This list stretches past the city line on purpose. It runs from the art and culture rooms of the Heard Museum on North Central Avenue east into Mesa, where a natural history museum and an arts complex share the 85201 postal code, then takes in Tempe, home to a university art museum on South Mill Avenue and a research center on Palm Walk, and ends in Scottsdale with a museum of contemporary art. Two picks carry a warning: one is now listed as a former museum, and the other is the state capitol building itself. We kept both because a good museum list should be honest about the places it sends you to. This list is for visitors who want more than one gallery in an afternoon and who will check hours on each venue's own site before they set out. Read it as a set of routes rather than a ranking, and plan your car time around the cluster that interests you most.
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1 Heard Museum
North Central Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85004-1316Art and culture under one roof, on Phoenix's museum avenue
On North Central Avenue, inside the 85004-1316 postal block, the Heard Museum is catalogued as an art and culture museum in Phoenix, Arizona, and both halves of that label carry weight. Skip the souvenir-stand idea of the Southwest sold along the resort strips; the reason to give this place a morning is that it treats culture as seriously as it treats art. The Phoenix Art Museum also sits on North Central Avenue, so a two-museum day needs only one street. We have not verified current hours or ticketing, so check heard.org before you go. Pace yourself, and save the afternoon for whatever you missed on the first pass.
Dates from 1929
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2 Phoenix Art Museum
1625 North Central Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85004The city's namesake art museum, on North Central Avenue
Call +1 602-257-1880 before heading to Phoenix Art Museum at 1625 North Central Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85004, because we could not verify current exhibitions or opening times, and phxart.org or that phone line is your best check before you park. This is the art museum that carries the city's name, and it shares an avenue with the Heard, which makes it the natural second half of a North Central day. If you came to look at art properly, rather than at the hotel-lobby canvases that pass for culture in resort country, this is where to spend the hours. Wear comfortable shoes, and give yourself time to sit with one room rather than sprinting through all of them.
Dates from 1959
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3 Arizona Museum of Natural History
53 North MacDonald, Mesa, AZ 85201A natural history visit in downtown Mesa's 85201
Filed simply as a history museum, the Arizona Museum of Natural History at 53 North MacDonald, Mesa, AZ 85201 undersells itself on paper, but the name's promise of natural history is reason enough to make the trip. Locals know Mesa is worth the drive for a museum day that has nothing to do with the Phoenix gallery circuit, and because the Mesa Arts Center shares the same 85201 postal code, you can pair the two in one outing. We could not verify hours or admission, so check azmnh.org before you commit an afternoon. Bring curious kids if you have them, and let them set the pace.
Dates from 1977
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4 Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum
1502 West Washington Street, Phoenix, AZ 85007A former museum address in Phoenix's 85007, included with a clear warning
Listed today as a former museum, the Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum at 1502 West Washington Street, Phoenix, AZ 85007 appears here as a warning as much as a recommendation, and we would rather tell you that than let you find out at a locked door in the heat. It is not worth the trip on spec. Before you drive to 1502 West Washington, confirm what, if anything, is open to visitors. We keep it on this list because mining and minerals are part of how this state explains itself, and anyone searching for this museum deserves an honest answer about its status. If something is open, go. If nothing is, put the hour into one of the working museums elsewhere on this list.
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5 Mesa Arts Center
1 East Main Street,Mesa, AZ 85201A performing and visual arts complex, so a gallery visit can run into a show
Mesa Arts Center, a performing and visual arts complex at 1 East Main Street, Mesa, AZ 85201, is partly a museum stop, and that is the appeal. Skip the idea that an arts afternoon has to be silent and reverent. The visual arts here share a complex with the performing arts, so a look at the galleries can stretch into an evening if the schedule lines up. It shares the 85201 postal code with the Arizona Museum of Natural History, which makes Mesa a two-stop day. We have not verified what is showing or when, so check mesaartscenter.com before you plan around it.
Dates from 2005
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6 Mesa Historical Museum
2345 North Horne, Mesa, AZ 85203Mesa's own history museum, in the 85203
The Mesa Historical Museum, at 2345 North Horne in Mesa's 85203, is a history museum named for the town it covers, and that narrow focus is its strength. Skip the glossy visitor-center version of desert history, the kind that could be about any Sun Belt suburb. A town-level museum asks a more specific question: how did this particular place come to exist? Go with that question in mind and the visit pays off. We could not verify opening days or admission, so check mesamuseum.org before you drive up North Horne. Pair it with a downtown Mesa stop if you want a full day east of Phoenix.
Dates from 1987 · National Register of Historic Places listed place
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7 Arizona State University Art Museum
699 South Mill Avenue, Tempe, AZA university art museum on Tempe's Mill Avenue
At 699 South Mill Avenue in Tempe, the Arizona State University Art Museum is a university art museum, and that is exactly why it belongs here. Campus museums take risks that civic flagships cannot afford to take, and they rarely carry the same crowds. You will find it mapped at about 33.42 north, 111.94 west, on the Tempe side of the valley. Give it an hour, then walk out onto Mill Avenue and let the visit settle. We have not verified hours or current shows, and universities run on academic calendars, so confirm it is open before you make the trip.
Dates from 1950
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8 Center for Meteorite Studies
Palm Walk, Tempe, AZMeteorites at an Arizona State University research center
The Center for Meteorite Studies is an Arizona State University research center on Palm Walk in Tempe, mapped at roughly 33.42 north, 111.93 west, and it helps to know what you're walking into before you arrive. This is not a museum built around a gift shop. It is a working center that happens to deal in rocks from space, and the name tells you what is worth your attention. Skip the planetarium-show spectacle if you'd rather stand close to the real subject. We could not verify public hours or display access, so confirm both before you walk Palm Walk looking for it.
Dates from 1960
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9 Arizona State Capitol
1700 Washington, Phoenix, AZ 85007Arizona's state capitol building, seen as civic history in built form
The Arizona State Capitol is the outlier on this list, as the state capitol building of the U.S. state of Arizona. We have no verified street address, only a map position at about 33.45 north, 112.10 west, so plot it before you drive. Skip the photo-from-the-car approach that most visitors settle for. A capitol is a building that explains how a state wants to be seen, and that deserves a slow walk on foot. We have not verified visitor access, tours or hours, so confirm what is open to the public before you go. Treat it as an hour of civic context between gallery stops, not as a substitute for them.
Dates from 1901 · National Register of Historic Places listed place
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10 Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art
Contemporary art in Scottsdale
Contemporary work is the whole remit of the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, an art museum that its name places squarely in Scottsdale. We could not verify a street address, only a map position at about 33.49 north, 111.92 west, so plot it before you go. Skip the commercial galleries that sell desert landscapes by the square foot. If you want art that argues with you, this is the Scottsdale stop to make. Check smoca.org for what is on and when, since we have not verified hours or admission. Go late in the day, look slowly, and leave an argument unfinished for the drive home.
Dates from 1999
This is an early version of the Phoenix list. We add picks as we test more places.
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