Arizona's Sonoran Desert

Eight nights in the Sonoran Desert, four at a wellness resort in the Tucson foothills and four in Scottsdale. Saguaro forests, a Spanish mission and the launch control centre of a Titan II missile site, a night at the telescopes of Kitt Peak if you wish, then a balloon at sunrise and the rooms beyond the public route at Frank Lloyd Wright's winter home.

Length: Eight nights
Pace: Two stays
Style: Desert, wellness, culture, architecture
Route: Tucson to Scottsdale

TucsonFour nights
ScottsdaleFour nights

A low adobe-style residence at dusk behind a lit desert rock garden. — Photo: Canyon Ranch

Days 1 to 5 · four nights

Tucson

A 45-minute drive from the airport into the foothills. A private guide through Saguaro National Park and the mission at San Xavier del Bac, then 35 feet underground at the Titan II site, to the launch control centre for a simulated launch and on to the silo's second level, close to the missile itself. On request, a morning with a professional photography instructor among Tucson's barrios and its baroque mission architecture. A walking food tour of the city, and one day out to Tombstone, Bisbee, Kartchner Caverns or Chiricahua, or up to Kitt Peak for an evening at the visitor centre telescopes.

Where you stay

Canyon Ranch Tucson

Canyon Ranch Tucson covers 150 acres of Sonoran Desert in the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains, and stays are all-inclusive, with chef-crafted dining and more than 35 daily activities. Physicians, nutritionists and other specialists see guests on site, and there are three outdoor pools and a two-mile loop path.

Rugged desert mountains and green trees under a partly cloudy sky.

Days 5 to 9 · four nights

Scottsdale

An afternoon drive north to Scottsdale. A balloon flight at sunrise with champagne, a private tour of the Musical Instrument Museum and the Desert Botanical Garden, and a tequila tasting in Old Town. At Taliesin West, the small-group Behind-the-Scenes tour goes past the historic core to the Guest Deck, the Apprentice Court, the kitchen and the collections spaces; on weekends from January to March, a walk out to the desert shelters built by Wright's apprentices.

Where you stay

Royal Palms Resort and Spa

Royal Palms began as a 1920s winter home, a Spanish Colonial Revival villa at the base of Camelback Mountain, and sits on nine acres between Phoenix and Scottsdale. T. Cook's serves a seasonal Mediterranean menu on a patio facing Camelback, and the Alvadora Spa uses Vichy showers and botanical ingredients.

Arranged on request

A night on Kitt Peak

The Overnight Telescope Observing Program gives up to four people one of the visitor centre telescopes from 3 p.m. until the next morning, with a room on the mountain; book at least two months ahead.

Inside a Titan II launch control centre

A 45-minute tour for no more than 26, 35 feet down to the launch control centre for a simulated launch, then to the second level of the silo for a close view of the missile.

Taliesin West behind the scenes

Two to two and a half hours in a small group beyond the historic core, to the Guest Deck, the Apprentice Court, the kitchen and the collections spaces.

The apprentice shelters

A 90-minute guided walk to the desert shelters built by Wright's apprentices, at weekends in the winter season, typically January to March; dates confirmed at booking.

Subject to availability.

Ways to make it yours

Two nights among the red rocks of Sedona, with a private session under its dark skies with a professional astronomer.
A morning hiking in Sabino Canyon.
In the winter season, on select Fridays, typically mid-January to late March, a Sonoran Desert plant walk at Taliesin West that ends in a tasting, for no more than 16 guests.

This is a sample. The hotels, the pace and the order are where we start, not where we finish: every journey is designed around the people taking it.

Made around you

Most travel is bought. This is designed.

Before anything is booked, we talk: who is travelling, how you like to spend a morning, and the hotel preferences below the obvious, from the kind of bath you like to the time you wake and how much daylight you need in a room. You see options where options matter and clean recommendations where they don't.

The same person remains your point of contact from the first reply to the trip after next. No handovers. No team.