Family Activities Tucson

I asked on personal Facebook page recently what fun activities there are to do in Tucson.  I recieved 2 or 3 answers that said the best part is driving back to Phoenix. 🙂  We had decided it’s time to get some Arizona under our belts instead of longing for the sunshine state. 🙂  Spring break seemed like a great time to do it!  It was time to find some family activities in Tucson.

I had been to Tucson with my college band in 1994.  I didn’t actually have a whole lot of fond memories except a boyfriend I started a relationship with on that tour.  And maybe 2 or 3 other boys that I also enjoyed {in a Mormon sort of way}.

**All items in this post were paid for by myself, with no discount given unless otherwise noted.  You can see my full disclosure here.

Lodging

Looking for a place to stay?  I always check TripAdvisor!  Their honest reviews always help us find the right spot for our family!

We stayed at the Best Western Royal Sun.  I mainly reserved it due to the size of the suite they had to offer as well as the full breakfast. The room was clean, there was plenty room.  The train goes by 2-3 times during the middle of the night, and it is certainly noticeable (they do provide ear plugs) it didn’t wake me up and we turned up the AC (which was much louder than the train).  We ate at the restaurant one night, and we ate the free breakfast both mornings.  For dinner it was DELICIOUS.  Both my husband and myself LOVED the sandwiches we got and the kids loved their food.  The wait staff was nice and quick.  The breakfast wasn’t amazing, but it was good to get us going on our day.  We’d certainly stay there again.

 Attractions

Kartchner Caverns:  My #1 attraction, this place is AMAZING.  I, sadly, don’t have any pictures because you aren’t allowed to bring ANYTHING in to the cave.  No cell phone, no camera, no purse, no stroller, no baby backpack.  Nada.  They are REALLY dedicated to preserving the cave the way it is without man inside — they even mist you down before you go in to make sure your skin cells don’t slough off too much.  It’s really impressive.  You need a reservation.  They were sold-out for the weekday that we were there.  We did the Rotunda/Throne Room tour — that’s the only one we could do as Princess P is only 5.  You have to be 7 or over to go on the other one.  I asked why and they said there are so many formations so close to the path that they didn’t want to risk it.  We plan to go back once she’s 7 (that side is only open half the year, as it is a bat nursery the rest of the year — ew, right?).  It’s a bit pricey, but seriously worth every penny.  My kids stood in AWE of an AMAZING cave, never touched by anyone that has built up over millions of years.  It really is amazing.  The walk wasn’t bad, totally doable for the 5 year old.  Everyone loved it.  EVERY. SINGLE. ONE.  A-mazeballs (5/5 stars).  The end, do it.

**In looking for deals around the Tucson area I found the Tucson Attraction Passport and I was given 2 of these in return for mentioning them in social media and this blog post during my stay.  There are several buy one get one free type coupons you can download to your phone.  This passport was used at the 2 attractions below.

Tombstone:  Let’s just say it’s not my #1 attraction, but it is close’ish to Kartchner and we thought the kids might like it.  In my opinion, it is pricey for what you get.  It was 10 dollars/person (Princess P was free) for watching the shoot-out, some displays and this weird “Historama” that was really confusing to me.  I still don’t really know what happened at Tombstone or why so many movies are made out of it — but I know Princess P hates guns.  We did buy 1 get 1 free — and I’d highly recommend the Passport if you’re planning on doing much more than 1 thing in the Tucson area.  This saved us 20 bucks just at Tombstone.  Tombstone is a giant tourist attraction, and most of the places don’t seem connected, it was difficult to ascertain pricing before we went.  The kids liked the shootout the most.  They act it out well and you don’t see a shoot-out every day anymore (or, at least, you hopefully don’t).  I’d give it a “nifty” on the Amaze-ball scale (2/5 stars). 🙂

Desert Museum: We really enjoyed this one, and the Attraction passport saved us well on this one.  Adults are almost 20 dollars alone, we saved probably close to 32’ish on this attraction with the passport.  This place is a zoo, a botanical garden and an aquarium all in one.  I would say it’s a jack of all trades, master of a few of them.  We watched their Raptor Free flight, which was REALLY cool.  The birds came RIGHT above us and we got to see them nice and up close and watch how they all flew differently.  There are a ton of really cool reptiles and insects (ew — not my favorite, but interesting).  Nice animal exhibits including a pretty fierce Mountain Lion that the kids loved.  On my Amazeball scale I’d give this a “fancy” scale.  Just below Amazeballs.  We’d probably go back in a couple of years and everyone really liked going (4/5 stars, although I think my husband would give it 5/5).  Try to go in the AM as there isn’t a ton of shade and as we all know, AZ gets HOT! 🙂

If you can believe it, we didn’t even get everything in on this stay.  We’d like to go to the Pima Air and Space museum and I thought that Old Tucson or the Bisbee Mine sounded fun (many of which are buy 1 get 1 free with the passport).  We’d also like to spend some time in Saguaro National Park  We hope to go back someday soon.

We live in the Phoenix area, so it’s not far away (less than a couple of hours).  But, if you’re coming in to get away from the cold, there’s plenty to see and do.  I will say that we didn’t see many kids while we were in Tucson.  That isn’t to say that they weren’t welcome, but there are lots of snowbirds coming from around the country this time of year.  And, if you do go — check out the Passport, I think it might be worth your time!  If you’re interested in more family travel ideas, be sure to check out my Pinterest board about family travel!