The Mrs. and I will spend over a week in Tucson in late July and early August (don’t ask why, it’s complicated.) We’ve our accomodations picked out, so that’s not an issue.
We do enjoy the desert, and have done some careful summer desert/mountain hiking in the past in other locales, and would enjoy doing similar in the Tucson area. Any recommendations for good day hikes? Preferably something we can do early or late in the day, in less than 3 or 4 hours, to avoid extreme heat.
Beyond that, we’re not real big party types, but would enjoy seeing what cultural/historic/fun aspects Tucson has to offer otherwise.
We’ve done Phoenix/Sedona/Flagstaff/Grand Canyon/Oatman before, and really don’t want to drive all that far from Tucson anyway.
[ul]
[li]Go hiking at Mt. Lemmon, at 9157 ft, the continental US’s southernmost ski resort and a nice cool place to hike during the summer.[/li][li]Visit Biosphere 2 in Oracle.[/li][li]Visit Bisbee (historic old mining town) and Tombstone. The temperatures there during the summer shouldn’t be too bad.[/li][li]Visit southern Arizona’s wine country: Sonoita, Elgin, and Patagonia.[/li][li]Go see the mission at Tumacacori. Visit the Presidio museum and do some touristy shopping at Tubac.[/li][/ul]
Seconded. I haven’t been there in years, but I still remember enjoying the heck out of it.
There’s also Old Tucson Studios, but that’s a theme park, which might not be up your alley if you’re not bringing kids.
I’m not big on hiking, so unfortunately I can’t give tips there, but I do recall as a kid being taken to the Saguaro National Park and enjoying the scenery. You might look into that.
It’s a shame you’re not going when the 4th Avenue Street Fair is rolling, that’s usually a fun way to spend the day. 4th Avenue near the U of A is usually what I think of when I think about historic/cultural things to see in Tucson, but really it’s just a run-down hippie street with some interesting stores.
For dinner, the Mexican places I know of are Casa Molina, which my mother swears by, and La Parrilla Suiza. Both are excellent Mexican restaurants, but they are chains, even though they’re local to Tucson/Arizona. I’m sure others can point out small holes-in-the-wall that are even more authentic than those, but those are very good IMO.
For lunch, I always make it a point to go to eegees whenever I’m in town; it’s a decent sub shop that sells frozen fruit slush (called eegees). I don’t care for the actual drinks myself, though it’s a local treasure, but they do very good sandwiches and fries.
Also for lunch, I only just recently discovered El Guero Canelo, which upsets me because had I known about it when I went to the U I’d have been there three times a week. Their Sonoran hot dogs are unbefrickinlievable.
If you’re into that sort of thing, it’s a great place for birdwatching - you can see species not available further north. One especially good place (Trogons, anyone?) is Madera Canyon, about 30 miles south - but you’ll also find good birds at the above-mentioned Sonoran Desert Museum (which is more or less a must-see).
Does the USAF still have that gigantic airplane graveyard?
I second almost everything linked in above replies. There once was a botanical garden. Is that part of the Saguaro National Park?
(I spent many weeks at a radar installation on top of Mt. Lemmon. It never worked so all my efforts were, and probably still are, classified. But the trip up and down was really nice.)
Okay, I have a real outlier for you. TheLightning Field in Quemado, NM., about a 5 hour drive from Tucson. I’ve always wanted to see it in action. It’s an art installation of hundreds of lightning rods out in the desert, and I’ve heard that if a storm hits it it will provide maybe the biggest light show spectacle you will ever see.
Unfortunately, electrical storms out there are apparently a very rare event, and without lightning, it’s just a big field of vertical metal rods. Keep an eye on the weather reports while you’re there.
