Looking at airbnb’s and wondering if there are any areas of town to stay away from for Ironman Arizona. Have a family with 2 small kids and we’ll have a vehicle so don’t necessarily need to be right at the race spot.
This is actually an article we’re working on currently.
That said, do yourself the favor of staying in Tempe. Make it more walkable to get to/from race day, and an easy place for them to recharge their batteries in case its warm.
What are you looking for? Any specifics for the family?
Tempe is great, so is scts chandler and so on. Weird this about the Phoenix area is that you are never more than 5mi from a “questionable†area.
Lmk and I can help
Residence Inn Tempe Downtown.
Has two bedroom suites (includes a kitchenette) and is walking distance (maybe 7 min) from transition.
Any money you save on an Airbnb is a wash when you factor in the proximity to the race.
Literally about anything within 30 miles lol. We’ll need more info to point you the right direction. I’d stay away from scottsdale because of prices. Mesa or gilbert may be a good choice with some stuff to do around.
That would have been ideal but I think they just have 1 bedrooms remaining.
Thanks for all the other responses too. Really just wanted to make sure we end up in a safe neighborhood. We had a “miss†with 1 big city stay so my wife will not be happy if that happens again.
Let’s assume you are looking east of Sky Harbor somewhere. Anything Scottsdale or Ahwatukee is fine - not all are high income areas but nothing that would look concerning. Tempe is fine with the exception of Guadalupe I suppose, and maybe west of downtown Tempe would be less desirable. Chandler I’d avoid near downtown. Phoenix I’d avoid near the airport/202 area but Camelback and further north are super nice, be at least north of Indian School. Mesa has better areas and not so much, it’s hard to list. Gilbert is generally good. There are plenty of exceptions, I’m just trying to help with general guidelines as to how areas would look to outsiders.
Back in the day when my kids were kids we would stay at the Marriott Butts, nice kid friendly pool and not too far from the race Venue.
That would have been ideal but I think they just have 1 bedrooms remaining.
Thanks for all the other responses too. Really just wanted to make sure we end up in a safe neighborhood. We had a “miss†with 1 big city stay so my wife will not be happy if that happens again.
Then do yourself the favor of staying in Gilbert or Chandler. There are good and bad parts of Tempe, Scottsdale and Phoenix… but almost zero questionable areas in Chandler or Gilbert. And you’ll be 20~25min from the race, which isn’t a big deal. It’s exactly why I chose to live in that area and going to IMAZ every year isn’t an issue.