Tucson Favorites: 1/2 Day Itineraries

Complete individual itineraries are available in the Tucson Official Visitors Guide, and in the Day Trips section. Follow activities organized by topic, including: Heritage & Culture, Missions & Churches, Astronomy, Bird Watching, Plants & Animals, Photography, and Outdoor Recreation.

Downtown Tucson
Take a guided or self-guided tour of historic downtown Tucson.

Visit the Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block for a look at restored 1800s buildings as well as noted permanent and traveling exhibits. Docents are available to conduct walking tours of historic downtown.

Shop at Old Town Artisans. This historic 1850s adobe building houses an entire block of shops and restaurants. The 15-room marketplace features saguaro-rib ceilings, handmade bricks, and central courtyard as well as works by area artisans for sale.

Enjoy lunch at La Cocina Restaurant in Old Town Artisans, or nearby at El Charro Café, Café Poca Cosa, or one of many other downtown restaurants.

Only in Tucson
Tour the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. The museum is an acclaimed garden and zoo with hundreds of species of plants and animals in natural desert settings.

Visit Old Tucson Studios. Park operations include live Wild West entertainment featuring mock gunfights, action-packed stunts, and toe-tappin' musicals, as well as food, shops, rides, and attractions. Both attractions offer lunch at pleasant on-site restaurants.

Desert Gardens
Explore the Tucson Botanical Gardens. This urban oasis of five-and-a-half acres features 15 specialty gardens that surround visitors with beauty and inspiration. The gardens include butterfly, historical, wildflower, and traditional Mexican-American neighborhood garden with more than 1,200 different types of plants.

Depart for lunch and tour at Tohono Chul Park. The Tea Room is a delightful spot for indoor or outdoor patio lunches. (Visitors later in the day can order afternoon tea.) The park itself consists of lush gardens, quiet grottos, and well-groomed trails in a 49-acre preserve.

Historic Southern Arizona
Tour the beautiful Mission San Xavier del Bac. Often called the "White Dove of the Desert," the mission was established in the late 17th century by Spanish missionaries. The 200-year-old structure is recognized as one of the finest examples of Spanish mission architecture in the country. The mission still serves its Native American parishioners, which makes it unique in the former Spanish Southwest Mission system.

Spend time shopping in historic Tubac. Arizona's oldest European settlement provides both the ruins of a 1752 Spanish Colonial fort to explore as well as unique shopping-from Southwestern spices to regal paintings of Western life.

Enjoy lunch at the Tubac Golf Resort, a historic 500-acre ranch. The resort offers a refreshing change of pace, with a pleasant dining room equipped to handle groups.

Tucson in Flight
Tour the renowned Pima Air & Space Museum. Covering everything from the Wright brothers to the Challenger Learning Center to Mars Attacks, the museum houses more than 250 military, commercial, and private aircraft representing more than 100 years of America's aviation history.

Follow Pima Air & Space Museum tour with one of these options:
Visit AMARC (Aerospace Maintenance & Regeneration Center) a Davis-Monthan Air Force Base open-air storage compound, which is the only facility of its kind in the U.S. The narrated tour of this living airplane "boneyard" features more than 4,200 aircraft ranging in size from the colossal, eight-engine Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bomber to the diminutive Cessna A-37 light attack fighter.

Or, just south of Tucson in Green Valley, visit the Titan Missile Museum. Descend more than six stories underground and explore the Titan II ICBM Site 571-7 for a chilling taste of the Cold War. This is the only publicly accessible ballistic missile complex in the world. An actual countdown procedure in preparation for launch is simulated. Hours and days open vary with the season.

Complete individual itineraries are available in the Tucson Official Visitors Guide, and in the Day Trips section at www.visitTucson.org/DayTrips. Follow activities organized by topic, including: Heritage & Culture, Missions & Churches, Astronomy, Bird Watching, Plants & Animals, Photography, and Outdoor Recreation.