Arizona Official State Travel Guide - Arizona 2024-25

Experience the Old West at attractions and historic sites throughout Arizona.

MUSEUMS

At Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West — voted the number one Western museum in the country in 2023 — explore stunning artwork in all forms: photographs, paintings, pottery, jewelry and sculpture. Here, the Southwestern landscapes and the people who call them home come to life.

Turn back time when you walk the streets of Pioneer Living History Museum in Phoenix, an Old West town filled with historic buildings and authentic recreations.

Celebrating Willcox’s favorite son, the Rex Allen Museum & Willcox Cowboy Hall of Fame features this American film and television actor known as “the Arizona Cowboy,” and it also contains exhibits about early settlers and the Western Way of life.

GHOST TOWNS

As possibly the state’s most famous historic destination, O.K. Corral in Tombstone captures the unbridled spirit of frontier days. This town center offers impressively preserved buildings as well as three daily reenactments of the gunfight that made Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday household names.

Oatman became a boom town when gold was discovered in the early 20th century. Flush with wealth and visitors, the city soon gave rise to the Durlin Hotel, a two-story adobe building best known for having welcomed Clark Gable and Carole Lombard during their honeymoon.

Farther south, the Copper Queen Mine Tour in Bisbee pulls back the curtain on the inner workings of a turn-of-the-century mine. Pack a sweater — the underground mines are notoriously chilly.

DUDE RANCHES

For part guest ranch, part resort where casual luxury is the norm, Rancho de Los Caballeros in Wickenburg is it. The ranch features daily horseback rides, a full-service spa, trap and skeet shooting programs, tennis courts, swimming pool and an 18-hole golf course considered one of the best in the state.

At Stagecoach Trails Guest Ranch in Yucca, hone your Wild West skills such as barrel racing, target shooting, archery, billiards and horseback riding. Oversized rooms are filled with Western décor, and there’s also the Pioneer Wagon for families that yearn to sleep under the stars. Travelers with disabilities can enjoy accessible horseback riding equipment and barrier-free access to the lodge, dining room and all public restrooms.

WILD WEST SALOONS/RESTAURANTS

Stop in for a burger and brew at The Crystal Palace Saloon in Tombstone, established in 1879 as one of the first bars in the notoriously wild boom town.

An old-timey tavern below the historic Connor Hotel, the Spirit Room taps into the roughand- tumble mining town charm of Jerome. Order a beer on tap and catch a live show while mingling with locals.

Blazin’ M Ranch in Cottonwood combines dinner and a show. Evenings start with bull riding, tractor pulls and axe throwing. Then, grab a seat in the dining hall for a chuckwagon dinner followed by a live performance of country music favorites.