Free & Cheap Things to Do in Phoenix

Arts & Culture

The world's only global musical instrument museum, with more than 8,000 instruments from every country displayed alongside video of them being played — wireless headphones trigger the audio automatically as you walk. A hands-on Experience Gallery lets you play instruments from around the world. Rated Phoenix's #1 attraction.

Address: 4725 E Mayo Blvd, Phoenix, AZ 85050

Tip: Free parking. The guided audio plays automatically through the included headphones — no buttons to press. Allow 3+ hours; it's bigger than it looks. Special exhibitions cost about $7 extra.

Arts & Culture

The Southwest's largest art museum, with more than 20,000 works spanning American, Asian, European, Latin American, and contemporary art, plus a beloved Yayoi Kusama infinity room and a fashion-design gallery. The biggest budget draw is its free-admission windows each week.

Address: 1625 N Central Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85004

Tip: Pay-What-You-Wish Wednesday (3-8pm) and free First Fridays (5-8pm) are the budget windows. Some Art of the Americas and Europe galleries are temporarily closed for infrastructure work — check before you go.

Parks & Nature

A serene 3.5-acre Japanese strolling garden in the heart of downtown, with koi ponds, a 12-foot waterfall, stone lanterns, and a traditional tea house where monthly tea ceremonies are held. A green oasis voted 'Best Oasis in the Desert' by local readers.

Address: 1125 N 3rd Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85004

Tip: Summer hours split into cooler morning and evening sessions — check before visiting. Feed the koi for a small fee. Groups of 10 or more must reserve ahead.

History & Culture

Phoenix's only publicly accessible ancestral village site — formerly Pueblo Grande — preserving a 1,500-year-old Hohokam platform mound, ballcourt, and irrigation canals. A two-thirds-mile outdoor trail passes replica adobe houses and a demonstration garden of crops the Ancestral Sonoran Desert People grew.

Address: 4619 E Washington St, Phoenix, AZ 85034

Tip: Discounted admission Thursday evenings (4-8pm). Free parking, and reachable by light rail. Allow about 90 minutes for the mound trail; bring water and sun protection.

Family & Kids

Three floors of hands-on play in a restored 1913 schoolhouse — a giant climbing structure, a noodle forest, a pint-sized market, and an art studio. Built for kids under 10, it's regularly ranked among the country's best children's museums and a reliable too-hot-day escape.

Address: 215 N 7th St, Phoenix, AZ 85034

Tip: Free admission on First Friday evenings. It's across from Heritage Square, so pair the two. Best for ages 1-10; allow a couple of hours.

Parks & Nature

A free desert park of red sandstone buttes straddling the Phoenix-Tempe line, best known for Hole-in-the-Rock — an easy scramble to a natural window framing the city and famous sunsets. Flat, family-friendly trails, fishing lagoons, and the Hunt's Tomb pyramid round it out.

Address: 625 N Galvin Pkwy, Phoenix, AZ 85008

Tip: Hole-in-the-Rock is a 10-minute walk up — go for sunset. The Desert Botanical Garden and Phoenix Zoo sit inside the park (separate admission). Little shade, so bring water.

Parks & Nature

The most iconic hike in Phoenix, rising 1,400 feet above the city in the shape of a kneeling camel. Two steep, strenuous summit trails — Echo Canyon and Cholla — reward climbers with 360-degree valley views. A bucket-list desert scramble right in the middle of town.

Address: 4925 E McDonald Dr, Phoenix, AZ 85018

Tip: Both summit trails are hard, rocky, and exposed — start at dawn, bring plenty of water, and avoid summer midday heat. Echo Canyon parking fills early; arrive before 7am.

Parks & Nature

One of the largest municipal parks in the country at 16,000-plus acres, laced with 50-plus miles of trails for hikers, bikers, and horseback riders. The drive or hike to Dobbins Lookout, at 2,330 feet, delivers a sweeping free panorama over the entire Valley of the Sun.

Address: 10919 S Central Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85042

Tip: You can drive most of the way to Dobbins Lookout — great for sunset without a hard hike. Free entry, open 5am-7pm. The quirky Mystery Castle near the entrance is a fun add-on.

History & Culture

The oldest Catholic parish in Phoenix, this 1915 Mission Revival basilica anchors downtown with the largest collection of stained-glass windows in Arizona. Step inside between Masses to see the soaring nave and German-made windows for free; Pope John Paul II visited in 1987.

Address: 231 N 3rd St, Phoenix, AZ 85004

Tip: Free to visit outside of Mass times — check the schedule and be respectful of services. Self-guided; a quick, peaceful 20-minute stop downtown near the convention center.

History & Culture

The 1900 copper-domed former state capitol, now a free museum across four floors covering Arizona's political and social history — from the restored 1912 House and Senate chambers to a USS Arizona memorial exhibit. Free monuments fill the surrounding Wesley Bolin Plaza.

Address: 1700 W Washington St, Phoenix, AZ 85007

Tip: Always free, Monday-Friday 9am-4pm (weekend hours return in fall). Free parking in Wesley Bolin Plaza. Walk the plaza's outdoor memorials, including an anchor from the USS Arizona.

Shops & Downtown

A block of Phoenix's last surviving Victorian-era buildings, anchored by the 1895 Rosson House mansion. The square's brick paths, the Lath House pavilion, and the surrounding restaurants and museums are free to wander; the Rosson House offers low-cost guided tours.

Address: 113 N 6th St, Phoenix, AZ 85004

Tip: Free to stroll the square and Lath House Pavilion. The guided Rosson House Museum tour is a cheap, worthwhile add. Right next to the Children's Museum and Arizona Science Center.