Tempe is a hot town. And not just because it's an even money bet to hit 100 degrees the September weekend Georgia football fans drop by for a visit.

Tempe is a compact college town with more than 100 restaurants, bars, nightclubs and shops within the historic downtown district along Mill Avenue, a pedestrian-friendly avenue with wide sidewalks and plenty of shade. It's a good place to spend the Friday night before a highly hyped college football game.

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'Sparky' the Arizona State Sun Devils mascot does performs in the student section durng a 2007 game.

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The park along the shore of Towne Lake in downtown Tempe draws people year around.

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The University of Georgia football team travels west to play Arizona State University in Tempe Sept. 20. It's the Bulldogs' first regular-season trip west of the Rockies in decades and thousands of fans are expected to tag along.

For those pigskin pilgrims we offer a brief guide to enemy territory.

Tempe sits just east of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport — the cheap seats at ASU's Sun Devil Stadium are a good place to watch the airliners come in for a landing. To the north is Scottsdale, an affluent town with plenty of upscale resorts, expensive restaurants, trendy boutiques and nightclubs. Think Buckhead, but with straight, four-lane streets.

The grid system of streets, by the way, makes navigating Tempe and the Phoenix metro area — The Valley of the Sun, the chamber types call it — very easy.

But you really don't need to drive much. Everything you need to stay busy for a long weekend can be found within two miles of the stadium. Snag a room in the right hotel and you may not have to get in a car except from the airport and back.

The mantra in real estate — even pay-by-the-night real estate — is "location, location, location." There is no more convenient place to stay than the Tempe Mission Palms (480 894-1400; www.missionpalms.com).

The AAA 3-diamond hotel has 303 rooms at the corner of Mill Avenue and Fifth Street, easy walking distance to both the stadium and the buzz of downtown.

Other spots a short drive from downtown: the Four Points Sheraton Tempe (480-968-3451; www.fourpointstempe.com); The Buttes (602-225-9000; www.marriott.com/PHXTM); and Hyatt Place Tempe/Phoenix Airport (480-804-9544; www.phoenixairport.place.hyatt.com).

The Mill Avenue District has been gentrified over the last decade so you'll find a number of corporate eateries downtown — Ruby Tuesday, Hooters, P.F. Chang's, Pizzeria Uno. Two long-standing local spots are Monti's La Casa Vieja (480-967-7594; www.montis.com), an old-school steakhouse on the north end of Mill Avenue and House of Tricks (480-968-1114; www.houseoftricks.com), a quintessentially funky place comprised of two early 20th century houses and connecting outdoor patios. The House of Tricks, which has a wine cellar holding 2,500 bottles, is on Seventh Street about two blocks west of Mill Avenue.

More than 40 wines by the glass can be found at Cafe Boa (480-968-9112; www.cafeboa.com), a bistro and wine bar in the middle of the action along Mill. The spot has been named "best happy hour" by the local alternative weekly newspaper and received Wine Spectator Magazine's Award of Excellence in 2007. Sit outside — after dark, of course — for great people watching.

If your taste runs more to beer — well, it's a college town — you're in luck.

There are a lot places that serve a lot of different beers. Two places make beer on premises.

Gordon Biersch Brewery, one link in a national chain, has a second story balcony looking down on Mill. Another great spot for people watching.

A better spot for beer, however, is Four Peaks Brewery (480-303-9967; www.fourpeaks.com). This home-town micro-brewery offers up to 10 different beers on tap in the Old Bordens Creamery, a brick building built in the 1890s. Four Peaks is about 1.5 miles from the stadium, but worth the designated driver trip.

Wear shorts, the old warehouse can be a little warm.

There are dozens of golf courses nearby and one is little more than a three wood from the football stadium. The ASU Karsten Golf Course (480-921-8070; www.asukarsten.com) is a Pete Dye designed course rated "four star' by Golf Digest. Green fees are $35 before 11 a.m. and $25 after 11 a.m.

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Here are three Tempe tips from Stuart Kent, UGA Class of 1986 and president of the Phoenix chapter of the UGA Alumni Association.

• Get an early tee time. Visitors are unprepared for how hot it can be in Arizona in September.
• Don't plan on traditional tailgating before the 5 p.m. kickoff. "It's just too hot," Kent says, "and there is no shade, no leafy oaks like there [are] in Athens."
• Stay hydrated by alternating bottled water and adult beverage of choice.