The saying goes, “Tucson will surprise you.” Surrounded by the natural beauty of the lush green Sonoran Desert and its majestic saguaro cacti, the Tucson valley is set among five mountain ranges. Boasting an average of 350 sunny dates each year, the Tucson climate is ideal for getting outside year-round. Yes, summer days can get quite warm, but don’t worry -- it’s a “dry heat.” The mornings are typically cool for enjoying outdoor activities and the evenings invite patio dining and star gazing.
Love to hike? Tucson is bordered by the Coronado National Forest, Catalina State Park, Ironwood Forest National Monument, and Saguaro National Park (land of the rare, giant saguaro cactus). Love to bike? Tucson was recently rated the #1 “bike friendly” city in the U.S. by Outdoor magazine. Love to golf? Tucson offers more than 30 private and public courses.
For those who love their fun indoors, Tucson boasts a vibrant performing arts community, and if rock and roll is more your scene, then get downtown or over to 4th Avenue to catch a local favorite or a touring headliner.
Tucson is the second largest city in Arizona, and Cirrus Logic’s Tucson facility is the design and manufacturing hub for the company’s Apex Precision Power product technology business unit.
Cirrus Logic Tucson employees get to experience these renowned events: the Tucson Gem, Mineral & Fossils Showcase, WGC-Accentor Match Play Golf Championship, La Fiesta de los Vaqueros-Tucson Rodeo, and the Festival of Books. Other prominent annual events are El Tour de Tucson, Tucson International Mariachi Conference, Southwest Wings Birding Festival and New Year’s Competition Powwow. So if making a move to Tucson is a future possibility, come visit a spell and let the Old Pueblo surprise you!
Links
Check out the some of the best that Tucson and Southern Arizona have to offer:
- Tucson Convention & Visitor’s Bureau
Everything you ever wanted to know about the Old Pueblo.
- Arizona Daily Star
The city’s daily newspaper keeps you up to date on all local news, events, sports and business.
- Tucson Weekly
The Tucson Weekly is an independent, locally owned and operated alternative newsweekly that reflects the heart and soul of Tucson, including their annual “Best Of Tucson” survey.
- Tucson Lifestyles, Home & Garden
Tucson Lifestyles is a city guide featuring music and event listings, restaurant reviews, art gallery openings, museums, shopping mecas, and more. Plus everything real estate related to help both the newcomer and the Arizona native make their home and garden a desert oasis.
- Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum
To learn all about the plants, the mountains and the critters (including rattlesnakes and scorpions) that make Tucson such a natural wonder, then a visit to the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum is a must. This is a LIVING museum – think “zoo” but in a native habitat.
- Tucson Golf
If hitting the links is your idea of the perfect way to get out doors, then take your pick of courses across Tucson offering a mix of desert, park and traditional designs. During the warmer months, early and later tee times are available at seasonally reduced prices.
- Center for Creative Photography
Located on the University of Arizona campus, this gallery retains the archives of Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Garry Winogrand, Harry Callahan, and other great 20th-century photographers – over fifty archives in all.” It is a truly world class facility for those interested in Photography.
- Catalina State Park
Enjoy more than 30 miles of birding, horseback riding, nature and hiking trails just a short drive from the heart of Tucson in the city’s northwest bedroom community of Oro Valley. With an exceptional setting at the base of the Catalina Mountains, this “urban” park provides access to the Coronado National Forrest and the Pusch Ridge Wilderness. You’ll be just minutes from suburbia, but the park’s serene peace and quiet makes it feel like you’re miles away!
- Kitt Peak National Observatory
Thanks to the national-recognized astronomy and optical programs at the University of Arizona, Southern Arizona boosts a network of more than 50 telescopes located in mountain ranges throughout the region. The most prominent of which is Kitt Peak National Observatory located some 50 miles to the southwest of the city, in the Schuk Toak District on the Tohono O’odham Nation Indian Reservation. The observatory is part of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) and supports the most diverse collection of astronomical observatories on Earth for nighttime optical and infrared astronomy and daytime study of the Sun. The National Solar Observatory shares the mountaintop site with the Kitt Peak Observatory. A visitor center is open to the public daily, and the Observatory offers a variety of interactive programs, including nightly observing.
- El Tour de Tucson
The “El Tour” is the Southwest’s premier fund raising cycling event held annually the Saturday before Thanksgiving. The main race begins and ends in downtown Tucson and takes professional and amateur riders on a 109-mile “tour” around the greater Tucson parameter. More than 9,000 cyclists of all ages and abilities from across the country participate in the 109, 80, 66 or 35 mile events, plus two additional “Fun Rides”. The main cycling routes expose participants to scenic areas of Tucson, with beautiful vistas of its local mountain ranges – three rising over 9,000 feet – complete with the backdrop of the mighty saguaro cactus, icon of the Southwest’s Sonoran Desert.
