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TUCSON & SOUTHERN ARIZONALocated 100 miles southeast of the Valley of the Sun, Arizona’s second largest city spreads out over 500 miles at an elevation of 2,389 feet and is protectively cocooned by five mountain ranges. The craggy Santa Catalinas dominate to the north. The Tortolitas are in the northwest. To the east are the Rincons, to the south the Santa Ritas and to the west, the Tucson Mountains. The result is eye-catching backdrops in every direction. Native American, Mexican, Spanish and Western legacies ooze through Tucson’s every pore, conjuring up a distinct sense of history and tradition. Of course, there’s plenty of progressive energy percolating, thanks to the vibrant presence of the University of Arizona. Toss in 320 days of sunshine, a terrific collection of hotels, guest ranches, spas and golf courses, plus superb restaurants and cultural attractions, and you have a southwestern recipe for success. Tucson The Tucson Convention Center is located in historic downtown Tucson – your delegates can walk to any of several hotels, shops, and many restaurants located a few blocks from the Center. With 205,000 square feet of meeting space, the Tucson Convention Center has the size and flexibility to accommodate most every type of meeting, convention, trade show, or banquet event you may be planning.
Among Tucson’s stellar full-service resorts is the Westin La Paloma Resort & Spa, enjoying a superb, Santa Catalina Mountains location, attractive dining and cocktailing options at Janos and J Bar and beautiful 27-hole Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course. Five swimming pools, including a free-form pool with swim-up bar will refresh on a warm day, but for the ultimate in family fun, don’t miss the 177-foot Slidewinder, the Southwest’s longest resort waterslide. Groups will relish the cooling therapy of a Purifying Seaweed Body Wrap, available at the resort’s Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spa. Another excellent choice, the Hilton Tucson El Conquistador Golf & Tennis Resort is a Forbes Travel Guide Three Star and AAA Four Diamond award winning, full destination golf resort nestled in the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains on 500 acres of high Sonoran Desert. With 45 holes of spectacular golf, it is the largest golf resort in Southern Arizona. Two championship 18-hole layouts are situated at the Golf Club, while a superb 9-hole track plays around the resort further up the mountainside. While luxury resorts make for incredible and memorable meetings, some of Tucson’s most unique and beautiful venues can be found at the city’s best-known attractions. One of the region’s top attractions is the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, a fabulous living garden and cage-less zoo. It covers the entire Sonoran environment in one you-have-to-see-it-to-believe-it-space. Over 1,200 different desert plants thrive in six different habitats, with a hummingbird aviary, mountain lions, ocelots, and Mexican wolves thrown in for good measure. Not to be missed is the Raptor Free Flight Demonstration. Watch these birds of prey soar above the open desert in their natural habitat and behaviors. Group events at the Desert Museum can take advantage of the 270-seat Warden Oasis Theater, equipped with state-of-the-art audio visual technology. The contemporary, versatile Baldwin Education Building accommodates up to 200 guests for receptions, meetings and formal dinners, and features a spectacular view of the surrounding desert mountains through a glass panel wall that opens up to an outdoor balcony. Another popular venue an affiliate of the Smithsonian Museum, the Arizona State Museum is the largest and oldest anthropological museum in the Southwest. Its permanent collection includes several hundreds of thousands of artifacts – Navajo textiles, Mexican folk masks, basketry, Seri materials – some dating back 13,000 years. In addition to its expansive permanent collection, the museum stages temporary exhibits. At the University of Arizona Museum of Art, see paintings by 15th century Spanish master Fernando Gallego, Jackson Pollack, Georgia O’Keefe and Wassily Kandinsky. If your taste runs more to fine art photography than fine art, continue along the Museum Neighborhood to the collection at the Center for Creative Photography. The collection here includes the archives of over 50 photographers, including Ansel Adams, Lola Alvarez Bravo, Richard Avedon, Louise Dahl-Wolfe, W. Eugene Smith, and Edward Weston, among others. There’s also the Museum of Contemporary Art, which is still building its permanent collection, but mounts six to eight temporary exhibitions a year featuring the work of artists from around the world. All this history, education, and culture will undoubtedly need to be refueled with good food. Many of the 3,000-some restaurants in Tucson are local establishments where owners and chefs have created signature blends of Southwestern cuisine. The menus often trace back to the owner’s origins, perhaps to Latin America or Spain, or to Native American roots or the interior or the coastal regions of Mexico. (Tucson proper boasts more than 150 Mexican restaurants.) From outdoor cowboy cookout venues to white tablecloth gourmet dining – Tucson’s choices for groups are unlimited. The hotels and resorts offer a full range of menu items from classic American fare to innovative Southwestern dishes. At Westin La Paloma, Janos’ exterior and interior décor is every bit as elegant as its food is inspired. Opened in 1983 by James Beard award-winning Janos Wilder and wife Rebecca, this restaurant serves cuisine highlighting local ingredients. If you want to do more than just eat the food, sign your group up for the Janos Cooking