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Scottsdale
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Photo by Timothy A, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Best time to visit Scottsdale

United States · North America

All twelve months scored on daily temperature, rainfall, humidity and holiday crowding.

The year in Scottsdale

Tap a month for its page

  1. Scottsdale in January: good, busy
  2. Scottsdale in February: good, busy
  3. Scottsdale in March: good, busy
  4. Scottsdale in April: sweet spot
  5. Scottsdale in May: avoid
  6. Scottsdale in June: avoid
  7. Scottsdale in July: avoid
  8. Scottsdale in August: avoid
  9. Scottsdale in September: avoid
  10. Scottsdale in October: sweet spot
  11. Scottsdale in November: good, busy
  12. Scottsdale in December: good
  • Sweet spot
  • Good
  • OK
  • Avoid
  • Busy
Go in Apr or Oct — 30C max, 0 rainy days. Dec is the next best.
Compare Scottsdale with…

Month by month

No fare history for this route yet, so this ranking is climate and crowds only — the price column will fill in as the scanner collects.

MonthMax °CRain days HumiditySun h/day VerdictWhy
Jan 19° 4d 49% 8.6h goodbusy busier than usual
Feb 21° 3d 43% 9.6h goodbusy busier than usual
Mar 25° 3d 37% 10.5h goodbusy busier than usual
Apr 30° 0d 20% 12.4h sweet spot 30C max, 0 rainy days
May 34° 0d 18% 12.8h avoid extreme heat: 15 days over 35C
Jun 40° 0d 16% 13.2h avoid extreme heat: 28 days over 35C
Jul 41° 3d 30% 12.0h avoid extreme heat: 29 days over 35C
Aug 40° 2d 33% 12.2h avoid extreme heat: 29 days over 35C
Sep 37° 2d 33% 11.4h avoid extreme heat: 24 days over 35C
Oct 31° 1d 31% 10.5h sweet spot 31C max, 1 rainy day
Nov 25° 2d 35% 9.3h goodbusy busier than usual
Dec 20° 3d 46% 8.2h good 20C max, 3 rainy days

Rain days are the days with at least 1 mm of rain, as a weather station counts them.

A busy month is a crowded one, not a bad one — usually it is crowded because the weather is good. It is flagged rather than scored down, and crowds alone never make a month “avoid”: that is reserved for weather worth skipping.

How busy it gets

Busiest in November; quietest in September and October.

Then and now

Scottsdale's December days now average 19.7°C, 3.1°C warmer than in 1981–1990. 6 of 12 months are clearly warmer.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
1981–9017.3°19.8°23.4°29.0°33.8°39.4°39.5°37.8°35.0°28.9°21.9°16.6°
2017–2618.6°21.0°24.9°30.5°34.4°40.3°41.1°40.5°37.5°31.4°24.9°19.7°
Change+1.3°+1.2°+1.5°+1.5°+0.6°+0.9°+1.6°+2.7°+2.5°+2.5°+3.1°+3.1°

The average daily high, month by month, for the nearest ERA5 grid cell. Bold is a clear change; grey is within the ordinary spread between years. Every destination, ranked.

Getting there

How far Scottsdale is, and what it costs, depends on where you set off from — the months above do not.

Before you go

Type A and B plugs at 120 V. Drives on the right. The currency is the United states dollar. No UK Foreign Office advice against travel. Everything for United States: cost of living, languages, emergency numbers and health.

Being there

On arrival

  • Paying — Cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay work almost everywhere, though a few small places take cash only. Keep some $1 and $5 notes for tips; Venmo and PayPal are for locals.
  • UPI, for visitors from India — Not accepted for paying here; bring a card that works abroad.
  • Tipping — Expected: 15–20% in sit-down restaurants (18–20% is standard in New York) and 10–20% for taxi, Uber and Lyft drivers. Large groups may find it already on the bill.

Getting around Scottsdale

  • Apps — Rides: Lyft, Uber. Maps: Google Maps, Apple Maps. Messages: Text messages (SMS), WhatsApp. In San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami and some other cities you can also book a driverless Waymo in its own app.

Scottsdale is undoubtedly a car-centric place. Most of the city is too spread out to reasonably walk, far more people use their own cars than ride the bus, and the light rail does not come to Scottsdale. More on Wikivoyage

From the Wikivoyage article on Scottsdale (Arizona), written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Help

  • Emergency — 911 (any emergency).
    TravelCharika is not an emergency service: we cannot call for help or send anyone. Numbers can change; if one fails, ask someone local or your hotel.

Put together by hand from the sources listed, checked 5 October 2026. Apps, cards and rules change, so check before you rely on one.

Sources (34)

Scottsdale in pictures

Scottsdale, Arizona
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Quintin Soloviev, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Scottsdale waterfront
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Joseph Plotz, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Scottsdale, Arizona (101299903)
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Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Scottsdale, Arizona, USA panoramio
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MARELBU, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Scottsdale, Arizona, USA panoramio (2)
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MARELBU, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The year in Scottsdale

Scottsdale experiences high temperatures in summer, especially from June to September. January and February are the best months for mild weather, making them ideal for travelers seeking outdoor activities.

Busiest
mid Nov to mid Apr — This period features mild temperatures and is popular for winter visitors seeking warmth.
Quieter, still good
mid Apr to late May — Early summer has fewer tourists and lower accommodation costs despite rising heat.
early Oct to mid Nov — Fall offers pleasant weather and situations before the peak winter season.
Watch out for extreme heat

Written by a language model from the climate figures above. The month-by-month table is measured — ten years of ERA5 readings and published holiday calendars — and where the two disagree, the table is the one to believe.

What Scottsdale is like

Scottsdale is a city in the state of Arizona. Scottsdale is home to many galleries, high quality resorts, and golf courses. It is also one of the wealthier parts of the Phoenix Metro Area. More on Wikivoyage

Worth seeing
Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West, 12621 N Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd. (Free onsite parking available.) Oct-May: 10AM-5PM, closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas, & Easter. More on Wikivoyage
Worth doing
McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park, 7301 E Indian Bend Rd (Car: Indian Bend Rd and Scottsdale Rd; Valley Metro Bus: 72). Hours depend on time of year (9 or 10AM to 5:30 or 7PM). More on Wikivoyage
Getting in
The Phoenix metro area has several airports. Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX IATA), 3400 Sky Harbor Blvd, Phoenix. More on Wikivoyage
Staying safe
It doesn't rain very frequently in Scottsdale. However, when the rain does come many lakes swell, bike paths are submerged, and roads become impassable. More on Wikivoyage

From the Wikivoyage article on Scottsdale (Arizona), written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the full article has far more. The numbers above are measured; this is experience.

Around Scottsdale

Also in United States

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Kind of place

Scottsdale is in United States, North America. Distances are great-circle, so a short one can still be a long way round.

Links marked Ad pay us a commission if you book through one, at no extra cost to you. That does not affect the scores on this page, which are computed from climate and fare data before any link is built.