The granddaddy of local resorts, the 39-acre Arizona Biltmore has been here since 1929 and was designed by Albert Chase McArthur, a student of Frank Lloyd Wright's. Located just north of the bustling intersection of 24th Street and Camelback Road, near Biltmore Fashion Park, the Biltmore is like an architecturally inspiring version of a Ritz-Carlton or Four Seasons—big, elegant, and consistent. The hotel attracts an older clientele with taste, partly because of its design heritage and partly for its location at the end of a residential road lined with $10 million–plus estates. It's quiet and rather proper, with painstakingly manicured grounds. The squat, angular buildings, created from concrete blocks that mimic the color of the desert, are certainly Wright-like. And despite their age, the 739 guest rooms are quite comfortable, with Mission-style furniture and Southwestern motifs. In 2009, the Biltmore renovated one wing and dubbed it Ocatilla, a hotel-within-a-hotel with upgraded linens, flat-screen TVs, and a private lounge serving drinks and meals; rooms here cost about $50 to $75 more per night. Eight pools traverse the property, which abuts two 18-hole PGA championship courses. Hotel guests get preferred tee times.

This resort north of Phoenix "blends in with the landscape" of 12-million-year-old granite formations. The mix of modern and traditional Southwestern decor is "done very well"; casitas have high wood-beamed ceilings and hot tubs. Eat oven-roasted guinea hen while taking in the waterfall view at the Latilla restaurant. The 33,000-square-foot spa offers Native American–inspired treatments.

220 rooms

The Fairmont Scottsdale is a favorite of duffers—probably because it's adjacent to the 18-hole Stadium Course, site of the annual FBR Open, the Phoenix area's only PGA tournament. (If you're in town for the weekend of the FBR, talk to the concierge about getting into the Bird's Nest, the legendary after-party.) A standout in the Fairmont brand, the pink palace covers more than 450 immaculately landscaped acres and has a series of pools and waterslides that attract an eclectic mix of couples, families, and guys on bachelor weekends. Readers of Condé Nast Traveler picked Willow Stream Spa here as one of America's top resort selections in 2007. The menu of spa selections is peppered with funky treatments for golfers—check out the Golf Performance Treatment, combining massage, stretching, and acupressure to help improve mobility. The 651 guest rooms' heavy Southwest look is a bit much, but there is a great selection of villas, suites, and casitas. There are several restaurants to choose from here, but sadly, the Marquesa—which had a legendary brunch—has closed.

As multimillion-dollar homes sprout up around the far North Scottsdale area, you'll have to drive past a slew of lot "lot for sale" signs, and construction crews before reaching this Four Seasons, where the usual "Welcome to the Four Seasons, you are safe now" vibe will revive you. Buffered by 40 acres of manicured desert, the resort takes its name from its golf club, Troon North, which has two Weiskopf- and Morrish-designed courses that are as quiet and exclusive as it gets. The Four Seasons also hosts a number of fun programs such as cooking in the kitchen with hotel chef Mel Mecinas ("Saturday Night in the Kitchen") and poolside margarita-mixing lessons. Parents can drop their kids off at Kids for All Seasons, a hotel program that will keep children busy in the game room, on the tennis courts, or at the Ping-Pong table.

While other new Scottsdale-area hotels aspire to urban cool, the 293-room Montelucia will appeal to fans of the classic desert resort, where every turn brings a new pool (five in this case) and every employee demonstrates an eagerness to please. Designed with clusters of rooms meant to represent small villages, the resort has Moorish touches that blend well with the desert landscape. The Moroccan-inspired spa, perhaps the only one in Arizona with services that include a hammam ritual, is at the heart of things, but guests must go off-site for tennis and golf. The main restaurant, Prado—popular with locals—follows chef Claudio Urciuoli's slow-food, everything-local philosophy, with many dishes grilled on a wood fire.

While newer resorts stumble over themselves to satisfy current trends, this grande dame holds fast to old-world luxury and a Reagan-era feeling of prosperity. The architecture and guest room design haven't changed much since the resort's inception in 1988—though there's certainly nothing tattered about the place. The Italianate architecture, ornate upholstered furniture, and huge marble bathrooms definitely speak to the old guard. Guests can also opt to stay in the newly designed Canyon Suites—sort of a boutique property within the Phoenician. Guests in this bank of 60 rooms (of the resort's total of 654) get a daily wine tasting with a master sommelier, a black S550 Mercedes to shuttle them around, freebies that main resort guests pay for (Wi-Fi, parking, access to the fitness center, long-distance calls), and a separate porte cochere, lobby, pool, and cabanas. Plus, a Phoenician Ambassador will call you 72 hours before your arrival to arrange any plans.

The Royal Palms is located on an autobahn-like stretch of Camelback Road without stoplights, so be careful as you pull in. But the moment you pass the gates, things change. Drive up the cobblestone driveway to the hacienda-style buildings, and the feeling of seclusion makes it hard to believe that the center of Scottsdale is only minutes away. The front door lets you into an outdoor central courtyard, where an upper-crust crowd passes the hours reading, drinking cocktails, and smoking cigars. Overall, the fountains, grass courtyards, and away-from-it-all solitude of the guest rooms are highly conducive to one-on-one time. (It's one of those pop-the-question type of places.)

Perched on the north slope of Camelback Mountain (which looks just like it sounds), the Sanctuary attracts big-name celebs and travelers who favor a chic, modern aesthetic. It's hard to find much to fault here—from Elements restaurant, headed up by an Iron Chef winner, Beau MacMillan (whose farm-fresh American menu is tinted with Asian influences), to the indoor-outdoor spa with its reputation for having the city's top therapists. Couples visiting the spa should book a few hours in its inner sanctum: an open-roofed, circular structure of stacked stone with a private Jacuzzi, shower, daybed, and massage tables for two (cost for four hours: $125). Guest rooms show contemporary design touches like brick walls and stained concrete floors. We especially love the Spa Casita Suites for their outdoor soaking tubs and living-room fireplaces. Sanctuary is so sufficiently spread out that even when all 98 casitas are full, it doesn't feel crowded. If you're traveling in a small group, think about renting one of the houses around the property—prices start at $2,000 per night, and all of them have private pools (one even has a private tennis court).