This adventure is just minutes from Downtown Scottsdale, Phoenix & Tempe. Uber/ Lyft drops off at meeting point. Free parking. Slow down, breathe deeply, & experience a Sonoran Desert sunset in a whole new way. This 1.5 hr walking tour combines captivating stories, Western and Native history, nature connection, cactus candy tasting & more! Discover the beauty of some of the largest cacti in the world, the iconic Saguaro. See desert plants, on peaceful trails surrounded by breathtaking mountain views. Learn survival & foraging tips. Enjoy the unique sights and sounds of desert wildlife. This experience is designed for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the of the Sonoran Desert—no hiking expertise required. Professional guides, safe trails, restrooms. * Nature Walk * Survival & Foraging Tips * Wildlife Watching * Western & Native History * Gemstones * Cactus Candy Tasting Contact Walk The Desert for private, large group, or corporate bookings. *This tour is hosted on the nature trails of the Papago Butte Mountains, next to Botanical Garden.
Allie took us on a fabulous tour. She explained many parts of the desert, wildlife and native plants. She provided a great experience and took many photos of us with our camera. I would highly recommend this tour for a first time visitor to Arizona. It was a great learning experience and we enjoyed watching the sunset.
Allie was friendly & very knowledgeable about the botanical garden and the animals that call it home. I was very comfortable even being solo & talking to her!
Allie had great knowledge about the entire park. Great start to our Phoenix visit. Thank you for such an inciteful tour!
Not been to AZ until you’ve been to the Botanical Gardens! Enjoyed Allie and her bag! We went on a beautiful evening.
My daughter and I had a fun evening, the weather was perfect not too hot or got to cool. We learned a lot and laughed throughout the touring.
In town for work and had a free evening. I’m so glad I did this! Even though the garden was crowded, Allie kept our focus and I learned so many delightful things about the desert. Her love and care for the plants and animals here are evident in the joyful way she describes them. I highly recommend this tour!
If you plan to visit the Desert Botanical Garden, booking with Allie is a must! She is extremely knowledgeable and very engaging. We went with our kids (11 & 3) and she made sure they had a wonderful experience as well. She provided water, snacks, and a couple of wonderful souvenirs to take home. The garden is beautiful but without her guidance we wouldn’t have had the same experience. 5🌟
Booked this and was the only tourist on a Tuesday night with Allie. She had a wonderful planned walk around the garden with educational information about the plants, climate and AZ local fauna. She asked intriguing questions which forced me to fall back on my Biology degree which made the event very engaging and intellectually stimulating. I wish I had more time to learn from her. Highly recommend!
Our guided tour through the Desert Botanical Garden was one of the highlights of our time in Arizona. 🌵☀️ The gardens themselves are absolutely beautiful, but what really made the experience special was our guide. She was incredibly knowledgeable and clearly passionate about the desert ecosystem. As we walked through the different trails, she explained the many varieties of cactuses and desert plants, pointing out details we would have never noticed on our own. Learning about how these plants survive in such a harsh climate—how they store water, protect themselves, and even bloom with stunning flowers—made the whole experience fascinating. The guide did a fantastic job breaking down the different components of the desert environment and explaining how everything works together. From the iconic Saguaro Cactus to smaller, lesser-known desert plants, she shared interesting facts and stories that kept everyone engaged the entire time. 🌼🌵 What really stood out was how much effort she put into making sure everyone enjoyed the tour. She answered every question with enthusiasm, offered extra insights beyond the standard information, and clearly went above and beyond to make the tour both educational and fun. Overall, it was an incredibly interesting and enjoyable experience. The combination of the stunning desert landscape and such an informative, passionate guide made it a tour we’ll definitely remember. If you’re visiting Arizona and want to truly understand the beauty and uniqueness of the desert, a guided tour through the Desert Botanical Garden is absolutely worth it. 🌞🌿
Our guided tour through the Desert Botanical Garden was one of the highlights of our time in Arizona. 🌵☀️ The gardens themselves are absolutely beautiful, but what really made the experience special was our guide. She was incredibly knowledgeable and clearly passionate about the desert ecosystem. As we walked through the different trails, she explained the many varieties of cactuses and desert plants, pointing out details we would have never noticed on our own. Learning about how these plants survive in such a harsh climate—how they store water, protect themselves, and even bloom with stunning flowers—made the whole experience fascinating. The guide did a fantastic job breaking down the different components of the desert environment and explaining how everything works together. From the iconic Saguaro Cactus to smaller, lesser-known desert plants, she shared interesting facts and stories that kept everyone engaged the entire time. 🌼🌵 What really stood out was how much effort she put into making sure everyone enjoyed the tour. She answered every question with enthusiasm, offered extra insights beyond the standard information, and clearly went above and beyond to make the tour both educational and fun. Overall, it was an incredibly interesting and enjoyable experience. The combination of the stunning desert landscape and such an informative, passionate guide made it a tour we’ll definitely remember. If you’re visiting Arizona and want to truly understand the beauty and uniqueness of the desert, a guided tour through the Desert Botanical Garden is absolutely worth it. 🌞🌿
An amazing immersion into the cactus desert of Arizona. The walks ways are perfectly laid out, the many different kinds of cacti perfectly explained. From new seedlings to century old giant “trees” the different cactus engage, inform and sometimes overwhelm you. There is also time lapse photography at diferent sites and a film explaining it in a separate building. When dusk and darkness came, the Chihully exhibits lit the atmosphere with magic.
