Flagstaff sits at about 7,000 feet in the ponderosa pines of northern Arizona, where Interstate 40 and Interstate 17 converge and the BNSF Railway's Southern Transcon rumbles through downtown day and night. The city grew from lumber, railroad, and ranching roots established in the 1870s. Route 66 once ran directly through town along Santa Fe Avenue, and that highway heritage still pulses through local culture. Each September, Flagstaff hosts Route 66 Days to celebrate the connection. The historic Hotel Monte Vista hosted film stars including John Wayne, Jane Russell, Gary Cooper, and Bing Crosby during the golden age of Westerns, when over 100 films were shot in nearby Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon. Scenes from Easy Rider, Forrest Gump, and Little Miss Sunshine were all filmed on or near Flagstaff's stretch of the Mother Road.

The Lowell Observatory, founded in the 1890s when Flagstaff was already nicknamed the "Skylight City," is a National Historic Landmark. In 2012, the observatory commissioned the Lowell Discovery Telescope, a 4.3-meter instrument with a cube that can hold five instruments simultaneously. Lowell also collaborates with the Naval Observatory on the Navy Precision Optical Interferometer at nearby Anderson Mesa, advancing the science of astrometry and star catalogs. Flagstaff splits its surrounding area into four light-emission zones, with the strictest controls near the observatories and Northern Arizona University. In 2012, Flagstaff was named America's first STEM Community, a recognition fitting for a city where cutting-edge astronomy coexists with a 10-day Festival of Science each September, launched annually by the Eugene Shoemaker keynote address.

Elite distance runners have long gravitated to Flagstaff for altitude training. Runner Nick Hilton called it one of the "two biggest centers for elite distance runners in the country" alongside Boulder, Colorado. The HYPO2 high-altitude training center, created in 2012 with staff from Northern Arizona University's former Center for High Altitude Training, has hosted over 85 Olympic medalists from 44 countries. The Arizona Cardinals held their NFL summer training camp at NAU from 1988 to 2012, a facility Sports Illustrated named one of the top five camps in the league for its cooler temperatures and scenic setting. The Australian rules football team Collingwood Magpies, the Olympic medal-winning British Swimming team, and distance champion Mo Farah have all trained at NAU facilities. The city maintains over 50 miles of urban trails through the Flagstaff Urban Trails System, widely used for both recreation and transportation.

Flagstaff calls itself the "City of Seven Wonders" for good reason. Grand Canyon National Park lies about 80 miles to the north, and the city serves as the primary base camp for canyon visitors, drawing over five million tourists annually. Walnut Canyon National Monument, Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, Wupatki National Monument, and Barringer Crater are all within easy reach. The Museum of Northern Arizona showcases the biology, archaeology, and native art of the Colorado Plateau, while the Arboretum at Flagstaff houses 2,500 species of drought-tolerant native plants. Arizona Snowbowl on the San Francisco Peaks supports approximately 200 full-time jobs and contributes $12.08 million in economic output to the city. In 1996, 39% of Coconino County residents worked in tourism.

Flagstaff's proximity to the Navajo Nation, Hopi Reservation, and other tribal lands gives it a Native American population markedly higher than the national average. The Navajo community is the largest, with about 5,500 people of Navajo ancestry in the city. Summer festivals include the Hopi and Navajo Festivals of Arts and Crafts, and bus routes connect Flagstaff to Tuba City and the Hopi Reservation. Northern Arizona University anchors the city's educational and cultural life, with three institutions of higher education, a Department of Theatre with multiple invitations to the American College Theatre Festival, and the community theater company Theatrikos, founded in 1972 in the basement of the Weatherford Hotel. Air travel connects through Flagstaff Pulliam Airport (KFLG), with year-round direct flights to Phoenix and Dallas-Fort Worth on American Airlines.