The Top 100 Things to Do Near Vecina

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A cutlery shop for people who find Shun a little pedestrian, Phoenix Knife House stocks premium Japanese brands serious enough that you may not recognize the names until you're already pulling out your wallet. Beyond the blades, you'll find sharpening stones, knife rolls, and chef jackets, and the staff will talk you through all of it without making you feel like a tourist. Bring a dull knife for sharpening and leave with something embarrassingly sharp.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Knife Shop · Best of Phoenix

Shelves of wine bottles line every wall of this small, happily unpretentious wine bar tucked into a strip mall on Indian School. The vibe is couch-and-conversation, the kind of place where you sit down next to strangers and somehow end up closing it down with them. The food menu runs to pimento cheese and Moroccan spiced meatballs, which is a perfectly reasonable way to soak up a second pour. Phoenix New Times named it one of the top 100 bars in the city.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Bottle Shop · Best of Phoenix
2. Eater The Best Bars in Phoenix
3. Phoenix New Times The Top 100 Bars in Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Art Classes · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Ceramics Studio · Best of Phoenix
3. AZ Central Best Coronado coffee shops for more than just coffee · The ultimate guide to the best Phoenix cafes

1. Foodist Awards 2023 · Finalist: Lobstah Roll · Standout Signature Dish
2. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Fish Shop · Best of Phoenix
3. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Fish Market · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Chicano Art Space · Best of Phoenix
2. AZ Central Best Midtown Phoenix coffee shop for working or studying · The ultimate guide to the best Phoenix cafes

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Guitar Repair · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Mac Repair · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Attraction Gift Shop · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Nighttime Encounters With Wildlife · Best of Phoenix
3. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Attraction Gift Shop · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Way to Party in Old Town Scottsdale · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Mall · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Mall · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best International Games · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Upscale Indoor Fun · Best of Phoenix

The DJ here plays real saxophone solos during your Motown number and rosins up an actual fiddle when someone calls "The Devil Went Down to Georgia." This folksy Scottsdale bar and grill runs karaoke every night of the week, which already puts it in rare company in the Valley. The live accompaniment means no one has to endure a slide that reads "Instrumental Break, 16 Bars" while the singer reconsiders their choices.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Karaoke · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Karaoke · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Place to Buy a Housewarming Gift · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Housewarming Gifts · Best of Phoenix
3. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Upscale Party Supplies · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Men’s Clothing · Best of Phoenix

The cocktail list pulls from the shelves around you, which tells you exactly what kind of place this is: part upscale liquor store, part proper bar, and committed to being both at once. Depending on which Phoenix-area location you land in, the extras might include a golf simulator, pinball, a pizzeria, or a cigar lounge. The drinks run from spritzes to stirred classics, and the bottles for sale are genuinely worth browsing.

1. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Liquor Store · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Liquor Store · Best of Phoenix
3. Phoenix New Times The Top 100 Bars in Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Luxury Movie Theater · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Place to Watch the Sunset · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Place to Watch the Sunrise · Best of Phoenix
3. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Place to Take an Out-of-Town Visitor · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Ice Skating · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Ice Skating · Best of Phoenix

A private nonprofit zoo spread across 125 acres, where you can pet a stingray, feed a giraffe, and ride a camel before anyone in your group agrees on what to see next. Five trails loop through over 1,300 animals, and the Red Barn Petting Zoo handles the younger crowd's demands nicely. Bikes and roller blades are welcome, which says a lot about how far you'll walk. Zoo Lights draws a faithful crowd every holiday season.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Zoo · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Zoo · Best of Phoenix
3. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Zoo · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Spring Training Souvenirs · Best of Phoenix

The Praying Monk formation on the southeast face is the shot everyone posts, but the ridge routes above Echo Canyon are where the real character shows. Camelback is a hiking and climbing destination right in the middle of the Valley, accessible enough that you can squeeze it into a morning, challenging enough that you'll feel it the next day. The rock gets called "choss" by the purists, which just means more routes for everyone else.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Intense Hike · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Hike · Best of Phoenix
3. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Intense Hike · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Driving Range · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Driving Range · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Drum Shop · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Outdoors Store · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Outdoors Store · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Resort Massage · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Collectible and Antique Books · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Old-School Camera Shop · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Landmark · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Charm Store · Best of Phoenix

The front door looks like it belongs to a golf pro shop, but step through it and you're heading downstairs into a candlelit, white-tablecloth seafood restaurant that has been around forever. The menu pulls from coasts plural, Boston to New Zealand, with lobster, scallops, and a bucket of Blue Hill Bay mussels in drawn butter that earns its own sentence. Subterranean and unapologetically old-school in the best Scottsdale way.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Happy Hour · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Late Night Happy Hour · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Ball Cap Store · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Way to Cuddle Cats · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Cat Cafe · Best of Phoenix
3. AZ Central Best downtown Phoenix coffee shops for more than just coffee · The ultimate guide to the best Phoenix cafes