My wife and I went on this tour with Allie as our guide. We were a party of just two from the UK, but Allie took us anyway. Allie has such passion for the plants and is so knowledgeable, it really is infectious! She is such a kind and generous person, it really was a pleasure meeting her. Allie talked about everything we passed, gave some historical background and even included info about local wildlife. It was fun and interesting. I would not say that I'm really a "plant person" but I thoroughly enjoyed my afternoon learning about the local plants. They were beautiful and fascinating. Thank you Allie for opening my eyes. If you're 50:50 about wondering about going on this trip - do it!
Great tour of the Phoenix Botanical Gardens. Our tour guide did an amazing job describing the history of the gardens, highlighting desert plants and wildlife, and answering questions. Spent the right amount of time, and even took a few pictures at photo-op locations. We really enjoyed Allie as our tour guide!
Delightful and charming and knowledgeable guide Beautiful gardens and learned a lot. Would recommend
Allie was a wonderful guide, personable and very knowledgeable. This was a great experience and we learned so much!! Highly recommend!
What a diverse bunch of desert plants featuring the saguaro cactus as well as some butterflies, hummingbirds, and quail. The garden was decorated for Christmas with wonderful combinations of plant textures.
10/10 Allie was my tour guide. She has so much knowledge on the plants. She had snacks, water, umbrella, headphones, and off spray. She is funny, interesting, and quirky. She has a warm spirit. My son said he reminds him of one of his teachers.. The Desert Botanical is absolutely beautiful, stunning, and amazing. I highly recommend this tour.
Allie is absolutely wonderful. I enjoyed my day so much. She makes every moment enjoyable an is extremely knowledgeable about Arizona an plants. Definitely one of the best tours I've been on.
I had a wonderful experience on my tour at the Desert Botanical Garden with Allie as my guide. Even though I was the only person on the tour, she took her role seriously and made it engaging and informative. She shared so much knowledge—not just about the plants, but also about reptiles and other desert animals. Allie is truly fantastic. She even recommended other places to visit and kindly offered to answer questions in the future if I forget anything I learned today. I really appreciated her enthusiasm and expertise. Highly recommend her when you go for this tour
Allie was absolutely wonderful! She was so knowledgeable about every plant and taking us through the whole botanical gardens. If you love plants and want to learn about the native species that grow in that region she is well worth the money. Even got a little goodie bag with crystals, candy from the prickly pear cacti (which surprisely was delicious) and her very own poetry on a beautiful postcard. Definitely book her for a great experience there!
We had an amazing time at our Sunset Walking tour!! Allie was an amazing tour guide, she was very knowledgeable, accommodating, helpful, friendly, and so sweet! The gardens itself was not very crowded, so it was easy to navigate and not too difficult to find great photos ops. The atmosphere was very serene and calming. Super beautiful, peaceful, and educational experience!
Excellent tour guide who was thoughtful and so well informed . The dinner was interesting and unique. Would definitely come back to tour with Allie
The tour and guide were both outstanding. We enjoyed the garden and learned a lot about the native landscape.
The gardens are stunning and Allie was a wonderful tour guide - funny, attentive and knowledgable. We would definitely recommend this tour.
Wonderful tour guide Allie and very beautiful sunset tour highly recommend to all . Great desert fauna and dining experience
We are so happy that we chose to do a guided walk! The walk itself would have been enjoyable, but having a knowledgeable person pointing out specific plants and their characteristics was a great addition…made it so much more interesting. Ellie was so eager to share her knowledge of the plants and some of the history of the gardens…and even had visuals she brought to add to help visualize the details she would explain. As the sun set on the walk, the gardens took on a relaxed “ Zen” feeling. The dinner was delicious and a great ending to a day of perfect weather. Thanks, Ellie.
amazing experience! dinner was delicious! it was s perfecr night for this experience. learned a lot about cacti and flora
Allie was a great host, very knowledgeable on the AZ outdoors and gave us a memorable walk through the botanical garden. Would recommend to anyone looking for a guided tour of the gardens.
