Tucson sits in a bowl of the Sonoran Desert ringed by five mountain ranges, at 2,400 feet, with a Spanish mission older than the United States on its southern edge and giant saguaro cactus forest on two sides. It is a city of about 550,000 people, it was the first place in the United States designated a UNESCO City of Gastronomy, and it is nothing like Phoenix ninety minutes north, which locals will tell you within about four minutes of meeting you.
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What Is Here
MISSION SAN XAVIER DEL BAC IS THE HERO IMAGE AND IT IS THE FINEST SPANISH COLONIAL BUILDING IN THE UNITED STATES. Completed in 1797 on the Tohono O'odham Nation nine miles south of downtown, it is called THE WHITE DOVE OF THE DESERT, it is still an active parish serving the community it was built among, and the interior is a dense, startling Baroque explosion of painted statuary and ornament that has been under careful conservation for decades. ONE OF ITS TWO TOWERS WAS NEVER FINISHED and nobody is certain why. ENTRY IS FREE, donations are asked, and it is a WORKING CHURCH, so dress and behave accordingly and check for mass times before arriving.
SAGUARO NATIONAL PARK IS IN TWO HALVES WITH THE CITY IN THE MIDDLE, which surprises people. The RINCON MOUNTAIN DISTRICT is east of town and the TUCSON MOUNTAIN DISTRICT is west, they are about thirty miles apart, and a single entrance fee covers both. The west is denser cactus and better for a short visit; the east has the longer scenic loop and the higher trails. THE SAGUARO ITSELF IS THE POINT: it grows only in this desert, takes 50 to 70 years to produce a first arm, can live 150 to 200 years and reach 40 feet, and it is a FEDERAL AND STATE PROTECTED SPECIES, so damaging one is a crime and this is enforced.
SABINO CANYON IS THE SECOND IMAGE AND IT IS WHERE TUCSON GOES FOR WATER. A canyon in the Santa Catalina foothills inside the CORONADO NATIONAL FOREST, with a creek, pools and waterfalls after rain, reached by a shuttle up the closed road and then by foot. PRIVATE VEHICLES ARE NOT ALLOWED UP THE CANYON ROAD and the shuttle is electric and ticketed. The creek crossings are stepping stones and flow hard in monsoon season.
MOUNT LEMMON IS THE BEST THING ABOUT TUCSON AND ALMOST NOBODY PLANS FOR IT. The Catalina Highway climbs from the desert floor at 2,500 feet to 9,157 feet in about an hour, and the drive is the ecological equivalent of travelling from Mexico to Canada: saguaro, then oak, then pine, then spruce and fir. There is a ski area at the top, THE SOUTHERNMOST IN THE UNITED STATES, and the village of Summerhaven. IT IS ROUTINELY 25 TO 30F COOLER AT THE SUMMIT than in the city, which is why residents drive up in July. Snow and ice close or restrict the road in winter.
THE ARIZONA-SONORA DESERT MUSEUM IS NOT A MUSEUM AND IS THE BEST INTRODUCTION TO THIS LANDSCAPE ANYWHERE. It is a zoo, botanical garden, aquarium and natural history collection on 98 acres, mostly outdoors, with the animals of the Sonoran Desert in enclosures you walk among and a raptor free-flight demonstration in the cooler months. GO AT OPENING in summer. It is also absent from our photographs, along with the university, the downtown and Fourth Avenue, which we would rather say than imply a set we do not hold: the attributable frames of this city are overwhelmingly cactus, and the post is written to the set we have.
THE FOOD IS A FORMAL DISTINCTION RATHER THAN A BOAST. UNESCO named Tucson the first City of Gastronomy in the United States in 2015, on the strength of 4,000 years of continuous agriculture in this valley, heritage crops like white Sonora wheat and tepary beans, and the Sonoran food tradition that produced the SONORAN HOT DOG, a bacon-wrapped thing sold from carts on South 12th Avenue that is the city's signature dish. EL CHARRO CAFE claims to be the oldest continuously family-operated Mexican restaurant in the country.
