Where to Eat Around Tempe, Arizona

Arizona Historical Museum — Arizona Heritage Center at Papago Park

My list of Tempe restaurant recommendations is shrinking.

Even before COVID, some favorites from our old neighborhood had already been pushed out by rising real estate prices and new construction.

Phoenix views — View from South Mountain in Phoenix

However, there are still some longstanding gems that are worth a visit when you’re in town. And, since I’ve recently had some Tempe-bound friends looking for suggestions, I thought I’d share a list of the places I tend to point them to. Some of these are technically in Phoenix, Scottsdale, etc., but they are all Tempe-adjacent.

Most restaurants I’ve listed here have ample free parking – which is true of the majority of metro Phoenix.

However, when you’re near ASU/Downtown Tempe, things change. Spaces become scarce, and enforcement officers are quick with the citations. (Remember the rabbit in Zootopia?)

It’s probably the area in the entire state of Arizona where you’re most likely to end up with a parking ticket. So I’ve noted restaurants with trickier parking, as well as including some additional Tempe parking and transit tips at the end of the article.

tempe town lake and park — Tempe Town Lake

Tempe-Area Eats

Tempe Beach Park entrance — Nearby: Tempe Beach Park at Tempe Town Lake

The Chuckbox

Charmingly rough around the edges university student haunt that serves a simple menu of exceptional burgers, chicken, and sides. It’s a strictly cash-only operation that does not accept debit or credit cards.

They take your order and then flame grill it right in front of you. If you want anything besides cheese on your burger, you add it yourself at the condiment bar.

It’s a formula that has worked since my mom and her siblings hung out there when they were in college. In fact, The Chuckbox is celebrating its 50th anniversary this month! I grew up eating there, especially when one of my uncles was in town. As divey as the place may seem now, they’ve actually cleaned it up since I was a kid!

We especially like The Big One (their signature burger) with cheese and a side of fried mushrooms, zucchini, or onion rings.

Open daily for lunch and dinner

Seating indoors + on the patio (on wood crates and stumps)

Located at 202 E. University Dr., Tempe

East of Mill Avenue
Light rail: Veterans Way/College Ave
Streetcar: Ninth St./Mill Ave
Parking: A few designated spaces, but you may need to look elsewhere when it’s busy.

Nearby:

Mill Avenue – college town shopping and bars
Gammage Auditorium – Frank Lloyd Wright designed theater on ASU Campus
ASU Art Museum – contemporary art museum in the Nelson Fine Arts Center
Tempe Town Lake, particularly Tempe Beach Park

Cornish Pasty Co.

Maker of hearty, savory pies from Cornwall, England called pasties (pronounced kind of like “past-ease”) in an upscale pub atmosphere that feels a world away from its strip mall location. Cornish Pasty’s wide variety of fillings include some with traditional ingredients, some of their own invention, and a lot of vegetarian and vegan options.

Open daily for lunch and dinner

Seating indoors + patio

Located at 960 W. University Dr., Tempe

University + Hardy Dr.
Also locations in Mesa, Scottsdale, Phoenix, and a few outside the Valley

Nearby:

Tempe Center for the Arts (TCA) – Theaters, gallery, event space, and a large grassy area where we saw Ballet Under the Stars.
Tempe Town Lake

defalcos deli

DeFalco’s calzone and marinara dipping sauce to-go

DeFalcos Italian Deli + Grocery

Pizzeria, deli counter, and market stocked with Italian staples like pasta, gelato, wine, cheeses, spreads, and olive oil. It was recommended to us by our good friends Michelle and Carlos, who used to live in the neighborhood.

We especially like the Centurion pizza or a calzone with Italian sausage and roasted red peppers.

Open daily for lunch and dinner

Seating indoors + patio

Located at 2334 N. Scottsdale Rd., Scottsdale

North of McDowell

Nearby:

Old Town Scottsdale – home of the Chocolate Tour of Scottsdale (under new ownership)
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art
Papago Park, particularly Desert Botanical Gardens, Hole-in-the-Rock + Arizona Heritage Center
Scottsdale’s Civic Center Park (closed for construction until 2023)
Eldorado Park, where several local business owners collaborated on the Summer of the Waffle event.

