Avondale

Avondale sits along the Gila River on the southwest edge of metro Phoenix, and for race fans it has one name attached to it: Phoenix Raceway, the one-mile oval just outside town. Two big NASCAR Cup Series weekends a year — a spring race and a fall playoff race — fill the area with grandstand crowds, campers, and tailgates.

Away from the track, Avondale is a quieter, family-paced West Valley city built on old farm and ranch land. Friendship Park and the Crystal Gardens / American Sports Centers area host youth sports and community festivals, and the historic Avondale district along Western Avenue keeps a small-town main-street feel.

Dining is the quiet story here — the corridors along Avondale Boulevard and McDowell Road hide excellent Mexican food, from birria and barbacoa to Sonoran-style carne asada, reflecting the city's deep Mexican-American roots.

Avondale works best as a half-day stop or a race-weekend basecamp: catch an event at the speedway, walk a riverside park in the cooler months, and eat your way down a taqueria-lined street. Summer is brutally hot, so the spring and fall race weekends and the winter festival season are when the city is at its best.