Local Attractions

The Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum is unlike any other museum in the world. Although we call it a museum, you will find it is really part zoo, part museum and part botanical garden. No matter what your age or where you live, there’s no better place on the planet to learn about the desert ecosystem and delight your senses at the same time. Every exhibit carefully interprets the desert environment in which animals live in nature. It’s an easy, scenic, 12-mile drive from town, over Tucson's famed Gate's Pass, through Saguaro National Park West, a majestic Sonoran Desert valley populated by more Saguaros than you have ever seen in one place..

Old Tucson Studios is the world’s most famous Western film set, where Hollywood’s greatest legends have come to life for over 60 years. From Wild West gunfights and cowboy brawls to saloon-show musicals and high-flying stunt falls, at Old Tucson the fun includes stagecoach and pony rides, a vintage carousel and the Sabino Canyon train. It’s great family entertainment!

Kitt Peak National Observatory, supports the most diverse collection of astronomical observatories on Earth for nighttime optical and infrared astronomy and daytime study of the Sun. Founded in 1958, KPNO operates three major nighttime telescopes, shares site responsibilities with the National Solar Observatory and hosts the facilities of consortia which operate 19 optical telescopes and two radio telescopes. Kitt Peak is 56 miles southwest of Tucson, and has a Visitor Center open daily to the public.

A landmark of Southwestern art and architecture in Tucson, De Grazia’s Gallery in the Sun welcomes visitors every day of the year except Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Day and Easter.The adobe gallery was designed and built by artist Ted DeGrazia, who achieved worldwide acclaim for his colorful paintings of people and places of the Southwest. Opened in the early 1960s, the gallery was designed to exhibit and preserve his oils, watercolors, bronzes, enamels, ceramics, stone lithographs, serigraphs and jewelry. Today the 13-room gallery showcases permanent and rotating exhibits of DeGrazia originals, and the gallery gift shop offers a wide variety of merchandize and prints of his work.

Sabino Canyon offers a wide range of hiking trails for people of all experience levels. The canyon is not accessible by automobile, but visitors can enjoy all its amenities on foot or by tram ride. The tram provides tours of both upper and lower Sabino Canyon. Tickets can be purchased at the Visitor Center. Along Sabino and Bear Creeks, where water is abundant, a distinct flora has developed. These relatively lush areas are referred to as riparian communities. Sabino Canyon has good examples of both riparian and desert vegetation.

San Xavier del Bac, affectionately called the “White Dove of the Desert,” sits on the land of the Tohono O’odham Indians who have protected the mission for hundreds of years. Completed in 1797, it is a beautifully preserved gem of the late Baroque style of New Spain. Whether your interests lie in religion, history or art, San Xavier del Bac is an attraction you don’t want to miss when visiting Tucson.

La Encantada, an intimate, open-air lifestyle shopping center with extensive landscaping, upscale shops, walkways, patios and courtyards that invite pedestrian interaction, provides the visitor Tucson’s finest shopping experience. Tenants consist of upscale specialty retailers, including home furnishings, jewelry, apparel, accessory shops, and restaurants.