The Perfect 3-Day Weekend in Tucson: Mountain Treks, Taco Tours, and Dreamy Desert Dens

Tucson has played second fiddle for far too long in the Grand Canyon State. Phoenix, its glitzy, high-desert neighbor to the north, swallows most of the limelight. Even distant Sedona has somehow grabbed more fanfare and Insta-love in recent years. Not anymore. Arizona’s second-largest city, home to the University of Arizona and Saguaro National Park, is capturing the attention of foodies, art-lovers, solitude seekers, and outdoor junkies chasing the perfect adventure in one of the purest corners of the Southwest—or “the Old Pueblo," as the arid metropolis has often been called. Regardless of what type of escape artist you are, there's no shortage of eye-opening, spirit-reviving things to do in Tucson.

The heartbeat of Tucson is the Sonoran Desert, one of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems, which teems with yucca, mesquite trees, agave, and a never-ending sea of saguaros—the giant cartoon-famous cactus that serves as the city’s unofficial emblem. Runners, hikers, cyclists, birders, golfers, wellness-seekers, stargazers, and skiers (we’re looking at you Mount Lemmon) flock here for Sabino Canyon’s trails, Coronado National Forest’s evergreen woodlands, and surreal sky islands—mountain ranges separated by nothing but desert—like the Santa Rita and Huachuca ranges.

On the culinary front, Tucson holds the title of America’s first UNESCO City of Gastronomy, designated in 2015. So, you'll have plenty to taste in this city, too—from sampling mouthwatering tacos and Sonoran hot dogs to sipping at some of the best mezcal bars in the deep Southwest. Combine Tucson’s thriving food scene with its surplus of creative shops, diverse art galleries, adobe missions, and some of the most beautiful architecture in America—a mix of Native American, Spanish, Old Western, and modernistic styles—and a true desert dream awaits you. Here’s how to experience the best of Tucson in three days.

How to Get to and Around Tucson

Tucson International Airport (TUS) offers directs flights to 20 U.S. destinations, including hubs such as Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver, Seattle, and Chicago. For cheaper airfare and more nonstop options—plus an extended Grand Canyon State road trip—many travelers fly to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX), pick up a rental car, and buzz down I-10 in less than two hours.

You’ll need your own rig to explore the sites and scenery surrounding the city, places like Saguaro National Park, Mount Lemmon, and San Xavier del Bac Mission. Tucson’s free Sun Link Streetcar is a handy alternative for shoppers, gallery-goers, and bar-hoppers, linking four miles of downtown from east to west.

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When to Visit Tucson

Smack-dab in the Sonoran Desert, Tucson is one of the sunniest cities in the country. Its dry climate is actually a few degrees cooler than Phoenix—despite being 120 miles south—due to its 2,400-foot base elevation. Summer is still hot, but it's a more manageable dry heat (as they like to say here), and evenings come with cool breezes that make this time of year a favorite for outdoor dining. Spring and fall are ideal times to visit for milder desert weather—mid-March to May (70s to 90s) and late-September through November (70s and 80s). Winter boasts blue skies, but the second-homers and tourists tend to flock to town that time of year. Keep in mind that mornings and evenings are cool in the desert, so pack layers alongside your sunglasses and sunblock.

Where to Stay in Tucson

The only dilemma you’ll face at Miraval Arizona, one of the swankiest wellness resorts in the country, is coming to grips with the fact that you’ll eventually have to check out. Popular amongst celebrities as it is yogis, hikers, New Agers, workaholics, and well, anyone seeking some R&R, the luxe hideout at the base of the magical Catalina Mountains elevates holistic health to another level. There’s a class for pretty much everything at the 400-acre desert oasis, from sleep workshops, sound healing, and equine therapy to desert hikes, floating meditations, and mountain biking.

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A not-to-be-missed signature amenity is Miraval’s All the Buzz class, when guests get to don a beekeeping suit and learn about our vital pollinators. In between sessions, book a hot stone or Ayurvedic massage, walk the serene labyrinth, veg out poolside or on the deck of your Southwest-inspired casita, and dine on all the delectable farm-fresh fare you can handle (included in your rate) at the Cactus Flower restaurant.

For vintage vibes, Sonoran soul, and a splash of mid-century chic, book a night or two at The Downtown Clifton, a restored 22-room hotel on the fringe of Tucson’s historic Barrio Viejo neighborhood. You can walk to a slew of neighborhood restaurants, bars, shops, and galleries, or if you want to stay in, sip a local brew or an in-house cocktail (go with the Tiki-inspired tequila-mezcal elixir) and some tacos inside the hotel’s Red Light Lounge.

Where to Eat: Best Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner in Tucson

Cup Café has been a local’s favorite in downtown’s historic Hotel Congress since the early nineties, slinging jazzed-up breakfast staples like chilaquiles and huevos rancheros. For a novel play, order the Braveheart—a medley of brisket, gruyere cheese, and poached eggs smothered in sausage gravy.

