Cave Creek

Quirky Cave Creek is hard to pigeonhole: motorcycle and horseback riders share Main Street with one-of-a-kind shops and saloons.

You can move at a slower pace in Cave Creek, where friendly Creekers can steer you toward first-rate hiking at Spur Cross or to the local bar Harold’s Cave Creek Corral. You’ll find feed stores interspersed with secondhand shops, a hat shop, art galleries, and upscale home decor stores offering Mexican pottery and one-of-kind furnishings.

The town’s signature event, Wild West Days, features a parade, cattle drive, and mutton bustin’ (picture bull riding for kids, on sheep). But don’t fret if you miss it: there’s two-steppin’ and bull riding at Cave Creek’s saloons throughout the year. Looking for something more low-key? How about live acoustic music under the stars at a local coffeehouse?

Volunteers run the excellent Cave Creek Museum, which traces the town’s Hohokam, mining, and ranching roots, and the Cave Creek Library, which features a used bookstore. And when you’ve worked up an appetite, well, Cave Creek satisfies. For starters, there’s the nationally acclaimed barbecue, margaritas on the terrace at sunset, and five-star dining. You’re welcome here – so stay a while.