Mount Lemmon makes for an excellent day trip or an extended stay, with various Airbnbs, a small lodge, and a hotel available at the summit. The mountain offers a refreshing escape from the heat, being approximately 25 degrees cooler than Tucson.

Throughout the journey up the mountain, you can explore hundreds of scenic hikes, overlooks, and rock climbing spots.

At the summit, you'll find a charming small town with several restaurants, shops, and a ski lift that operates year-round for scenic rides.

A day trip to Mount Lemmon is highly recommended. The drive from the base to the top takes about 40 minutes.

The Pima Air & Space Museum is an aerospace museum in Tucson. It features a display of nearly 400 aircraft spread out over 80 acres (32 ha) on a campus occupying 127 acres (51 ha). It has also been the home to the Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame since 1991.

Although Trail Dust Town operates as a for-profit shopping mall, on its grounds exists a great number of historical artifacts, including an Allan Herschell Merry-go-round which was manufactured in 1954 that still contains its original horses and benches.

If you eat in the steak house, wear a neck tie you do not wish to keep. It makes the experience 10times more enjoyable.

Mission San Xavier del Bac (La Misión de San Xavier del Bac) is a historic Spanish Catholic Missionlocated about 10 miles (16 km) south of downtown Tucson, on the Tohono O'odham Nation San Xavier Indian Reservation. The mission was founded in 1692 by Padre Eusebio Kino in the center of a centuries-old settlement of the Sobaipuri O'odham, a branch of the Akimel or River O'odham located along the banks of the Santa Cruz River. The mission was named for Francis Xavier, a Christian missionary and co-founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuit Order) in Europe. The original church was built to the north of the present Franciscan church. This northern church or churches served the mission until it was raided during an Apache raid in 1770.

The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is a 98-acre (40 ha) zoo, aquarium, botanical garden, natural history museum, publisher, and art gallery founded in 1952. Located just west of Tucson, it features two miles (3.2 km) of walking paths traversing 21 acres (8.5 ha) of desert landscape. It is one of the most visited attractions in Southern Arizona.

The nonprofit organization focuses on the interpretation of the natural history, plants and animals of the Sonora Desert. The museum is home to more than 230 animal species and 1,200 varieties of plants. It is open every day through the year, and hosts nearly 400,000 visitors annually, including visitors from abroad.

The Titan Missile Museum is the only remaining Titan II site open to the public, allowing you to re-live a time when the threat of nuclear war between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union was a reality.

The Titan II was capable of launching from its underground silo in 58 seconds and could deliver a nine megaton thermonuclear warhead to its target more than 6,000 miles (approximately 10,000 km) away in less than thirty minutes. For more than two decades, 54 Titan II missile complexes across the United States stood “on alert” 24 hours a day, seven days a week, heightening the threat of nuclear war or preventing Armageddon, depending upon your point of view.