THE THIRD IMAGE IS THE SONORAN DESERT ITSELF, which is the wettest desert in the world by the standards of deserts, which is why it grows trees and cactus forest rather than dunes. ALSO WORTH IT: the UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA campus and its Center for Creative Photography, which holds the Ansel Adams archive; FOURTH AVENUE for bars and vintage shops; the PIMA AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM, one of the largest aviation collections in the world, next to the Air Force boneyard; TITAN MISSILE MUSEUM, a preserved Cold War silo south of town with the missile still in it; and TOMBSTONE and BISBEE, both about an hour and a half south east.
When to Go
OCTOBER to APRIL, and the window is genuinely that wide. Days in the 70s, cool nights, brilliant light, everything open.
MARCH is the best single month: wildflowers, the cactus beginning to bloom, baseball spring training, and the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show in late January and February filling the city first.
NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER are quiet and lovely, with the raptor free-flight running at the Desert Museum.
MAY AND JUNE ARE THE HOTTEST AND DRIEST AND THE WORST TIME TO COME. 100F to 105F with single-figure humidity and no rain at all, which is a different and in some ways more dangerous heat than August's, because it is so dry that you stop noticing you are sweating.
JULY TO MID-SEPTEMBER IS THE MONSOON AND IT IS SPECTACULAR AND IT IS THE REAL HAZARD. Afternoon storms build over the mountains and arrive fast with dust walls, violent lightning and torrential rain, and the temperature drops twenty degrees in minutes. The desert turns green. See the safety section, because this is the season that kills people.
WINTER NIGHTS GO TO FREEZING AND VISITORS DO NOT PACK FOR IT. A January day of 68F is followed by a night of 38F, and the desert loses heat the moment the sun goes.
Getting There
TUCSON INTERNATIONAL, TUS, is eight miles south of downtown, small and easy, with mostly domestic connections. PHOENIX SKY HARBOR is about two hours north west, is far larger and cheaper, and the ARIZONA SHUTTLE runs between them several times a day, which is the sensible budget route.
Amtrak's Sunset Limited and Texas Eagle call at the 1907 downtown depot three times a week, which is a pleasure and not a plan.
By car, I-10 runs through the city. Phoenix is 1 hour 45, Tombstone 1 hour 15, the Mexican border at Nogales an hour, Saguaro's two districts 20 and 30 minutes from the centre, and the top of Mount Lemmon about an hour.
YOU NEED A CAR AND THERE IS NO SENSIBLE ALTERNATIVE. The SUN LINK STREETCAR is free and genuinely useful, running from the university through Fourth Avenue to downtown and the Mercado district, which covers the walkable core. Everything in this post beyond that, including the mission, both halves of Saguaro, Sabino Canyon and Mount Lemmon, is a drive.
Is Tucson Safe for Women?
The FCDO publishes no advised-against areas anywhere in the United States and no country-level warning. Its guidance concentrates on the practical differences a British visitor meets: entry requirements and ESTA, the cost of healthcare without insurance, extreme weather including hurricanes on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts between June and November, and wildfire and heat risk in the west and south-west.
Tucson's violent crime rate is above the American average and it is concentrated in particular residential areas, principally on the south and west sides, well away from the districts in this post and not aimed at visitors. Downtown, the university area, Fourth Avenue, Sam Hughes, the foothills and the resort corridor are all comfortable and ordinary places to walk by day, and downtown and Fourth Avenue are busy in the evening during term. Property crime, specifically CAR BREAK-INS AT TRAILHEADS, is the thing most likely to touch a visitor: leave nothing visible at any desert car park, which are quiet by definition.
