If you don't want to go all the way to Venice for your wedding, you can still have it in (or by) a small gondola. No, I'm not talking about going to Las Vegas and having a faux Elvis serenade you, but going to the last place you'd expect to find a re-creation of Venice: Arizona.

There, you'll find the Hyatt Regency Scottsdale at Gainey Ranch, which is one of the best resorts in Scottsdale - quite an accomplishment considering the terrific hotels you'll find in this area. But the Hyatt went one step further by bringing over a few sandolos or small gondolas from Venice at the cost of $25,000 apiece.

Then, to add to the authenticity of the Venice experience in Scottsdale, they hired singers classically trained in Italian, who, for a small fee, will take you on a ride throughout the stunning 6-acre lagoon that encircles almost the entire hotel. Imagine the excitement of being on a real gondola (OK, sandolo) on a real canal (OK, it's a man made lagoon ) with real Italian singers (Ok, so they're Russian). But it's still great.

Right next to the sandolo is something else that's quite unusual: a small but real sand beach with sand shipped in from Monterey. That's just one of the features of this spectacular 2 l/2 acre water playland, which has 10 pools, a water slide, and most of the resort's 28 fountains and 47 waterfalls. With its unusual lighting and striking statuary, you can imagine how beautiful the pools are when all lit up at night.

Even during the day you can find romance here. My favorite: surrounding all the pools on the manicured lawns are a number of large blue chaises, big enough for four people to sit in or two people to lie down in. They've got comfortable foam rubber seating, pillows, and a top you can put up for a bit of privacy.

Best of all for romance here, though, is that one of the pools is set slightly apart, and children aren't permitted in there. When I checked this place out over a Thanksgiving weekend, I was grateful for this adults-only pool, because this resort tends to get a lot of families who are attracted to all their specialized family programming and children's camp.

Of course the Hyatt Regency also wants to attract the wedding and honeymoon crowd, and they let you know it subtlely the minute you enter. The first thing you see as you drive into their stunning entrance court is a 10-foot tall tiered glass black fountain - in the shape of a wedding cake! Hey, they're obviously trying to tell you something - so listen!

They're also immediately trying to tell you that you're really in Western country. Set against the McDowell Mountains, this 27-acre 500-room flagship resort among the Hyatt properties certainly gives you the feeling of being in Arizona. Not only does it have that expensive ranch look, but also a native American Learning Center and Sculpture Garden, and International art collection with a heavy Southwestern flair.

The only place that doesn't seem to have a heavily Southwestern feel are the rooms, which are surprisingly under decorated. This lead my husband to say: "The rooms are underdecorated and the public spaces are overdecorated." I didn't mind the latter, in fact I liked it because there was always something new and colorful (and Western) to see, but put up some colorful framed Southwest prints in the room, OK Hyatt?

At least in the rooms you can look outward, since they all have private balconies with outdoor seating overlooking one of the five lushly landscaped courtyards, the Gainey Ranch Golf Club, and the McDowell Mountains.

It's worth getting a room that's part of their concierge level, which they call the Regency Club, because the private lounge serves a superb European style breakfast and tasty tapas at cocktail hour for free. (Drinks cost money)

There are also four other places to dine - which definitely aren't free. Their award-winning signature restaurant is the Golden Swan, which serves regional American cuisine. The Squash Blossom serves Southwestern fare for breakfast, lunch and dinner, indoors or out. And if you didn't get enough Italian singing when you went on your sondola ride, you can dine at their Ristorante Sandolo, where follows the Venetian tradition of singing waiters. The Ristorante Sandolo also has a special dinner package that includes the unique Sandolo boat ride on the waterway.

Light meals are available outdoors at the Water Garden Grill, the poolside Waterfall Juice Bar, or The Coffee Bar, where you should definitely try their signature brew, Café Caramel.

For non-gustatory pleasures, there's 8 tennis courts (4 lighted for night play), a fitness center, a Sonwai Spa, classes, 27-holes of championship golf at the Gainey Ranch Golf Club adjacent to the hotel, and cart and range balls included in fee.

Several evenings a week there's lively entertainment at the Lobby bar, such as the Native American Dancing with hoop dancing, or Journey of the Gypsies, serenading you with soulful Flamenco music from Spain.

If you want to go off property, there's jogging and bicycle paths and bikes are complimentary. You can easily walk to a wonderful mall, Gainey Plaza, with terrific restaurants, as well as several unique shops filled with items so wonderful, you'd like to buy all of them (OK, I exaggerate, half of them.)

It's also only a short car trip to the other outstanding shopping outlets in Scottsdale: such as the Borgata, which is a upend mall recreated to look like an Italian village. Or if you want to go off property, take a tour, such as the (long) day to the Grand Canyon, driving back home to the hotel in time to pass Sedona's famous romantic Red Rock at sunset.

There are several good packages available at the Hyatt Regency Scottsdale. For example, the "Desert Interlude Package" includes a night at the luxurious Resort King Room, a 3-course meal at the Golden Swan, a sandolo boat ride, and a bottle of champagne.

HYATT REGENCY SCOTTSDALE RESORT AT GAINEY RANCH
7500 East Doubletree Ranch Road
Scottsdale, Arizona 85258
(480) 991-3388

Return to home page

© Paulette Cooper
All rights reserved.
Last Updated: February 10 2003