Bisbee is a former copper camp wedged into the Mule Mountains at more than a mile high, where the streets follow the canyon and the houses are stacked up the slopes above them. Almost everything worth seeing sits within a few blocks of Main Street, but those blocks are steep and linked by public staircases, so plan a trip around walking uphill rather than driving between stops.
The top 15, ranked
Ranked by how consistently each pick appears across official Bisbee sources, the local destination marketing organization, and recent independent roundups.
- Top pick
#1Best for Mining history · #1 of 15Queen Mine Tour
TourOld Bisbee and Brewery GulchGuided departures run through the day, year round, with tickets and the gift shop at the surface building on Dart RoadTicketedVisitors are fitted with a hard hat, a headlamp and a slicker, then ride a mine train 1,500 feet into the Copper Queen workings that made the town. Guides are former miners, so the account of drilling, mucking, timbering and the ways men were injured underground carries the detail and the black humor of people who actually did the work.
Local tipThe tunnel stays cold whatever the weather outside, so carry a jacket even in high summer and reserve a departure rather than turning up hoping for a seat.
- Top pick
#2Best for History · #2 of 15Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum
MuseumOld Bisbee and Brewery GulchOpen daily on a daytime schedule with only a couple of holiday closures each yearTicketedHoused in the 1897 Phelps Dodge headquarters on Copper Queen Plaza, this was the first rural museum in the country to become a Smithsonian Affiliate. Two permanent exhibits carry the load: one on Bisbee as a frontier boom town of saloons, immigrants and labor conflict, the other on the extraordinary mineral specimens the local ore bodies produced.
Local tipGo here before the mine tour, because the museum explains the geology and the company town that the underground guides assume you already understand.
- Top pick
#3Best for Wandering · #3 of 15Old Bisbee, Main Street and Brewery Gulch
Neighborhood LandmarkOld Bisbee and Brewery GulchThe streets are open at all times and individual shops keep short small town hours, with more open at weekends than midweekFreeThe historic district fills the floor of Tombstone Canyon with brick commercial blocks from the boom years, now holding galleries, antique dealers, bookshops, coffee houses and bars. Brewery Gulch branches off it and was once the rowdiest street between El Paso and San Francisco, while narrow Subway Street runs behind Main at a level of its own.
Local tipPark once in the lot below the museum and walk the whole district, because the streets are one way, tight and mostly unforgiving of a second attempt.
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#4Best for Quick stop · #4 of 15Lavender Pit Overlook
Historic SiteLavender Pit and LowellThe overlook and its parking area are open at any hour throughout the yearFreeA 300 acre open pit worked from 1950 to 1974 sits immediately beside the highway between Old Bisbee and Lowell, banded in rust, turquoise and gray where the ore bodies were cut away. A signed pullout with placards explains what was removed and how the operation swallowed an entire neighborhood to reach the copper beneath it.
Local tipCome in late afternoon when low sun brings out the mineral colors in the terraces, which look flat and gray at midday.
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5Best for Walkers · #5 of 15
The Bisbee Stairs and the Bisbee 1000 route
Historic SiteThe stairs and hill neighborhoodsOpen at all times as public rights of way, with the organized stair climb held each autumnFreeNine public concrete staircases climb the hillsides above the canyon, built by federal work relief crews in the 1930s along paths mules and miners had already worn in. They remain ordinary sidewalks that residents use daily, and the marked circuit that links them covers more than a thousand steps with well over a thousand feet of climbing.
Local tipThe staircases are public year round, so walk two or three of them at your own pace instead of waiting for the October race that made them famous.
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#6Best for Architecture · #6 of 15Copper Queen Hotel
Historic SiteOld Bisbee and Brewery GulchThe hotel operates year round and its public bar and dining room keep evening hours most daysFree with paid optionsPhelps Dodge opened this Italianate pile in 1902 to house the investors and executives it needed to impress, and it has run continuously ever since, which makes it the oldest working hotel in Arizona. Non guests can use the saloon, the dining room and the veranda, and the ghost stories attached to particular rooms are part of the house identity.
Local tipThe upstairs veranda is the best free vantage point over Old Bisbee, and a drink downstairs buys the right to sit on it.
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#7Best for Photography · #7 of 15Lowell and Erie Street
Neighborhood LandmarkLavender Pit and LowellThe street is open at all times, with a small number of businesses on it keeping daytime hoursFreeLowell was a substantial town in its own right until the Lavender Pit consumed most of it in the 1950s, leaving a single block of storefronts perched at the southern rim. Volunteers have kept it dressed as a mid century street, complete with period signage, vintage cars parked at the curb and a gas station frozen mid decade.
Local tipIt is a two minute detour off the highway and takes fifteen minutes to see, so pair it with the pit overlook rather than treating it as a separate trip.
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#8Best for Day trips · #8 of 15Tombstone Courthouse State Historic Park
Historic SiteWarren and the outlying drivesOpen daily with shorter hours through the hottest summer months and a small state park admissionTicketedTwenty three miles north in Tombstone, the 1882 Victorian courthouse is the one building in that town that treats the era as history rather than theater. Restored offices, a courtroom and a gaming room sit alongside exhibits on the silver mines, the Earps and the gunfight, including a brothel license and a printed invitation to a hanging.
