Visiting Phoenix for a week for a conference without a car (Tempe: rent, hotels)

[Gatornation]

How will that work? I will have transportation from either the Arizona Grand or Legacy Grand to the convention center for the conference. I'm a bit concerned about not being able to get out otherwise though. Not really looking to get out other than a couple nights. Maybe downtown for a baseball game. Is the bus system safe? Seems like you could just take it to the light rail and head downtown and to the airport.

[Finger Laker]

the Arizona Grand is a nice property - they have a lot of stuff on their property (golf, hiking, dining, pools, water park, etc)

I'm not as familiar with the legacy golf resort - but I do know it's pretty close

however, it didn't seem like either were really convenient to doing things in the metro - neither are linked to light rail and you'd need to check into the valley metro webpage to see what kind of bus service you would get

my experiences with the buses here are mixed - while I found them to be safe, I also found them to be very inconvenient, unable to hold a schedule and very slow

if you are downtown at the convention center it may be best to just not get on the shuttle back to the hotel ... you'll be able to light rail into tempe or stay downtown and then just take a cab back

if looking for old town scottsdale maybe LR to tempe and then pick up a cab or city bus into old town and then cab back to the resort

a note about cabs - they aren't everywhere in the metro - however, if you go to hotels you can usually have good luck finding one - sometimes it can be a bit of a wait if you need to call one to come to you

maybe check to see if either hotel runs an airport shuttle .... maybe you could catch onto that and pick up LR at the airport?

[AzDreamer]

The bus system is fine. You should check out their web site for route maps and schedules.

[LocoAZnative]

Just remember if you start venturing out from the AZ Grand on the bus you will going around South Phoenix. I believe their is a bus might be the 92 you can take from Baseline and will loop around Tempe and stops @ the Tempe transit center where you can take the light rail.

[Finger Laker]

It really isn't fine - you'll be looking at least an hour to get from the resort into downtown

the problem is that what makes this city very easy to get around by car is what poses a huge problem for public transportation

it's a giant grid - buses tend to run on a street for a long distance - so you take a bus either N/S or E/W and then connect into the perpendicular route

however, this makes for the buses to be a part of the same issues that we deal with in cars - traffic, red lights, accidents, etc - it's very easy for the schedules to get thrown off and if you have to make 1 (or god help you 2) connections then you add in a random element

some days I'd have to wait 5 minutes for a bus - the next day it may of been 40 minutes - very frustrating

if you are at the arizona grand you're best bet would probably be route 48 to the light rail - this route runs from arizona mills mall to the tempe transit center - this is nice because the arizona grand is early in the stop and the light rail runs with good frequency

another option would be the 77 westbound until you connect into a desired street/avenue northbound route that will take you into downtown - this would probably take a little longer, leave you with all local service and the service quirks that come with it and also have you riding through and changes buses in areas that are less desireable and maybe not really comfortable to moving around at night in for an out of town visitor

if you must do bus i'd definitely try not to do more than 1 connection

Valley Metro | Welcome

[Ponderosa]

Why not call the concierge desk at the AZ Grand and ask them about options? They would know more than anyone on the forum.

[Climacus]

The busses are safe but I wouldn't suggest taking Route 77 west down Baseline at night. Route 48 connects you to the Tempe Transit Center and from there you can either explore Tempe or can take the light rail to Phoenix. Route 56 also connects AZ Mills Mall to light rail. Light rail runs on time but the busses are often late (or early) so give yourself a window of time if you need to take a bus.

[Gatornation]

So sounds like mixed reviews. I may just rent a car for a couple days and do downtown and Grand Canyon within that time frame. Can always look around downtown during convention hours.

How about the immediate areas surrounding Legacy Grand and Arizona Grand? Safe to walk around? Anything to walk to?

Thanks for help.

[ji603]

Nothing much to walk to. AZ grand is a fantastic resort, but it opens out to a main road, Baseline Rd, on the north edge of the property. Baseline runs East-West, with tempe to the east and much of south phoenix to the west. Not too much worth seeing, and definitely nothing walkable.

There's a Fry's electronics store just across from the AZ grand, which is a good place to kill sometime if you've never been in one and like that kind of stuff, but other than that you've got AZ mills mall. The clientel at AZ mills lives in the surrounding area, for what that's worth.

If you can rent a car for a day and get out of phx, drive up north towards sedona (i17 north) and check out some of the old towns like jerome, prescott, flagstaff. Good old fashioned arizona.

[Gatornation]

Thanks. I gathered outside the Grand might be like that when I saw chain restaurants and such.

I think I'm leaning toward Legacy Grand. "The Farm" looks like a nice place to explore and get some food.