School, which includes classes such as “Janos cooks Julia” and “The Southwest Pantry”. Know that wherever it is you decide to eat, there’s no shortage of places to walk, ride, or golf it off. For in-your-face encounters with the giant Saguaro cactus, head east or west, to Saguaro National Park. The park consists of two districts, one on either side of the city, but both possess an imposing array of these natural wonders, with their needle-dotted arms extended skyward. They appear quite welcoming – just don’t touch. Saguaro National Park, home to approximately 1.3 million of the state’s signature plant, sandwiches the city. Northeast of Tucson at the foot of the Santa Catalina Mountains, Sabino Canyon Recreation Area has miles of trails for hiking and biking. Sabino Lake Trail #30 leads to a popular wetland bird watching spot. Bear Canyon Overlook provides one of the best panoramic views of Tucson and the surrounding mountains. Hit it at sunset and make sure your camera’s memory card has lots of room. Speaking of “hitting it”, Tucson’s mild climate and outstanding courses make this city a favorite golf destination. Take your best shot on a challenging desert golf course, or enjoy a more traditional links-style layout. The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club at Dove Mountain is now the home of the World Golf Championships – Accenture Match Play Championship. The world’s top 64 golfers will try to etch their names in the history book of this exciting tournament held each February. Golfers seeking value-oriented courses have multiple options in Tucson as well, including an excellent collection of municipal tracks, such as Randolph Park, Silverbell, Fred Enke and El Rio. Southern Arizona After experiencing outer space, head for inner space at Kartchner Caverns State Park, nine miles south of Benson. The Park recently celebrated its tenth anniversary, and visitors can learn all about the 11 years it took to construct innovative ways for the public to experience the beauty of the Caverns while preserving the “living cave”. The Caverns are a limestone cave over 50,000 years in the making – and still being made – Kartchner is home to the world’s longest soda straw stalactites (over 21 feet), the world’s most extensive formation of brushite moonmilk, the first reported occurrence of “turnip” shields, and the state’s tallest and most massive column, the 58-foot tall Kubla Khan. Even if you can’t tell a turnip shield from a totem though, Kartchner will entrance you. It is doubtful the moon looks this alien. Because the cave’s ecosystem is so fragile – it’s the only living cave in the world open to visitors – the only way to see it is with a guide. And even then, you can only visit two areas of the two-and-a-half-mile long cave. Another of the region’s most unusual lures is Biosphere 2. The three-acre glass terrarium structure was built as an airtight living lab to see how folks might function in space and to examine how life itself might evolve. No longer a sealed facility, it was taken over by the University of Arizona in 2007. This three+ acre, airtight mini-earth is complete with rainforest, ocean, savannah, desert, wetland, and agricultural areas. Biosphere’s experienced staff can help coordinate catering from off-site vendors, since the secluded campus does not house restaurant facilities. Audio visual and technical support are available, and private or specialized Biosphere tours can be arranged. Southern Arizona’s small towns offer diverse and illuminating history and heritage. Tubac Presidio State Historic Park, 45 miles south of Tucson, showcases its Spanish presidio past in a museum, underground archaeology display, trailhead and assorted outbuildings. Modern-day Tubac teems with art galleries, working studios, gift shops, a culinary school and dining establishments, all in close proximity, making for a delightful day of one-stop browsing and shopping. “Where art and history meet” is the town’s slogan and it certainly deserves its reputation as a hip, happening, historic smaller town with half of the businesses in town as art galleries of some sort. Tubac Golf Resort offers excellent accommodations and dining for small groups. Located in the stables of the original ranch built in 1789, its Stables Ranch Grille recently won the Wine Spectator Award. Just 12.5 miles south of Tubac, the AAA Four Diamond Esplendor Resort at Rio Rico overlooks the Santa Cruz River Valley with panoramic views. Other features include a Robert Trent Jones Sr. designed golf course, stables, Olympic size pool and award-winning cuisine. From here, it’s an easy drive to the twin border cities of Nogales, Arizona, and Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, where hundreds of curio shops offer plenty of opportunities for bargain hunting, especially for leather, jewelry, and terra cotta pottery. Nearby Tombstone is famous for its gun slinging history – you’ve heard of the shootout at the O.K. Corral? Doc Holliday? Wyatt Earp? The shootout at the O.K. Corral happened in 1881 and is frequently reenacted in Tombstone today. Delve further into the town’s rough-and-tumble past with a visit to the Boot Hill Graveyard. Don’t waste time looking for the graves of any of the Earp brothers though; none are buried here. Confirmed by the Guinness Book as the world’s largest, Tombstone is home to a rose bush that covers a dumbfoundingly immense area: 8,000 square feet, or about four times as large as the average U.S. home. “Bush” just doesn’t seem like the right word to describe this feat of nature. Even so, it blooms every April, cheered on by the annual Rose Parade and Festival since 1996. A short drive from Tombstone is Dragoon, set in the beautiful rock formations of Texas Canyon and home to the Amerind Foundation Museum. Founded in 1937 as a private, non-profit, archaeological research institution, the museum today covers the stories of America’s first people with exhibits changing every six months to a year. Home to several special events throughout the year, visitors often chance upon Indian artists demonstrating their skills in the main gallery. For more information on meeting under Tucson and Southern Arizona’s spacious skies, contact the Metropolitan Tucson CVB, 520.624.1817, visittucson.org. AccommodationsEsplendor Resort at Rio Rico
