Visiting the Scottsdale Arts District is one of the top Things to Do in Scottsdale when in Scottsdale.  As a tour guide here at Segway of Scottsdale, I am always telling tour participants that Scottsdale has one of the highest densities of art galleries in the country.  Santa Fe, New Mexico has the number one highest density of art galleries and Scottsdale has the second highest.    The Arts District here in Scottsdale makes the area one of the most unique places in the USA. 

You will ride right through the middle of it on any of our Scottsdale Segway Tours.  The city of Scottsdale celebrates it's artistic community every Thursday from 7pm - 9pm by putting on the Art Walk.  Check out more Art Walk details on Trip Savvy’s excellent blog.

Why is it fun to see the Arts District on a Segway PT?

I love touring the Arts District at night on Segway’s because you can see through the front display of all of the galleries.  So you can do a drive by art viewing! I don’t know if there ever was such a thing, but on Segway that’s what it is.

(More info about our Scottsdale Segway Tours.  Tempe Town Lake Segway Tours. 10 Reasons to Choose Us.  Segway for Sale.

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You will see landscape and southwestern themed paintings.

In my opinion, as far as what type of art you will usually see.  I think that there's a lot more landscape and Southwestern themed galleries in Scottsdale than contemporary futuristic style galleries.  Just giving you a heads up on that.  I personally love landscape oil paintings; almost as much as I love using a Semi-Colon; you will see a lot of landscapes.  I’m talking, really high quality stuff here, not run of the mill artwork that you find in Target or Hobby Lobby.  The Arts District is jam packed full of high-end-originals.  When visiting, you might as yourself, how do all of these galleries stay in business?  There's soooo many!  A lot of the galleries sell online and have special arrangements with design companies that need art for interior decoration purposes.  Though they do get a lot of walk in traffic as well.

What are visitors saying about the Arts District?

On TripAdvisor Jacquelinerose5 wrote “It is literally one gallery after another. It is impossible to go into all of them on one evening. Some have artists present and some have music and wine. Everyone is incredibly nice. Clearly, many locals go there for fun, as do the tourists. I recommend an early dinner and then stroll through the galleries.”

I have enjoyed dinner and then a walk-through a handful of art galleries with friends and family many times and I always enjoy myself.  Especially in the evening when the temperatures have cooled a little and the streets are lit bright with lights.  If attending big special events is your preference, here is the current event schedule for the Art Walk.

If art isn't your thing, here's a suggestion!

I talk to a lot of people on tour about what their interests are and I do hear people express a lack of interest in art.  They just don’t walk around and observe art, it's not something that they do.   Usually I respond like this… “well do you think that you would enjoy having an evening cocktail followed up with a slow stroll on a beautiful street?”.  Almost 100% of the time, people say YES! to that.

So I vote for experiencing the Art Walk in the Scottsdale Arts District as one of the top Things to Do in Scottsdale.  We’re out there everyday on our Old Town Scottsdale Segway Tours, so maybe we’ll see you!

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