Touching down at Prescott Regional Airport in Prescott keeps you central, with surrounding cities and sights an easy drive away. Prescott is a mile-high town in central Arizona, the state's first territorial capital, with a Victorian courthouse square and a historic saloon row that still pours drinks. It sits among granite boulders and ponderosa pines, cooler than the desert below, with a friendly cowboy-meets-arts personality and four real seasons.

Standout experiences around Prescott: - Stroll Courthouse Plaza and the old saloons of Whiskey Row - Hike or kayak among the giant boulders of the Granite Dells at Watson Lake - Climb Thumb Butte for a view over town and the surrounding forest - Visit the Sharlot Hall Museum for territorial history and the old governor's mansion - Catch the World's Oldest Rodeo over the Fourth of July week - Fish or paddle at Lynx Lake in the Prescott National Forest - Explore the Phippen Museum of Western art and the Smoki Museum

Prescott is a good base for the Verde Valley and beyond. The hillside ghost town of Jerome is 40 minutes northeast, the red rocks of Sedona about 75 minutes, and Montezuma Castle and the old towns of Cottonwood and Camp Verde are under an hour. Phoenix is about 90 minutes south. Every December the courthouse square glows with holiday lights, earning Prescott the name Arizona's Christmas City. Come for cool mountain air and a slice of the old West.