Arizona Tourist Attractions  

"Must See Tourist Attractions in Arizona."

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There's no place on earth quite like Arizona, the Grand Canyon State. It's not just the landscapes, which take in tall mountain ranges, swift rivers, grasslands, sand dunes, and cactus forests. It's not just the storied past, which reaches back thousands of years. It's not just the people, a vibrant blend of cultures and traditions. It's all these things, and the way they come together, that make a visit to Arizona's tourist attractions a truly unforgettable vacation experience. From Tombstone, Tucson, Yuma, Flagstaff, Phoenix, Hover Dam, Lake Meade, Colorado River.

ATTRACTIONS

Northern   North Central   Phoenix   Tucson   West   National Parks

Northern

Grand Canyon Railway - Relive the excitement of the Old West aboard a historic train to America's national treasure - Grand Canyon. Grand Canyon Railway departs daily from Williams, Arizona. The excitement begins at the Williams Depot where you can enjoy many attractions and activities such as a free museum and a live Wild West shoot-out and then...All Aboard!

The Sedona Heritage Museum - The Sedona Heritage Museum tells the stories of Sedona pioneers, how they lived and the things they used. The museum also features a US Forest Service exhibit, a room that commemorates more than 80 feature movies made in Sedona, a room that shows the life of the real cowboys and how they worked, a 4000-square-foot Apple Barn and a gift shop.

Museum of Northern Arizona - Museum showcases the arts, the Native American cultures and the natural sciences of the Colorado Plateau. Tour the many galleries and exhibits.

Meteor Crater Visitors Center - Created about 50,000 years ago when a gigantic meteor impacted the area at almost 40,000 miles per hour! The facility also offers the Museum of Astro-geology.

John Wesley Powell Museum - Sketches, photos and other memorabilia of Powell's epic Colorado River voyages in 1869 and 1871, along with a unique collection of Native American and pioneer artifacts.

Tlaquepaque Arts & Crafts - Within this Spanish colonial style arts and crafts complex, nestled beneath shade sycamores on the banks of beautiful Oak Creek, are over forty specialty shops, renowned fine art galleries, superb restaurants, and more.

North Central

Fort Apache Historic Park - Visitors may stroll through old Fort Apache with the aid of a self-guided walking tour or a guided tour. Over twenty buildings dating from the 1870's through the 1930's comprise the 288-acre historic site. Also located on the premises are prehistoric ruins, prehistoric and historic petroglyphs, the old military cemetary, the Apache Culture Center, and a recreated Apache Village.

Rim Country Museum - The Rim Country Museum is quaintly set in the award winning Green Valley Park in Payson, Arizona. The Museum is comprised of several historical buildings and objects of local significance. an excellent presentation on Zane Grey including many of his personal items such as chaps, saddle, guns, books and posters.  (520) 474-3483.

Casa Malpais Archaeological Park & Museum - Casa Malpais Foundation located in Springerville Arizona offers Guided Daily Tours of its archaeological site. During the tour you may encounter ongoing excavations of The Ruins while exploring the Pueblos, Great Kiva, Observatory and more.  (928) 333-5375.

Sharlot Hall Museum - Sharlot Hall Museum explores human and natural history through festivals, outdoor theater performances, exhibits, publications and research services.

Butterfly Lodge Museum - The storied past of a famous Western writer and his artist son springs to life at Butterfly Lodge Museum. Inspiring and rustic, you'll find beautiful butterflies still fluttering in the meadow! A step back in time, you'll enjoy the original furnishings, artifacts, and a gift and book area that include the creative works of both father and son.

Verde Canyon Railroad - Verde Canyon Railroad is an excursion train that takes you on a 3-hour, 40-mile round trip through the Sycamore Wilderness Area and North Verde River Canyon. Some call this region the 'other' Grand Canyon.

Phoenix

Arizona Science Center - Located in Heritage and Science Park in downtown Phoenix, the Center features a five-story giant-screen theater, over 300 hands-on exhibits, and a 200 seat digital planetarium.

Phoenix Zoo - Phoenix Zoo offers four distinctive trails: Arizona Trail, Tropics Trail, Discovery Trail and Africa Trail. Visit Harmony Farm to experience life on a working farm and see Desert Lives, showcasing the bighorn sheep and Arabian Oryx in natural desert environments.

Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art - The museum explores modern culture from the perspectives of art architecture and design. Adjacent to the Scottsdale Center for the Arts.

Phoenix Art Museum - The largest in the Southwest, the Museum features over 16,000 works in its collection of American, European, Asian, Latin American, Contemporary, and Western American art, and fashion design.

Heard Museum - The museum's 10 spacious exhibit galleries and beautiful outdoor courtyards feature outstanding traditional and contemporary Native American art.

