If you thought that the large and sprawling Los Angeles was the largest urban area in all of the Southwest, well, guess again! Clearly, we’re talking about a relatively large number of square miles, but there is a city that, in terms of surface area, exceeds even the City of Angels. This city is Phoenix, which has 1,530,000 inhabitants spread out over 518 square miles.
This large modern city is known as Greater Phoenix and Valley of the Sun, two apt nicknames, and it is surrounded by desert and arid mountain ranges, and besieged by an inhospitable climate. In the summer, temperatures exceed 100 F. The urban area of Greater Phoenix is divided into smaller cities, and among them, the most interesting are the following three cities: the suburban Mesa, the elegant Scottsdale, which retains the style of the Far West, and Tempe, the university town to the east of the city.
Arizona’s capital city has magnificent and exciting museums, desert botanical gardens, sophisticated modern architecture and western neighborhoods.
The Wanderlist Traveler
United States
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