Scottsdale Adventure Tours is a Scottsdale-based tour company offering an exciting selection of outdoor activities. Our signature guide-led Sonoran Desert off-road Jeep tours trek through the rugged desert landscapes of the scenic Tonto National Forest. Our tour guides and drivers take you to areas that you otherwise would not be able to reach in your rental vehicle. Here they teach you about Sonoran Desert’s flora, wildlife, history, and ethnobotanical practices of the Native Americans who thrived in the Sonoran Desert for hundreds of years before the Valley was settled. Set your course for adventure with Scottsdale’s premium Jeep tours.
Scottsdale Adventure Tours is a permitted special recreation outfitter through the United States Department of Agriculture: Cave Creek Ranger District and the United States Department of the Interior: Bureau of Land Management. Our special recreation permits give us access to the most scenic off-road trails in the Scottsdale area. Since our trails are connected to Scottsdale, we guarantee the most trail time at the lowest price in the Scottsdale area.
Our Story
In the 1970’s while Scottsdale’s tourism industry was just heating up, tourists were excited to explore the Sonoran Desert and see the famous desert scenery that they saw in the popular old Western movies. However, with high Arizona temperatures and little to no water, tourists were routinely getting lost and sometimes even perishing in the unforgiving desert. In 1972, this company was born with the goal to provide tourists with a safe, yet exciting means to discover the Sonoran Desert through a guide-led Jeep tour. Our professional tour guides and drivers not only ensure a safe journey, but they are scholars and entertainers who provide guests with a wealth of knowledge about the Sonoran Desert. Our team focuses on sustainable outdoor tourism by educating guests on the importance of treading lightly and always staying on the trail. We are proud to call ourselves Scottsdale’s original Jeep tours.
Scottsdale Adventure Tours: Our current management team has owned and operated this corporation since 1990. We have recently celebrated our 30th year of operating Jeep tours in Scottsdale, Arizona. In 2022, we rebranded to Scottsdale Adventure Tours with a new logo to highlight one of Scottsdale’s major landmarks surrounded by the colors of the Arizona flag. Thanks to our team of outstanding tour guides in the state of Arizona, Scottsdale Adventure Tours is Scottsdale’s 2021 #1 ranked outdoor activity by TripAdvisor. Our goal is to provide our guests with the highest quality off-road tour at the best value in Scottsdale and in the state of Arizona.
CONSERVATION
In our opinion, there’s no desert on earth that can match the Sonoran in natural beauty. Endless stretches of green cacti, sand underfoot, and craggy hilltops make this place we love so well into a remarkable location to witness natural beauty first-hand. But it’s also home to hundreds of completely unique species and it’s one of the few wild areas where you can see these animals and plans interacting within the environment.
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The Scottsdale Adventure Tours experience is as much about learning about the desert as it is about experiencing the true glory of this landscape. We’re passionate about ensuring that the Sonoran Desert and all of its history is here for years to come. We want to be able to show the desert to our children and grandchildren, so they can truly appreciate the story of Scottsdale and their community. And that’s why we work so hard to ensure that while our four-wheeling adventures are loads of fun, they’re also not disturbing the environment we hold dear.
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It’s a common misconception that four-wheeling destroys the environment you do it in, but not if you’re smart about it and know what you’re doing. There are designated trails that are carefully kept for that sole reason: four-wheeling. Scottsdale Adventure Tours utilizes a wide variety of designated trails to show the desert to newcomers and locals alike. We even switch throughout different trails to avoid wearing them down too much or scaring off frequent wildlife from the area.
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Our passion for our desert is why our rides aren’t just a classic desert adventure, they’re educational too. As per our founder’s wishes, we’re here to educate people about the desert, not just show off its extreme natural beauty. We’re sure to tread lightly everywhere we go so that we can show you the animals and species that interact in this natural habitat in all their glory. You might get to catch a glimpse of javelinas feeding on prickly pear fruit, or you might get to see amazing examples of some of the strange flora and fauna that the desert is host to. We’ll show you how to glimpse evidence of life beneath layers of what seems to be only sand and dirt, but is actually a rich and beautiful ecosystem. It’s more than an off- road vehicle adventure, it’s an opportunity to get to know the desert more intimately and through a conservationist’s lens.