacular views of Sedona’s iconic red rock formations. Explore canyons and trails and learn about the native landscape, wildlife and geological history, all set against a stunning backdrop of towering cliffs.

You will have plenty of photo opportunities this day as you explore ancient Native American ruins and stop at Bell Rock one of Sedona’s most popular red rock formations.  You will also have free time in Sedona to check out art galleries, do some souvenir shopping, or even get a psychic reading.  You will visit the famous Chapel of the Holy Cross. (B)

Day 6 – Tucson – Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum – Mission San Xavier del Bac – Casino Del Sol

Depart Phoenix today and travel to Tucson, AZ.  First stop today is a tour of the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is a world-renowned zoo, aquarium, natural history museum, botanical garden, and art gallery–all in one place!  The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is mostly an outdoor experience on 21 acres of pristine desert, and focuses on the Sonoran Desert region of Arizona and Sonora, Mexico. The Museum includes 230 animal species in a zoo with a popular hummingbird aviary, 56,000 plants in the botanical gardens, a natural history museum, one of the most comprehensive regional mineral collections, the Warden Aquarium, the Ironwood Art Gallery, and two miles of walking trails.  Enjoy lunch on own here today.

The afternoon also includes a visit to Mission San Xavier del Bac, the oldest intact European structure in Arizona and one of the finest examples of Spanish mission architecture in the United States. Founded in 1692 by a Jesuit missionary, Father Eusebio Francisco Kino, the mission was created to serve, as it still does, the Tohono O’odham (“Desert People”).

Then check into the Casino Del Sol for a two-night stay.  The Casino Del Sol Casino is located in the scenic desert with gorgeous mountain views. Experience gaming like never before with over 1,300 slot machines and live poker, blackjack, bingo and more!  There are also multiple restaurants, shopping, a spa and salon and a luxurious outdoor pool with private cabanas, bar, and fire pits.  Dinner is included this evening at the Casino. (B,D)

Day 7 – Full Day Tombstone Tour – Lunch in a Saloon – Gunfights – Bird Cage Theater – Free Time

Step back in time and enjoy the Old West Atmosphere of the “Town Too Tough To Die!”, Tombstone, Arizona. Walk the very same streets where Wyatt Earp and his brothers enjoyed the company of the likes of Doc Holliday!

Start with an informative Trolley Tour of Tombstone.  This narrated tour features all the Tombstone Landmarks, but also takes you out of the historic district, highlighting all the old churches, and out to the Boot Hill Cemetery.

Next, watch the infamous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. See Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Virgil and Morgan Earp fight the McLaurys and Clantons in daily reenactments of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in The Streets of Tombstone Theater.  Learn what caused the 30-second showdown that left three cowboys dead.

Also included with your admission to the O.K. Corral is the Tombstone’s Historama.  Witness the dramatic events that made Tombstone famous: the silver boom, the great fire, the O.K. Corral gunfight, the assassination of Morgan Earp, and more.  Hear actor Vincent Price narrate this exciting multimedia history of Tombstone from Geronimo’s Apaches to modern times.

Lunch is included today at The Crystal Palace Saloon. This establishment was one of early Tombstone’s first and finest saloons. Enjoy and relive the one-of-a-kind history of Tombstone’s Crystal Palace Saloon!

Visit the Bird Cage Theater, the site of the longest-running poker game in history. Legend has it that 26 people were killed in the Bird Cage Theater during its reputed years as one of the wildest and meanest places in Tombstone, AZ. Over one hundred and forty bullet holes remain in the building.

Employees and visitors have reported seeing the spirits of former prostitutes and men in cowboy hats. Some claim to be touched and pushed by unseen forces. At night, the sounds of laughter, yelling and music have been heard, as though the parties of “the Old West” were still raging.

Enjoy some free time to explore Tombstone on your own – there is plenty to see.  Visit the Heritage Museum or the Gunfighters Hall of Fame, take a Silver Mine Tour or stop at one of the local studios for an Old Time Photo.  Do a little shopping and wander through some of the many Shops and Galleries. You can find Antiques, Books, Western Clothing, Souvenirs and a whole mess of other things.  Don’t’ forget to stop for a drink at one of the local saloons.

Returning to Tucson, dinner is on your own this evening. (B,L)

Day 8 – Depart for Home 

After breakfast, depart for home. (B)

Tour Map