2.2 miles away
Tucson Mountain Park
Tucson Mountain Park, south-west of Tucson, Arizona, covers a mountain range with trails through saguaro stands popular for sunset photography.
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
A 98-acre zoo, aquarium, botanical garden and natural history museum west of Tucson, founded in 1952 to interpret the Sonoran Desert.
- Rank in Arizona
- #213of 727 ranked
- Overall score
- Score 45.4 out of 100medium confidence
- Category
- Zoo or Aquarium
The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is a 98-acre institution just west of Tucson, Arizona, combining a zoo, an aquarium, a botanical garden, a natural history museum, an art gallery and a publishing operation. It was founded in 1952 and is run as a not-for-profit devoted to interpreting the natural history, plants and animals of the Sonoran Desert. Two miles of walking paths cross 21 acres of desert landscape, and the collections hold more than 230 animal species and 1,200 varieties of plant. The museum opens every day of the year and receives nearly 400,000 visitors annually. It is an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and a member of the American Alliance of Museums and the American Public Gardens Association.
Where it is
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is a zoo or aquarium near Tucson, in Pima County. It is one of the zoos & aquariums in this database, and appears in the statewide ranking of Arizona attractions.
How this ranking was reached
No official visitor count is published for Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, so its score rests on public interest and tourism significance, and is capped below the level a measured attraction can reach. That is why the medium confidence above is not higher. The weighting is explained in full on the methodology page, and every axis is broken out under Facts and sources at the foot of this page.
Note on the data: No official visitor count is published for this attraction.
Sources
- Public interest: Wikimedia pageviews (en.wikipedia, human traffic), 2024
- Coordinates and designations: Wikidata(opens in a new tab)
- County: U.S. Census geography via FCC Area API, resolved from coordinates
- Official site: http://www.desertmuseum.org(opens in a new tab)
Record last verified 2026-08-12.
More photographs
rbaire from El Paso, Texas, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 · licence(opens in a new tab) · source(opens in a new tab) 
Lorie Shaull, CC BY-SA 4.0 · licence(opens in a new tab) · source(opens in a new tab)
Nearby attractions
2.8 miles away
Old Tucson Studios
A film studio and theme park west of Tucson, built in 1939 for the film Arizona and used for Westerns ever since.2.9 miles away
Valley View Overlook Trail
Valley View Overlook Trail, in Saguaro National Park, Arizona, is a short trail ending with views of Avra Valley and Picacho Peak.
3.3 miles away
Tucson Mountains
A range immediately west of Tucson, one of four surrounding the Tucson Basin, with Wasson Peak as its high point.
4.5 miles away
Gates Pass
A 3,172-foot mountain pass on the crest of the Tucson Mountains, west of Tucson, with overlooks lining the road through it.
Facts and sources
Place
- Category
- Zoo or Aquarium
- Destination
- Tucson
- County
- Pima County
- State
- Arizona
Visitation
- Annual visits
- Not published
Ranking
- Overall score
- 45.4 / 100
- Visitation score
- No published count
- Popularity score
- 33.8
- Significance score
- 55.0
- Confidence
- medium
Visiting
- Official website
- desertmuseum.org(opens in a new tab)
- Coordinates
- 32.2439, -111.1681
- Last verified
- 2026-08-12