Local tipDo the courthouse first and the reenactments afterwards, because it supplies the facts the staged shows on Allen Street leave out.
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9Best for Art · #9 of 15
Artemizia Foundation
MuseumOld Bisbee and Brewery GulchOpen on a limited late week schedule rather than daily, with private viewings by arrangementTicketedAn unexpected contemporary collection at the upper end of Tombstone Canyon, combining an indoor gallery with a mural labyrinth and a sculpture garden outside. Holdings run to street and pop art heavyweights including Banksy, Ai Weiwei, Warhol, Kusama and Koons, which is not what most visitors expect to find in a former mining camp of five thousand people.
Local tipIt opens only on a run of days at the end of the week, so check the schedule before building an itinerary around it.
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10Best for Evenings · #10 of 15
Old Bisbee Ghost Tour
TourOld Bisbee and Brewery GulchEvening departures run through the year in most weather, with booking online in advanceTicketedA locally owned walking tour running since 2007, built on the mining disasters, the saloon killings and the epidemics that gave a town this small an outsized body count. Guides take groups inside several reputedly haunted buildings rather than pointing at facades from the street, and ghost hunting equipment can be rented at booking.
Local tipThe route climbs back streets, alleys and staircases after dark, so wear real shoes and skip it if stairs are a problem.
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#11Best for History · #11 of 15Muheim Heritage House Museum
MuseumThe stairs and hill neighborhoodsOpen on weekends only for docent led visits, with tours at other times by prior arrangementTicketedJoseph Muheim, a Swiss immigrant who arrived with nothing and ended up running a brewery and a bank, built this house on Youngblood Hill between 1898 and 1900 and added to it for decades. Docents walk visitors through rooms kept in period furnishing, and the terrace looks straight down over the canyon and across to the opposite slope.
Local tipIt sits at the top of a steep pitch above Brewery Gulch, so allow more time for the approach than the map suggests.
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#12Best for Outdoors · #12 of 15Coronado National Memorial
ParkWarren and the outlying drivesGrounds open daily during daylight with no entrance fee, and the visitor center keeps daytime hoursFreeAbout forty minutes west of Bisbee, this National Park Service site marks the route of the 1540 Coronado expedition where it crossed into what is now the United States. Eight miles of trail run up through oak woodland and grassland to Montezuma Pass and the border ridge, and a steep spur leads to the undeveloped Coronado Cave.
Local tipThe cave is unlit and unstaffed, so collect the free permit and take two light sources per person before setting off.
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13Best for Rainy days · #13 of 15
Bisbee Restoration Museum
MuseumOld Bisbee and Brewery GulchOpen on a small number of days each week with a modest admission and free entry for childrenTicketedThree floors of the 1909 Fair Store on Main Street, rebuilt after a fire and filled with what Bisbee families kept rather than what a curator went out and bought. The result is closer to an attic than an exhibition, running from textiles and shop fittings to a high school diploma pressed in copper, and children are given things to do.
Local tipIt opens only a couple of days a week, so treat it as a bonus if the timing lands rather than a fixed point in the plan.
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#14Best for Sports history · #14 of 15Historic Warren Ballpark
Historic SiteWarren and the outlying drivesIn active use for games, festivals and events through the year, with the grounds visible from the street at other timesFree with paid optionsBuilt in 1909 for the company town of Warren, this claims to be the oldest baseball park still in use anywhere in the country, older than Fenway Park and Wrigley Field. It also stands where deputies herded almost 1,200 striking miners at gunpoint in 1917 before deporting them into the New Mexico desert by cattle car.
Local tipPair it with a slow drive around the Warren bungalows, which were laid out as a planned garden suburb and still look it.
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#15Best for Free stops · #15 of 15Copper Queen Library
Neighborhood LandmarkOld Bisbee and Brewery GulchOpen most days of the week on varying daytime and early evening hours, closed SundaysFreeFounded in 1882 and never closed since, this is the longest continuously operating public library in Arizona, working out of an upper floor on Main Street. It was named the best small library in America in 2019 and took the National Medal for Museum and Library Service in 2024, which is a startling record for a town this size.
Local tipAnyone can walk in during opening hours, and the local history shelves are the quickest way to make sense of what the town looks like outside.
Where things cluster
Bisbee reads as four separate places joined by one highway through the canyon, and knowing which one a stop sits in saves a lot of climbing.
- Old Bisbee and Brewery GulchThe historic core in the bottom of Tombstone Canyon, holding Main Street, Brewery Gulch, Subway Street and the museums, hotels and galleries between them. It is compact enough to cover on foot in an afternoon and almost impossible to park in, so leave the car once and walk.
- The stairs and hill neighborhoodsChihuahua Hill, Youngblood Hill, OK Street and the terraces above the canyon, laced together by public concrete staircases built as work relief in the 1930s. Houses here are reached only on foot, and the views back over the roofs are the reason to climb.