The courtyard at Mercado San Agustin’s Seis Kitchen is one of the best nooks in town to get your taco fix, and the al pastor plate being a must-order. Come hungry to the counter-service restaurant, especially if tackling one of their belly-stuffing burritos. A veteran move: snagging churros for the road.

You won’t regret a dinner reservation at BATA—and you’ll need one. Housed in a 1930s warehouse turned slick industrial space befit for a Chef’s Table episode, the vegetable-forward restaurant features an ever-rotating menu of seasonal, flavorful fixings. The best part? Each dish, be it the green-chile curry carrots, whiskey-garlic glazed mushrooms, or peach-koji charred winter squash, gets tinged by the oak-fired oven, even the smoked carrot cake. Before exiting veggie heaven, grab a nightcap at its basement bar, barbata, where the Kitt Peak Old Fashioned gets the job done.

Best Bar in Tucson

Agave magic awaits at Bar Crisol, a sanctuary for mezcal and tequila lovers in the Barrio Viejo neighborhood. The mixology at this desert watering hole, stationed inside an 1885 adobe home chock-full of antique typewriters, hits all the right notes on its A-plus menu. Look no further than the Casa Verde, a refreshing-as-rain cocktail with mezcal, lime, bitters, sal de gusano, and creosote, an earthy desert botanical (good luck ordering just one). As they say in Mexico, para todo mal, mezcal... y para todo bien tambien.

Related: 21 Best Tequilas of 2024, Tested and Reviewed

Don’t-Miss: Top Attraction in Tucson

Flanking both sides of Tucson with two distinct sections—east and west—Saguaro National Park is an epic outdoor wonderland and a certified must-explore playground, boasting some 91,000 acres, 165 miles of trails, hundreds of petroglyphs, and elevation ranging from 2,180 to 8,166 feet. The park’s namesake giant cacti picket the landscape, which skirts through a plethora of biozones, from desert scrub and desert grassland to oak woodland and pine forest in the Rincon Mountains. Enhancing the drama in the most biodiverse desert on the planet is its wildlife: coyote, bobcats, mountain lions, javelinas, coatis, and if you’re crazy-lucky come sundown, an elf owl—the world’s smallest owl. As one of only nine Urban Night Sky Park’s in the world, Saguaro skies shines brightly after hours.

Savvy Tip for Visitors to Tucson

If you can handle the summer heat, you can snag incredible deals on lodging and activities in Tucson from late May to September. The key is to have a game plan: In the high desert, that means waking up early to take advantage of cool mornings, lounging poolside or hitting up one of the city’s stellar museums during the daytime, and going out for drinks and a meal and some live music after sundown. Still, you need to stay on top of your hydration levels, wear plenty of sunscreen and chapstick, and be cognizant of overexertion in the hot, dry air. It will be different than a spring or fall trip, but your pocketbook will thank you.

Things to Do in Tucson Over Three Days

Day 1: See Saguaro National Park, Meander Through Mercado San Agustin, and Take a Tipple in Barrio Viejo

Fuel up with a cup of third-wave coffee and a fried-egg breakfast sandy or avocado ricotta toast at Time Market, an artisan bakery in the heart of U of A’s campus. Pro tip: They also serve some of the best pizza in town for lunch or dinner. From there, head to the west district of Saguaro National Park, a half hour’s drive away.

If you’re ready to get after it, hike from the King’s Canyon trailhead and zigzag your way up to Wasson Peak, the zenith of the Tucson Mountain Range at 4,687 feet. Labeled moderate, the seven-mile roundtrip will swallow your morning, but it’s worth it for the sprawling Sonoran views and petroglyph-peppered canyons. A shorter route is the King Canyon Wash/Gould Mine Loop (2.4 miles), a beautiful hike that can be done in an hour.

Non-hikers can explore the western district’s foothills via the 6-mile Bajada Loop Drive, which provide plenty of photo ops of the park’s majesty. At the Signal Hill picnic area, a 0.3-mile trail will take you to more than 200 petroglyphs, the park’s widest demonstration of rock art, estimated to have been carved between 550 to 1,550 years ago.

Just outside the park, consider visiting the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, a misnomer of a name if there ever was one. More a zoo/botanical garden/art gallery than anything, the 98-acre outdoor classroom and research center features Mexican gray wolves, a hummingbird aviary and raptor center, mountain lion and ocelot viewing, 1,200 types of plants and flowers, a cactus garden, and an agave field. You’ll walk away with an oversized appreciation for the desert’s infinite natural wonders.

Back in town, peruse the mishmash of restaurants and shops along the Mercado District’s Avenida Del Convento, starting with some lunch at Beaut Burger, part of the MSA Annex’s fleet of shipping-container retailers. The plant-based burger joint will make you forget you ever loved In N’ Out—especially the B4 and a side of sweet potato fries. Then walk up the street to the white-washed courtyard and open-air market at Mercado San Agustin, and enjoy a traditional Mexican pastry from family-owned La Estrella.

