Thanksgiving dinner at the three big resort dining rooms in Paradise Valley costs $155, $159 or $175 a person this year. Elements at Sanctuary Camelback Mountain charges $175 per adult. Hearth '61 at Mountain Shadows charges $159. Prado at Omni Scottsdale Resort & Spa at Montelucia charges $155. The most and least expensive are $20 apart.
The bigger differences are when each kitchen serves, whether you can take the meal home, and whether a local who isn't staying the night can come at all. For people who live here, the holiday calendar is mostly set by resort kitchens, and the schedule matters more than the menu price.
Thanksgiving is all about the hours
All three rooms serve on Thursday, November 26, but their windows are quite different:
- Elements at Sanctuary: seatings from 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Adults pay $175 and children 12 and under pay $55, before tax and gratuity.
- Hearth '61 at Mountain Shadows: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Adults pay $159 and children 12 and under pay $35, plus tax and gratuity. The centerpiece is Two Wash Ranch slow-roasted turkey, raised for Hearth '61.
- Prado at Omni Montelucia: a four-course meal from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. for $155 a person, with separate pricing for children under 12. The resort says reservations are limited.
Prado's five-hour window is the shortest of the three, and it starts mid-afternoon. A household that wants an early meal before the football games, or a late one after relatives fly in, has more room at Elements or Hearth '61, which both run nine hours or close to it.
Kids' pricing changes the totals more than the adult prices do. A family of two adults and two children 12 and under pays $388 at Hearth '61 and $460 at Elements before tax and tip, using each resort's posted prices. For a family, that $72 gap matters far more than the $16 gap between adult tickets.
The deadline comes before the holiday
Mountain Shadows is the one resort here that will cook the meal for you to eat at home. Its Thanksgiving to-go dinner costs $84 a person and $42 for ages 12 and under. You pick it up on Thanksgiving Day between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Orders close at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, November 24. That's two days before the holiday. The to-go price is just over half the dine-in price, so households hosting at home can still have the resort cook.
Larger groups have another option. Mountain Shadows offers private Thanksgiving dining for 20 or more at $159 a person and $45 for ages 12 and under, from Thanksgiving Day through Sunday, November 29. If your family gathers the weekend after the holiday, a resort dining room is still available then.
Some of the season is for guests only
Not every holiday listing in town is open to people who live nearby. Sanctuary's complimentary Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning, from 8:45 to 10 a.m., is limited to resort guests and members. At Kimpton Miralina Resort & Villas, the December program includes snowfall and photo moments, carols, crafts and cocoa and cookie carts, and some of those experiences are complimentary for resort guests. Miralina's "Desert Holiday Together" package adds stockings for kids, an in-room movie night and family photos on select December weekends, with a two-night minimum.
Omni Montelucia's events are the easiest for residents to walk into. On Wednesday, November 25, its 18th annual Thanksgiving Eve celebration fills Cortijo Plaza with music, dancing and cocktails from 6 p.m. to midnight. Tickets are limited and sold in advance. The only holiday gathering on this list that is free and open to the public comes nine days later at the same plaza.
December, in date order
Once Thanksgiving is past, the resort schedules start to fit together across the month:
- Friday, December 4, 6 to 7:30 p.m.: Omni Lights Up the Holidays at Cortijo Plaza. The tree is lit, with a live drumline, photos with Santa, s'mores, cookie decorating and hot cocoa. It's complimentary and open to the public.
- Saturday, December 12, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Breakfast with Santa at Prado, with a holiday buffet, cookie decorating, hot cocoa and a family photo with Santa. Reservations are required.
- Thursday, December 24, 4 to 9 p.m.: Christmas Eve dinner at Prado, served from the regular menu. Reservations are required.
- Thursday, December 24, 4 to 8 p.m.: Christmas Eve dinner at LON's at the Hermosa Inn, a three-course prix fixe at $135++ per adult and $35++ per child, drinks not included.
- Friday, December 25, 7 a.m. to noon: Christmas Day buffet brunch at Prado. Reservations are required.
- Friday, December 25, 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.: Christmas dinner at Elements, at $185 per adult and $65 for children 12 and under, before tax and gratuity.
- Friday, December 25, noon to 8 p.m.: Christmas Day dinner at LON's, a three-course prix fixe at the same $135++ and $35++ prices.
On Christmas Day, Prado's brunch ends at noon, the same hour LON's opens for dinner. The two resorts have split the day between them, so a household can do both without the reservations overlapping.
Prices also move differently between the two holidays. Elements goes from $175 at Thanksgiving to $185 at Christmas, and its children's price goes from $55 to $65. LON's three-course Christmas dinner at $135++ costs less than any of the three Thanksgiving dinners. Hermosa Inn posts the same menu price for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
A newer table, and a resort still under construction
The one restaurant on this list that wasn't here last Thanksgiving is Hecho Libre. As KTAR reported, it began serving in early December 2025 at 7200 N. Scottsdale Road in Paradise Valley, on part of the old Scottsdale Plaza Resort that was being rebranded as Kimpton Miralina. Its Mexican menu draws on Baja and Sonoran cooking. Chef Wes Avila, a James Beard finalist, leads the kitchen. Hecho Libre serves breakfast, lunch and dinner daily, takes reservations, and has live music Fridays from 6 to 8 p.m.
Miralina is still being rebuilt. The resort's first phase, with redone guestrooms, casitas and public spaces, debuted in January 2026. A June 2026 release puts Arizona's first Katsuya, a modern Japanese restaurant, on the property in early 2027. That means Hecho Libre is the only Miralina restaurant open this holiday season.
At Lincoln Drive and Scottsdale Road, the Ritz-Carlton Paradise Valley hotel was still described as incomplete in a late-September Phoenix Business Journal report, so its dining rooms aren't part of this holiday calendar. This season's resort tables are at Sanctuary, Mountain Shadows, Omni Montelucia, the Hermosa Inn and Miralina.
Holiday plans often come up when family is in town and conversations turn to what's next. If yours land on what your Paradise Valley home is worth this season, The Collective AZ is happy to help. Get your instant home valuation before the Thanksgiving guests arrive.