- Lavender Pit and LowellSouth of the tunnel on Highway 80, the road runs along the rim of a 300 acre open pit and drops into what is left of Lowell, a single mid century street the mine did not swallow. The two are a five minute drive from Old Bisbee and belong on the same outing.
- Warren and the outlying drivesThe planned garden suburb of Warren sits a few miles southeast with its bungalows and its 1909 ballpark, and the same road continues to Naco, the San Pedro valley and the Huachuca Mountains. Tombstone is a short run north on Highway 80.
Make it a day
Underground first, then the canyon on foot
Take an early mine tour while the day is still cool, then cross to the Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum to see what the ore actually was. Spend the afternoon walking Main Street, Brewery Gulch and one staircase up the hillside, and end at the Lavender Pit overlook and Lowell when the light is low.
The town one day, the county the next
Give the first day entirely to Old Bisbee, covering the mine, the museums, the galleries and as many staircases as legs allow. On the second, drive out to the Tombstone courthouse in the morning and Coronado National Memorial in the afternoon, which puts the silver rush and the Spanish entrada either side of lunch.
Hard hats, a train and a giant hole
The mine train is the easy win, since children get their own hard hat and headlamp and the ride into the tunnel does the rest. Follow it with the museum, which is built for family visits, then the pit overlook and Lowell, where the vintage cars and old signs hold attention without any walking.
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Spring and autumn are the clear winners, because Bisbee sits above a mile high and stays roughly ten degrees cooler than Tucson while the walking is all uphill. July and August bring afternoon monsoon storms that arrive fast and soak the staircases, and winter nights drop below freezing with occasional snow on the slopes, though days usually stay mild enough to walk.
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Bisbee things to do FAQ
Parking, timing, cost, and weather answers for a smoother visit.
How much walking and stair climbing does Bisbee really involve?
More than most visitors expect. The town is built into a canyon and up its walls, so almost every street is on a gradient and many houses are reachable only by public staircase. Even a short walk between Main Street and a hillside museum can involve a hundred steps. Anyone with knee, hip or breathing trouble should plan around the flatter core of Main Street, Brewery Gulch and the Lavender Pit overlook, all of which work without serious climbing.
Is the Queen Mine Tour suitable for children or people who dislike enclosed spaces?
Children generally love it, since they ride the same mine train and wear the same hard hat and headlamp as everyone else. The tunnel is wide, lit and level rather than a crawl, so it is easier than most caves. It is still a long way inside a mountain in the dark, so anyone with real claustrophobia should sit it out. The tunnel is cold year round, which catches out summer visitors in shorts.
How long do you need in Bisbee?
A full day covers the mine, one museum and the historic district at a reasonable pace. Two days is better, because it lets you add the staircases, a second museum, the Lowell street and a drive out to Tombstone or Coronado National Memorial without rushing. Many people come for a night and stay two, largely because the evening in Old Bisbee is more interesting than the daytime.
Where do you park in Old Bisbee?
Not easily on the street. The canyon roads are narrow, one way in places and lined with residents' cars. The practical approach is to use the public lots near the museum and the mine tour building, leave the car for the whole visit and walk. Driving between stops inside the historic district saves almost no time and costs a great deal of patience.
Is Tombstone worth adding to a Bisbee trip?
It is twenty three miles north, so about half an hour, and it makes an easy morning. The town leans heavily on staged gunfights and costumed street theater, which some visitors enjoy and others find thin. The Tombstone Courthouse State Historic Park is the substantial part, with real exhibits on the silver mines, the Earps and territorial law. Doing the courthouse first makes the rest of the town more interesting.
What is the weather like and when should you avoid visiting?
Bisbee is a mile high, so it is noticeably cooler than the Sonoran desert below and rarely unbearable. July and August bring the monsoon, with heavy afternoon storms that make the staircases slick and the canyon roads run with water. Winter days are usually mild but nights freeze and snow does fall. Spring and autumn give the most reliable conditions for a town best seen on foot.
Keep planning
Use these nearby guides to extend your Bisbee trip with a different pace and a clear next stop.
Hero image: Old Bisbee, Main Street and Brewery Gulch, photograph by Chad Johnson, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped to 16:9 and exposure adjusted. Image credits. #1 Queen Mine Tour: Jlahorn, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. #2 Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum: Gabriel Millos, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. #3 Old Bisbee, Main Street and Brewery Gulch: Chad Johnson, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. #4 Lavender Pit Overlook: BriYYZ from Toronto, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. #6 Copper Queen Hotel: a rancid amoeba, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. #7 Lowell and Erie Street: Al_HikesAZ, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. #8 Tombstone Courthouse State Historic Park: Wjmcguire220, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. #11 Muheim Heritage House Museum: Marine 69-71, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. #12 Coronado National Memorial: kallahar, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. #14 Historic Warren Ballpark: Marine 69-71, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. #15 Copper Queen Library: Marine 69-71, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.