Travel Info

The University of Arizona occupies the land and territories of the Tohono O’odham and Yaqui Peoples in the heart of the Sonoran Desert.

• The Tohono O’odham (lit. “Desert People”) have lived here for at least ten thousand years. Their ancestral land is torn apart by the present-day U.S. and Mexico “border” (which they do not recognize), and U.S. border patrol has frequently arrested and even “deported” them.
• The Yaqui community here is a diaspora that fled genocide at the hands of the Mexican government in the late 19th to the early 20th century.

The area is served by:

• The Tucson International Airport (TUS) is a 20-minute drive (8.5 miles) to campus. You can use rideshare, and we’d be happy to find local grad students to pick you up as well. (Note that Southwest flights may not show up on third-party sites like Google Flights, for interesting reasons.)
• The Phoenix Sky Harbor (PHX) is a 1.5- to 2-hour drive (115 miles) to campus, contingent on highway traffic. FlixBus (around 25–30 USD each way) and Groome (around 50 USD each way) both stop on campus, but please check with Ding to see if they could pick you up from PHX directly.
• The Amtrak Sunset Limited may be an interesting option if you are coming from/to LA or El Paso.

A free-to-ride streetcar Sun Link runs between campus and downtown.

Lodging:

• Keynote speakers: we’ll book the Marriott for you, which is a 8-minute walk from the department/conference venue.
• Grad students: we are happy to arrange homestays with our local grad students so you wouldn’t need to pay for a hotel, but you are of course welcome to find your own lodging option (in addition to the Marriott, try the Aloft, the Graduate, or somewhere along 4th Ave or Congress St—but stay east of the I-20 so it’s not too far).

Access to caffeine near campus:

• Caffe Luce (closer to campus/Marriott)
• Screwbean (better coffee)
• Scented Leaf (iff you like heavily flavored tea)

Vegan/vegetarian dining options near campus:

• Substance Diner (adorable food truck behind Screwbean; all vegan—try their Spicy Fricken Sandwich)
• Kababeque Indian Grill (many vegan/vegetarian options—try their Aloo Matar, Baigan Bharta, and Chana Masala)
• Jimmy’s Pita & Poke (build your own rice bowl with grilled tofu and stuff)
• Bacio Italiano (pizzas can be made vegan; sit-down restaurant)
• If you are willing to go further or downtown: Tumerico (Mexican; all vegan), La Indita (Mexican; some options), Cafe Desta (Ethiopian; many options), Beaut Burger (all vegan), Fatman Kitchen (Chinese; many options), LaCo (Mexican; some options), the Coronet (some options; more expensive), Beyond Bread (some options), and Falora (sit-down pizza restaurant; some options)

Drinks:

• Near campus: Screwbean (coffee + beer) and Time Market (beer + wine + pizza + groceries)
• Downtown: Crooked Tooth (brewery with lovely outdoor area), the Royal Room (unofficially queer wine bar), and Surly Wench (ex-lesbian bar but now pretty straight)
• More out of the way: SideCar (cute little bar) and MotoSonora (brewery with a vintage car theme and a large outdoor area)

Places to dance (all downtown; check if there is an event):

• The Royal Room
• The Rialto Theatre & 191 Toole
• Club Congress

Things to do if you have an extra day (check with Ding to see if there might be a group of people interested in going in some of the following):

• O.K. Corral gunfight reenactment
• Biosphere 2, currently operated by the University of Arizona
• Seven Falls/Bear Canyon Trail
• Tanque Verde Falls Trail
• Pima Air & Space Museum
• On campus: University of Arizona Museum of Art, Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona Center for Creative Photography, and the Poetry Center
• Downtown: Tucson Museum of Contemporary Art, Tucson Museum of Art, and University of Arizona Gem & Mineral Museum
• Tumamoc Hill and the “A” Mountain
• Mount Lemmon Scenic Drive, built by Japanese Americans imprisoned in internment camps
• Sonoran Desert Museum
• Tucson Botanical Gardens