Del Yaqui

If you’re looking for really good Mexican food near Tempe, I’d send you to this Sonora-style taqueria.

It’s located in El Mercado de Guadalupe along with about a dozen other businesses, which open onto a large central courtyard. (That’s also where you’ll find its seafood-focused sister restaurant, the recently-renovated San Diego Bay.) El Mercado is probably the main shopping center in the town of Guadalupe, and the colorful murals on the outer walls make it easy to spot.

Guadalupe was founded as a refuge for Pascua Yaqui Indians fleeing Mexico after the revolution in the early 1900s. You’ll know you’ve crossed from Tempe into the one-square-mile town when the street names change to Spanish.

Open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner

Seating mostly indoor but there are also a few tables on the well-shaded patio

Located at 9201 S. Avenida del Yaqui, Guadalupe

Inside El Mercado de Guadalupe on the southeast corner of Guadalupe Road and Avenida del Yaqui (which is Priest Drive in Tempe)

Nearby:

Thanks-a-Latte Coffee + Snacks – Opened earlier this year in El Mercado de Guadalupe. I stopped in with my dad, who gave their mango-pineapple smoothie rave reviews!
Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church – beautiful mission-style building that hosts religious ceremonies and cultural festivals
Mercado Mexico – shop selling pottery and other Mexican imported decor
South Mountain – hiking at Pima Canyon Trailhead (if it’s too hot to hike, you can drive Summit Road from the Main Entrance)

brunch at the farm south mountain phoenix — Morning Glory Cafe breakfast

The Farm at South Mountain

Urban farm and open space oasis. There is a lot of grass, a shop with locally-made products and unique gift items (Botanica), wedding/event venues, and a restaurant for each meal of the day!

Since this is a largely outdoor experience, parts of it close down in the summer to avoid the heat. Double check the hours before you go during the hottest time of the year, May through September.

All 3 of the restaurants feature organic produce grown right there on The Farm!

Morning Glory: breakfast/brunch at cafe tables with shade umbrellas
Farm Kitchen: picnic-style lunch under pecan trees
Quiessence: intimate dinners with a multi-course tasting menu (reservations recommended)

We especially like Farm Kitchen’s pecan chicken salad sandwiches, coffee, iced tea, and individually-sized desserts.

Seating all outside

Located at 6106 S. 32nd St., Phoenix

South of Southern on the west side of 32nd Street
Parking: mostly in the lot across the street, a few spots near the entrance to The Farm

Nearby:

South Mountain – hiking at Mormon Trailhead (if it’s too hot to hike, you can drive Summit Road from the Main Entrance)
Maya’s Farm, which used to be part of this Farm but has moved to its own space just down the street

Gammage Auditorium exterior — Nearby: Gammage Auditorium

Haji-Baba

Restaurant serving up Middle Eastern favorites plus a market selling baklava, bulk spices, pita bread, kalamata olives, fresh cheeses, henna hair dye, olive oil soap, plus a variety of imported snacks, sweets, and other goodies.

We especially like the chicken shawarma plate! The plate now comes with a small side salad, but you can substitute tabooli (which I recommend). Their garlic sauce is also downright addictive.

Open daily for lunch and dinner (Mon to Sat: 11am–8pm, Sunday: 11am–5pm)

Seating indoors + a couple tables outside

Located at 1513 E. Apache Blvd., Tempe

West of McClintock Dr.
Make sure you go to the restaurant – not their wholesale store down the street!
Light rail + streetcar: Dorsey Ln./Apache

Nearby:

Gammage Auditorium – Frank Lloyd Wright designed theater on ASU Campus
Tempe History Museum + Tempe Public Library

Honey Bear’s BBQ

Family-owned Tennessee-style barbecue joint. Honey Bear’s meats are slow cooked until they’re so tender that (they claim) you could eat them even without teeth!

