What To See
in Tucson, Arizona
Historic sites, natural wonders, and other notable destinations to visit in the Tucson area
Mt. Lemmon’s Sky Island Scenic Byway
Escape the heat and experience the ecological equivalent of driving from Mexico to Canada in under and hour. The road to the top of Mt. Lemmon passes through 5 distinct habitats: Sonoran desert, Saguaro chaparral, grasslands, woodlands and mixed-conifer forest. At the very top is Ski Valley, which operates a chair lift year-round. Tragically, the Bighorn fire in June 2020 burned through much of the Santa Catalina Mountain Range. Regardless, the temperature at the summit is on average 30 degrees less than the Tucson valley and the views on the way up are always spectacular.
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Mission San Xavier del Bac
A National Historic Landmark, San Xavier Mission was founded by Father Eusebio Kino in 1692, when Southern Arizona was still part of New Spain. The church as it stands began construction in 1783 and was completed in 1797. The mission and surrounding Southern Arizona area were part of New Spain until Mexico gained independence in 1821, and then came under United States control with the The Gadsden Purchase of 1854. The San Xavier Mission is the oldest intact European structure in Arizona.
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Colossal Cave
Twenty miles from Tanque Verde Ranch lies one of the largest dry caves in North America, Colossal Cave. The cave was once used as shelter for the Hohokam civilization as far back as 900AD and as a hideout for train robbers in the late 19th century. During the Great Depression the Civilian Conservation Corps built the surrounding roads, constructed walkways and installed lighting within the cave. Today Colossal Cave Mountain Park is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
There are three different types of tours through the caves, ranging from a family-friendly 40-minute guided walk, to a 3.5 hour hard-hat-required exploration of unmarked, unlit, rarely seen passageways.
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Pima Air & Space Museum (& the Boneyard)
The Pima Air & Space Museum is one of the largest non-government funded aerospace museums in the world. The 80-acre campus includes six indoor exhibit hangars and features nearly 400 different aircraft.
The Pima Air & Space Museum is also the exclusive tour operator for the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group Facility of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base – better known as the “Boneyard”.
The Boneyard in Tucson is the largest storage facility for military aircraft in the world – all the planes in the Boneyard would create the world’s second largest Air Force, second only to the active U.S. Air Force – and it is the only boneyard that is accessible to the public. Charlotte’s great-grandfather, Colonel Paul F. Dudley, served as commander of the boneyard during the late 70’s/early 80’s, and a retired F-111 with her dad’s callsign on the tail was at one time visible when passing by along Irvington Road.
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Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
Located on the west side of Tucson, the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is equal parts zoo, aquarium, aviary, botanical garden, natural history museum, and art gallery. It’s recognized as one of the top 10 zoological parks in the world for its unique representation of the complete natural history of the Sonoran Desert and its surrounding ecosystems. An indoor-outdoor experience, the museum features two full miles of walking paths through various desert habitats, 242 species of animals, and 56,000 unique species of plants.
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Tombstone
For an authentic old-west town, head to Tombstone located about an hour and a half to the west of Tanque Verde Ranch. Tombstone is most famous as the site of the notorious gunfight at the OK Corral. Here you can visit the same sites frequented by Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. Just outside of town you’ll also find the Boothill Graveyard where victims of the famed shootout and other wild west legends are buried.
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Biosphere 2
Biosphere 2 was originally constructed as a large-scale science experiment to research and develop self-sustaining space-colonization technology. Between 1991 and 1994 two separate missions were run, in which scientists were sealed inside of the glass enclosure for two years to measure survivability without any assistance from the outside world. The facility was acquired by the University of Arizona in 2011, and is now utilized for laboratory projects and experimental research.
Located about 50 miles north of Tucson in the town of Oracle, Biosphere 2 offers guided tours through its its tropical rainforest, savannah grasslands, ocean and corral reef, mangrove wetlands, arid desert, and giant “Lung”.