Planning a Group ATV Tour in Scottsdale: Sizes, Rates and How It Works

A group ATV tour is one of the best things you can do with a crew in Scottsdale, whether it’s a bachelorette weekend, a company offsite or a family reunion. If you’re the one organizing it, this is the playbook, from the buggy math to what to tell everyone so the day runs itself.

Start With the Buggy Math

Every tour runs in 2-seat sand buggies, so count your group in pairs, not heads. A group of 10 is five buggies. A group of 11 is five buggies plus a solo rider. Two rules decide who sits where:

• Drivers must be 16 or older with a valid driver’s license.
• Passengers ride from age 8.

There’s no group too big for the desert: a couple of buggies or a team of 100 or more. Bigger crews go out as staggered departures on the same trails with the same guide-led experience.

You drive your own ATV or sand buggy rather than run a course, so there’s no fitness barrier. The marathoner and the coworker who hasn’t exercised since college have exactly the same great day.

Rates and What’s Included

Tours are $299 per 2-seat buggy, which works out to $150 per person when two ride together, or $199 for a solo rider. Larger parties qualify for custom group rates, so call for a real quote.

Every ride, group or not, is all-inclusive:

• Your own 800cc side-by-side sand buggy with a roll cage and seatbelts
• A CPR-certified guide who leads the whole route
• Helmet, neck gaiter and the safety briefing
• Bottled water and snacks
• Free adventure photos of the whole crew
• Every Tonto National Forest trail permit

Splitting the Cost

Collect money in buggies: ten people is five buggies at $299, or $150 a head. An odd headcount means one solo rider at $199, and it’s kinder to take that seat yourself than to make someone draw straws.

Three approaches that work:

• Organizer pays, everyone reimburses. One card, and one person holding the confirmation.
• Per-buggy pairs. Each pair sends you $299.
• Host covers it. The norm for corporate groups and milestone birthdays.

When to Go VIP Private

For 8 or more people, look at the VIP private tour, from $349 per buggy with a 2-buggy minimum. It changes three things:

• The guide and the buggies are yours. Your group and nobody else on the ride.
• Custom start time. Fit it around a conference agenda or a late flight.
• Built for an occasion. Corporate groups, milestone birthdays, bachelor and bachelorette parties.

For a group of 10 the upgrade starts at $50 per buggy, or $25 a head.

How to Book as a Group

One person books. Don’t send ten people to the booking page and hope they pick the same slot.

1. Pick a date and a departure. Sunset runs toward golden hour with Four Peaks in view; summer mornings are the cool option.
2. Book the buggies on the Scottsdale ATV and UTV tours page, or call (480) 837-3966 for groups larger than the online booking allows.
3. Collect names, noting who’s driving and who’s riding.
4. Share the waiver link so everyone signs before tour day, not on a phone in the parking lot.

In peak season, October through April, book 2 to 4 weeks ahead. Holiday weeks and event weeks (Barrett-Jackson, spring training) fill earlier still, so give those longer.

Getting Everyone to the Trailhead

Everyone meets at the Butcher Jones OHV Staging Area in the Tonto National Forest, past Saguaro Lake off the Bush Highway. Paved the whole way, so any car gets there. Count on 45 minutes from central Scottsdale and Old Town, 50 from downtown Phoenix, 45 from Sky Harbor, 40 from Tempe and 30 from Mesa. Our maps and directions page has the turn-by-turn.

Two fixes for the caravan problem:

• Carpool from one hotel. Pick a lobby, set a departure time, fill each car.
• Book round-trip transport. Available from your Scottsdale or Phoenix hotel, office or venue for an additional charge. Book it with the tour. For bigger events, our Scottsdale concierge can plan the whole day, pickup to dinner.

Tell everyone to arrive 15 minutes early to park, sign in and gear up. One late car holds up the whole departure.

The Day Itself

Plan on 2+ hours on the trail, plus the briefing before and photos after. Check-in is helmets, neck gaiters, water and snacks, then the safety briefing. After that you drive: a guide leads the whole route through the Sonoran Desert, so nobody in your group has to navigate, and we shoot free adventure photos along the way.

First-timers in the group? Send them how a guided ATV tour works the week before.

What to Tell the Group

Send one message a few days out:

• Closed-toe shoes. No sandals.
• Sunglasses and sunscreen. The desert is bright even in December.
• Layers in winter. Mornings and sunset rides get cool in an open buggy; bring a jacket you can peel off.
• Summer timing. In summer, tours run early morning or at sunset, so plan the rest of the day around that.
• License in hand. Every driver needs a valid driver’s license with them.

The full packing list is in what to wear on an Arizona ATV tour.

Who Drives First

Two-seat buggies mean nobody is stuck watching, but the order matters. Put the nervous ones in the passenger seat first; ten minutes next to a confident driver does more than any pep talk. Spread experienced drivers across buggies, keep parents with younger kids, and swap seats only where the guide allows, never mid-trail.

Built for Every Kind of Group

Different crews, same great desert.

• Bachelorette parties. Our Scottsdale bachelorette tours are built for bride tribes, with souvenir gaiters, free photos and group rates.
• Corporate teams. Frame it as team building and it delivers: shared nerves in the briefing, shared bragging rights on the drive back. Our corporate team-building tours welcome every fitness level and scale from small teams to 100-plus. For a full retreat day, the UTV team retreat guide covers headcount, timing, transport and budget.
• Milestone birthdays. A VIP private departure with a custom start time is the easy answer.
• Families and friends. Kids ride from age 8, licensed drivers from 16, and a two-seat buggy keeps everyone together. See our fleet for what you’ll be driving.

After the Tour

You’ll come off the trail dusty and grinning. Two plans that work:

• Late lunch in Fountain Hills. It’s 15 minutes from the trailhead, on the way back toward Scottsdale.
• Dinner in Old Town. After a sunset ride you’re 45 minutes from Old Town Scottsdale and at a table by mid-evening.

Things to do in Scottsdale for large groups covers the rest of the weekend.

Common Organizer Mistakes

• Booking too late. Peak-season weekends go 2 to 4 weeks out; event weeks go earlier. “We’ll sort it when we land” is how groups end up spectating.
• Forgetting the license rule. Every driver needs to be 16 or older with a valid driver’s license. Confirm it when you collect names, not at check-in.
• Underestimating the drive. It’s 45 minutes from Scottsdale, and that’s without a coffee stop.

Your Timeline, Start to Finish

Four weeks out (longer for holiday and event weeks): pick the date, count the group in pairs, choose standard or VIP, and book.

Two weeks out: collect names, check every driver has a valid license, and share the waiver link.

One week out: send the what-to-wear message, lock the carpool plan or confirm transport, and book the after-tour table.

The day before: remind everyone of the meeting point, the 15-minutes-early rule and the license.

Tour day: leave Scottsdale 60 minutes before your start time (45 for the drive, 15 to spare).

We’ve guided the Sonoran Desert since 1997, with a 4.9-star average from more than 1,700 riders across Google, TripAdvisor and Yelp. Bring the crew, we’ll bring the desert.

Check availability and book your group tour, or call (480) 837-3966 for custom group rates and we’ll put the whole day together.