Open daily for lunch and dinner

Seating indoors

Located at 5012 E. Van Buren St., Phoenix

Between 48th St. and the 202 Red Mountain freeway

Nearby:

Papago Park, particularly the Phoenix Zoo, Lo Piano Bosque Habitat and other hiking trails
Tovrea Castle at Carraro Heights
Sky Harbor Airport

mekong plaza in mesa az

A few more quick picks…

Some Tempe restaurants I haven’t been to as much or as recently or that I’d just recommend for something specific, but I still feel are worth mentioning:

Cafe Lalibela (849 W. University Dr., Tempe) – Ethiopian restaurant with lots of fans! I thoroughly enjoyed eating there and hope to make it back there soon.

Dilly’s Deli (3330 S. Price Rd., Tempe) – Premium sandwiches and soup. Their cream of chicken noodle soup in a bread bowl is top-notch comfort food.

D’lite Healthy on the Go (125 E. Southern Ave. Suite 101, Tempe) – Nutritious food with a drive-through. The menu includes items like quinoa bowls and vegan protein shakes, as well as classic breakfast burritos and good coffee.

Four Peaks Brewing Co. (1340 E. 8th Street, #104, Tempe) – Original location of a neighborhood brewpub gone national. Besides their well-loved ales and IPAs (i.e. Kilt Lifter, 8th Street, Hop Knot…), they also offer a delicious menu of beer-battered food, as well as salads, burgers, and pizza made with beer bread crust. Free street parking.

Mekong Sandwiches (66 S. Dobson Rd., Mesa) bakes the French bread for their Banh Mi right there in their kitchen. I also enjoy their iced Vietnamese coffee. It’s located in Mekong Plaza, along with an international supermarket, gift shops, a bakery, and eateries featuring a variety of Asian cuisines.

Postino (615 S. College Ave., Tempe) – Wine bar with panini, bruschetta boards, and a tapas-like menu of “snacky things.” Originally opened in an old Phoenix post office, the Tempe location is the Postino Annex at ASU. Parking: Fulton Center Garage ($4/hour) or meters north of 6th Street.

tempe town lake

Transit

Valley Metro runs the transit system throughout the Phoenix area. It includes buses, light rail, neighborhood shuttles (small free busses that run on localized routes), and Tempe’s new streetcar – which is free to ride until May 2023!

light rail

Light Rail

The Valley Metro light rail goes through Phoenix, Tempe, and Mesa. It’s especially convenient for getting to/from Sky Harbor Airport, Phoenix Convention Center, and ASU.

I made a video explaining how to ride it, if you haven’t before. Since then, the line has expanded in both directions, but the Tempe stops remain the same. And all day fare is still $4!

park and ride

Park-and-Rides

If you decide to drive to your stop and then hop onto transit, you can park in one of a dozen Valley Metro Park-and-Ride lots located across the greater Phoenix area.

Parking is free all day for transit riders.
There’s no overnight parking. You risk getting towed if your car is still in the lot between 1-4am.

Parking Tips for Downtown Tempe

I don’t feel I can send you off to Tempe without a heads up on parking in the ASU/Downtown area. The main thing is to make sure you’re parking where you’re clearly allowed to. If it’s ambiguous or you don’t see any signs, you could still end up getting ticketed or even towed (it’s happened).

Here are some options.

Parking meters

Use coins or a credit card to pay at the meter or ParkMobile to pay and add time remotely.
$1.50-2 per hour. Free after 10pm, all day on Sundays, and on holidays.
2-3 hour max time limit.
Vehicles displaying a disability placard can park free at meters. (Time limits still apply.)

Public parking garages and lots

Check Downtown Tempe’s online map for locations and rates.
There’s typically not a discount for vehicles with disability placards in garages.
During events like ASU football games, lots may charge higher, flat rates for parking.

chuckbox — Outside of the old-timey cowboy themed Chuckbox

Customer Parking

If you’re lucky, the place where you’re going will have some free parking spots for its customers (“Chuckbox only” parking, for example).
Technically, you’re not supposed to remain parked in these customer spaces and leave the property. I’m not sure how strictly this is enforced, but you might want to park elsewhere before wandering off.

Don’t forget Park-and-Rides! (Details under “Transit,” above.) It’s easy to park in one of these lots, and let the light rail take you the rest of the way to your destination.

no parking — No parking signs in a neighborhood near South Mountain.

