Visiting Tucson – Pima Air & Space Museum
A few years back when visiting Tombstone, we passed an airplane boneyard off the I-10 freeway and Mr. Misadventures and I made a mental note to get there one day. While searching for what exactly the boneyard was called and how to get inside, I stumbled across information about the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson.
Pima Air & Space Museum is the largest privately funded air museum in the world with over 300 airplanes on 80 acres of land. Best of all, you can touch and feel and photograph to your heart’s content!
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Maybe it’s because I don’t have kids, but it seems to me that most of the museums I have visited in the last decade just aren’t very “fun.” Generally, they all have rules for photography and you can never get up close to anything. It is frustrating!
But not Pima Air & Space Museum!
If you love airplanes (what traveler doesn’t?) and history you will love this museum. You can spend hours (and we did) in and around all the planes up close. There are tons of great docents, ex-pilots or folks that worked with the planes, and they love to talk, tell stories and share unique aspects about the individual planes.
I have to admit I had a lot of fun taking photos of the different instructions around the planes!
With over 300 planes, they practically have one of everything even a new 787 Dreamliner! (My “only” complaint, and it is tiny, is that I would have loved to be able to go inside some of these planes. I know, I just complained about not being able to touch them, which you can totally do at Pima, and now I want more!)
When's the last time you had this view?
I am fascinated by the early commercial flights, the legends being PanAm (I saw some of their history in Key West) and TWA.
It is so cool to walk and sit under the planes, look into the propellers and get so close. In this photo,
Like here, where I am sitting on a bench under a Boeing EC-135J. It was kind of them to provide benches, they must know the plight of photographer's wife….lots of waiting!
There are planes from all over the world, NASA, Air Force One planes…see so easy to geek out! We were able to photograph awesome details that we generally aren't able to get because of museum barriers.
Like propellers.
And noses.
While we were out walking the grounds getting lost in all the planes, the jet pilots at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base (which butts up against the museum) were taking off. They were hitting the air at a rate of one per minute it was pretty awesome to see them as I watched while standing under the 787.
There is an extra tour ($7) you can purchase with your museum entry which takes you onto the base to see the boneyard there, however, we passed on that because it is done via a bus and you cannot get off the bus to get close. We were so satisfied with all the planes we did get access to at the museum, we didn’t think it made sense to do the extra tour.
The museum has a great little restaurant and multiple hangars of planes and air history, enough to spend many hours without getting bored. If you are in the Phoenix area it is worth the drive to Tucson (a little more than an hour by car) to visit Pima Air & Space Museum.
Check for special events when planning your trip. They host lecture series throughout the year as well. There is one coming up in March about women pilots and I am really interested in attending when we are back in Arizona for the month.
After your visit, when you are ready to head home, I highly recommend seeking out Tucson Tamales just down the road. They have some of the most amazing tamales I’ve had in my life. You can’t visit Tucson without stopping! Plus they are the nicest people!
After lunch we also bought some frozen ones to take with us, a quick steam makes for an easy and delicious dinner.
Note for RVers: We didn't bring our RV, but there is plenty of parking that would accommodate a rig and tow car, so it is definitely doable on your way in or out of the Phoenix area.
More on Tucson:
Visit Tucson Arizona
Weekend Explorations in Tucson
More Weekend Explorations in Tucson
Locals Guide to Tucson Bike Trails
Weekend Staycation in Tucson
Hacienda del Sol Guest Ranch Resort – A Romantic Tucson Weekend Getaway
The Downtown Clifton Hotel
How about you? Do you like air and space museums? Have you been to Pima? Got other Tucson recommendations including restaurants? Do tell!
If you want my FULL Phoenix and Tucson Phoenix and Tucson Activity + Day Trip List with day trips and things to do in Phoenix and Tucson, it is available for $4.99.
For a visual summary of this post, check out my Pima Air & Space Museum web story!
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You’ve got some really great pictures! It must have been really fun to be able to touch the planes and take pictures as much as you wanted.