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Place to Buy a Turntable · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Record Store · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Convenience Store · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Phoenix-Centric Music Venue · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Really Big Honor · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Place to See a Robot · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Cheap Fun for Kids · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Bodybuilding Gym · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Store for Birders · Best of Phoenix

A neighborhood dive bar that fully commits to the bit: vintage furniture with backstories, a cigarette machine, free arcade games, and a jukebox that always has Marty Robbins on deck. The drinks are cold, the Old Style is colder, and the backyard patio with lawn games fills up with the kind of crowd that looks like they've been regulars for years, even if they just discovered it last week.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Outdoor Dance Party · Best of Phoenix
2. Eater The Best Bars in Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Way to Get to ASU Football Games · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Place to Find Cute, Comfortable Shoes · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Mexican Imports Store · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Da De Los Muertos Treasures · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Mani-Pedis · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Dry Cleaners · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Hike · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Hike · Best of Phoenix

The floor doesn't fill until after midnight, which tells you everything about the kind of night Karamba is built for. It's a Latino gay nightclub where dancers in little more than underwear work elevated platforms while the DJs do the heavy lifting, threading reggaeton into club classics into top 40 without a seam. The pours are generous enough that an Uber home counts as planning ahead, not an afterthought. Phoenix New Times named it the best after-hours dance spot in town.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best After-Hours Dance Spot · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best After-Hours Dance Spot · Best of Phoenix
3. Phoenix New Times The Top 100 Bars in Phoenix

1. Foodist Awards 2024 · Finalist · Outstanding Bar/Nightlife Experience
2. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Bougie Bowling · Best of Phoenix

Frank Lloyd Wright designed this 3,000-seat performing arts auditorium for Baghdad before it ended up on a college campus in Tempe, which tells you something about its scale and ambition. The circular hall sits on the ASU campus flanked by pedestrian bridges and hosts touring Broadway shows, opera, symphony, and lectures. It's a proper night-out venue, the kind where you dress up a little and feel like the evening has stakes.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Place to See a Musical · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Place to See a Broadway Show · Best of Phoenix
3. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Large Playhouse · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Nursery · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Hip-Hop Shop · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Hip-Hop Shop · Best of Phoenix
3. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Hip-Hop Shop · Best of Phoenix

Karaoke spills out of this LGBTQ+ bar at Park Central before you even reach the door. Inside, Kobalt runs on the pleasant fiction that everyone already knows each other, with drag shows, RuPaul's watch parties, and trivia filling the calendar alongside the sing-alongs. Show tunes, '80s ballads, and early-aughts pop keep the room generous and loud. Cocktails hover around eleven dollars, which makes it easy to stay for one more song, then another.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Gay Bar · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Drag Shows · Best of Phoenix
3. AZ Central Best bars in metro Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Plant Nursery · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Plant Shop · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Plant Shop · Best of Phoenix
3. AZ Central Best Grand Avenue coffee shops for more than just coffee · The ultimate guide to the best Phoenix cafes

1. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Indigenous-Made Goods · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Indigenous-Made Goods · Best of Phoenix

Yucca Tap Room is an old-school dive bar and live music venue where cheap drinks and a no-fuss atmosphere have kept generations of Tempe regulars coming back. The punk shows are a fixture, and moshers in Halloween costumes remain a perfectly normal Tuesday-in-October situation. Half the space now belongs to Electric Bat Arcade, a pinball room that on some nights draws a bigger crowd than the bar itself.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Place to See a Punk Show · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Place to See a Punk Show · Best of Phoenix
3. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Place to See a Punk Show · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Fabric Store · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Fabric Store · Best of Phoenix
3. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Fabric Store · Best of Phoenix

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star

1. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Place to Reconnect With Our Desert Roots · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Adult Shop · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Adult Shop · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Future of Fashion · Best of Phoenix

A live music club on Indian School Road that's been the Valley's home for blues, jazz, and roots acts for as long as anyone can remember. Owner Bob Corritore, a serious figure in the blues world, has put Pinetop Perkins and Sanford Clark on that stage. Local and touring rock acts fill the gaps. The bartenders are half the reason to stay, apparently able to match any set with a story.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Blues Club · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Blues Venue · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Women’s Clothing · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Running Store · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Running Store · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Nightclub · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Drag Bingo · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Place to Buy a Really Expensive Watch · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Burlesque · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Baking Supplies · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Baking Supplies · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Place to See a Spring Training Game · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Place to Watch a Spring Training Game · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Pet Supplies · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Climbing Gym · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Climbing Gym · Best of Phoenix

The floor bar sits right next to the stage so you never have to choose between a drink and the show. This mid-size live music venue on Mill Avenue holds around a thousand people, which is somehow both big enough to book national touring acts and intimate enough that there isn't a bad spot in the house. A Perfect Circle, Social Distortion, and the Black Keys have all played here, and local showcases keep the calendar full between the headliners.

1. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Reggae Venue · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Casino · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Casino · Best of Phoenix

A wood-clad 600-seat auditorium anchors this performing and visual arts center on the edge of Tempe Town Lake, with a black box studio theater, a gallery that spills into the lobby, and an outdoor amphitheater for when Arizona evenings cooperate. The Tempe Symphony Orchestra, Childsplay, and several other resident companies call it home, so there's almost always something on. Public art installations are scattered throughout, in case you arrive early and need somewhere to look thoughtful.

1. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Open Mic Night · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Rave Gear · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Rave Gear · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Secondhand Clothing for Men and Women · Best of Phoenix

An art gallery that holds an open call every two years, gets over 500 submissions, and sometimes picks exactly one artist. That's the curatorial standard at Lisa Sette Gallery, an old-school institution in the Phoenix arts scene representing a tight roster of Arizona painters, photographers, and mixed-media artists. The work tends toward the serious and the strange, in the best possible, completely non-graded sense of that phrase.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Art Gallery · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Art Gallery · Best of Phoenix
3. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Art Gallery · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Plant Shop · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Japanese Gifts · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Crystals · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Place to Find Your Way · Best of Phoenix

The taco truck parked out front sets the tone before you even get inside. Charlie's is an old-school gay bar and dance hall on Camelback with a big outdoor patio, bleacher seating, two bars, and a dance floor that earns its own reputation after midnight on weekends. The calendar runs from drag nights and karaoke to Latin and country two-stepping, so the crowd varies wildly depending on when you show up, which is most of the fun.

1. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Gay Bar · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best After-Hours Dance Spot · Best of Phoenix
3. AZ Central Best bars in metro Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Comic Book Store · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Comic Book Shop · Best of Phoenix

Koi drift under a 12-foot waterfall while the rest of Phoenix does whatever Phoenix does. This three-and-a-half-acre Japanese garden, formally called Ro Ho En, sits inside Margaret T. Hance Park and moves at a completely different speed than the city around it. Stone lanterns, quarried Arizona rocks along the shore, and a traditional teahouse pull the place toward genuine stillness. A quiet hour here requires almost no effort and costs almost nothing.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Place for Meditation and Quiet · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Oasis in the Desert · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Vintage Furniture · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Midcentury Modern Furniture · Best of Phoenix

An artist-run collective on Roosevelt Row, Eye Lounge has been the gravitational center of Phoenix's First Fridays artwalk for years, which is either a sign of quality or a sign that everyone else gave up. Contemporary exhibitions rotate through, the murals outside change with the shows inside, and the crowd on a First Friday runs heavy on the local artists whose work might be on the walls next month.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Place to Stop During the First Friday artwalk · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best First Friday Stop · Best of Phoenix

Kachina dolls centuries old sit alongside contemporary paintings, jewelry, and weavings made by Native artists from across the country, with the Southwest's tribal traditions given particular depth. The Heard is a serious art and cultural museum in downtown Phoenix, been around forever, with permanent collections, rotating shows, festivals, and education programs. A shop and cafe round out the visit for anyone who lingers.

1. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best First Friday Stop · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Museum Mainstay · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Rage Room · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Smoke Shop · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Place to Make Art and Get Messy · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Interactive Art Activity · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Place to Trade Vinyl or CDs · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Store for CDs · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Boutique · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Boutique · Best of Phoenix

A mile-and-a-half paved path cutting through the Phoenix Mountain Preserve, Dreamy Draw is where the city comes to jog, bike, and pretend the heat is fine. Boulders break up the trail for anyone who needs a dignified excuse to stop, and drinking fountains appear often enough that you won't have to choose between cardio and survival. It opens at five in the morning, which makes it a genuinely good place to catch the sunrise before the desert decides to cook you.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Place to Watch the Sunrise · Best of Phoenix

A gallery-shop in northern Phoenix where the inventory changes constantly because everything is made by hand and no two makers work the same week. Forged knives, blown-glass tumblers, ceramic oil pourers, and natural-edge cutting boards share shelf space in proportions nobody can predict. It's the kind of place where you come in for a gift and leave reconsidering your kitchen entirely.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Place to Support Local Artists · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Place to Buy Local Art · Best of Phoenix
3. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Local Art · Best of Phoenix

Over 17,000 works spread across 285,000 square feet put this art museum firmly in the "clear your afternoon" category. The collection runs from American and European classics to Latin American, Asian, and contemporary work, plus a fashion design wing that earns its place on the same floor. A dedicated kids' gallery keeps the family from splitting up at the entrance. Free admission on Wednesday evenings and the first Friday of each month.

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Art Museum · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Art Museum · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best High-End Sneakers · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best High-End Sneaker Shop · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Secondhand Punk Clothes · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Alt Fashion · Best of Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Aquarium · Best of Phoenix