Tucson
We’ve compiled the best of the best in Tucson - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
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1. Arizona–Sonora Desert Museum
WestsideThe name "museum" is a bit misleading, since this delightful site is actually a zoo, aquarium, and botanical garden featuring the animals, plants, and even fish of the Sonoran Desert. Hummingbirds, coatis, rattlesnakes, scorpions, bighorn sheep, bobcats, and Mexican wolves all busy themselves in ingeniously designed habitats.An Earth Sciences Center has an artificial limestone cave to climb through and an excellent mineral display. The coyote and javelina (a wild, piglike mammal with an oddly oversize head) exhibits have "invisible" fencing that separates humans from animals, and at the Raptor Free Flight show (October through April, daily at 10 and 2), you can see the powerful birds soar and dive, untethered, inches above your head.The restaurants are above average, and the gift shop, which carries books, jewelry, and crafts, is outstanding. June through August, the museum stays open until 10 pm every Saturday, which provides a great opportunity to see nocturnal critters.
2021 N. Kinney Rd., Tucson, Arizona, 85743, USA520-883–2702Sight Details
Rate Includes: $22 -
2. Bear Canyon Trail
FoothillsAlso known as Seven Falls Trail, this favorite route in Sabino Canyon is a three- to four-hour, 7.8-mile round-trip that is moderate and fun, crossing the stream several times on the way up the canyon. Kids enjoy the boulder-hopping, and all hikers are rewarded with pools and waterfalls as well as views at the top. The trailhead can be reached from the parking area by either taking a five-minute Bear Canyon Tram ride ($6) or walking the 1.8-mile tram route. Moderate.
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3. Mission San Xavier del Bac
WestsideThe oldest Catholic church in the United States still serving the community for which it was built, San Xavier was founded in 1692 by Father Eusebio Francisco Kino, who established 22 missions in northern Mexico and Southern Arizona. The current structure was made out of native materials by Franciscan missionaries between 1777 and 1797, and is owned by the Tohono O'odham tribe. The beauty of the mission, with elements of Spanish, baroque, and Moorish architectural styles, is highlighted by the stark landscape against which it is set, inspiring an early-20th-century poet to dub it the White Dove of the Desert. Inside, there's a wealth of painted statues, carvings, and frescoes. Paul Schwartzbaum, who helped restore Michelangelo's masterwork in Rome, supervised Tohono O'odham artisans in the restoration of the mission's artwork, completed in 1997; Schwartzbaum has called the mission the Sistine Chapel of the United States. Across the parking lot from the mission, San Xavier Plaza has a couple of crafts shops selling the handiwork of the Tohono O'odham tribe, including jewelry, pottery, friendship bowls, and woven baskets with man-in-the-maze designs.
View Tours and Activities1950 W. San Xavier Rd., Tucson, Arizona, 85746, USA520-294–2624Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free -
4. Sabino Canyon
FoothillsYear-round, but especially in summer, locals flock to Coronado National Forest to hike, picnic, and enjoy the waterfalls, streams, swimming holes, saguaros, and shade trees. No cars are allowed, but a narrated tram ride (about 45 minutes round-trip) takes you up a WPA-built road to the top of the canyon; you can hop off and on at any of the nine stops or hike any of the numerous trails.There's also a shorter tram ride (or you can walk) to adjacent Bear Canyon, where a rigorous but rewarding hike leads to the popular Seven Falls (it'll take about 1½ to 2 hours each way from the drop-off point, so carry plenty of water). If you're in Tucson near a full moon between April and November, take the special night tram and watch the desert come alive with nocturnal critters.
Sabino Canyon Rd. at Sunrise Dr., Tucson, Arizona, 85750, USA520-749–8700-for visitor center and recorded tram infoSight Details
Rate Includes: $8 per vehicle, tram $6–$12 -
5. "A" Mountain
DowntownThe original name of this mountain, Sentinel Peak, west of Downtown, came from its function as a lookout point for the Spanish, though the Pima village and cultivated fields that once lay at the base of the peak are long gone. In 1915 fans of the University of Arizona football team whitewashed a large "A" on its side to celebrate a victory, and the tradition has been kept up ever since—the permanent "A" is now red, white, and blue. During the day, the peak's a great place to get an overview of the town's layout; at night the city lights below form a dazzling carpet, but the teenage hangout scene may make some uncomfortable.
