Tucson - Places to stay and things to do?

[_nadine]

Hi all,

I'm in Tucson for a night or two. Any recommendations or favorites when it comes to Hotels / Inns and sights?

Thanks!

Nadine.

[Midwest Michael]

Tucson is a fairly sprawling area, and city streets are pretty much the only way to get across town. Because of that, I would focus your hotel search on the primary area you would be visiting.

Right around Tucson, a few favorite stops would include Saquaro National Park. There are units of the park on both the east and west sides of town.

On the East, you could check out Sabino Canyon or go up to the top of Mount Lemmon, at an elevation of about 12,000 feet. West of town is the Sonoran Desert Museum.

Also west of town is "Old Tucson" an old west movie set. Unfortuantly, the original Old Tucson where a number of westerns were filmed burned down about a decade ago, and facility is now caters more towards tourist.

There are also a number of Spanish religious sites, like Mission San Xavier del Bac, that are interesting to look at. Or if military history is more of your thing, the Tucson "Boneyard" near the Air Force Base a huge collection of retired Military aircraft that are in storage either for parts, or to potentially be used again in the future. The Pima Air and Space museum is also a natural sidebar stop to explore those things a little more in depth.

Hopefully that will get you started.

[AZBuck]

Michael has given you the top spots to see in and around Tucson. A few more, a bit farther afield, are Kartchner Caverns just south of Benson, and Tombstone a little bit farther still to the southeast. Both of these can be seen in a single day trip from Tucson.

One word of caution. Avoid I-10 through Tucson if you can while you're in town. All entrances and exits between Prince Road and 22nd Street are closed in any event for construction. And a couple of days ago there was an accident that closed the road entirely in both directions for several hours.

As far as places to stay, Tucson is a winter resort town so there are lots of upscale options especially on the north side ('foothills') and west side (Starr Pass and others) of town. In midtown (Tucson's downtown is on the far west side of the city) near the University is the very quaint Arizona Inn and there are some very nice B&Bs (e.g. the Desert Dove) east of town out towards Saguaro East. We also have the all inclusive ($$$) Tanque Verde Guest Ranch.

AZBuck

[_nadine]

Thanks for the suggestions guys, The Airspace museum sounds pretty neat...and yeah I found out about I-10 last night while driving in. Wow talk about doing a round about. :)

Question: If either of you were to suggest a decent budget motel which one would you suggest? My pocket book isn't too large right now, so while those options sound really nice, its a little out of my price range.

Also the drive in was really pretty.

cheers guys!

[AZBuck]

Hmmm... Obviously I don't stay in motels in Tucson, since I live here, but what I have done is check the review sites that I use when I travel to see if I could find something relatively low cost that still got decent to good reviews and the ones that came up were (in no particular order, and these are NOT recommendations): Extended Stay America, Americas Best Value Inn, Quality Inn, and la Quinta Inn & Suites. In other words, the usual suspects

AZBuck

[_nadine]

Thanks again. Usually I pre-book places, but this was sort of a last minute change. That said, Saguaro Park is pretty cool. Lots of spiky things and blooms to take pictures of.

cheers.

_n

[Kinless]

Right around Tucson, a few favorite stops would include Saquaro National Park. There are units of the park on both the east and west sides of town.

OK I have no idea how Saguaro NP got past me... how did I not notice that while mapping out our Fall 2008 road trip through that area?

Must be getting on in years.

::puts Saguaro West and East on the itinerary::

Thanks for pointing that one out, MM.