Three Phoenix days where the hikes are free, the garden is pay what you can, and dinner is on the house for kids.
Monday to Wednesday from the Drury Inn at the airport, which feeds you breakfast and a 5:30 Kickback: Papago's Hole-in-the-Rock at sunrise, the always-free Capitol Museum, a 1968 burrito counter, and the $6-a-kid S'edav Va'aki ruins, then Blue Agave's Monday kids-eat-free; the Desert Botanical Garden on second-Tuesday Community Day for whatever you choose to pay, fry bread for lunch, South Mountain's accessible loops and Dobbins Lookout by evening, then Chompie's Tuesday deal; Dreamy Draw's Nature Trail, the Science Center as the one full-price ticket, Phoenix Art Museum's pay-what-you-wish Wednesday, and NYPD Pizza's Wednesday kids-eat-free to finish.
A trip planned with you, not for you.
This is a read-only preview of Rosie's builder. Switch between list, map, and calendar to explore the trip. In your own, every stop is yours to move, swap, or rebuild.
Each day, told as a story
Free before 9, cheap after, and the hotel feeds everyone twice a day so restaurant money goes to one good lunch.
Sunrise scramble, two free or cheap museums, pool, cheap dinner north.
Garden at opening, fry bread, nap, South Mountain loops and lookout by evening.
Nature Trail loop, diner breakfast, Science Center, art museum after 3, pizza.
Best for your kid's age
Family Score rates each venue 0–100 based on age-appropriateness, safety, and fun factor.
If your youngest is 0–3
Judith Tunell Accessible Trail at South Mountain
Two half-mile hard-surface loops with benches, fountains, and ramadas.
Desert Botanical Garden
Stroller-flat loops and a spring butterfly pavilion for $5 on Community Day.
The Fry Bread House
Fry bread with honey and powdered sugar at counter prices.
If your youngest is 4–8
Hole-in-the-Rock Trail at Papago Park
A 20-minute scramble to a sandstone window, free, at sunrise.
Arizona Science Center
Four floors of hands-on science, the day's one paid ticket.
S'edav Va'aki Museum
A Hohokam platform mound and ballcourt trail for $6 a kid.
If your youngest is 9–12
Dreamy Draw Recreation Area
A marked 1.5-mile loop with 180 feet of gain and a connector to Piestewa.
Phoenix Art Museum
Pay what you wish after 3 on Wednesdays; the Thorne miniature rooms.
Arizona Capitol Museum
The 1901 statehouse and USS Arizona relics, always free.
What it costs
A typical 3-day budget trip for a family of 4
Estimated total
$1,000 - $1,300
ex. lodging · family of 4 · 3 days
Hotel (Drury Inn Phoenix Airport, 3 nights, breakfast, Kickback, and parking included)
$450-$600
Attractions (S'edav Va'aki $38, DBG Community Day $20-40, Science Center $80, PAM pay what you wish; Papago, South Mountain, Dreamy Draw, Capitol free)
$150-$200
Restaurants (3 free breakfasts, 3 kids-eat-free dinners)
$220-$300
Rental car + gas
$150-$200
Run it Monday to Wednesday on the second Tuesday of the month: Desert Botanical Garden Community Day (pay what you can, reserve), Blue Agave Monday, Chompie's Tuesday, NYPD Pizza Wednesday, and Phoenix Art Museum's pay-what-you-wish Wednesday all line up.
Drury's free Kickback (5:30 to 7 p.m., hot food and drinks) can replace any dinner; use it the night the kids are too tired to sit in a restaurant and pocket $50.
Every hike on this plan is free and every trailhead has water; the only paid tickets are S'edav Va'aki ($6 a kid) and the Science Center. Skip the DOME add-on and it stays under $80.
Five things we wish we'd known
S'edav Va'aki is closed Tuesday and Wednesday (so it is Monday), the Science Center is closed most Mondays (so it is Wednesday), Phoenix Art Museum's pay-what-you-wish window is Wednesday 3 to 8 p.m., and DBG Community Day is the second Tuesday. Shift the trip and the deals move.
Desert Botanical Garden's pay-what-you-can tickets are timed and released online at ticketing.dbg.org; they sell out. Regular admission is $18.95 to $24.95 adults, $14.95 to $16.95 kids, if you miss it.
March highs run the upper 70s. Hole-in-the-Rock at 7:30, Dreamy Draw at 7:45, South Mountain after 3:30. Trailheads open at 5 a.m. and the lots gate at 7 p.m.; the city closes trails on extreme-heat days from May onward.
One liter of water per person on every trail, closed shoes for the sandstone, hats, and a car sunshade. Rattlesnakes are out in March: hands off the rocks, kids on the trail.
Blue Agave: all day Monday, one adult entree covers two kids' meals, age cap VERIFY. Chompie's: Tuesday, 10 and under, one per adult entree. NYPD Pizza: Wednesday and Saturday, 10 and under, dine-in with a qualifying purchase. Manuel's is Wednesday too (12 and under) if the pizza is a no.
Make this your Phoenix trip in about 8 minutes.
Swap stops, change dates, add your own picks. Rosie keeps the rhythm intact.