The Musical Instrument Museum, known locally as the MIM, is one of the most surprising things in Phoenix. Tucked into a quiet corner of north Phoenix, it houses around 8,000 instruments from every country in the world, displayed in geographic galleries that take you continent by continent. Each exhibit comes with video footage of the instruments being played, and the wireless headphones automatically sync as you walk up to each display. The effect is genuinely mesmerising.
Plan on three or four hours. The experience galleries let you bang on gongs, strum a theremin, or play a Javanese gamelan. The Artist Gallery upstairs covers performers from John Lennon to Taylor Swift with handwritten lyrics and stage costumes. The on-site theatre books world-music concerts most weeks of the year. For a city better known for golf and saguaros, this is an unexpected world-class museum.