Bisbee sits about a mile high in a narrow canyon of the Mule Mountains, about an hour and a half southeast of Tucson. It grew up around copper mining more than a century ago, and its brick main street and wooden houses climb the hillsides on stairways instead of roads. Spend the first day slowly on foot in the old town, with the museum in the morning, the galleries and stairs in the afternoon and dinner a short walk from your room.
The Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum
Where to eat: Pick up coffee and a pastry at a cafe on Main Street before the museum opens.
Start at the mining museum on Copper Queen Plaza, in the old general office building of the copper company that built the town. Its rooms walk you through the miners, their families and the work underground, with old tools, photographs and a recreated mine passage. An hour here makes the rest of the town easier to read, from the hillside houses to the old hotel up the street.
Walk Main Street and Brewery Gulch
Where to eat: Lunch at a small cafe on Main Street, with a table by the window.
Walk the length of Main Street, a curving row of brick buildings from the early 1900s now filled with galleries, bookshops, antique stores and small cafes. Step into the studios, look up at the faded hotel signs on the old brick, then turn up Brewery Gulch, the narrow street that once held the town's saloons. Take your time; the shops are small and the owners like to talk about the town.
Climb the Bisbee stairs
In the afternoon, climb a few of the long public stairways that link the hillside neighborhoods above Main Street. They were built so miners could walk home up the steep canyon walls, and they still serve as streets today. Go slowly at this altitude, carry water, and stop on the landings to look back over the rooftops, the old mine headframes and the mountains around the canyon.
Sunset over the canyon
Where to eat: An early drink on a porch above Brewery Gulch before dinner.
Late in the day, find a quiet spot on one of the upper streets or a hotel porch and watch the light turn the canyon walls orange and pink. As it gets dark, lights come on in the houses stacked up the hillsides, and the town grows calm. Walk back down to Main Street for a slow dinner, a short stroll and a quiet night in the old town.
Where to eat and stop
- Breakfast · Coffee and pastry on Main Street — A cafe in Old Bisbee Why here: An easy start a short walk from your room.
- Lunch · A Main Street cafe — Main Street, Old Bisbee Why here: Casual and close to the galleries, with a window on the street.
- Dinner · A slow dinner in Old Bisbee — Main Street or Brewery Gulch Why here: Small restaurants with local menus; reserve ahead on weekends.
- Quick stop (snack): A coffee break on the stairs — Upper streets above Main Why here: A rest and a view between climbs.
Bisbee is about an hour and a half southeast of Tucson by Interstate 10 and Highway 80. Old Bisbee is compact and easiest on foot; park once near Main Street and walk to the museum, the galleries and the stairs.
Where to stay
- A historic hotel in Old Bisbee — Old Bisbee has small historic hotels from the mining years, a few steps from Main Street and Brewery Gulch, so galleries, coffee and dinner are all a short walk downhill.
- A guest house up the hill — Bed and breakfasts and small guest houses sit on the steep streets above Main Street, with porches, quiet nights and views across the canyon, at the cost of a few stairs.
Dinner: A slow dinner on Main Street or Brewery Gulch, a short walk from your room.
Tomorrow: Go underground at the Queen Mine, look into the Lavender Pit, then drive north to the old frontier town of Tombstone.
Bad-weather plan
If it rains or gets very hot, spend longer in the mining museum and the galleries, then rest at your hotel and save the stairs for the cool of the evening.
The mining museum · Main Street and Brewery Gulch · The stairs · Sunset over the canyon
Good to know: Old Bisbee street parking is limited and the streets are steep and narrow; park once near Main Street and walk.
