Bisbee AZ to Tucson drive: Distance, time & best road trip stops
The distance from Bisbee AZ to Tucson by car is 98 miles, with a 1h39m driving time. The best road trip stops on the Bisbee to Tucson drive are Tombstone, Colossal Cave Mountain Park and the Pima Air and Space Museum.
Planning a Bisbee to Tucson road trip
The Bisbee to Tucson drive takes you from an old mining town that has developed a hippy side to Arizona’s second largest city.
Bisbee, Arizona, is a former copper mining town near the Mexican border. In recent years, it has developed a big live music, arts and bar scene. The Smithsonian-affiliated Mining and Historical Museum does an excellent job of explaining the town’s backstory.
Other great Bisbee experiences include food tours, guided pub crawls, cart tours through Bisbee’s most historic quarters and after-dark ghost tours.
Tucson is often used as a base for exploring the Sonoran Desert. But it’s a proper city with an arty streak, a Spanish-tinged history and excellent Mexican food.
Top Tucson experiences include exploring the city’s many murals, taking a self-guided audio tour through Saguaro National Park and canyoneering at Mt Lemmon.
There are also several good bike tours you can do in and around Tucson. Choose from a history-focused ride through the city, e-biking in Saguaro National Park and taco-tasting on two wheels.
Bisbee to Tucson distance and driving time
By car, the distance from Bisbee AZ to Tucson is 98 miles. You can expect a driving time of around one hour and 39 minutes. The quickest route is mainly along the AZ-80 and I-10.
The best stops to add to a Bisbee AZ to Tucson road trip itinerary are Tombstone, Colossal Cave Mountain Park and the Pima Air and Space Museum.
Best stops between Bisbee AZ and Tucson: Tombstone
Tombstone, Arizona, is a fabulously silly place that buys whole-heartedly into Wild West mythology. The Boot Hill graveyard has comic epitaphs, and the streets look as they would back in the days of the Earp Brothers. Costumed actors stage a gunfight at the OK Corral, blacksmiths work the forge and there’s a bizarre collection of mini-museums and attractions
It’s also possible to do a series of themed walking tours that bring Tombstone even further to life. Choose from ghosts and gunslingers or bullets and bordellos.
Bisbee to Tucson drive: Colossal Cave Mountain Park
Near the town of Vail, Arizona, Colossal Cave Mountain Park offers two rather different cave tours. The first is a 40 minute guided walk, which gives a family-friendly version of the cave’s history, albeit including ghosts and robbers. There are 363 steps to tackle, but the reward is flowstone, stalagmites and stalactites.
The more challenging take on Colossal Cave includes squeezing through narrow passages, clambering on rock bridges and ascending ladders.
Bisbee to Tucson road trip attractions: Pima Air and Space Museum
The Pima Air and Space Museum offers a reverent trawl through aviation history. What started as a plane storage facility at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base has become a celebration of aircraft, ancient and modern.
The museum now covers 80 acres, and houses hundreds of planes from the Wright Flyer to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. There’s a heavy focus on World War II aircraft, however.
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