THE MONSOON IS THE MOST DANGEROUS THING HERE AND THE MECHANISM IS NOT THE ONE PEOPLE EXPECT. From July to mid-September, rain falling on a mountain miles away and out of sight fills the dry washes and arroyos that cross this city, and a wash that was dust in the morning runs chest-deep and fast in the afternoon. MORE PEOPLE DIE IN ARIZONA FROM FLASH FLOODING THAN FROM ANY OTHER WEATHER HAZARD, and the state has a STUPID MOTORIST LAW under which a driver who goes around a barricade into a flooded wash pays for her own rescue. THE RULE IS THE STATE'S OWN: TURN AROUND, DO NOT DROWN. Never enter a flooded road or wash on foot or in a vehicle, however shallow it looks, and never camp or shelter in a wash.
THE SAME STORMS BRING TWO MORE. DUST STORMS, called haboobs, can drop visibility to nothing on I-10 in seconds, and the instruction is to PULL FULLY OFF THE ROAD, STOP, TURN OFF YOUR LIGHTS AND TAKE YOUR FOOT OFF THE BRAKE, because leaving lights on invites a following driver to steer into you. And ARIZONA HAS SOME OF THE HIGHEST LIGHTNING DENSITY IN THE WEST during monsoon, so be off ridges and out of canyons by early afternoon.
THE DRY HEAT IS MORE DANGEROUS THAN HUMID HEAT AND THAT IS COUNTERINTUITIVE. At single-figure humidity sweat evaporates instantly, so you do not feel wet and you lose water far faster than you notice. Carry more than you think, start walking at dawn, and treat midday from May to September as indoor time rather than a challenge.
THE DESERT'S ANIMALS AND PLANTS ARE A LOOK-BEFORE-YOU-REACH DISCIPLINE RATHER THAN A DANGER. RATTLESNAKES are active from spring to autumn and most often warm themselves on trails at dusk; watch where you put hands and feet and never step over a rock without seeing the far side. GILA MONSTERS and SCORPIONS are present, the BARK SCORPION being the one with a genuinely painful sting, and shaking out shoes left outside is the habit. AND THE CHOLLA CACTUS IS THE ONE THAT ACTUALLY GETS PEOPLE: its segments detach at a brush and the barbed spines are extremely hard to remove, which is why hikers here carry a cheap comb.
AFRICANIZED BEES ARE ESTABLISHED IN SOUTHERN ARIZONA and the advice is to move away quickly and indoors rather than to stand still or swat if a colony is disturbed.
ONE BORDER NOTE, STATED PLAINLY BECAUSE VISITORS ASK. Tucson is about 60 miles from Mexico and US Border Patrol operates INTERIOR CHECKPOINTS on some highways well inside the United States, where you may be asked your citizenship. It is routine, it applies to everyone, and carrying identification makes it faster.
The Tucson Packing List
A high desert with enormous daily swings, brutal dry heat for four months, a violent summer monsoon and winter nights at freezing.
Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron, and a long sleeve merino wool base layer for women is the correct desert garment for the reason people find hardest to believe, which is that covering up is cooler than not: fine wool shades the skin, moves sweat off it and keeps working in air so dry that the sweat is gone before you feel it, and it is still the right layer at 38F that same night and at 9,000 feet on Mount Lemmon the same afternoon. The swing here is thirty to forty degrees in a day, every day, and one wool layer spans it. From November to March add a heavyweight merino base layer for the nights.
A long sun hoodie and a wide brim UPF sun hat, which at this latitude and altitude on pale ground are equipment and not accessories.
A large insulated water bottle, which on this list is the single most important item, and a Columbia Fast Trek II fleece for the evenings and the mountain.
Closed hiking shoes with real grip for rock, loose gravel and the stepping stones in Sabino Canyon. NOT SANDALS on any desert trail, for the cholla and the snakes.
