tucson - where to stay?
 

myself, wife and 7 month old daughter will be in tuscon in January. We are not familiar with the tuscon area and are wondering where a good place to stay would be. Downtown? other sections? a suburb?

thanks.
anthony

I would try Windmill Inn, good location and nice, it is in north-central Tucson.

In the foothills at the northern edge of Tucson (along Ina Road) are many resort hotels offering views over Tucson. From there you are in 10 minutes in the center of the city (by car).
I personally recommend Westward Look Resort - it is an elegant resort with a nice southwestern touch, has a lush desert garden, three pools (heated in winter) and several spas just between the little buildings where the rooms are. And it is not as pricey as the other resorts (negociate the rate with them on the phone).
We stayed there last year over New Year's day and it was just wonderful.

Jan. is "high season" here in Tucson (I live there). For starters I would never stay downtown it's not very appealing in any way.

The Windmill is a good choice, all rooms are 2 room suites and it is in a nice plaza with some restuarants, stores, etc. It's at the intersection of Campbell and River Roads which is pretty central and close to shopping, etc. We frequently put visitors up there where I work and they all love the place.

Depending upon your budget the "resort" hotels are lovely, i.e. Weston LaPaloma, Loew's Ventana, Westward Look and Hilton El Conquistidor (that one is actually in Oro Valley). These hotels are all in good areas but it really depends what you want to do and how much you want to spend.

Stay away from anything along Interstate 10 would be my other piece of advice.

There are, of course, many other hotels in Tucson and again, it depends on how much you want to spend. There is a fairly new Holiday Inn Express in Oro Valley (right near the Hilton), there is also one across from the Tucson Mall on Wetmore St. There is a Hampton Inn on Oracle Rd., also fairly close to Tucson Mall. There are many many more hotels/motels around - the city is very large area wise and stretches about 40 miles across so it really depends on what part of town you want to be in and what you are going to be doing.

Hi a,

What's your budget?

What are you looking for in the way of amenities?

If this were the Europe forum, I would ask if you would be renting a car. :)

((I))

I second Loews Ventana. It is also close to Sabino canyon.

I don't think you can go wrong with any of the big chains (Westin La Paloma/Hilton El Conquistador/Loews Ventana Canyoun) or the Westward Look.

But if you want real old school arizona, look into the Arizona Inn. I've never stayed there, but always wanted to.