Cycling stops in Tucson & the Sky Islands

26 places · 5 routes · Arizona, United States

Tucson's reputation rests on one road. The Catalina Highway leaves the eastern edge of town at saguaro height and climbs for about forty kilometres to Ski Valley, gaining the better part of 1,800 metres and passing out of the Sonoran Desert into pine forest on the way, a change of vegetation that would otherwise take a drive to Canada. Riders stack up at Le Buzz at the bottom before the climb and at the Cookie Cabin in Summerhaven after it, which is as close as American road cycling gets to a liturgy.

The rest of the riding fans out from there: Gates Pass and the Saguaro West loop to the desert museum, the long straight run south past the Titan silo to Madera Canyon, Kitt Peak's observatory road out on the Tohono O'odham Nation, and the mission of San Xavier del Bac standing white against the desert on the way home. Two hours east, Mount Graham's Swift Trail climbs 34 km into the Pinaleños, the biggest of the sky islands and the region's longest sustained climb. It stays rideable through the winter, which is why the training camps come.

Cafés

Boca Tacos Y TequilaCaféBOCA Tacos y Tequila is a scratch-kitchen Mexican restaurant on Tucson's Fourth Avenue, run by chef Maria Mazon, a Top Chef alum and James Beard Award semifi…El CharroCaféEl Charro Café is a Mexican restaurant in downtown Tucson, run by the same family since 1922 and billed as the nation's oldest continuously operating Mexican…El Güero CaneloCaféEl Güero Canelo is a Tucson institution for Sonoran hot dogs, started in 1993 by Daniel and Blanca Contreras from a small trailer on South 12th Avenue and no…Exo Roast Co.CaféExo Roast Co.Le Buzz CaféCaféLe Buzz Caffe is a breakfast-and-lunch café with a full espresso bar that has served Tucson since 1996, roasting its own coffee and baking its own pastries i…Mt. Lemmon Cookie CabinCaféMt.Posada JavaCaféPosada Java is a coffee shop at The Shoppes at La Posada, run by La Posada at Green Valley as the area's social hub.Presta Coffee RoastersCaféPresta Coffee Roasters is a Tucson specialty coffee roaster, with this location inside Mercado San Agustín, an open-air market on the city's west side.

Climbs, views & nature

Colossal Cave Mountain ParkCaveColossal Cave Mountain Park is built around one of the largest dry caves in North America, a 2,400-acre park southeast of Tucson also home to the 128-year-ol…Gates PassPass · 966 mMountain pass at 3,172 ft through the Tucson Mountains west of the city.Kitt PeakPeak · 2099 mKitt Peak (2,099 m) in Arizona's Sonoran Desert hosts Kitt Peak National Observatory, one of the world's largest collections of optical telescopes.Sabino Canyon Recreation AreaCanyonSabino Canyon Recreation Area lies in the Santa Catalina Mountains, where Depression-era CCC and WPA crews built the tram road, nine bridges over Sabino Cree…Saguaro National Park - Rincon Mountain DistrictNature reserveThe Rincon Mountain District preserves 92,000 acres of Sonoran Desert with giant saguaro cacti and high biodiversity.Saguaro National Park (Tucson Mountain District)National parkThis is the Tucson Mountain District ("Saguaro West") of Saguaro National Park, one of the densest saguaro forests in the Sonoran Desert.Sentinel PeakPeak · 884.2 mA 2,897 ft peak in the Tucson Mountains.

