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Westside
The 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, USA
Sight Details
Rate Includes: $22
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Foothills
Also 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.
Sabino Canyon Rd., Tucson, Arizona, 85750, USA
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Westside
The 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.
1950 W. San Xavier Rd., Tucson, Arizona, 85746, USA
Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free
View Tours and Activities
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Foothills
Year-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, USA
520-749–8700-for visitor center and recorded tram info
Sight Details
Rate Includes: $8 per vehicle, tram $6–$12
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Downtown
The 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
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Recommended Fodor’s Video
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University
Students 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.
Tucson, Arizona, 85705, USA
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University
The 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, USA
Sight Details
Rate Includes: $10, Closed Sun. and Mon.
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University
Inside 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, USA
Sight Details
Rate Includes: $8, Closed Sun.
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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, USA
Sight Details
Rate Includes: Mine tour $17.50 (Discovery Center is free), Closed Mon. and Tues.
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Northwest
In 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, USA
Sight Details
Rate Includes: $20, Daily 9–4
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South
The 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.
5655 W. Valencia Rd., Tucson, Arizona, 85757, USA
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South
The Pascua Yaqui tribe's original
gaming venture has slot and video-gambling machines
only, and one casual restaurant.
7406 S. Camino de Oeste, Tucson, Arizona, 85746, USA
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University
Ansel 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, USA
Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free, Closed Sun. and Mon.
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Downtown
Youngsters 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, USA
Sight Details
Rate Includes: $9, Closed Mon.
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Eastside
This 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, USA
Sight Details
Rate Includes: $18, Daily 9–5
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Foothills
Arizonan 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, USA
Sight Details
Rate Includes: $8
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South
The 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.
7350 S. Old Nogales Hwy., Tucson, Arizona, 85756, USA
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Downtown
North 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
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Downtown
No 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
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University
Attractions 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, USA
Sight Details
Rate Includes: $8 for museum, $8 for planetarium/laser
show, telescope viewing free