Enchanted Island Amusement Park - Nestled in the heart of Phoenix's Encanto Park, and surrounded by water complete with ducks, fish and pedal boats, this famous landmark is home to the 50-year-old Encanto Carousel, C. P. Huntington train and eight other great rides geared to the younger child.

Out of Africa Wildlife Park - Out of Africa is a garden-like setting that allows visitors to actually encounter the kingdom of the wild. The animals come to you in nine unrehearsed, educational programs everyday. There are no tricks, no training and no facades - everything is real.

The Arizona Science Center - Located in Heritage and Science Park in downtown Phoenix, the Center features a five-story giant-screen theater, over 300 hands-on exhibits, and a 200 seat digital planetarium.

Rawhide Wild West Town - Rawhide offers western fun for the whole family. From train, stagecoach, hay wagon, jeep and horseback rides, to an 1880’s carousel, gunfights in the streets and live musical entertainment seven days a week.

Tucson

International Wildlife Museum - Built as a replica of a French Foreign Legion fort in Chad, Africa, this museum features over 400 different species of insects, birds and mammals from all over the world. Other features include videos, interactive computers and hands-on exhibits.

Kitt Peak National Observatory - Many call southern Arizona the 'astronomy capital of the world.' Kitt Peak is one reason why. The observatory located 56 miles east of Tucson sits atop a 6,882-foot mountain, and features five major telescopes, tours, a visitor's center and exhibits.

Old Tucson Studios - Theme park and movie studio, built in 1939 and used for more than 300 film and television productions. Highlights include skits, gunfights, gold panning and a ride through a haunted copper mine.

Asarco Mineral Discovery Center - This award-winning facility is Arizona's only public exhibit center and tour of a modern, working, open-pit copper mine and mill. The free exhibit center explains the production and uses of the red metal, and The Company Store gift shop offers a variety of Southwestern arts and crafts, copper and silver jewelry, books, rocks and minerals.

Pima Air & Space Museum - One of the largest air museums in the world, with commercial and military aircraft, an assortment of bombers, fighters, cargo planes and helicopters, as well as Air Force memorials. It also includes the SR-71 Blackbird, a once top-secret spy plane.

Discovery Park - A state-of-the-art museum that allow visitors to measure sun radio emissions and hear the sounds of distant galaxies. There is a 'Tunnel of Time' exhibit, a planetarium and a 20-inch telescope.

Tucson's Children's Museum - All the exhibits are hands-on, encouraging interaction and triggering each child's intellect. The highlight of Dinosaur Canyon is the robotic animation of four life-sized dinosaurs: a Tyrannosaurus Rex, a Kentrosaurus, a Protoceratops and a Deinonychus.

Arizona State Museum - ASM is the oldest and largest anthropology museum in the region and brings to life the culture history of the Greater Southwest, from the mammoth hunters to the present, through many ongoing research projects. The museum's rich and varied collections are among the most significant resources in the nation for the study of Southwest anthropology.

Arizona Folklore Preserve - Nestled beneath towering Cottonwood and Sycamore trees, in the beauty of Ramsey Canyon, an unforgettable experience awaits you. Where Arizona's songs, legends, poetry and myths are preserved and presented

Colossal Cave Mountain Park - Beautiful 2,000-acre desert park, on the National Historic Register, showcasing crystal-filled Colossal Cave and historic La Posta Quemada Ranch. Plan an exciting day: tour the Cave, browse through the historical museum, sluice for gemstones, picnic, hike, take a real Western trail ride.

Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum - The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is a world-renowned zoo, natural history museum and botanical garden, all in one place.

Sonoran Sea Aquarium - Anticipated to open in the spring 2004, the Sonoran Sea Aquarium will be the only research and education institution worldwide to focus on this unique 'circle of life', from desert rivers to open sea.

West

The Historic Yuma Theatre - Located on Main Street in the City of Yuma's central business district, the Yuma Theatre building was constructed in 1912 and originally functioned as a vaudeville and movie house. The Yuma Theatre building has performed an important role in Yuma's commercial, cultural, and social history ever since.

Bill Williams River National Wildlife Refuge - With its majestic rock cliffs; its ribbon of cool water running through classic Sonoran Desert; and its cattail-filled marsh harboring rails and waterfowl, Bill Williams River National Wildlife Refuge offers a little bit of everything for both wildlife and people.

Havasu National Wildlife Refuge - The National Wildlife Refuge System is the only national system of lands dedicated to conserving our wildlife heritage for people today and for generations yet to come. Havasu National Wildlife Refuge protects 30 river miles (300 miles of shoreline) of the Colorado River from Needles, California, to Lake Havasu City, Arizona.

Yuma Crossing State Historic Park - The Yuma Crossing State Park preserves Yuma’s early history. It features the original Quartermaster Depot, which Congress authorized in 1865 as a material transfer and distribution point for troops stationed in Arizona Territorial outposts. The Park features an early adobe house, stagecoaches, mule wagons, a steam train, an historic adobe corral and a visitor center.

Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park - The Yuma Territorial Prison, overlooking the Colorado River, was built between 1876 and 1909. This penitentiary housed many of Arizona Territory’s most dangerous and notorious criminals. The prison was depicted in literature, movies and television, and its remains are now Arizona’s most-visited state historic park.

Cibola National Wildlife Refuge - Cibola NWR is located in the floodplain of the lower Colorado River and surrounded by a fringe of desert ridges and washes. These waterbodies are home to many wildlife species that reside in this portion of the Sonoran Desert. Visitors can enjoy the many wildlife-oriented activities the refuge has to offer and enjoy the scenic beauty of this oasis in the desert.

National Parks

Canyon De Chelly National Monument - At the base of sheer red cliffs and in canyon wall caves are ruins of Indian villages built between AD 350 and 1300. Canyon de Chelly National Monument offers visitors the chance to learn about Southwestern Indian history from the earliest basketmakers to the Navajo Indians who live and farm here.

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area - Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (NRA) offers unparalleled opportunities for water-based & backcountry recreation. The recreation area stretches for hundreds of miles from Lees Ferry in Arizona to the Orange Cliffs of southern Utah, encompassing scenic vistas, geologic wonders, and a panorama of human history. The park offers opportunities for boating, fishing, swimming, backcountry hiking and four-wheel drive trips.

Grand Canyon National Park - Located entirely in northern Arizona, the park encompasses 277 miles of the Colorado River and adjacent uplands. One of the most spectacular examples of erosion anywhere in the world, Grand Canyon is unmatched in the incomparable vistas it offers to visitors on the rim. Grand Canyon National Park is a World Heritage Site.

Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site - As the oldest continuously operating trading post on the Navajo Reservation, Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site offers the visitor a chance to experience a piece of history. The trading post was purchased by John Lorenzo Hubbell in 1878, and the Hubbell family operated the post until it was sold to the National Park Service in 1967. The site consists of the original 160 acre homestead, with the trading post, family home and visitor center as the primary attractions.

Navajo National Monument - Navajo National Monument preserves three of the most-intact cliff dwellings of the Anasazi (Hisatsinom). The monument is high on the Shonto Plateau, overlooking the Tsegi Canyon system in the Navajo Nation in Northern Arizona. The monument features a visitor center, two short self-guided mesa top trails, a small campground, and picnic area. In the summer, Rangers guide visitors on tours of the Keet Seel and Betatakin cliff dwellings.

Old Spanish National Historic Trail - The Old Spanish Trail was a pack mule trail linking land-locked New Mexico with coastal California between 1829 and 1848. Over this trail moved people, goods, and ideas. Recognizing the national significance of this historic long distance trade route, in 2002 Congress designated it the Old Spanish National Historic Trail.

Parashant National Monument - Parashant National Monument, located on the northern edge of the Grand Canyon was established by presidential proclamation on January 11, 2000. This remote area of open, undeveloped spaces is an impressive and diverse landscape that includes an array of scientific and historic resources.

Petrified Forest National Park - Petrified Forest is a surprising land of scenic wonders and fascinating science. The park is located in northeast Arizona and features one of the world's largest and most colorful concentrations of petrified wood. Also included in the park's 93,533 acres are the multi-hued badlands of the Chinle Formation known as the Painted Desert, historic structures, archeological sites and displays of 225 million-year-old fossils.

Pipe Spring National Monument - Pipe Spring National Monument, a little known gem of the National Park System, is rich with American Indian, early explorer and Mormon pioneer history. The water of Pipe Spring has made it possible for plants, animals, and people to live in this dry, desert region.

Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument - Here, past meets present. Pueblos and cliff dwellings are so well preserved that it's hard to believe their builders moved on 700 years ago. Amid lava and cinders, one can imagine a landscape still hot to the touch.  There is something for everyone: prehistoric cliff dwellings at Walnut Canyon, the mountain scenery and geology of Sunset Crater Volcano, and the painted desert landscape and masonry pueblos of Wupatki National Monument.

Walnut Canyon National Monument - Hike down into Walnut Canyon and walk in the footsteps of the people that lived here over 900 years ago. Under limestone overhangs, the Sinagua built their homes. These single story structures, cliff dwellings, were occupied from about 1100 to 1250.

Wupatki National Monument - Less than 800 years ago, a large agricultural community spread across this volcanic plateau. The warm, arid climate and sparse vegetation today make the successes of these pueblo farmers remarkable. Here you'll see stunning artistry in masonry pueblos that emerge from bedrock to stand several stories high.

