Scottsdale: Five Reasons It’s Easier This Winter
Porter adds daily Edmonton and Calgary flights to Phoenix this winter, and Scottsdale has new resorts and a packed February. How to plan a desert winter break.
Arizona has always been a Canadian winter habit, and this winter it gets easier to reach from the Prairies. Porter Airlines starts daily Edmonton–Phoenix flights on 6 November 2026 and daily Calgary–Phoenix flights on 20 December, its only international route from Calgary. Scottsdale, next door to Phoenix, has spent the year opening and rebuilding resorts. Here are five reasons to look again, drawn from Experience Scottsdale, the city’s tourism bureau.
1. More ways in from Canada
Porter’s two new routes add to existing transborder service to Phoenix from carriers including Air Canada and WestJet. Check current nonstop schedules from your city; carriers adjust transborder flying season by season.
2. New and rebuilt resorts
- Kimpton Miralina Resort & Villas, the former Scottsdale Plaza Resort, opened in January 2026 with 260 rooms and casitas in its first phase of 404, six pools, Spa Miralina and Hecho Libre, a Baja-inspired restaurant led by chef Wes Avila. Villas and residences follow in late 2026.
- JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn completed a $25 million spa transformation, with 20 treatment rooms, hydrotherapy pools and a wellness circuit.
- Hilton Scottsdale Resort & Villas is midway through a $24 million renovation.
- Hotel Valley Ho in Old Town added two Hideaway Suites as part of an $18 million room renovation.
- Privado Villas at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess earned AAA Five Diamond status.
- AC Hotel Scottsdale Old Town opened in February with 168 rooms and two rooftop venues.
For the top end, Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale at Troon North has added Desert Orchard, a café under executive pastry chef Christina Kaelberer, and Castle Hot Springs launched a seasonal wellness program.
3. A February worth timing a trip around
Using the 2026 calendar as a guide (2027 dates are not yet confirmed by the bureau), February is Scottsdale’s busiest month for events:
- Western Week in Old Town, late January.
- WM Phoenix Open golf, with its stadium-style 16th hole, early February (2 to 8 February in 2026).
- Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show at WestWorld, mid-February, with more than 2,000 horses.
- MLB spring training in the Cactus League, from late February to late March. In Scottsdale, the Giants play at Scottsdale Stadium and the Diamondbacks and Rockies at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick. Toronto Blue Jays fans should note that their team trains in Florida, not Arizona.
- Scottsdale Art Week at WestWorld in March, with 120 galleries in 2026.
Hotel rates peak around the Phoenix Open and spring training. Book those weeks first or avoid them.
4. Things to do beyond the pool
- Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West opened a $12 million expansion in March 2026, taking it to 55,000 sq ft with four new exhibitions.
- Musical Instrument Museum in north Phoenix runs a concert series through the winter and spring.
- Desert Botanical Garden has a new food program, Gertrude’s by Tarbell’s, from chef Mark Tarbell.
- Stargazing: Scottsdale Adventure Tours runs guided astronomy tours with a professional astronomer.
5. Where to eat now
Experience Scottsdale flags three 2026 James Beard semifinalists: INDIBAR (Best New Restaurant), FnB, whose chef Charleen Badman was nominated for Outstanding Chef, and Café Monarch (Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service). Newer openings include Wolf by Vanderpump at Caesars Republic Scottsdale and JING, an $11 million Asian concept with a Josper charcoal oven.
Plan it
- When: November to April for warm, dry days; February and March are the peak.
- Getting there: Porter from Edmonton (from 6 November) and Calgary (from 20 December), plus Air Canada and WestJet services. Fly into Phoenix Sky Harbor.
- Costs: winter resort rates are at their highest in February and March. In summer, top resorts cut rates by up to 60% from peak season, Experience Scottsdale says, with The Boulders Resort & Spa listed from $229 and The Scottsdale Resort from $149 a night. At about 70 US cents to the loonie in early October 2026, a $500 night is roughly C$713.
- Stay long? Snowbirds staying 30 days or more must comply with the US registration rule introduced in 2025.
Sources
- Experience Scottsdale, What's New Spring '26, 13 Jan 2026
- Experience Scottsdale, What's New Summer '26, 14 April 2026
- ABC15, Porter Phoenix routes, 4 May 2026
- Pound Sterling Live, CAD/USD 2026
Where to stay near Scottsdale
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Alicia Loveday is Managing Editor at Not An Atlas, writing from Calgary, Alberta, amid a little creative chaos: a laptop, an iced coffee and about a hundred ideas she hasn't had time to bring to life yet. She became a mom young and spent her twenties raising two kids, so she was 30 before she saw the ocean for the first time, in Aruba. Gliding through that clear Caribbean water on a Seabob felt like freedom, and she's been making up for lost time ever since. She always takes the window seat (she waited 30 years for the view), never travels without the feather pillow she's had since childhood (they're a package deal), and sizes up a new place with a local cocktail and some serious people-watching. She covers fashion, culture, creativity and the people who shape the places we visit. Friends say creative, fearless and unapologetic. Her mum says stubborn, and she'd be right. Next stop: Japan.