Not linked and worth packing: A CHEAP FINE-TOOTHED COMB, which is the local answer to a cholla segment in your leg and is the most Tucson item on any packing list; HIGH-FACTOR SUNSCREEN AND REAL SUNGLASSES; LIP BALM AND MOISTURISER, because single-figure humidity cracks skin within a day; MORE WATER THAN THE LIST ABOVE SUGGESTS if you are hiking, at a gallon a person a day in summer; EMERGENCY ALERTS ENABLED between July and September; AND IDENTIFICATION IN THE CAR for the interior checkpoints. The US is almost entirely card-based with tipping at 18 to 20 per cent.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
Essential Resources for Women in Tucson
Emergency numbers: 911 for police, ambulance and fire, free from any phone including a locked mobile. Calls are answered locally and dispatchers will stay on the line. For non-urgent police matters many cities also run a 311 information line.
THE MONSOON FROM JULY TO MID-SEPTEMBER IS THE MOST DANGEROUS THING HERE AND THE MECHANISM IS INDIRECT: rain falling on a mountain miles away and out of sight fills the dry washes and arroyos crossing this city, and a wash that was dust in the morning runs chest-deep and fast by afternoon. MORE PEOPLE DIE IN ARIZONA FROM FLASH FLOODING THAN FROM ANY OTHER WEATHER HAZARD, and the state's STUPID MOTORIST LAW makes a driver who goes around a barricade into a flooded wash liable for the cost of her own rescue. TURN AROUND, DO NOT DROWN: never enter a flooded road or wash on foot or by vehicle, and never shelter or camp in a wash. IN A DUST STORM, PULL FULLY OFF THE ROAD, STOP, TURN YOUR LIGHTS OFF AND TAKE YOUR FOOT OFF THE BRAKE, because lit tail lights invite a following driver to steer into you. DRY HEAT IS MORE DANGEROUS THAN HUMID HEAT because sweat evaporates before you feel it: a gallon of water a person a day when hiking in summer, outdoor activity at dawn, and midday indoors from May to September. MISSION SAN XAVIER DEL BAC IS FREE, is an ACTIVE PARISH on the Tohono O'odham Nation, and mass times should be checked before arriving. SAGUARO NATIONAL PARK IS TWO DISTRICTS THIRTY MILES APART with the city between them, on one entrance fee. SABINO CANYON'S ROAD IS CLOSED TO PRIVATE VEHICLES and is served by a ticketed electric shuttle. MOUNT LEMMON CLIMBS TO 9,157 FEET AND IS 25 TO 30F COOLER AT THE TOP, with snow and ice closing or restricting the road in winter. THE SAGUARO IS A PROTECTED SPECIES and damaging one is a prosecutable offence. CHOLLA SEGMENTS DETACH AT A BRUSH and the barbed spines are very hard to remove, which is why a cheap comb is standard kit; rattlesnakes, Gila monsters and bark scorpions are present and the discipline is to look before reaching. AFRICANIZED BEES ARE ESTABLISHED in southern Arizona. US BORDER PATROL OPERATES INTERIOR CHECKPOINTS on some highways well inside the country, where citizenship may be asked. CAR BREAK-INS AT DESERT TRAILHEADS are the commonest crime against visitors. THE SUN LINK STREETCAR IS FREE through the university, Fourth Avenue and downtown.
US State Department travel advisory: there is none, and this is not an omission. The State Department issues travel advisories for other countries, not for the United States itself, so no US advisory for this destination exists to link. In its place, the Government of Canada advice for the United States gives an equivalent third-country assessment.
UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/usa, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits. The FCDO names no advised-against areas anywhere in the United States. The same advice also covers Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands.
Main hospital: Banner University Medical Center Tucson on North Campbell Avenue is southern Arizona's Level I trauma centre with a 24 hour emergency department, and Tucson Medical Center and St Joseph's are the other major ones. Dial 911 for police, ambulance or fire, and note that A SEARCH OR RESCUE IN THE MOUNTAINS goes through 911 to the Pima County Sheriff's search and rescue team rather than a city ambulance, and that mobile coverage disappears in the canyons and on much of Mount Lemmon, so telling someone your route matters more here than a phone does. This is the single biggest practical difference for a visitor: there is no public health system, an emergency room visit without insurance can run into thousands of dollars, and an ambulance is billed separately and is not free. Comprehensive travel insurance with a high medical limit is not optional in the United States, and you should carry your policy number and the insurer's 24 hour number somewhere you can reach them. Urgent care clinics handle anything short of an emergency far more cheaply and quickly than an emergency room, and are the right choice for a sprain, an infection or stitches.
