Arizona Guide and Deals

Since 1988, Auto Care Super Saver has been helping car owners save cash with maintenance punch cards redeemable at local auto shops throughout the course of a full year. These cards come loaded with all kinds of prepaid services, including at least three full-service oil changes with up to 5 quarts of oil, lube, and a new filter. Depending on the location, punch cards may also feature tire rotations, brake inspections, engine-light readings, air-conditioning performance tests, and other repairs and inspections essential to a car's well-being. Customers can transfer the punch card's benefits to any ride, ranging from station wagons to sports cars to feral merry-go-round mounts.

Trailhead Bike Shop and Cafe fulfils every gearhead's two basic needs: offering the sale and repair of all things bike-related, and calories. The shop's group of certified bike technicians keeps frames of all makes and models in bikini-ready shape and top form with detailed repair services, and can help customers find their steely soulmate from their selection of road and mountain bikes. On the other side of the shop, a café with blazing WiFi keeps riders as road ready as their two-wheelers, serving up a savory selection of breakfast and lunch sandwiches, smoothies, coffee drinks, and soup. After nourishing both selves and steeds, riders can hit the trails of the Phoenix Mountains Preserve, which begin just outside the shop.

Nearly a half century ago, horticulturist Harrison G. Yocum opened his backyard to the public, displaying a bounteous collection of cacti and palms. After a few relocations, expansions, and the establishment of a nonprofit charter, Tucson Botanical Gardens now spreads 17 distinct plots across more than 5 acres. A delicate rumble hearkens the arrival of the Garden Railway miniature train, which winds through gardens uniquely dedicated to birds, butterflies, wildflowers, and traditional Native American crops. Admission—which is free for garden members and children younger than 3—grants passage to five different tours, and groups of 10 or more can arrange self-guided or docent-led tours at a discounted rate. If visitors awaken their appetites by savoring aromas from the onsite herb garden or by staring at clouds shaped like canned goods, they can dig in at the Gardens' Café, where sun spills through a slatted gazebo onto iron tables loaded with roast-beef baguettes and mexican tortilla soup.

Urban Athletics' experienced instructors and professional motivators, Paul Rose and Naomi Reed, have over 28 years of combined fitness and fat-burning pyrotechnics experience, which gets flexed to the fullest with the Express Performance package. The boot camp's six intense fitness classes will burn up to 700 calories per session with a hard-hitting, constantly changing workout regimen packed with surprises and shocking plot twists, as new exercises are assigned without warning and characters long thought dead make dramatic reappearances just before the session ends. Each 60-minute workout is designed for all fitness levels, ages, and shoe sizes.

At Stratum Lasertag, light warriors leap and duck while toting phasers in an arena with 15 different levels and 90 towers, bridges, and ramps. Designed by the EME Entertainment group, who designed Universal Studios Japan, the emporium bathes warriors in the flickering of strobe lights and the neon glow of black lights as they ascend ramps and blast at one another from different angles. Throughout the space, murals of black holes, outer space, and alien creatures set the mood for bouts of intergalactic warfare. In between laser bouts, players can refuel at the concession area or keep trigger fingers nimble with a stint in the arcade room. Stratum Lasertag outfits participants with laser-tag vests and phasers during birthday parties, bar and bat mitzvahs, graduation celebrations, and team-building events for actual builders.

Countless repairs and home-remodeling projects can undoubtedly trace their lineage back to Paul's Ace Hardware, which began doling out DIY equipment and home-improvement supplies in 1956. Founded by Paul E. Dauwalder, the shop quickly expanded from its original 1,800-square-foot space, branching out to five shops that now operate beneath the expert eye of Paul's granddaughter. Cleaning products, outdoor equipment, and pool supplies are just a fragment of the stores' inventory, with power tools awaiting steady hands, fishing gear beckoning lake dwellers, and building materials—including the Tempe location's 56,000 square feet of lumber—standing poised and ready to be assembled into dams by handy beavers. Still in the city of its founding, the Scottsdale location has moved and upgraded to its own building.