This past week, we had the pleasure of staying at the Westin Kierland Resort + Spa in Scottsdale, Arizona. From the incredible weather, gorgeous resort grounds, and incredible food, we had an amazing time while we were there. 
It is only about a two-and-a half-hour flight from Dallas, and just a quick 20 minutes from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. We used Uber, and it was super easy and quick! What 1we loved the most was that they are a quick walk to the Kierland Commons and Scottsdale Quarter, which has tons of restaurants and shopping, which we definitely took advantage of. We ate restaurants like True Foods Kitchen, Breakfast Kitchen (their pancakes are AMAZING), and stores like Madewell, Anthropologie, and DryBar. Does it get better than that?! 
The resort itself has over 730 rooms, including 55 suites. We loved that the resort highlights Arizona’s colors and textures throughout the grounds. The room was very spacious, and had the comfiest beds. They even left a chocolate and some lavender essential oils every evening to get in some relaxation before bedtime. 
Of course, one of the most important parts of any hotel to us is the gym. They have a 24-hour fitness studio equipped with treadmills, bikes, free weights, cable machines, and weight , machines. They also offer New Balance Gear Lending (you can rent tennis shoes and workout gear!). They also offer daily fitness classes, including yoga, and have two tennis courts. While this is not part of the hotel, we did get some suggestions from the super helpful concierge there on hiking Camelback. We opted to hike the Cholla side, which is still moderately intense (less crazy than the Echo side, which is a lot of rock-climbing). It took us about 2-3 hours (of course, it included a TON of pics and yoga poses, duh!), and we really did have a lot of fun doing it. The climb up was definitely easier than the climb down. There were a few close calls when it came to falling right on our faces, haha!
This was the view from Camelback Mountain!
Their pools are incredible and offer fun for the whole family, and even a quiet pool for adults, only. The family-friendly pool offers an Adventure Water Park, complete with a 110-foot-long waterslide, 900-foot lazy river, and the Kierland FlowRider board sport stimulator, where you can surf and bodyboard! We didn’t get a chance to try these activities out, but they looked like TONS of fun! We did a get chance to lay by the pool, and enjoy a cocktail and soak in some sun!
Even though we are not golf-experienced, our room was right on the beautiful, Westin Kierland Golf Club. It offers 27 holes, and players can even experience a Scottish golf program.
We were also very close to their amazing spa, Agave. Many of their treatments incorporate the plant in them. The spa also has a salon, movement studio, sauna and steam rooms, and a juice bar. A great one-stop-shop!
In addition to the fun water activities, fitness, and golf, they also offer some other fun activities like s’mores on the weekend evenings (OUR FAVE!), and a live bagpipe player at sunset each evening.
Another very important thing to us is FOOD! The Westin Kierland offers 10 dining venues, including Deseo, which is an upscale Latino cuisine. We had the pleasure of dinging with them on Saturday during our stay, and enjoyed every single bite, more on that later! They also have a coffee bar, Coffee Flats, and The Scotch Library, which has over 30 blends of whisky, and offers tastings. Although we are not major scotch drinkers, it sounded so fun to try out!
We loved sitting by the bonfire at night. SO relaxing!
Now, about our dinner at Deseo, which was AMAZING! Their menu includes a variety of dishes, including lobster ceviche, grilled seafood, and meats. They have incredible, refreshing cocktails offered at their Muddle Bar, where they blend fresh fruits (mango and strawberries) with fresh herbs (basil and mint) with your favorite spirit. Our favorite dishes were the Lobster Ceviche, Hangar Steak with Chimmichurri, and of course, the dessert, Chocolate Cigar with Espresso Ice Cream (y’all we totally demolished BOTH desserts we tried) We are dreaming about them, just thinking about them right now. Y’all must try this spot!
They gave us the recipe for these amazing rolls that are GF and filled with cheese! I could have eaten a ton of these.
Overall, our experience there was nothing short of amazing. It was the perfect Galentine’s getaway. We had incredible service and weather the entire stay, and would highly recommend it to y’all! Please let us know if you have any questions, as always!
PS- check back on Sunday for our Scottsdale recommendations! I know a few of y’all were asking about it!
