Sun City West, AZ Outdoor Activities

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.

The ice rink at Arcadia Ice Arena invites bladed feet for a full calendar of public skate times, hockey leagues, and figure-skating lessons. For public skating sessions, skaters may bring their own skates or rent hockey or figure skates before carving figure eights and love notes to the zamboni into the ice. Beginners and Olympic hopefuls alike can improve their technique through the arena's Learn to Skate programs, complete with private or group lessons.

John Flanders and Jeff Varner founded the Academy of Scuba to bring the magic of diving to the arid lands of the Southwest. They employ a team of PADI-certified instructors, who lead courses ranging from beginner and advanced open-water certification to more in-depth programs such as master diver, deep diver, underwater video and photography specialists, and professional shark imitator. Once certified, divers can stretch their new sea legs on diving excursions to exotic locales such as Belize, Mexico, and Bonaire through the academy’s partner and affiliate companies. Both of the Academy's locations rent, repair, and sell high-quality gear from reputable brands such as Sea Dive, Amphibious Outfitters, and H2Odyssey.

A kaleidoscope of multichromatic blossoms and emerald leaves bursts from the soil, blanketing 65 acres of desert landscape at Desert Botanical Garden. Diverse walkways flanked by more than 50,000 types of cacti, succulents, and wildflowers educate visitors on the importance of protecting the environment and not hugging every plant they see. In addition to the garden's more stationary organisms, some of which go home with local green thumbs during biannual plant sales, numerous avian and insect species make their homes amid the thriving greenery.

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.