Tucson Travel Guide

With a dramatic setting in the Sonora Desert, surrounded by a ring of mountain ranges with the Santa Catalina Mountains as a backdrop, Tucson is the fastest-growing resort city in the country and one of Arizona's most attractive. Together with the amenities of a modern metropolis and a small-town atmosphere, its constant sunshine and dry desert air, Tucson is a city that makes the most of its beautiful desert setting and is a popular health resort. Its proximity to the Mexican border is evident in its architecture and cuisine, and a long history that has left the city with a dynamic legacy of Spanish, Mexican, American and traditional Indian influences. With naturally eroded cliff forms, cacti, bird life and old cowboy towns in the area, it is also a good base from which to explore the many natural sights beyond the city limits. Horseback riding and hiking along the wilderness trails is a good way to explore the region. Nearby attractions include the Sagauro National Park with the highest concentration in the world of the desert-symbol Saguaro cactus, the Spanish-style Mission San Xavier del Bac, and the first-class Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum that features almost every kind of local desert fauna and flora in an outdoor setting. The old mining town of Tombstone attracts crowds of tourists as the site of the shootout at the OK Corral.