Tucson Is One Of The Best Places To Be For a Staycation

TUCSON, AZ — We know from published research that Americans don’t always leave their homes when they take time off from work, whether they don’t like to travel or can’t afford to — a reality for about one-third of U.S. workers. If you’re staying home, Tucson is a fairly good place to spend a “staycation,” according to a new analysis that ranked it the 30th best metro area in the country for a staycation.

The personal finance website WalletHub took a look at affordable options for entertainment and relaxation in more than 180 cities. The results? If you live in Orlando, Florida; Honolulu, Hawaii; Chicago, Illinois; Portland, Oregon; or Seattle, Washington, you’re pretty well situated.

Among those cities, Orlando got the top food and entertainment ranking, Chicago was No. 1 for recreation opportunities and Honolulu ranked fourth for rest and relaxation.

But good luck if you live in Oxnard, New Jersey; Bridgeport, Connecticut; San Bernardino or Fremont, California; or Yonkers, New York. Those five cities bottomed out the ranking of WalletHub’s 2018 list of the Best and Worst Cities For Staycations.

For the study, the personal finance website compared the cities across three main areas — recreation, food and entertainment, and rest and relaxation — and then looked at amenities based on the number per capita and their affordability. Read more about the methodology.

Earlier this year, a Project: Time Off study found that U.S. workers left 705 million vacation days on the table in 2017. Among them, 212 million days did not roll over to the next benefit year and were sacrificed, resulting in $62 billion in lost benefits. If those vacation days had been used for travel, the study found, the travel industry would get a $236 billion boost.

You don’t have to travel far to “get away.”

Debbie MacInnis, a professor of business administration and marketing at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business, said the most important thing for people planning staycations is to settle on activities that will bring them the most happiness.

“For many people, it’s a mixture of things,” she wrote in a statement accompanying the WalletHub study. A good balance, she said, is to divide time off between things you need to get done, things you want to do and things that inspire you. She also advised keeping the family budget in mind.

“Look for free activities in the community or in the communities adjacent to yours,” she wrote.

Here are five great options around Tucson:

1. Once part of a chain of churches that stretched from northern Mexico to the western United States, the Mission San Xavier del Bac is considered the “Sistine Chapel of North America” for the intricate paintings on the walls and ceiling. It is still a Catholic parish serving the Tohono O’odham community for whom it was established in the late 1600s.

2. The University of Arizona’s Center for Creative Photography, created in 1975 with the help of famed photographer Ansel Adams, houses the archives of 50 renowned 20th century photographers. They include Adams, of course, but also Edward Weston, Richard Avedon and Lola Alvarez Bravo. The center also is home to the Polaroid Library, which has more than 26,000 volumes on the history of photography, as well as 100 periodicals, rare books and personal book collections of photographers.

3. While you’re on the University of Arizona campus,be sure to check out the Museum of Art, which has an outstanding Renaissance as well as 19th- to 20th-century art, including works of such giants as Rembrandt, Rodin, Georgia O'Keefe, Rothko, and Hopper. The 15th-century exhibit upstairs is permanent, but you’ll find always changing exhibits of the works of prominent artists and themes.

4. The Turquoise Trail, formerly known as the Presidio Trail, is a walking tour that takes you through historical downtown Tucson. Approximately 2.5 miles long, the tour takes between 90 minutes and two hours and winds past more than 20 downtown restaurants. In all, there are 23 points of interest, including an archaeological dig for the remnants for the original adobe-walled city that was the Spanish Presidio of Tucson in the late 1700s. Some other highlights include the 1850s Sosa-Carillo-Frémont House; the historic Fox Theater; the old Railroad Depot and a 1920-era hotel where Tucson police captured the infamous John Dillinger gang.

5. If you’re positioned to spend some money, the White Stallion Ranch offers the personal touch and hospitality of a traditional dude ranch blended with the service and amenities of a fine resort. You’ll be able to ride through the unspoiled desert, rugged mountains and cactus that have brought Hollywood filmmakers to the ranch for more than 70 years.

See Also: Tucson Summer Concerts: Who’s Playing, When Tickets Go On Sale

Some other findings from the study:

• Cleveland, Ohio, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, tied for first in the number of swimming pools per capita. Chicago, Cincinnati, Ohio, and Washington, D.C., rounded out the top five.
• The cities with the most tennis courts per capita were Chicago; Richmond, Virginia; Norfolk, Virginia; Omaha, Nebraska; and New York, New York, respectively.
• Four cities in Arizona — Gilbert, Tempe, Scottsdale and Peoria — tied with Warwick, Rhode Island, for the most golf courses per capita.
• Five cities tied for the most zoos and aquariums per capita. They are North Las Vegas and Las Vegas in Nevada, Orlando and Miami in Florida, and Vancouver, Washington.
• Five cities tied for the most ice cream and frozen yogurt shops per capita. They are Orlando and Miami, Las Vegas, New York City and San Antonio, Texas.
• The most beer gardens per capita ranking saw another five-way tie among Portland, Oregon; Denver, Colorado; New York City; Oakland, California; and Washington, D.C.
• New York City; San Francisco, California; Portland; Seattle; and Las Vegas all tied in the ranking of the most coffee and tea shops per capita.
• The ranking of the most museums per capita saw a five-way tie between Yonkers; Jersey City, New Jersey; Glendale, California; Columbia, Maryland; and New Orleans, Louisiana.
• The ranking of the most spas per capita saw a five-way tie between North Las Vegas and Henderson in Nevada, Honolulu, New York City, and San Francisco.

Photo by Cheryl Ann Quigley / Shutterstock