June 23, 2022April 10, 2026

The Agave Heritage Festival’s Sweet Return

Agave has been cultivated in the Tucson area for hundreds of years.

While tequila might be the most widely known product made from agave (a.k.a. the century plant or maguey), it’s certainly not the only one! Different species of the plant are distilled into different spirits, collectively called mezcal.

Native peoples would also use agave to make food, medicine, and even rope. They developed farming techniques to maximize the plant’s adaptability and drought-resistant qualities, so they could grow it where other crops wouldn’t thrive.

Mural of Mayahuel, the agave goddess, by Rock ‘‘CYFI’’ Martinez.

Agave Heritage Festival

The annual Agave Heritage Festival in Tucson celebrates the plant’s natural and cultural significance. It includes special agave-centered menus at local restaurants, gardening demonstrations, concerts, lectures, mezcal tasting events, hikes to ancient agave roasting pit sites, and a re-creation of the traditional way agave hearts were cooked underground.
Continue reading ” The Agave Heritage Festival’s Sweet Return”

October 1, 2021April 9, 2026

Museum Day Picks 2021

Smithsonian magazine has an annual tradition of celebrating Museum Day, and many museums across the U.S. join in by offering free admission that day.

Smithsonian visitor center — Visitor center for Smithsonian museums in D.C.

I had planned to tell you – before Museum Day – about a few participating museums I’ve visited in the past. But life is weird right now and I’ve pretty much lost all sense of time, so September 18 came and went before I realized I hadn’t posted this yet. I’m still going to tell you about those museums, though. There’s one in Indiana, one in Washington, and five in Arizona. While I posted a similar list ahead of Museum Day a couple years ago, a lot of those museums weren’t participating this year. So, on to the new list!

2 Museums I’ve Visited While Traveling

Lenape specialist Mike Pace demonstrates traditional crafts to young museum-goers. — Mike Pace, interpreter and specialist on Lenape life and culture. Photo via Conner Prairie.

Conner Prairie in Fishers, Indiana

This is a living history museum that I loved visiting as a kid! I remember candle-dipping demonstrations and sitting in on a lesson in an old-timey one-room schoolhouse. They’ve added a lot of things since the last time I was there (many years ago), like make-and-take craft activities, a balloon ride, and the Lenape Indian Camp, which explores what life was like for members of the Lenape (a.k.a. Delaware) tribe in 1816 Indiana.

Regular admission $20/adults, $15/youth (ages 2-12). $2 off when you purchase tickets online.
Closed Mondays.
Storytelling series: Thursday – Sunday evenings, September 16 – October 2. Hear about Indiana’s early history from expert storytellers, including former assistant chief of the Lenape tribe Mike Pace, who helped create the Lenape Indian Camp experience. Separate admission required for the event series: $10/adult, $6/youth.
Prairie Pursuits: various dates. Workshops on traditional skills for teens and adults. Upcoming class topics include blacksmithing, woodworking, cooking, and pottery.

Guitars at Museum of Pop Culture (EMP) in Seattle — Detail of “If VI Was IX: Roots and Branches” guitar sculpture, Museum of Pop Culture, Seattle.

Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) in Seattle, Washington

The museum formerly known as the Experience Music Project (EMP) has an atrium devoted to constantly-playing music videos (“Sky Church”), a towering guitar sculpture (“If VI Was IX: Roots and Branches”), and galleries for Seattle legends like Jimi Hendrix and Nirvana, as well as exhibitions on sci-fi, video games, and fantasy genre archetypes. Housed within a striking building designed by Frank O. Gehry, MoPOP is located at Seattle Center, near the Space Needle.

Admission prices vary, depending on factors like when you’re going and how far in advance you purchase tickets.
Closed Wednesdays.

Duck pond in Papago Park — Papago Park, Phoenix

5 Arizona Museums

Arizona historical museum - desert cities exhibit — Arizona Heritage Center’s Desert Cities exhibit

Arizona Heritage Center at Papago Park in Tempe

An eclectic history of life in Arizona. On display are objects as varied as vintage vehicles, rock and mineral samples, maps, and re-creations of notable Arizonans’ homes and offices. There’s a new temporary exhibition (“Still Marching: From Suffrage to #MeToo”) on how Arizona women have worked to drive social change over the past century.