@Jaime, it was!
This really does look like a terrific museum – and I love how you can get so close to all the aeroplanes – that’s definitely not something you can normally do. We went to the Air and Space in Washington DC recently, but this is certainly another one to add to our list.
@Sarah, the Air & Space museum in D.C. is pretty cool too! But I have never had access to so many planes that close before, it was fun!
My 2 year old would LOVE this place. She is totally obsessed with airplanes! Your pics look great!
@Esther, she would love it, she can get so close!
Those tamales look wonderful! And my grands would love to visit that space museum. I like the fact that you can get up close and personal with all the planes. Looks like a fun day!
@Alli, I have never been able to do that with airplanes, so it was pretty cool. I bet your grandkids would love it!
This sounds like a fabulous museum! I would love to visit Tucson. My uncle is a huge fan of studying space and he would love to visit the museum!
@Jenn, it sounds like the perfect spot for your uncle.
Amazing pictures! Definitely one place I would love to visit!
@Nancy, it is a very cool spot.
I’d love to take the grand kids to this air space museum. We really enjoy visiting museums and learning from the history of everything.
@Terri, I know your grandkids would love it!
Thanks for sharing your recent travel! I do like visiting air and space museums! I have been to JPAL and have visited two airfreight carriers that have already retired. They had a museum of retired planes too.
@Cara, I have not been on a carrier yet, I definitely need to do that!
We took the kids somewhere similar. It was an air zoo.
@Jenn, an air zoo! Where? Would love to see that!
It’s located in Michigan. We had a great time.
@Jenn, wow that looks awesome, I have it on the list, we might hit Michigan in the autumn!
My son is working on his pilot’s licence, so we stop at every plane museum we can find. It’s just as fascinating for the rest of us as it is for him. He would love Pima!
@Mega, it should definitely be on his list, it is the best museum I have seen!
I would love to take my daughter to that museum! Looks like fun and she would love it. I have never been to Tucson!
@Mistee, any kid would they way you can touch and climb under everything.
This sounds like an amazing time at the Pima Air & Space Museum. I would love to visit Tuscan some day and go to Pima Air & Space Museum. It would be amazing to see all these plane and imagine the being on the planes when they were in service.
@Rebecca, I know, I’d love to be able to go inside some of those older ones.
I’ve never been to an air museum, I want to go sometime. I live in Texas, I wonder if there is one close to here. Great pics!
@John, I bet they do, there are plenty of bases in Texas, etc. And lots of air history, I can’t imagine there isn’t.
This sounds like a wonderful museum.. All the pictures are amazing!! I would love to visit!
@Jasmine, it really was a lot of fun!
wow thanks for sharing this. It is totally in my bucket list now. You got some amazing fun shots too.
@CoolChillMom, it is awesome for the family!
I have taken my kids to a similar museum and my boys were in heaven! You don’t realize how huge those planes are until you are standing beside them!
@Britni, it is so awesome to get up that close!
What a cool place to bring the kids! My son is so into airplanes and rocket ships right now so he would love this!
@BitesforBabies, he would! We saw other families with children and it is amazing how much they can run around and touch things!
I’m not really big into planes but this place looks cool. I do like to take them to the air and space museum.
It makes me so happy to see this post from my lovely Tucson! I’ve gone to the Air & Space Museum show that they have yearly and it’s quite fun. As for food recommendations, so many! Tucson is known for its cuisine and it’s street food. Mexican food is really popular. Some great places are Guadalajara Grill, Street Tacos (name of place), and Guero Canelo for authentic taste. 🙂 Hoping to move back next year because it’s the food and family I miss most!
@Edith, thank you thank you for the recommedations. I’m going back soon and I will definitely try them!
I love Air and space museum and therefore this Pima air space museum. Even I would also love to see those early commercial flights, the legends and others. They have huge number of planes 300 and my sons would love this place.
BEST Air Museum ever, after the Air Force Museum on Wright-Patterson AFB, near Dayton, OH.