Congress St. on Sentinel Peak Rd., Tucson, Arizona, 85701, USA -
Recommended Fodor’s Video
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6. 4th Avenue
UniversityStudents and counterculturists favor the ½-mile strip of 4th Avenue between University Boulevard and 8th Street, where vintage-clothing stores rub shoulders with eclectic gift shops and eateries. After dark, 4th Avenue bars pulse with live and recorded music.
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7. Arizona History Museum
UniversityThe museum has exhibits exploring the history of Southern Arizona, starting with the indigenous Hohokam Tribe and the Spanish explorers. The harrowing "Life on the Edge: A History of Medicine in Arizona" exhibit promotes a new appreciation of modern drugstores in present-day Tucson. Children enjoy the exhibit on copper mining (with an atmospheric replica of a mine shaft and camp) and the stagecoaches in the transportation area. The library has an extensive collection of historic Arizona photographs and sells inexpensive reprints. Park in the garage at the corner of 2nd and Euclid streets and get a free parking pass in the museum.
949 E. 2nd St., Tucson, Arizona, 85719, USA520-628–5774Sight Details
Rate Includes: $10, Closed Sun. and Mon. -
8. Arizona State Museum
UniversityInside the main gate of the university is Arizona's oldest museum, dating from territorial days (1893) and a preeminent resource for the study of Southwestern cultures. Exhibits include the largest collections of Southwest Native American pottery and basketry, as well as Paths of Life: American Indians of the Southwest—a permanent exhibit that explores the cultural traditions, origins, and contemporary lives of 10 native tribes of Arizona and Sonora, Mexico.
1013 E. University Blvd., Tucson, Arizona, 85719, USA520-621–6302Sight Details
Rate Includes: $8, Closed Sun. -
9. ASARCO Mineral Discovery Center & Mine Tour
This mining operations center elucidates the importance of mining to everyday life. Indoor exhibits include a walk-through model of an ore crusher, video stations that explain refining processes, and a film about how minerals are actually extracted. Outside, you can see some of the actual equipment, including a few gargantuan trucks used for hauling the stuff. The big draw, though, is the yawning open pit of the Mission Mine, some 2 miles long and 1¾ miles wide because so much earth has to be torn up to extract the 1% that is copper. It's impressive, but doesn't bolster the case the center tries to make about how environmentally conscious mining has become. Tours of the pit take a little over an hour; the last one starts at 3:30. From May to September, pit mine tours are only offered on Saturday.
1421 W. Pima Mine Rd., Arizona, 85614, USA520-625–7513Sight Details
Rate Includes: Mine tour $17.50 (Discovery Center is free), Closed Mon. and Tues. -
10. Biosphere 2
NorthwestIn the town of Oracle, about 30 minutes northwest of Tucson, this unique, self-contained cluster of ecosystems opened in 1991 as a facility to test nature technology and human interaction with it. Now managed by the University of Arizona, the biomes include tropical rain forest, savanna, desert, thorn scrub, marsh, and ocean areas. The newest biome, the Landscape Evolutionary Observatory, tracks rainfall in simulated desert environments to study the effects of climate change on water sources and plant life in this region. Guided walking tours take you inside the biomes, and a brief film gives an overview of Biosphere projects, from the original "human missions"—where scientists literally ate, slept, and breathed their work in a closed system—to current research. A snack bar overlooks the Santa Catalina Mountains.
32540 S. Biosphere Rd., Tucson, Arizona, 85623, USA520-838–6200Sight Details
Rate Includes: $20, Daily 9–4 -
11. Casino del Sol
SouthThe Pascua Yaqui tribe's main facility, Casino del Sol Resort has live poker and blackjack, bingo, and slots. The excellent PY Steakhouse, an Asian-fusion restaurant, and several casual eateries provide multiple dining options. Attached to the casino are a 215-room hotel and conference center, a golf course, and the 4,600-seat outdoor amphitheater AVA, which books entertainers as varied as Flo Rida, Toby Keith, and James Taylor.
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12. Casino of the Sun
SouthThe Pascua Yaqui tribe's original gaming venture has slot and video-gambling machines only, and one casual restaurant.