Allie was a wealth of knowledge and extremely personable. We felt like we’ve known her forever. The combination of Allie and the gardens was fantastic.
Allie was such a wonderful. I was the only one on the tour and she made me feel special. I would highly recommend this tour.
My family enjoyed the botanical garden evening tour, we were initially concerned as it was so hot, but our guide was very accommodating and made sure to keep us hydrated and shaded. The tour began with a dinner in the attached restaurant, and we enjoyed learning about all of the different cacti and ecosystem. Our guide was incredibly knowledgeable, and was able to answer all of our random questions. She also had what seemed like a magical bottomless bag where she kept pulling out different artifacts to aid her explanations - different cactus flowers, informational sheets, and even a stuffed plushie representing a typical animal found in the desert. She also generously gave us some cactus candy and a small crystal to take home! Thanks for a great time!
Allie our guide did an awesome job showing us all the garden has to offer in a personable way. She answered every question and gave us ideas for other authentic experiences while in the greater Phoenix area.
Our tour guide, Allie was a pleasure. We spent about 2 hours walking through the Botanical Gardens. Allie pointed out and described so much about the various cacti and other trees and shrubs that we never would have noticed on our own. Yet, she kept it light and fun. She brings her own collection of visual aids to enhance the experience. From the moment you start the tour you can see how enthusiastic and knowledgeable Allie is. Allie pointed out some photo spots and took terrific shots of us. Although the tour includes dinner, the meal was wraps, bowls or salads. The food was tasty but don’t expect a full course meal. We enjoyed our tour and would definitely recommend it.
It was fun, informative and a transformative experience going to the botanical garden with our tour guide Allie. The whole experience was great, we definitely loved every minute of the tour. Allie is a genuinely amazing person.
Allie was amazing. This was our first time visiting Arizona and just a few hours with Allie, we have more knowledge of the desert than we ever thought possible. This tour was amazing. Allie was so knowledgeable and sweet. She made this tour amazing. She took pics along the way, and also gave us insider knowledge of what to see during our stay. Definitely recommend, a must do.
This was such a fun and educational experience. Allie was so nice and knowledgeable about the wildlife as well as the cactus population. She was right on time and allowed ample time to walk and meander through the different exhibits. Would recommend absolutely if you are visiting the area.
The tour guide was professional and informative. He arrived on time and introduced himself. He gave us all information needed for the trip. he kept us informed from the time we left till the time we arrived. He provided water and snacks.
Allie was so friendly and informative about the plants, animals and landscape! She also gave recommendations for dinner and next day spots to visit per our request. Highly recommend!!
Allie was very friendly and very informative! We learned a lot regarding the vegetation in the desert. She willingly offered to take scenic group pictures of us. Enjoyed her providing us with chairs, snacks and drinks while watching the sunset.
Very relaxing and easy pace, especially enjoying Aeyesha’s knowledge about all the plants, and so very personable and friendly!
Allie was a fabulous tour guide! We were the only ones on the tour and she created a personalized experience for us with tons of information on the area, the plants and animals, and the history. She took great pictures of my mom and I and made sure we were safe, including adjusting the pace and path to make sure my mom was comfortable. So much fun and beautiful space. Plus Allie gave us a bunch of other recommendations for other sites. And she communicated often and clearly leading up to our meet up.
Had a very nice hike in the desert and a little extra hike to the monument!! Would recommend a full 90 minute hike for future!
I enjoyed this tour with Allie! She was very knowledgeable about plant life and the local environment. I learned so much during this tour. The hike to Hole in the Rock was the best part! Allie was so patient and kind. Five stars, well deserved!
Everything was memorable. I loved the murals The overall trip was fantastic. 2 and a half hours was perfect
I enjoyed seeing the plants and hearing about the native species…. Ellie was a very knowledgeable and super pleasant tour guide
Hard to choose just one thing - we loved the artwork, history, Sonoran desert, and old town shopping!
Allie was good and gave us great information. Scottsdale was interesting and nice place to visit. Fun
This is a wonderful introduction to Phoenix and surrounds by an experienced cheerful engaging tour guide and driver! Great for tourist and new residence in Arizona as well!! I highly recommend this tour!!
Alli made the 3-cities tour fun yet very informative! Her fun facts were great & she was knowlegeable about all 3 cities. We saw a lot. However, photo ops were really limited because we were either too far away (ie castle) or there was no place to slow down or stop (ie Roosevelt images). Other than that we thoroughly enjoyed the tour & Alli!!!
Allie was an absolute gem. This tour was great. I loved seeing and learning about the different cities and seeing the beauty it has to offer
Monday through Friday 9 am to 7 pm EST
Reach us by phone
Reach us by email