Arizona Official State Travel Guide - Arizona 2024-25

IN THIS REGION

Benson, Bisbee, Elgin, Sierra Vista, Tombstone, Tubac, Tucson, Willcox

Area Highlights

SONOITA/ELGIN AND WILLCOX AVA WINE REGIONS

Escape to rolling hillsides, picture-perfect rows of grape vines and unpretentious tasting rooms when you visit southeastern Arizona’s two American Viticultural Areas. The Sonoita/Elgin region is Arizona’s longest-established AVA and home to some of the state’s best-known winemakers, while the Willcox wine region grows more than 75% of Arizona’s wine grapes.

KARTCHNER CAVERNS STATE PARK, BENSON

Descend into an awe-inspiring underground world of soda straw stalactites, brushite moonmilk and needle quartz formations when you go on a guided cave tour. Above ground, explore miles of scenic hiking trails rated from easy to difficult. The cave, campgrounds and picnic areas are wheelchair accessible.

ALFIE NORVILLE GEM AND MINERAL MUSEUM, TUCSON

Housed in the grand Spanish Colonial Revival-style Pima County Courthouse, this University of Arizona-affiliated facility showcases incredible specimens of minerals, gems, fossils and meteorites. Marvel at flawless jewelry, massive crystals and even a glow-in-the-dark rainbow of fluorescent specimens.

ARAVAIPA CANYON WILDERNESS

Rugged cliffs, deep canyons, peaceful waters and lush foliage set the scene for outdoor adventure in this 19,410-acre wilderness area. Hike the unofficial trails and take your pick from side canyons, chimneys and outcroppings along the way. Permits are required for all activities — including hiking.

BISBEE MINING AND HISTORICAL MUSEUM, BISBEE

Explore “The Queen of the Copper Camps” at this Smithsonian-affiliated museum, where you’ll enter a state-of-the-art mining exhibit rife with crystals and minerals. Take in the history of this historic town, where miners once blasted their way through thousands of miles of tunnels in search of precious metals.

SAN XAVIER DEL BAC MISSION, TUCSON

A vision of white against vast blue skies and stark desert, this Catholic church known as the “White Dove of the Desert” was completed in 1797 when Southern Arizona was part of New Spain. Today, this National Historic Landmark on Tohono O’odham Tribal Lands is regarded as one of the finest examples of Spanish Colonial architecture in the country.

AMERIND MUSEUM, DRAGOON

From ancient artifacts to contemporary artistic explorations of modern-day issues, this museum and art gallery nestled amid the natural beauty of Texas Canyon is dedicated to American Indian and Western art, history, culture and archeology. Be sure to stop by the Amerind Museum Store to shop museum-quality handicrafts.

ARIZONA-SONORA DESERT MUSEUM, TUCSON

This multifaceted museum offers an array of experiences. Stroll the botanical gardens filled with Sonoran Desert plant life, see wildlife up-close at the onsite zoo, marvel at rocks and minerals at the natural history exhibits, spot underwater creatures at the Warden Aquarium and view artwork in the galleries.

O.K. CORRAL, TOMBSTONE

Transport yourself to the rough-and-tumble Wild West when you stand in the very place where the infamous gun fight occurred in 1881. Watch a daily reenactment, walk through the 1880s stables and blacksmith shop, and see historic photographs of Tombstone life as it was “back then.”

ADVENTURES FOR Curious Kids

Calling all future pilots, zoologists, architects, doctors and scientists! Tucson is teeming with kid-friendly attractions that will spark any little one’s imagination and creativity.

Tour the Pima Air & Space Museum to see nearly 400 aircraft. The aerospace museum features six hangars, an 80-acre airfield and thousands of artifacts that will take your family through the history of aviation, from commercial airliners to military aircraft dating back to World War II.

The exhibits at Children’s Museum Tucson revolve around imaginative play. Kids will love the diverse hands-on activities and displays. Examine larger-than-life body parts at Bodyology. Get scientific with the interactive experiments of Gravity and the Investigation Station. Let your imagination run wild with the arts, crafts and tools of Imagine It! Climb aboard a fire engine, ambulance and police motorcycle at the Public Safety exhibit. Then, learn how to care for your family pet in the Pet Vet exhibit.

Browse over 500 antique dollhouses and miniatures at The Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures. This unique museum houses recreated bookshops, antique stores, colonial rooms and hundreds of other detailed collections and dioramas from skilled miniaturists.

Go on safari at Reid Park Zoo. Elephants, grizzly bears, giraffes, jaguars and hundreds of other animals await you at this 24-acre attraction. Consider booking a behind-the-scenes experience where your family can choose one of six private experiences, including the Giraffe Encounter, the Animal Ambassadors Experience or the Aldabra Tortoise Experience.

NATURALLY INCREDIBLE PLACES

From pipe-like cactuses to a cave filled with one of the world’s longest stalactites, natural wonders abound here.

At Chiricahua National Monument, discover rhyolite rock pinnacles, balanced rocks, columns and other rock formations formed by a volcanic eruption millions of years ago. Hiking is the best way to see these geological phenomena, but you also can appreciate them on a scenic drive.

Kartchner Caverns State Park near Benson ranks among the most beautiful living caves in the world. On a tour, you’ll pass one of the longest soda straw stalactites in existence, the world’s most extensive formation of brushite moonmilk, the tallest column in Arizona and other incredible displays.

Just 15 miles southeast of Tucson, Colossal Cave Mountain Park offers a family-friendly tour of its caverns six stories underground, where you’ll learn about the cave’s geology, wildlife and legends. A more adventurous tour takes visitors through tight passages and across rock bridges.

Cactuses flourish in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, the only place you can see large stands of organ pipe cactuses in the United States. Visit in the spring when gold poppies, blue lupines, pink owl clover and other annuals bloom or in the summer when the park’s 31 species of cactuses bloom, both day and night.

HAVEN FOR ARTISTS

You’ll discover incredible arts and crafts wherever you travel in Arizona. But in the southern part of the state, several art destinations stand out for their unique sense of place.

One of the most famous of these is DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun Museum. Located in the foothills of Tucson’s Santa Catalina Mountains, the Gallery in the Sun pays tribute to Ettore “Ted” Grazia, known for his whimsical paintings of American Indian children. In addition to displaying his art, the gallery-turned-museum sells DeGrazia originals, so you can take the artist’s work home with you.

Also in Tucson, the Monterey Court Studio Galleries and Cafe was originally a motel when it opened in 1938. Today, it is home to a restaurant, bar and several galleries and shops surrounding a courtyard where live music plays most nights. For sale, you’ll find everything from artisan jewelry and handbags at Uptown Rodeo Rose to rocks and crystals at Temple of the Moon. There’s also a spa and several tattoo parlors on-site.

Farther south, La Entrada de Tubac resembles the Spanish village that the country’s soldiers may have left to come to the area in 1752. Today, you can visit the presidio they built here, but La Entrada de Tubac is a destination itself. Its galleries showcase original paintings, sculptures and photography while specialty shops sell Southwestern home decor, handcrafted jewelry, clothes, native plants and local food items. Before you go, savor the flavors of Mexico at Elvira’s Restaurant, which opened in 1927.