Things to do around Tucson

[Noscut]

Originally Posted by Roli

There is an interesting, little known free park called Aqua Caliente. It is secret (well, not-exactly) hot spring, but you can't go in the water. There was a small art gallery and bird watching walks last time I was there, but maybe not in the summer. It's off Soldier's Trail in the Northeast part of town. Plans are to fix it up more. You can drive to it and enjoy shade and water.Also, there is a closer dry cave, Colossal Cave, and if you don't want to go there, head instead to an air conditioned free museum at Rancho Quemada that shows you what they found in the cave. Maybe Colossal Cave links to Kartchner, no one knows.

This place is a total gem!

It is somewhat a secret an very underrated in Tucson. I never hear anyone talking about it.

[sdurbanite]

Some great suggestions here. Heading to Tucson in a couple weeks for a 1 or 2 nights. Can someone tell me what's the best area of city to stay in? It's been 15 or so years since I was there, and don't know the city at all. I'm looking for a lively, urban area. Should I be looking in and around downtown?

[Kabluey]

@OP
2nd Saturdays downtown. Free. Downtown. Music, performances, kid friendly stuff.
Tucson Padres during the weekends have family friendly and dog friendly events.

@sdurbanite, I would suggest around the university. These days, there is a lot of construction downtown and along 4th ave. What's your price range? With how Tucson is spread out, and depending on what you are looking for, anything between Alvernon on the east (i.e. Doubletree) and I10 on the west (Ho-jo, Days Inn, etc) could be manageable for someone with a car, you could access a broad array of what the Toose has to offer. Theres a Best Western (?) on Stone and Speedway that is fairly convenient (walkable to both downtown and the university while away from the Congress construction). Dunno cleanliness, safety, etc there.