Official health authority: the CDC travellers' health pages, the US federal health authority for visitors. covers the US public health guidance, with the National Weather Service the authority for flash flood warnings, dust storm warnings and excessive heat warnings in the Sonoran Desert
Embassy contact: the United States is the host country, so there is no US embassy to contact. Your own country's embassy is in Washington DC, with consulates in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, San Francisco, Miami and Boston. Find yours before you travel and save the number.
Official tourism authority: Brand USA, the national tourism marketing body. covers Tucson and Arizona visitor information, with the National Park Service the authority for Saguaro National Park's two districts and the Coronado National Forest for Sabino Canyon and the Mount Lemmon road
Takeaways
Mission San Xavier del Bac is free and is the finest Spanish colonial building in the country.
Saguaro National Park is two halves with the city in the middle.
Drive up Mount Lemmon. It is thirty degrees cooler at the top.
Turn around, do not drown. The washes are the real hazard here.
Solo women safety assessment: Tucson is a comfortable city to visit alone, with the practical caveat that it is a driving city and a solo visitor spends a lot of time in a car between a walkable core and a series of desert destinations. Downtown, the university area, Fourth Avenue, Sam Hughes, the foothills and the resort corridor are ordinary places for a woman to walk by day, the free Sun Link streetcar covers the walkable half, and downtown and Fourth Avenue are busy in the evening during term. The city's violent crime rate is above the American average and is concentrated in residential areas on the south and west sides that a visitor has no reason to enter; the crime most likely to touch you is a car break-in at a desert trailhead, which are quiet and empty by their nature, so leave nothing visible. 911 REACHES POLICE, AMBULANCE AND FIRE, Banner University Medical Center is southern Arizona's Level I trauma centre, and a mountain rescue reaches the Pima County Sheriff's search and rescue team through 911 rather than a city ambulance. THE REAL RISKS HERE ARE THE DESERT'S AND THE FIRST ONE IS NOT INTUITIVE. From July to mid-September the monsoon fills dry washes from rain falling on mountains miles away and out of sight, so a channel that was dust at breakfast can run chest-deep and fast by mid-afternoon; flash flooding kills more people in Arizona than any other weather hazard, Arizona law makes a driver who goes around a barricade liable for her own rescue, and the rule never changes: turn around, do not drown. The same storms bring dust walls that close visibility on I-10 in seconds, where the correct response is to pull fully off the road, stop, and switch your lights off so nobody steers into them. The second non-intuitive risk is that dry heat is more dangerous than humid heat, because at single-figure humidity sweat is gone before you feel it and you dehydrate without the warning signs; walk at dawn, carry a gallon a day in summer, and do not treat midday as a challenge. The rest is a look-before-you-reach discipline around rattlesnakes, scorpions and cholla, and a cheap comb in the daypack for the cactus.
Reading On
Tucson is the other Arizona and the comparison is the point, so the Phoenix packing list covers the larger city ninety minutes north with the same desert and a very different character, and the Sedona packing list the red rock country beyond it. North, the Grand Canyon packing list, the Antelope Canyon packing list and the Monument Valley packing list carry the Colorado Plateau, where the same monsoon arrives in slot canyons rather than city washes. East, the El Paso packing list is the next border city along and the Albuquerque packing list and Santa Fe packing list cover New Mexico, which shares the Spanish colonial inheritance this city's mission belongs to. West, the Joshua Tree packing list and the Death Valley packing list cover the other American deserts. For the country, the United States travel guide for women carries the transport, the health insurance question and the regions in full. For why covering up in fine wool is cooler than bare skin in a dry desert, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women. Every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women, and the base layers are at the Roman Trail collection.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