After a long day in the dry desert air, treat yourself to a Butter Worker cocktail (mezcal, amaro, Aperol) or a local brew from Pueblo Vida at Nightjar in Barrio Viejo. Then head next door and grab a bite at the Coronet, located on the same 160-year-old property. Get the porcini and chestnut soup with the Wild Boar Birria Bucatini.

Day 2: Golf, Gallery Hop, and Stargaze on Mount Lemmon

Before you hit the links, pop in any one of Presta’s three stylish crosstown locations for a donut and Tucson’s best pourover coffee. Then head to Marana for 18 holes at The Golf Club at Dove Mountain, 30 minutes north of the city. The challenging Jack Nicklaus design is home to three 9-hole routings: Wild Burro, Saguaro, and Tortolita, the latter two having played host to the PGA Tour’s WGC match-play event from 2009 to 2014. No matter which loop you play (the Golden Bear has called Wild Burro his favorite), you’re in for a fun test of golf on an immaculate layout that crawls through a stunning cactus forest and canyons in the Tortolina Foothills. Just be sure to pack your short game.

Non-golfers have plenty of options, too. Nearby Catalina State Park beckons mountain enthusiasts with 5,500 acres, 5,000 saguaros, and eight trails for hiking, mountain biking, and horse riding on the edge of Coronado National Forest. Or you can swing by the DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun, a 10-acre National Historic District and museum that captures the ethos of the Southwest and its people with oil paintings, ceramics, sculptures, and an old adobe mission from 1952.

For a cultural lesson and appreciation of the area’s agricultural and Indigenous heritage, book a morning tour at Mission Garden, a four-acre plot of heirloom crops and desert-adapted orchards in the shadow of Sentinel Peak. From the Hohokam to the O’odham peoples, the walled-in Tucson Basin site has been cultivated for 4,100 years. For lunch, the jackfruit tacos at chef-owner Wendy Garcia’s vegetarian restaurant Tumerico, which nabbed a cameo on Guy Fieri’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” in 2018, highlight some of the freshest Mexican fare in Tucson.

Take an afternoon on the Mount Lemmon Scenic Byway, a 26-mile stretch of stunning switchbacks, to the Santa Catalinas highest point. It's stunning drive and a bucket-list climb for cyclists. Brace yourself for a 30–40 degree temperature drop as you’ll gain some 6,000 feet in elevation in a little over an hour, swapping saguaros for pines, and depending on the month, pockets of snow. If it’s not ski season, kick back and scale the old-growth forest on the Sky Ride, a 30-minute journey up the slopes, and then knock back a pint on the patio at Sawmill Run. Finish off the day with one of the best astronomical programs in the country at the Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter, where you’ll get to peer through two of the Southwest’s largest telescopes at the cosmos and the moon in the otherworldly Arizonan night sky.

Day 3: Admire Birds and Old Spanish Missions—and Take a Taco Bike Tour

America’s best birdwatching happens in southeast Arizona, close to the Mexican border—so grab your binos and buzz down I-19 to the Paton Center for Hummingbirds in tiny Patagonia, AZ. The star of the show at this former private residence now managed by the Tucson Audubon Society, is the violet-crowned hummingbird, a Mexican species whose purple crown, paperwhite chest, and black-tipped red bill will blow you away. Another birding haven a little closer to Tucson is Santa Rita Lodge in Madera Canyon, drawing birders from all over the world during spring migration for the chance to spot an elusive Elegant trogon, a seasonal guest to the Santa Ritas.

Hiking for birds not your thing? Tromp into more than 100 miles of trails in Madera Canyon, part of Coronado National Forest, from chill creek trails to summiting Mount Wrightson, the highest peak in the Tucson region at 9,456 feet. A fun pitstop on your way back to town is Mission San Xavier del Bac, a beatific Catholic mission founded in 1692. Dressed in Baroque architecture and inhabiting Tohono O’odham land, the National Historic Landmark is the oldest intact European structure in the state, completed in 1797.

5 Points Market & Restaurant serves one of the best brunches in town. No judgment if you pair your Little Breakfast Sandwich—egg and Castelvetrano remoulade on a Japanese milk bun—with a Bloody Mary. But when in Tucson, swap vodka for mezcal. Walk over to Carly Quinn Designs after and shop from a variety of bright-colored hand-glazed tiles.

For one last hoorah, throw on a helmet and hop on two wheels with Tucson Bike Tours for their signature 2.5-hour taco tour. Stops along the way: Ruiz Hot Dogs for their bacon-wrapped Sonoran hot dog; Los Chipilones for their carne asada taco; Taqueria Pico De Gallo for their horchata and fish tacos; and Tacos Apson for, well, some of the best tacos this side of anywhere. Fret not about overeating – you’ll pedal 10 miles across town by the time it’s said and done. Plus, this is Tucson, where there will be plenty more to eat on your next adventure to the Southwest.