Old Town Scottsdale has the rare quality of being genuinely walkable in a city built around cars. Two art museums, the country's oldest weekly art walk, 250 retailers under one roof and a canal path tying it together, all inside about a square mile.
Here is what is actually worth your time.
The Thursday ArtWalk
Start here, because it is the best thing Old Town does and it costs nothing.
Every Thursday evening from 7pm to 9pm, the galleries of the Scottsdale Arts District along Main Street and Marshall Way stay open late. It has been running for more than 45 years, dating to 1975, which makes it the oldest weekly art walk in the country.
Galleries open, people out on the street, and the Arts District at its best. If you have one evening in Old Town and it happens to be a Thursday, this is not a close call.
The museums
Western Spirit: Scottsdale's Museum of the West covers the history and art of the American West, in the Arts District. Two hours if the subject interests you.
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA), over by Civic Center, does contemporary art and design. Smaller, sharper, and a good counterweight to the Western material a few blocks away.
Shopping
Scottsdale Fashion Square is the largest shopping destination in the Southwest, with more than 250 retailers including Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus, plus a serious range of food from quick bites to proper dining. It anchors the north end of Old Town near the Waterfront.
The Fifth Avenue Shopping District is the opposite and better for it: dozens of independent shops, Western goods, Native American jewelry, and the Bob Parks horse fountain with the bronze horses and covered wagon sculptures that end up in everyone's photos.
Historic Old Town carries the Western wear and the old storefronts, and it is the part that actually looks like the name.
Arizona wine
Old Town has quietly become the tasting room district for Arizona's wine industry. LDV Winery, Aridus Wine Company, Carlson Creek Vineyards, Los Milics Vineyards and Salvatore Vineyards all pour here, mostly in and around the Arts District, walkable between them.
Flights and small bites, and a genuine surprise for anyone who did not know Arizona makes serious wine. Pair it with the ArtWalk and you have the best evening in the district.
The canal and Civic Center
The Arizona Canal path runs through the Waterfront, connecting the district on foot and giving you the patios along the water. Scottsdale Civic Center is the green space that hosts events through the season and is worth walking through even when nothing is on.
A day that works
- Morning: coffee in Historic Old Town, galleries on Main Street before the heat
- Midday: Museum of the West, then Fifth Avenue for shops
- Afternoon: the canal path to the Waterfront, or Fashion Square for air conditioning
- Thursday evening: ArtWalk, then Arizona wine
- Night: the Entertainment District, or deliberately not
Why the walkability matters more than it looks
This is the part I care about professionally, and it is not a stretch.
Walkability is why Old Town has the second-home and short-term rental market it does. In a metro where everything else requires a car, a district where you can park once for a weekend is genuinely scarce. That scarcity drives the demand, the nightly rates, and the price per square foot.
It also creates three specific financing situations that catch buyers:
The buildings that deliver the walkability are the hardest to finance. Being above the shops and restaurants is the point, and it is also what pushes a project past the commercial square footage limits agency guidelines allow. A condominium loan underwrites the building as well as the borrower. See Scottsdale Luxury Condo Financing.
The second home that becomes a rental is a classification problem, not a paperwork one. A property you rent nightly for most of the year is not a second home, and the classification decides your down payment and your pricing. See Second Home or Investment Property in Scottsdale.
The income is seasonal and lenders know it. Old Town fills from October through April and around spring training, the WM Phoenix Open and Barrett-Jackson. A lender underwrites twelve months, not your best six weeks. See Spring Training, the Open, and Your Loan.
If you are visiting and starting to wonder about owning here, the honest first step is not a rate quote. It is the district map and the building's rules, in that order.
The rest of this series
- The Old Town Scottsdale Guide, every district and what each is for
- Where to eat
- Nightlife
- Where to stay
- Golf near Old Town
- Buying in Old Town Scottsdale, the full lending walkthrough
Ricky Khamis, President of EPiQ Lending, NMLS #173141, lending in Arizona since 1999 and a 2025 Presidents Club Winner at CMG Home Loans. Direct line: (480) 999-9842. EPiQ Lending is NMLS #1936984, at 7975 N. Hayden Road, Suite A-101 in Scottsdale.
Verify all of it before you trust any of it: Ricky's EPiQ Lending profile, the Scottsdale branch, and the license itself at NMLS Consumer Access.
Museums, galleries, shops and hours change. This reflects what was accurate as of September 2026 and I have no affiliation with any business or institution named here. Confirm directly before planning around anything specific.
Equal Housing Opportunity. This is general information, not a commitment to lend or an offer to extend credit. Rates, terms, and program guidelines change and depend on credit approval, property appraisal, and other qualifying factors. Not all applicants will qualify.
Looking at a specific home? Send me the address and I will run the numbers: rickykhamis.com/analyze
