Conde-Nast Traveler magazine recently recommended Barrio Viejo in Tucson as a neighborhood to visit. That’s nice. The homes are historic and colorful, but one neighborhood doesn’t even come close to all that’s going on in the city. So as a resident of Tucson I have some suggestions for you after you’ve spent an hour or two wandering around Barrio Viejo. Better yet, I have photos to give you a sneak preview of most of these places. And many of them are within walking distance of Barrio Viejo.
1. The Barrio Viejo itself. It’s what remains of an old old Mexican neighborhood where many buildings/homes are constructed with hand made adobe bricks. Tucson was governed by Spain, then Mexico until 1854 so our architectural traditions come from those two countries. Now the homes have been restored outside and modernized inside then painted bright colors here and here. There are a couple of restaurants and coffee house in the area and more nearby and along Congress St. There’s also an unusual place in Barrio Viejo to make a wish with a history of lust and death two centuries old. (Bring a candle.)
2. To get to the Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block you have to skirt around the Convention Center, which was built in 1971 after the city demolished large parts of Barrio Viejo. “Too old”, they claimed then–treasured, now. The Museum focuses its collections on the Americas, both historic–like the clay warrior, above–and contemporary. Nearby a small group of old buildings survived next door to the Tucson Museum of Art and included The Old Town Artisans, a building filled with quirky gifts and courtyard eateries and a bar.
3. Walking along Congress in what is called “downtown” Tucson which is more of a restaurant district than anything else, walk to the Amtrak train station where you can see two statues honoring(?) Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday on the site where Holiday shot a man dead in cold blood and got away with it. A restaurant called Maynards shares the space with Amtrak and every Monday Meet Me At Maynards offers a self-guided fitness walk and a map to some of the dozens of murals downtown. Tucson is famous for its gigantic murals, two of which are shown above. You will pass many others as you walk along Congress.
4. For this you will need a car to go north for 45 minutes to the amazing Biosphere2 in Oracle, AZ. In 1991 and 1994 it was a test site for living on Mars and is now owned by the University of Arizona and open for tours daily. When Elon finally ships some people off to Mars they are not going to be living like this!
5. Since you now have a car you may want to visit the Tucson Botanical Garden, north of downtown, which is almost as much an art exhibition space as a botanical garden. The art changes with the seasons and holidays, the drought tolerant plants stay the same and keep growing. More photos of past exhibitions are here and here.
There are many more things to do here. Foodies might want to make discoveries along Congress or along Campbell north of Grant. The corner of Grant and Campbell is the location of the famous whales in the sky mural. For breakfast or brunch stop in at Prep & Pastry, Beyond Bread or Baja Cafe, three very popular, locally owned restaurants on Campbell.
Cyclists will love the over 100 miles of dedicated bike trail that encircles the entire city. In November there is a big cycling weekend with participants ranging from little kids to professional cyclists, each group with separate races. Bicycles can be rented at Pedego in St. Phillips Plaza on north Campbell.
You may have read that shopping is along Fourth Avenue — well, if you’re a college student it’s okay, but Tucson really isn’t a shopping city. It is more of an arts and food city. Artists have moved here for decades because of the lower cost of living. And in 2015 Tucson became an official UNESCO City of Gastronomy which added fuel to the already hot foodie scene.
Speaking of college, there are museums and an observatory on the U. of Arizona campus. And if you are in town in early March, the Tucson Festival of Books is held on the U. of A campus. It’s the second largest book fair in America.
Come visit and enjoy! Tucson is a great place to visit and an even better place to live.
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