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13. Center for Creative Photography
UniversityAnsel Adams conceived the idea of a photographer's archive and donated the majority of his negatives to this museum. In addition to its superb collection of his work, the center houses the David Hume Kennerly Archive and works by other major photographers, including Paul Strand, W. Eugene Smith, Edward Weston, and Louise Dahl-Wolfe. Changing exhibits in the main gallery display selected pieces from the collection.
1030 N. Olive Rd., Tucson, Arizona, 85719, USA520-621–7968Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free, Closed Sun. and Mon. -
14. Children's Museum Tucson
DowntownYoungsters are encouraged to touch and explore the science, language, and history exhibits here. They can examine a patient in the Bodyology Center and care for (stuffed) doggies at the PetVet exhibit. Investigation Station has air-pressure tubes where balls and scarves whiz around, and there's a Discovery Garden for all ages to climb, slide, and burn off steam.
200 S. 6th Ave., Tucson, Arizona, 85701, USA520-792–9985Sight Details
Rate Includes: $9, Closed Mon. -
15. Colossal Cave Mountain Park
EastsideThis limestone grotto 20 miles southeast of Tucson is the largest dry cavern in the world. Guides discuss the fascinating crystal formations and relate the many romantic tales surrounding the cave, including the legend that an enormous sum of money stolen in a stagecoach robbery is hidden here. Forty-five-minute cave tours begin every hour on the hour and require a ½-mile walk and a climb of 363 steps. The park includes a ranch area with trail rides through saguaro forests (from $38), hiking trails, a gemstone-sluicing area, a petting zoo, a gift shop, and a café.
16721 E. Old Spanish Trail, Tucson, Arizona, 85641, USA520-647–7275Sight Details
Rate Includes: $18, Daily 9–5 -
16. DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun
FoothillsArizonan artist Ted DeGrazia, who depicted Southwest Native American and Mexican life in a manner some find kitschy and others adore, built this sprawling, spacious, single-story museum with the assistance of Native American friends, using only natural material from the surrounding desert. You can visit DeGrazia's workshop, former home, tranquil chapel, and grave. Although the original works are not for sale, the museum's gift shop has a wide selection of prints, ceramics, and books by and about the colorful artist.
6300 N. Swan Rd., Tucson, Arizona, 85718, USA520-299–9191Sight Details
Rate Includes: $8 -
17. Desert Diamond Casinos Tucson
SouthThe Tohono O'odham tribe operates the Desert Diamond Casinos, which has an indoor concert venue, a hotel and conference center, several restaurants, and plenty of one-armed bandits and video poker in addition to live blackjack, poker, and bingo.
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18. Downtown Historic Districts
DowntownNorth of the Convention Center and the government buildings, El Presidio Historic District is an architectural thumbnail of the city's former self. The north–south streets Court, Meyer, and Main are sprinkled with traditional Mexican adobe houses sitting cheek by jowl with Territorial-style houses with wide attics and porches. Paseo Redondo, once called Snob Hollow, is the wide road along which wealthy merchants built their homes. The area most closely resembling 19th-century Tucson is the Barrio Historico, also known as Barrio Viejo. The narrow streets of this neighborhood, including Convent Avenue, have a good sampling of thick-walled adobe houses. The colorfully painted houses are close to the street, hiding the yards and gardens within. To the east of the Barrio Historico, across Stone Avenue, is the Armory Park neighborhood, mostly constructed by and for the railroad workers who settled here after the 1880s. The brick or wood Territorial-style homes here were the Victorian era's adaptation to the desert climate.
Tucson, Arizona, 85701, USA -
19. El Tiradito (The Castaway)
DowntownNo one seems to know the details of the story behind this little shrine, but everyone agrees a tragic love triangle was involved. A bronze plaque indicates only that it's dedicated to a sinner who is buried here on unconsecrated ground. The candles that line the cactus-shrouded spot attest to its continuing importance in local Catholic lore. People light candles and leave milagros ("miracles," or little icons used in prayers for healing) for loved ones. A modern-day miracle: the shrine's inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places helped prevent a freeway from plowing through this section of the Barrio Historico.
Main Ave., Tucson, Arizona, 85701, USA -
20. Flandrau Science Center and Planetarium
UniversityAttractions at the university's science museum include a 16-inch public telescope for evening stargazing, hands-on science exhibits, and planetarium shows.
1601 E. University Blvd., Tucson, Arizona, 85719, USA520-621–4516Sight Details
Rate Includes: $8 for museum, $8 for planetarium/laser show, telescope viewing free
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