10 Best Museums in Tucson

The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum encompasses quite a bit more than a natural history museum. The 98-acre site is home to some 55,000 plants as well as mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes, big-horn sheep, and javelinas. Indoors, there's a daily live animal presentation, too. An aquarium houses fresh- and salt-water species. At an outdoor exhibit, you can touch a stingray. One of 2 aviaries is a haven for hummingbirds.

Explore the region's geology in a replica of a limestone cave. Schedule an outdoor tour or an interpretive demonstration with a docent. See reptiles and burrowing animals in an underground area. Learn about prehistoric Arizona and the region's own dinosaur - the Sonorasaurus. View art or take classes in 2 galleries.

The Pima Air & Space Museum holds more than 400 historic military, commercial, and private aircraft on 80 acres. It includes 6 hangars with indoor exhibit spaces. You can see the world's smallest biplane, World War 2 fighters, Vietnam-era attack planes, drones, a supersonic spy jet, airliners, helicopters, and a German V-1 "buzz bomb." Artefacts include a moon rock and the capsule from the film "Apollo 13."

A separate museum on the grounds is devoted to the 390th Bomb Group, which flew 301 missions over Europe in World War 2. In other exhibits, learn about amphibious planes, Japanese kamikaze missions, and women in flight. Private walking tours for groups as well as outdoor tram tours are available.

The Tucson Museum of Art exemplifies the city's past in its conception and presentation. Its galleries are located in 5 historic adobe and Mission Revival-style structures over a 4-acre square block in El Presidio district city centre. Its permanent collection encompasses works from Latin America and the Western US (including Native Americans). Other exhibited works include modern, contemporary, and Asian art. Its award-winning restaurant is called Café a la C'Art.

The first Thursday evening of each month, admission is free (or pay what you wish). On this night, you can meet guest artists, hear music, watch art-making presentations, or get a drink from the cash bar. The museum advises making reservations 2 weeks in advance for this monthly gathering.

The Arizona State Museum houses hundreds of thousands of cultural artefacts, including pottery, jewellery, baskets, textiles, and clothing. It holds art exhibitions with native and indigenous themes. It also hosts talks, classes, workshops, and educational travel tours. The anthropological research facility was founded in 1893 at the University of Arizona.

Core exhibits include one on Native American basketry and fibre arts, and another on pottery traditions from the Southwestern US and Northwest Mexico. Events include a jewellery workshop, talks on indigenous and immigrant culture, and trips to explore ancient Puebloan history in the 4 Corners region.

The Flandrau Science Centre & Planetarium encompasses science exhibits, an observatory, and a planetarium that hosts educational presentations as well as music-themed laser light shows. Among the science exhibits, you can learn about insects, sharks, fossils, and meteorites. Go to the planetarium to tour the solar system, travel to the moon and back, or see how stars are formed. Return in the evening to see a laser show set to a curated soundtrack.

Visit the observatory, where volunteer astronomers guide you to various points in the night sky. Back in the science centre, see high-resolution images transmitted from a camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft.

The Museum of Contemporary Art Tucson is devoted to displaying the works of contemporary artists and engaging the public on the changing world through various forms of expression. The museum was founded by artists in 1997. You can see painting, sculpture, photography, video, and various types of installations and media from local, national, and international artists. Housed in a former firehouse city centre, MOCA Tucson says it aims to be ambitious, innovative, and responsive to the community.

On the third Thursday of each month, admission is free from 5 pm to 9 pm. You can hear live music, enjoy food and beer from local vendors, see artist demonstrations, and view current exhibits.

The Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures displays more than 500 dollhouses and room boxes in its permanent collection, takes on rotating exhibitions, and hosts events and classes. The founders saw it as a way for people to travel to different places and eras around the world through tiny historical depictions.

Visit the Silver Queen Collection, an ornate Georgian dining room with remarkably rendered furniture and woodwork which are, surprisingly, among the less-impressive elements. Tiny glassware, cutlery, dishes, candlesticks, serving trays, and a chandelier show up in breathtaking detail and precision. No surprise: 2 of the artists are jewellers. Also making appearances are ancient Greece, African American heritage, Japanese carvings, abandoned cars, and the Addams Family.

The International Wildlife Museum uses taxidermized animals in dioramas to depict species in their native settings. Its mission is to further wildlife appreciation and conservation. It also uses videos, interactive computers, live animals, and hands-on exhibits. All animals were donated by government agencies, rehab centers, captive breeding programmes, zoos, or individuals.

It's home to more than 400 species of mammal, bird, and insect. Take advantage of learning displays you might not find other places. See a bobcat bringing down a quail. Stand under a giraffe. Feel the horns of a mountain goat. Put your head in the mouth of an alligator, if you dare. Watch a video about giant Madagascar hissing cockroaches. And learn the difference between venom and poison - and how it's administered by snakes, toads, and lizards.

The Children's Museum Tucson helps kids as old as 10 have fun while learning about themselves and the world around them through interactive exhibits. The museum has 10 indoor exhibits as well as an outdoor courtyard with a play space.

Your young ones can feel a giant eyeball or look past a tongue into a huge mouth to see tonsils in the Bodyology exhibit. They can paint on a wall in Imagine It!, climb aboard a police motorcycle and fire lorry in Public Safety, and interact with things that make noise and move in a science-based exhibit called Investigation Station. Wee World is set aside for those younger than 5.

The Ignite Sign Art Museum aims to educate and entertain visitors through restored signs, most of them electric. The museum houses some 350 signs and related items. Founder Jude Cook, a career sign-maker, has rescued signs from throughout the Southwest and Midwest. The museum has also revived more than 20 historic neon signs still aglow in Tucson.

The museum offers 2 sign-making classes. In one, you bend neon glass tubing to make a simple sign. In another, you make a new neon sign using pieces salvaged from others. Establishments and goods represented in the collection include auto repair shops, churches, hotels, dance halls, banks, markets, veterinary clinics, diners, beer, and bourbon. Examples of the Art Deco style appear throughout.