text: If you are new to the area visiting from out of town or even a native you need to check this place out I have gone twice and have left extremely impressed both times The atmosphere is so amazing Right away just walking through the courtyard to the main entrance there is so much beauty to take in You will walk past the courtyard cafe cantina bookstore and gift shop on the way to the main entrance Both times I have gone I did the museum first and then the shops and cafe afterwards nnThe entire museum is somewhat of a maze and if you are not on a guided tour can be pretty confusing to navigate We did not have a tour guide either time they are free and on a regular schedule but we preferred to wander at our own pace The first floor is very large and divided up into sections There is a lot of baskets pottery and katsina dolls to check out and some really interesting native american history to take in I learned a lot about the local and native history The first floor to me gets boring kind of quickly A lot of the collections are not as old or historic as I had expected It seems like the younger visitors enjoyed the first level more than I didnnThe most impressive part of the museum for me was the nd level I was in complete awe of the Indian Boarding School exhibit I learned SO much about the Indian Schools that I had never even heard of before I really wish they would have taught us about this experience when I was in school It was AMAZING nnOverall the museum experience was very good We learned a lot and really enjoyed the history art and culture The only thing I do not like about the museum is navigating through it They do give you maps and offer guided tours but it is fairly difficult to navigate if you do not know where you are going I do not like to look at maps I prefer to wander Different areas are not very clearly marked You will see a door in a hallway and wonder what it leads to then walk through and realize you are entering a completely different part of the museum It is kind of hard to explain but I wish the areas were more clearly marked It is not really big enough to get lost in but we definitely had several occurrences where we were not really sure where we were or where we were headednnThe nd time I visited we decided to have lunch at the cafe and we were really impressed The service was great and the prices were MUCH more reasonable than we had expected We figured it would be pricey but it was not I had the smoked salmon quesadilla and it was outstanding nnThe museum shop is pretty typical from what I have experienced at other museums a few knickknacks that are in my price range surrounded by ridiculously high priced pieces of artpotterydollsrugs It is REALLY neat to look at but I could not imagine buying anything other than a magnet or a coffee mug Some of the pieces are thousands of dollars but it is awesome to just look and admirennOverall always a great experience easy to find there is a light rail stop right out front and it is also very close to other touristy places if you are visiting and want to experience Phoenix I highly recommend this place