Tucson’s “Old Pueblo” heritage offers a deep dive into a unique cultural mix
If you’ve been to Phoenix and you think Tucson is more of the same…think again and be prepared for a deep dive into a fiesta of color, culture, landscape and lifestyle that will have you reaching for your phone to capture gram moments at every turn. Not only is Tucson a UNESCO City of Gastronomy (for foodways that go back 4,000 years), it’s also at a higher elevation and in a different micro-climate than Phoenix. Mexican culture reigns supreme here (it was part of that country once, after all).
The air is a bit thinner, the skies a bit clearer and the feeling is that you’re perched between today and a lot of cultural yesteryears: Native American, Mexican, Old West and even 1930s Dillinger Days. Tucson holds a festival by that name for the legendary outlaw, John Dillinger (played on screen by Johnny Depp) who was apprehended there.
Travel Secrets
Downtown Phoenix is the site of the massive Tucson Convention Center (205,000 sq. ft. of exhibit, meeting and functional space on a 27-acre campus) and the adjacent Doubletree at the Tucson Convention Center (Total meeting space: 3,800 sq. ft. over 5 rooms). Other options for quartering near the Convention Center include the spanking new 144-room The Leo Kent Hotel, Tucson, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel with 1,299 sq. ft. of meeting space.
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Outside of downtown Tucson in Starr Pass at the edge of the city, you’ll find the paradisical JW Marriott at Starr Pass Resort, on 50 acres of saguaro cactus-dotted desert preserve. The 575-room resort has a 20,000 sq. ft. Hashani Spa, 27 holes of championship golf designed by Arnold Palmer, hiking and biking trails and a Starr Canyon lazy river feature as well as Monsoon Falls waterslide pool area activity. Food and drinks in Passaggio-a Sonoran Trattoria is punctuated with herbs sourced right outside in the properties herb garden. You’ll also never see a more majestic moonscape than the huge Tucson moon sailing behind the saguaros in the still desert air where the only sound are the tinkling of ice cubes in nearby margaritas.
Other options for golf resorts outside of downtown include the 133-room Omni Tucson National Resort with championship golf courses, the Mokara Spa and newly renovated meeting space that all has natural light from adjacent outdoor verandas.
Must Do
Don’t miss the chance to wander around an Adam and Eve’s Garden planted before the missionaries came to Tucson. Visit Mission Gardens, the site of the Native American village of S-cuk Son, a place sacred to the Tohono O’odham and the source of the name, Tucson. The Garden has CSI opportunities for groups wanting to lift a hoe and pitch in.
Read More: How to Harness the Power of Native American Cultural Centers
Another not-to-be missed is watching rehabilitated wild wolves and desert bob-cats along with 1,200 types of desert plants at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum: a zoo, an aquarium, a botanic garden and an art gallery rolled into one with amazing vistas of the Sonoran desert beyond.
Eat This
Food in Tucson is UNESCO protected and rich with a 4,000 year history. For authentic Mexican flair and flavor, you can’t go wrong at the outdoor Seis Kitchen – Mercado San Agustin, an outdoor shopping area (the chain has two other locations in the city). You’ll sip authentic Mexican shakes and sodas and dip into moles and guacamole mixes that will light up a local fiesta on your taste buds. Extra plus: shopping for locally-sourced souvenirs in the stylish market shops along the Mercado.
Smart Tips
Tucson is a few degrees cooler than Phoenix due to elevation, but summer starts in early May and even then it can get hot. Spring is desert bloom season, a photographer’s dream but an allergy-haver’s need-to-plan for event. Bring allergy meds, sunscreen and sunglasses. Tucson’s cloudless skies mean full days of some of the most brilliant rays you’ve ever been blessed to be warmed under.
This article appears in the digital-only July and July/August 2023 issue. You can subscribe to the magazine here.
