Arizona is an amazing state to visit with so much variety! You can experience both the desert and the mountains by traveling only a few hours! Tucson is located in southern Arizona. It has beautiful weather and amazing landscapes close to the city. If you’re spending some time in Arizona it is definitely worth checking out! Here is our guide to visiting Tucson, Arizona and what to see and do while there!
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We got to Tucson and thought we would spend only a week or two and ended up staying for about a month. There is so much to see and the weather is literally sunny and nice every day so we couldn’t bring ourselves to leave!
If you’re on a longer road trip it’s a really good place to stop because of where it’s located. We were coming from El Paso, Texas which was only a few hours drive. It’s then located to so many other states such as Utah, Colorado and California which all have so much to offer!
When to Visit Tucson
Tucson is very dry and warm because of it’s location within Arizona. In the summer it can get really hot so it’s most comfortable to visit in the spring and fall months. Then you can expect warm weather that is still comfortable to be outside in but also cooler nights. If you wait until the summer months you will be sweating every time you go outside!
We visited in February when the highs were in the 70’s and then at night it would drop to the 40’s and 50’s. For us in our van it made it really comfortable to sleep because it was never hot at night but then during the day the sun would make it really warm!
- We love these DC fans to keep us cool when it’s hot during the day! They make such a difference and use almost no electricity!
Read More: Guide to Visiting Big Bend National Park
What To Do in Tucson
There is a lot to do right around the city of Tucson without having to go too far. It definitely is a place where you want to have access to a car in order to get around to a bunch of different places!
Saguaro National Park
Saguaro National Park is broken up into two parts- Saguaro National Park East is located on the eastern side of Tucson and Saguaro National Park West is located west of the city. It’s an incredible national park that showcases an incredible amount of saguaros. Coming from the east coast seeing saguaros and cacti everywhere never got old! It’s amazing how concentrated they are in certain parts of the park.
The east side of the park is a little more developed than Saguaro National Park West while we’ve heard that the west side can be less crowded. But both have incredible views it really just depends on what you’re looking to see. It is a national park so to enter it costs $25 to enter and is good for up to 7 days to both sides of the park. We have the Annual National Parks pass that gave us access to both sides!
- If you don’t have the annual pass and you like to visit national parks it’s a really good deal! It costs $80 a year and gives you unlimited access to all national parks across the country.
On the west side of the park we hiked the Sendero Esperanza trail and loved it! It’s a beautiful 5 mile out and back hike that gives you views of saguaros and other cacti the entire way! We didn’t end up hiking the entire trail but enjoyed the views along the way and watched the sunset before heading back!
- If you are attempting any hikes at sunset make sure to bring a headlamp! You don’t want to find yourself in the dark with no light trying to find your way back. We always bring these and toss them in our hiking backpacks just in case a hike takes longer than we think!
Read More: Our Top Hiking Essentials
Tucson Mountain Park
In order to get to the west side of Saguaro National Park you have to drive through Tucson Mountain Park. It’s a beautiful drive and there are pull offs through out where you can pull over to take pictures or hop on a trail. It’s definitely worth spending some time exploring because it’s beautiful!
- The first time we drove through we thought we were in Saguaro National Park but we were actually still in Tucson Mountain Park. It looks really similar so if you’re traveling on a budget and don’t want to pay the entrance fee to get into the national park (and don’t have the annual national park pass) you can see the surrounding Tucson Mountain Park for free!
- There are a bunch of trails within Tucson Mountain Park that you can choose from! The road through is paved which is an added bonus and there is actually a campground there too that you can stay at.
Tanque Verde Falls
Tanque Verde Falls is located east of Tucson right near the east side of Saguaro National Park. The road up is bumpy so if you are in a lower clearance vehicle it does take a little while to drive up. We actually did notice though that they are continually working to regrade the road and improve it which we really appreciated!
Tanque Verde Falls lower and Tanque Verde Falls upper are two trails that go to different points in the falls. There is actually a place to swim if you’re visiting during warm weather that you can access from the upper falls trail.
- The amount of water you can expect to see in the falls depends on when you visit as you are in the desert. We hiked down to the lower falls and saw probably a foot of water. It was still definitely worth it but not really a gushing waterfall!
We really enjoyed this area! It’s beautiful with saguaros everywhere and looks down over the city of Tucson. We enjoyed quite a few amazing sunsets from our chairs in this spot!
- There are lots of places to camp here if you are traveling in a van, car camping, or tent camping! We spent a few nights here and really enjoyed it. There are plenty of other people around so it felt safe!
It definitely gets more crowded on the weekends though so we would recommend visiting during the week if you can. We noticed on the weekends there were significantly more people camping as well as bringing up ATV’s and dune buggies to ride around.
Read More: Ultimate Road Trip Packing List
Look at the Plane “Boneyard”
Tucson has a large air force base so while there you will notice lots of planes flying around low in the air. It was actually really cool to see throughout our time there! There is a huge “boneyard” of military style planes that you can see just by driving by! When we say huge we mean rows and rows and rows of extremely large planes. It’s actually considered one of the largest aircraft “boneyards” in the world.
If you’re interested in planes and some of the history behind how they all got to be in Tucson you can also visit the Pima Air and Space Museum. It has roughly 400 planes that you can explore to learn more!
- If you do visit definitely go early in the morning to avoid the hottest part of the day as there’s not much shade while walking around outside!
Drive down to Sonoita
If you’re willing to drive a little head down south to the Sonoita area! This area looks significantly different than Tucson. There aren’t as many, if any, saguaros in this region. There are more trees and it looks more arid. If you are a wine lover there are a few vineyards in this region to try. There is also some nice camping in Las Cienegas National Conservation Area which beautiful views and lots of nearby cows.
