Activities in Tucson + Southern Arizona

The property features a zoo, natural history museum, and botanical garden all in one venue.

Guided tours at the Biosphere 2 give families an insider view into the world’s largest glass-enclosed environmental lab—with wilderness zones ranging

The University of Arizona’s Center for Creative Photography houses a blue-chip collection of more than 2,225 photographers, including Ansel Adams, Ric

The center consists of a gallery, music studios, crafts studios, and a community theater that recently staged the locally written production of Justa

Whether or not you’re a fan of Ted DeGrazia’s much reproduced art, the DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun is worth a visit: the adobe walls seem to glow in t

One of the world’s largest telescopes sits atop Mount Hopkins. Amateur astronomers can check out the scaled-down models at the visitors’ center, 10 mi

Jet-setters' way station

Take the 1.5-hour guided tour of the tripped-out subterranean fantasia of soda-straw stalactites, stalagmites, and the tallest cave column in Arizona—

Sample the famous, locally harvested wares at Killer Bee Honey (where the golden syrup is flavored by mesquite and desert wildflowers).

Budding astronomers will like Kitt Peak National Observatory, about an hour out of Tucson, with the largest collection of optical research telescopes

Seventeen acres of prickles and thorns mean heaven for succulent lovers at this nursery that stocks a vast selection of garden art.

Tour the stunning Mission San Xavier del Bac, also known as the White Dove of the Desert; it’s often cited as the finest intact example of Mission arc

The shop sells sinful slabs of homemade fudge (locals swear by the cookie-dough variety).

Check out the site of Tombstone’s most famous gunfight and, for a small fee, employ a guide with a horse-drawn replica stagecoach.

Once a fort that marked the northern frontier of New Spain, the 150-year-old Old Town Artisans houses a cluster of charming shops (although the turquo

Stop in to browse the landscape photographs.

The museum offers tours of the “boneyard” at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, where thousands of old aircraft are mothballed.

Hike the sprawling preserve of mature saguaro stands (found only in the Sonoran Desert). Go to the west side to see petroglyphs left by the Hohokam In

The remnants of not one but three Spanish missions are on hand at Tumacacori National Historical Park, accessible via a 41/2-mile trail from Tubac.