Lake Mead National Recreation Area - Lake Mead National Recreation Area (NRA) offers a wealth of things to do and places to go year-round. Its huge lakes cater to boaters, swimmers, sunbathers, and fishermen while its desert rewards hikers, wildlife photographers, and roadside sightseers. Three of America's four desert ecosystems--the Mojave, the Great Basin, and the Sonoran Deserts--meet in Lake Mead NRA.

Old Spanish National Historic Trail - The Old Spanish Trail was a pack mule trail linking land-locked New Mexico with coastal California between 1829 and 1848. Over this trail moved people, goods, and ideas. Recognizing the national significance of this historic long distance trade route, in 2002 Congress designated it the Old Spanish National Historic Trail.

Montezuma Castle National Monument - Nestled into a limestone recess high above the flood plain of Beaver Creek in the Verde Valley stands one of the best preserved cliff dwellings in North America. The five-story, 20-room cliff dwelling served as a "high-rise apartment building" for prehistoric Sinagua Indians over 600 years ago. Early settlers to the area assumed that the imposing structure was associated with the Aztec emperor Montezuma, but the castle was abandoned almost a century before Montezuma was born.

Tonto National Monument - Well-preserved cliff dwellings were occupied by the Salado culture during the 13th, 14th, and early 15th centuries. The people farmed in the Salt River Valley and supplemented their diet by hunting and gathering native wildlife and plants. The Salado were fine craftsmen, producing some of the most exquisite polychrome pottery and intricately woven textiles to be found in the Southwest. Many of these objects are on display in the Visitor Center museum.

Tuzigoot National Monument - Tuzigoot is an ancient village or pueblo built by a culture known as the Sinagua. The pueblo consisted of 110 rooms including second and third story structures. The first buildings were built around A.D. 1000. The Sinagua were agriculturalists with trade connections that spanned hundreds of miles. The people left the area around 1400. The site is currently comprised of 42 acres

Casa Grande Ruins National Monument - For over a thousand years, prehistoric farmers inhabited much of the present-day state of Arizona. When the first Europeans arrived, all that remained of this ancient culture were the ruins of villages, irrigation canals and various artifacts. Among these ruins is the Casa Grande, or "Big House," one of the largest and most mysterious prehistoric structures ever built in North America.

Juan Bautista De Anza National Historic Trail - The national trail commemorates the route followed by Anza in 1775-76 when he led a contingent of 30 soldiers and their families to found a presidio and mission on the San Francisco Bay. Along the trail route, visitors can experience the varied landscapes; learn the stories of the expedition, its members, and descendants; better understand the American Indian role in the expedition and the diversity of their cultures; and appreciate the extent of the effects of Spanish colonial settlement of Arizona and California.

Chiricahua National Monument - Twenty seven million years ago a volcanic eruption of immense proportions shook the land around Chiricahua National Monument. One thousand times greater than the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, the Turkey Creek Caldera eruption eventually laid down two thousand feet of highly silicious ash and pumice. This mixture fused into a rock called rhyolitic tuff and eventually eroded into the spires and unusual rock formations of today.

Coronado National Memorial - Commemorating the first major exploration of the American Southwest by Europeans, Coronado National Memorial lies on the United States-Mexico border within sight of the San Pedro River Valley, through which the Coronado Expedition first entered the present U.S. in search of the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola. It is a cultural area situated in a natural setting comprised of 4,750 acres of oak woodlands.

Fort Bowie National Historic Site - Fort Bowie commemorates in its 1,000 acres, the story of the bitter conflict between the Chiricahua Apaches and the United States military. For more than 30 years Fort Bowie and Apache Pass were the focal point of military operations eventually culminating in the surrender of Geronimo in 1886 and the banishment of the Chiricahuas to Florida and Alabama. It was the site of the Bascom Affair, a wagon train massacre, and the battle of Apache Pass, where a large force of Chiricahua Apaches under Mangus Colorados and Cochise fought the California Volunteers.

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument - Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument celebrates the life and landscape of the Sonoran Desert. Here, in this desert wilderness of plants and animals and dramatic mountains and plains scenery, you can drive a lonely road, hike a backcountry trail, camp beneath a clear desert sky, or just soak in the warmth and beauty of the Southwest.

Saguaro National Park - The saguaro has been described as the monarch of the Sonoran Desert, as a prickly horror, as the supreme symbol of the American Southwest, and as a plant with personality. Giant saguaro cacti, unique to the Sonoran Desert, sometimes reach a height of 50 feet in this cactus forest, which covers the valley floor, rising into the Rincon and West Tucson mountains. Since 1933 this extraordinary giant cactus has been protected within Saguaro National Park.

Tumacácori National Historic Park - Tumacácori National Historical Park, located in the Santa Cruz River Valley in southern Arziona, is the site of one of the oldest Spanish missions in the Southwest. The 45-acre park consists of three distinct units: Tumacácori, Guevavi, and Calabazas.

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