Originally Posted by
aztimm
I think it really depends on budget. As noted, there are places to hike almost everywhere. In addition to all of the mountains listed, I wouldn't ignore The
Maricopa Trail, which is all over the entire area, even in metro areas. Parts of it are alongside canals. No, it may not be as scenic or well-known as Camelback (I have hiked that and agree is is nice), you'll see an entirely different side of the area. At times you'd be able to look right into some backyards. You can get a sneak peak into the Biltmore Resort from it.
The Maricopa Trail doesn't go near the Biltmore.
The Maricopa Trail is a 300 mile loop around the Phoenix area which I believe is about 80-90% complete. While I'd like to eventually hike the entire trail piece by piece, I don't know that hiking a small segment of it would be worthwhile for a visitor, unless they're wanting to use it to connect between two of the regional parks.
There's many other trails that would offer more bang for the buck for the OP.