Things to do in  Tucson

The Pima Air & Space Museum is one of the largest non-government aerospace museums in the world. Spread across 80 acres (32 hectares) and five indoor hangars, the grounds display some 125,000 artifacts and 300 aircraft, including the world’s smallest biplane, presidential planes, MiGs, a German buzz bomb, and an SR-71A Blackbird.

Set in the arid landscape just outside Tucson, the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum showcases the desert’s flora, fauna, and history through live-animal and multimedia exhibits. The museum spreads across 98 acres (39.7 hectares) of natural desert landscape and contains more than 230 species of animals and 1,200 kinds of plants.

With its snow-white adobe bell towers and ornate facade rising out of the cacti-studded Sonoran Desert, Mission San Xavier del Bac embodies its nickname—the “White Dove of the Desert.” Founded by Jesuit missionaries in 1626, it’s among the oldest Catholic sites in the US, renowned for its unique architecture and rich iconography.

Sabino Canyon is a popular South Arizona recreation area outside of Tucson at the feet of the Santa Catalina Mountains. The area is known as a picnicking spot. It's also a hiker’s paradise with first-rate trails, such as the Seven Falls trail through Bear Canyon. The Sabino Canyon Crawler, an electric tram rolling through the canyon, is popular, too.

Visit Tucson’s Old Town Artisans to shop for Southwest handcrafts, like Indigenous American and Mexican pottery, jewelry, and textiles. This collection of shops and galleries from local artisans occupies a historic complex of authentic adobe buildings from the 1850s, which were built on the former site of El Presidio San Agustín del Tucson, a fort used to defend against Apache attacks.

You’ve seen these dusty streets before—Old Tucson has been the backdrop for some 300+ movies and TV shows. Part movie studio, part theme park, this 1860s Tucson lookalike fully recreates the Wild West—think gritty saloons and gunslinging stunts, along with historian-led talks on icons like the American cowboy. Tours, shows, rides, and special events bring the crowds into this storied world of the past.

Though typically the home of Tucson's Scottish Rite—a Masonic organization—the Scottish Rite Grand Parlour is also a sizable venue, hosting everything from private events and weddings to illusionist shows, which are ticketed events. It features a stage, piano, and capacity topping 500 guests.