Things to Do in Fountain Hills

With locations in Scottsdale and Fountain Hills, Yoga Village is something of a fixture in the greater Phoenix community. It doesn’t hurt that the studio emphasizes building relationships almost as much as it does helping people get in shape through yoga. Certified instructors teach nearly 60 yoga classes per week, meaning that everyone from experienced yogis to absolute beginners can find a suitable class. Restorative yoga classes help release chronic tension, while flow styles combine yoga sequences with fluid movements designed to generate body heat. When students aren’t arching their backs and barking ferociously in downward dog poses, they can attend the studio’s monthly workshops and teacher trainings.

Though glimpsed by many people for the first time on an episode of The Amazing Race, the desert acres traversed by Fort McDowell Adventures are steeped in millennia of Yavapai Indian history. Guides lead visitors across the Arizonan foothills on a range of outdoorsy and sometimes anachronistic adventures, such as cattle drives and Segway tours through the Sonoran desert, kayaking adventures on the Verde River, and nature walks with Yavapai Indians. These excursions often end in nighttime wiener roasts, s'mores, and cocktails, a break from the frontier tradition of telling campfire sci-fi stories.

Activities at Fort McDowell Adventures’s four venues further immerse guests in the American Western experience. They gather for Dutch oven–style cowboy cookouts and depart for wilderness excursions from The Stables. At La Puesta del Sol, guests pass through a Spanish mission entrance into a dining hall, saloon, stage, and dance floor, and at Rosa's Ranch, they gather under the stars and around cookout fire pits nestled between rustic wooden ranch buildings. Groups dine at The Boulder House, named on the National Registry of Historic Places, whose rock walls bear evidence of petroglyphs, Native American occupation, and ancient spelunking expeditions.

Trained professional guides oversee each of Rappel AZ's rappelling and ziplining sessions. Upon arriving at the outfit's private Sonoran Desert location, groups get into the adventuring spirit by embarking with guides on a brief hike to a playground of rock and rope. Among the attractions, a zipline glides 400 feet through the valley at 40 feet off the ground, offering spectacular views of the desert. A variety of other rappelling and climbing packages provide plenty of opportunities for elevation changes, whether it's rappelling 70 feet off a mountainside or attempting a 100-foot chimney climb faster than Santa Claus. As they enjoy the breathtaking views, guests stay safe in provided harnesses for safe dangling and helmets for pumping up other rappellers with head butts.

Pinz celebrates classic ten-pin competition with open hours throughout the week, league opportunities, and cosmic bowling each weekend. The newly renovated facility is now outfitted with synthetic bowling surfaces, glow-in-the-dark carpeting, and flat-screen television sets. On Friday and Saturday evenings, the lanes take on glowing hues that emulate the experience of bowling under the Northern Lights without the inconvenience of getting frostbite. Pinz’s onsite kitchen dishes up quick specialties to fill bellies, and the facility’s game room is equipped with pool tables, air-hockey tables, and a digital jukebox capable of plucking old 45s from the far reaches of the Internet.

Christened Best Family Entertainment Value in AZCentral.com’s Readers' Choice poll, AZ on the Rocks belays beginners and seasoned climbers to higher levels of scaling skill with 14,000 square feet of ascendable terrain. They happily host birthday parties or freestyle-climbing sessions in their air-conditioned climbing facility, which houses 50 top ropes, a cave, 2,800 square feet of bouldering space, and a challenging treehouse course doused in vegetable oil. They also teach private lessons, which can grant clients access to the repelling platform. Additionally, AZ on the Rocks has a full gym stacked with cardio machines, weight machines, and free weights, which can be accessed via monthly memberships or day passes. At AZ on the Rocks, all participants must sign a waiver, and birthday girls, boys, and belayers may brave indoor peaks for free on their day of special-suit wearing.

Fourteen lighted outdoor tennis courts, four new pickleball courts, seven indoor racquetball courts, weight rooms, a group fitness studio, and an indoor cycling room make up the facilities at La Camarilla Racquet, Fitness & Swim Club, setting the stage for members to get fit any way they see fit. For one, there’s a varied schedule of group fitness classes, with structured workouts such as tai chi, muscle cardio, yoga, and spinning. Treadmills, upright bikes, elliptical machines, and other fitness machines are within the four fitness rooms, too. If you want to cool off after a workout, feel free to swim the club's 25-meter outdoor pool or juggle ice cubes in the members’ lounge and bar area.

You can hear a constant thwacking of tennis balls and shuffling feet in the outdoor tennis facility, which hosts numerous tournaments, clinics, and lessons. Director of tennis Roger Furman and his staff of USPTA-certified pros offer instructional guidance to aspiring tennis players and ball boys of all ages.