Tucson was the first place in the country to be made a Unesco City of Gastronomy and the city’s distinctive Sonoran cuisine is a key feature. The Chimichanga – a deep fried, often gigantic burrito – is Arizona’s best-known culinary gift to the world. The 100-year-old El Charro in Tucson claims to be its birthplace, with the dish born when Monica Flin, El Charro’s founder, accidentally dropped a burrito in a deep fat fryer. Order the carne seca plate. Sonoran dogs are also very much worth trying and El Guero Canelo has a James Beard award as an American classic. JoJo’s in downtown brings live music under the twinkling stars, while Coronet offers genteel heritage next to the white adobe walls.In the old neighbourhoods around downtown and the university, generally you won’t find better Mexican food north of the border (which is 60 miles south). There are two art-house cinemas, a small music scene, a big university at the forefront of climate change research, a couple of good bookshops and interesting writers, and a world-renowned photographic centre, where the permanent collections of Richard Avedon, Ansel Adams, Edward Weston and other greats are housed. The beautiful old Congress Hotel houses two bars, a nightclub and a restaurant. The Congress is the headquarters of the downtown arts, social and music scene. The Tucson Art Museum is one of the finest in the country. The Kingfisher Bar and Grill has excellent seafood. Get a breakfast burrito at Anita Street market just north of downtown (currently listed as temporarily closed, but do check back closer to the time).
Contigo Latin Kitchen is fabulous for something a little fancy.
Walk around the Barrio historico, a preserved little Mexican village. Take a tour of the evocative Mission San Xavier Del Bac in Tucson – the 18th century White Dove of the Desert – but check in advance that there isn’t a service on.
The lovely and chic Mercado San Agustin is within walking distance for artisanal shopping.
Pima Air and Space Museum is one of the best aviation museums in the world.
But the best things about Tucson lie outside the city limits. During the summer monsoon season you can sometimes see three thunderstorms at once. Dominating the northern skyline are the Santa Catalinas, rising to more than 9,000ft, slashed with canyons, mantled with pine forest around the peaks and periodically snow-capped in winter. There are bears and mountain lions up there, waterfalls and swimming holes, the reassuring possibility of solitude, adventure, escape.
DeGrazia Gallery in the Catalina foothill is a really cool place to visit too for some art.
To the west are the Tucson mountains and Saguaro National Park. The saguaro (pronounced sa-wah-ro) is the tall, armed, emblematic cactus of the southern Arizona desert. The old giants are more than 60ft high with multiple arms and they have been standing sentinel for more than 200 years. Perhaps the quintessential Tucson activity is to drive out over Gates Pass in the Tucson mountains, find a suitable rock to sit on and watch the saguaros turn to silhouettes against the fiery desert sunset, while drinking a cold Mexican beer and hoping for a coyote to howl. Close to the magnificent Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, which is part zoo, botanical garden and hands-on natural history museum.
You’ll never forget walking into Allen Street, Tombstone’s principal thoroughfare, with its dirt street, wooden boardwalks and authentic buildings lining both sides – the essence of Cowboy country. Tombstone’s core remains magnificently intact, providing a spine-tingling journey into an era of saloons, stagecoaches and shoot-outs at places such as Big Nose Kate’s Saloon, T. Miller’s Tombstone Mercantile, Crazy Annie’s Bordello and Boot Hill, where the Gunfight victims are buried.
Bisbee is also a really lovely town if you have another road trip in you, neat funky town that feels like you’ve taken a blast to the past
A Hawk Walk with Sky Island Falconry is an amazing experience.
Colossal Cave Mountain Park and the view from nearby Pistol Hill is amazing at sunset.