History & landmarks

Arizona State MuseumMuseum · TucsonArizona State Museum, founded 1893, preserves and displays archaeological artifacts from the region.Arizona-Sonora Desert MuseumZoo · TucsonA 98-acre zoo, aquarium, botanical garden, and natural history museum founded in 1952, just west of Tucson.Biosphere 2LandmarkA 3.14-acre enclosed ecosystem built 1987–1991 to test whether humans could survive in a sealed, self-sustaining environment, research aimed at eventual spac…International Wildlife MuseumMuseumThe International Wildlife Museum permanently closed on January 11, 2024, after operating as a natural history museum since 1988.Madera CanyonLandmarkCanyon in the Santa Rita Mountains, 25 miles southeast of Tucson, with hiking trails, picnic areas, and campsites.Mission GardenGardenMission Garden is a walled, four-acre living agricultural museum at the foot of Sentinel Peak, on the site of the Tohono O'odham village of Cuk Ṣon and Tucso…Mission San Xavier del BacPlace of worship · TucsonHistoric Spanish Catholic mission founded in 1692 by Eusebio Kino, located 10 miles south of downtown on the Tohono O'odham Nation San Xavier Indian Reservat…Pima Air & Space MuseumMuseum · TucsonNearly 400 aircraft spread across 80 acres, one of the largest aerospace museums in the world.Saint Augustine CathedralCathedral · TucsonCathedral of Saint Augustine is the mother church of the Catholic Diocese of Tucson, located downtown.Titan Missile MuseumMuseum · SahuaritaCold War ICBM silo south of Tucson, built in 1963 and deactivated in 1984.Tucson Museum of ArtMuseum · TucsonLarge art museum on a four-acre block in downtown Tucson's Presidio District, with 74,000 sq ft of space including 19th-century historic homes adapted for ga…

Climbs

Gates Pass4.2 km · 3.9%Kitt Peak19.8 km · 5.4%Madera Canyon20.9 km · 3.7%Mount Graham (Swift Trail, AZ-366)34.1 km · 5.2%Mount Lemmon (Catalina Highway)46.3 km · 3.7%
HISTORY
Mission San Xavier del Bac
Keyany, CC BY-SA 4.0· Wikimedia Commons
Mission San Xavier del Bac
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Mission San Xavier del Bac
Philcomanforterie, CC BY-SA 4.0· Wikimedia Commons
Mission San Xavier del Bac
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Mission San Xavier del Bac
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Mission San Xavier del Bac

Tucson · Tucson & the Sky Islands

Historic Spanish Catholic mission founded in 1692 by Eusebio Kino, located 10 miles south of downtown on the Tohono O'odham Nation San Xavier Indian Reservation. Rebuilt between 1783–1797, it is the oldest European structure in Arizona and an outstanding example of Spanish Colonial architecture. About 200,000 visitors come annually; thousands arrive on foot or horseback in ceremonial cavalcades.

Inside, the nave opens onto a frescoed ceiling and Baroque altarpieces crowded with statues, trompe l'oeil curtains, and faux doors, painted in a style closer to theater than church. Much of that sculptural decoration was carved by artists from Queretaro in New Spain and hauled here by mule over the mountains. The building standing today is the Franciscans' rebuild, raised with O'odham labor after an earlier Jesuit church on the site, founded by Eusebio Kino, was destroyed in an Apache raid in 1770. The mission still serves as the working parish for Wa:k, the O'odham village whose name means water place, after the springs that once surfaced along the Santa Cruz River here.

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From riders

What you'll see

Twin white bell towers flank a facade of pale sandstone carved with saints, shells, and scrollwork; the eastern tower was never plastered or domed, its bare brick left standing against the whitewash of the rest of the church.

Worth knowing

A reclining, legless statue of St. Francis Xavier lies near the altar; tradition holds that only the pure of heart can lift its head, and visitors pin milagros, tiny metal charms shaped like the body part or affliction they're praying over, to its robe.

sanxaviermission.org

Common questions

Why stop at Mission San Xavier del Bac on a bike ride?
Historic Spanish Catholic mission founded in 1692 by Eusebio Kino, located 10 miles south of downtown on the Tohono O'odham Nation San Xavier Indian Reservation. Rebuilt between 1783–1797, it is the oldest European structure in Arizona and an outstanding example of Spanish Colonial architecture. About 200,000 visitors come annually; thousands arrive on foot or horseback in ceremonial cavalcades.
Where is Mission San Xavier del Bac?
Mission San Xavier del Bac is in Tucson, Tucson & the Sky Islands (Arizona, United States).

Checked 13 August 2026

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