North America > United States > Phoenix (PHX)
The Car or no Car advice for Phoenix can be broken down into three similar questions - do you need a car in Phoenix ; is it worth it (based on costs), and ultimately - should you rent one? (a balance of the two).🚆 🚌⛴️ Do we need to rent a car in Phoenix ?
These scores are based on the quality of public transport and other travel options. If these are good enough to see the main points of interest, then you don’t need to rent a car.
💰💶💳 Is it worth hiring a car in Phoenix?
These scores reflect the practical factors that affect whether renting a car is convenient, good value, and stress-free.
Phoenix is one of the largest and fastest-growing cities in the United States, and it is built on a very different scale from most European destinations. Visitors arriving here often enjoy the sunshine, desert scenery, and access to the wider Southwest. That quickly leads to a common question: should you rent a car in Phoenix? In this case, the city’s layout plays a decisive role.
Phoenix without a car 🚆🚶♂️
Phoenix does have public transport, but it is limited relative to the city’s size. The Valley Metro light rail runs east–west through central Phoenix, Tempe, and Mesa. It is genuinely useful for connecting downtown Phoenix, Sky Harbor Airport (via a short transfer), Arizona State University, and some major venues.
Within these corridors, you can manage without a car. Downtown Phoenix is walkable in pockets, and ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft are widely used. However, distances are large, and temperatures can be extreme, especially in summer. Walking long distances is often impractical.
Outside the light rail corridor, buses exist but are slow and infrequent for visitors. As a result, public transport works best for very specific routes rather than general sightseeing.
Why Phoenix strongly favours car rental 🚗
Phoenix is fundamentally a car city. Attractions, neighbourhoods, and suburbs are spread over a vast area. Driving is the fastest and most practical way to get around. Roads are wide, well maintained, and easy to navigate, even for first-time visitors.
A rental car also unlocks Phoenix’s biggest advantage: its location. The city is an excellent base for road trips. Sedona, Flagstaff, and the red rock country lie to the north. Tucson and Saguaro National Park sit to the south. Even the Grand Canyon is reachable as a long but realistic day trip 🏜️.
Car rental availability at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport is excellent, with large fleets and competitive pricing. For many visitors, picking up a car straight after landing is the default choice.
Phoenix as the ultimate rent-a-car city 🚗🔥
Phoenix stands out as the strongest rent-a-car recommendation of any major city we cover anywhere in the world. Yes, it technically has a light rail system, but a single east–west line serving a metropolitan area of this size barely scratches the surface. When compared with European cities that are a fraction of Phoenix’s population yet operate dense tram and metro networks, the contrast is stark. Public transport here feels symbolic rather than practical, and it simply does not match the scale, climate, or travel patterns of the city.
Rail options beyond the city are even weaker. Amtrak does not serve Phoenix directly at all. Instead, passengers must travel south to Maricopa to join the network, which immediately adds friction and time. Meanwhile, the rail line that serves the Grand Canyon — by far the most famous attraction in the state of Arizona — runs on a completely different corridor out of Los Angeles and does not pass anywhere near Phoenix. In other words, the places you most want to visit from Phoenix are the very places that rail does not serve.
A rare case for a perfect score 🏜️⭐
This combination of extreme urban sprawl, desert climate, limited rail, and world-class road trip potential makes Phoenix one of the very few cities where an unqualified recommendation for car rental is justified. Driving is not just more convenient; it is the only realistic way to experience the region properly. Roads are wide, signage is clear, fuel is relatively cheap, and parking is generally easy by international standards.
For that reason, Phoenix earns a rare and deliberate score of 10 out of 10 for car rental recommendation. If any city anywhere embodies the phrase “rent a car without hesitation,” this is it 🚙🌵.
Why a perfect score is not a compliment ⚠️
Paradoxically, a perfect score for car rental is not a good thing at all. A city that depends so heavily on a single mode of transport is a city that offers very little real choice. While car or no car is aimed at visitors who are already weighing up whether to rent a vehicle, it is worth remembering that in any population there are large numbers of people who simply cannot drive. Sometimes this is because they are too young or too old. In many cases it is because of a disability. Very often, it is because they cannot afford the ongoing costs of motoring at all.
Even in the United States, where fuel is far cheaper than in Europe, owning or renting a car can still represent a significant proportion of disposable income, particularly for people on lower wages. Cities that rely almost exclusively on driving therefore exclude large sections of society by default. By contrast, less sprawling cities make it easier to walk and cycle, provide shade and human-scale streets, and invest in public transport that works for everyday journeys. In a city as hot as Phoenix, this absence of meaningful alternatives becomes even more noticeable, and it underlines why a perfect car score reflects structural weakness rather than success 🌡️🚶♀️🚲
Seasonal considerations ☀️❄️
In summer, air-conditioned travel becomes more than a luxury. A car provides shelter from extreme heat and makes moving between indoor attractions far more comfortable. In winter, driving conditions are easy and pleasant, making Phoenix especially attractive for road trips.
Conclusion: should you rent a car in Phoenix?
For short stays focused on downtown and the light rail corridor, you can manage without one. However, given the city’s scale, climate, and proximity to desert and canyon landscapes, renting a car in Phoenix is usually the most practical and rewarding option 🚙🌄.