A special thanks to the Westin Kierland Resort and Spa for our accommodations. All opinions are our own.
They have four gourmet restaurants on the property, as well as an incredible spa. In December, they will be debuting a brand-new, ultra-luxe “resort-within-a-resort” expansion called The Towers at Pacifica. It will offer upscale accommodations, a 24-hour butler service, elevated dining experiences, and exclusive access to a new VIP Towers Lounge. We had the opportunity to stay in the new tower before it was completely finished, and the rooms were incredible!
They have a great gym filled with cardio equipment, free weights, as well as machines. We were able to get in a great workout each day! They also offer a ton of workout classes that are complimentary!
You can also order food and drinks poolside, which of course, we gladly partook in! We don’t usually drink, but we ordered this drink which was vodka, sparkling water, and fresh mint blended together with ice that was SO refreshing. I literally gulped it down both times I had it, haha, and that is totally unlike me! The waiters at the pool were super friendly and accommodating, which always makes a huge difference.
Now, about the food, aka the most important part! I will admit, I was a little nervous about the food, considering we were at an all-inclusive resort, and how particular I am about how my food is prepared. I was super surprised at how easy and accommodating it was to eat healthy and the way I normally do while we stayed there! 
For breakfast, at Siempre, they had a ton of options at the buffet like fresh fruit, amazing pastries and breads, oatmeal, hot food items like eggs, refried beans, roasted potatoes, and other Mexican specialties like enchiladas and tostadas. They also had an omelette station, where you could get eggs prepared however you like them. We both ordered our usual egg white omelettes with vegetables, and the sweet lady making them everyday remembered our order every morning! She was adorable, and so accommodating! They also offered a variety of salsas to top your eggs with (LOVE!). My favorite part of the breakfast was that they had egg whites with salsa and veggies in the actual buffet! I had never seen that before, but I absolutely loved it!
Our hotel itself is very walkable, and we heard from other guests it was their favorite all-inclusive resort out of all of the ones they have stayed in, so that is saying a lot! The resort is about 45 minutes from the airport, but it is a great drive and allows you to see a lot of the city as you drive in!
Here are some of our outfits from our trip:
Being the foodies we are, we love the dining options they have available. Not only do they have
Chef Will had just made a trip to Morocco and used spices he got from there on the dish! Does it get any more authentic?! The flavors were out of this world and everything was SO fresh! We even had a tuna sashimi appetizer, and we saw the tuna that Chef Will caught the day before (so cool, right!?). More importantly, we loved that all of these restaurants had options for individuals with food allergies or sensitives. Nothing is worse than going somewhere with no options to eat!
We also cured our sweet tooth’s several times at Gelato & Co. The shop is owned by an Italian, so you know it’s authentic! We haven’t had a flavor that we didn’t love, but we were even more excited that they had a stevia sweetened chocolate sorbetto that was dairy and gluten free! Sign us up! We were hesitant about the taste, but it did not disappoint! AMAZING! They also offer fruit sweetened sorbettos that solely rely on the fruit to sweeten the delicious favors, as opposed to additional sugar. Aside from the the amazing flavors, the actual shop is super cute and makes you want to hang out in there forever. The dream!
We loved that Camana Bay offers several ways to stay active! They have Anytime Fitness and Crossfit located within the community and both have classes available. Additionally, they have an 75 foot tall Observation Tower that leads to 360 degree views of the island. We’d say that’s a great post workout reward! They also have a Sports Complex, which features two tennis courts, two basketball courts, one eight-lane, 25-metre swimming pool, and a FIFA rated sports field.
Camana Bay also offers some great shopping! We had a little too much fun checking out the more than 
Whether you’re enjoying the outdoors, shopping, or heading to grab a bite, you can’t help but notice the beautiful design. The community itself was designed with green concepts in mind, such as having electric car charging stations, and is the largest producer of solar power on the island. On top of that, the most talented artisans all over the world were hired to create the beautiful awnings, fountains, lightings, and mosaics that can be seen throughout Camana Bay. 
We love spending time at Camana Bay, and definitely make a few stops there on every trip to Grand Cayman. If you’re ever visiting Grand Cayman, we highly recommend checking it out!
Photos courtesy of Dart Realty