a Heritage Hotel & Resort Classic old world charm in the heart of the old west and only 45 minutes south of Tucson. Offering spectacular indoor and outdoor meeting space for small and large meetings, special events, family reunions and company conventions. Indulge in recreational amenities like world-class golf on the 18-hole Robert Trent Jones Sr.-designed championship golf course, tennis on four lighted courts or bask in the Arizona sun poolside. Esplendor Resort offers a multitude of unique facilities. A member of Sterling Hotels, A Preferred Hotel Group partner. Hilton Tucson El Conquistador Golf & Tennis Resort Distinct…Natural…Inspiring! Offering 500 acres of colorful high Sonoran Desert terrain nestled in the picturesque foothills of the majestic Santa Catalina Mountains. Our surroundings and hospitable staff will maximize productivity, motivate positive and creative thinking and provide a memorable meeting environment allowing your attendees to feel focused, refreshed and energized. By providing expansive indoor and outdoor meeting spaces, diverse activities and exceptional networking opportunities, we’ve created a warm and inviting atmosphere that ensures successful events. Hotel Tucson City Center Hotel Tucson City Center boasts over 10,000 sf of spacious and flexible meeting and ballroom space. Our ballroom is equipped with antique Waterford crystal chandeliers, 30-foot ceilings, a built-in dance floor and stage. Our space is perfect for any conference, convention, wedding, quinceanera or family gathering. We offer our own in-house catering with a wide variety of menu options and prices to make your event a special and memorable occasion. Hyatt Place Tucson Airport Hyatt Place combines The Hyatt Touch® with stylish design, purposeful amenities and forward-thinking technology to provide a new kind of Hyatt for today’s relaxed lifestyle. Our spacious guestrooms feature a 42” flat panel HD TV, our signature Hyatt Grand Bed™ and free Wi-Fi. Guests enjoy a daily complimentary continental breakfast, and can purchase cafe quality food 24/7. We provide everything needed, from unique food and beverage options to cutting-edge equipment, and a Meeting Host dedicated to manage every last detail. Tanque Verde Ranch This historic ranch/resort offers golf, horseback riding, spa facilities, tennis, mountain biking, hiking, and a variety of other activities on a daily basis. Our meeting and event planner will provide you with unparalleled personal service, making your meeting a stress free event! Enjoy our distinctive meeting and banquet space and personal service, reserve your meeting today! Tubac Golf Resort and Spa Southern Arizona’s historical landmark resort and an honored member of the distinctive Historic Hotels of America is celebrating 50 years of service. This extraordinary, newly renovated 27-hole Golf Resort sits on 900 acres of the original Otero Ranch, and offers a boutique-style setting for meetings as small as 15 and as large as 150. Relaxation is easy in this thoughtful blend of modern day luxuries and amenities combined with the historic charm of its deep history. Enjoy new guest accommodations, a 17th century style Chapel for weddings and meetings, a hacienda themed full-service spa, salon, restaurants, shopping and more. Westin La Paloma Plan unparalleled possibilities when you choose the Four Diamond premier meeting resort of the Southwest. Rated #1 in the world for meeting planner satisfaction for the past six years, this remarkable haven is completely full-service, beginning with an impeccably-trained staff–skilled in anticipating the needs of discriminating travelers and corporate parties–whether it’s a group of two or 2,000. Combined with world-class accommodations and spectacular setting, this site inspires an event that is memorable and caters to your group’s specific needs. AttractionsAmerind Foundation Museum Travel only an hour east of Tucson and you’ll find the Amerind Foundation Museum and Art Gallery hidden amongst the balancing granite boulders in the spectacular Texas Canyon area. Just a mile south of I-10, the Amerind, founded in 1937, houses one of the finest private collections of Native American artifacts and art in the country. Open year round Tuesday through Sunday, 10am - 4pm DiningCushing Street Bar & Restaurant Cushing Street Bar & Restaurant is located adjacent to the Convention Center in an 1860’s Landmark adobe. Guests enjoy uptown comfort food, classic cocktails and live jazz while dining alfresco on garden patios or in 19th century interiors furnished with period antiques. The building was originally a country store and private residence. Party and meeting spaces accommodating 12 to 150 guests are available. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Family-owned since 1972. |
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The Old Pueblo’s rich history in hospitality is illuminated in its many marvelous properties. Resorts and hotels are located close to the region’s natural parks, as well as cosmopolitan amenities such as fine dining, arts, and shopping. Whether your group chooses one of the full-service resort properties, with golf and spa, or a historic inn close to downtown or a guest ranch that assigns you a room and horse, Tucson lodging options are boundless. 