Regular admission $15/adults, $7/youth (ages 7-13).
Closed Sundays and Mondays.

The permanent collection is grouped into themed rooms, like…

The People: Not only will you learn about the diverse groups that populated the Old West, but you can also read testimonies of people who saw the Phoenix Lights in 1997 and either did or didn’t believe they were UFOs.
WWII: Takes you inside a military barracks, Japanese internment camp, and a POW camp. Dark corners that should not be forgotten.
Desert Cities: Probably the most nostalgia-inducing area for those of us who grew up in Arizona, It focuses on the cultural changes in the Phoenix metro area during its post-WWII boom and includes an exhibit on local children’s t.v. show Wallace and Lladmo and an iconic statue from Bob’s Big Boy restaurant chain.

Vintage military plane — Via CAF Airbase Arizona Museum.

CAF Airbase Arizona Flying Museum in East Mesa

30,000 square feet of exhibition space devoted to the history of combat aircraft, plus a working maintenance hangar and active aircraft ramp. Located at Falcon Field Airport in Mesa, this is my pick for enthusiasts of old military planes and memorabilia. In other words, if you’re my grandpa, this is the museum for you!

Regular admission $15/adults, $5/kids (ages 5-12).
Closed Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays.

Lehi AZ canal — Canal near the Mesa Historical Museum.

Mesa Historical Museum in Lehi (North Mesa)

The Mesa Historical Museum is housed in what was originally a school, built in 1913 in the very oldest part of the City of Mesa as we now know it. There is a replica of the one-room adobe schoolhouse that came before it, antique farm equipment and other artifacts from the area, and a couple rotating exhibits.

Regular admission $7/adults, $5/youth (ages 6-17).
Closed Sundays, Mondays, and major holidays.

Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA) in Old Town Scottsdale

SMoCA is an art and event space with a permanent collection and exhibitions in the areas of contemporary art, architecture, and design. It’s part of Scottsdale Civic Center, along with Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, City Hall, Civic Center Library, and a bunch of restaurants and bars centered around a 21-acre park.

Closed Mondays, Tuesdays, and major holidays.
Regular admission is $10/adults, free for anyone 18 and younger.
Pay-What-You-Wish admission on Thursdays and the second Saturday of each month.
Timed-entry reservations are now required for all admissions – even free tickets.

Tempe History Museum Concert — Spooky Kool Band concert at Tempe History Museum.

Tempe History Museum at Rural and Southern in Tempe

Always free (not just on Museum Day)!
Worth checking out if you’re in the neighborhood or going to a concert or lecture there.
They are gradually re-starting performances, including some outside in the Museum courtyard.
Closed Sundays and Mondays.
See their collections online.

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February 24, 2021April 9, 2026

Tohono Chul

Tohono Chul is a nature preserve just north of Tucson. On its 49 acres, you can find art, shops, gardens, a bistro, and lots of paths winding through the desert.

A Desert Corner

The name comes from the words for “desert corner” in the language of the Tohono O’odham (“desert people”), who were the ancestral inhabitants of this region.

I’d heard about this beautiful place from my Master Gardener uncle long before we moved to Tucson. For awhile I thought it was called “Tohono Jewel.” It is a gem of a place, so that fits too.

Phillip and I finally made it in there when my parents and their friends who were visiting from the Midwest decided to spend a day in Tucson.

They drove down from Phoenix and met us at the entrance on a sunny morning in February 2020 – when we were all blissfully unaware what the next 12 months would bring.

Routes to Drive from Phoenix to Tucson

Tohono Chul is actually in a pretty convenient location for people making the trip south from Phoenix.

There are two main ways to get from the Phoenix area to Tucson:

1. I-10 Freeway (“the 10”)

1.5-hour approximate drive time.
Quickest, most direct route.
Tohono Chul is about 15 minutes east of the 10 (exit at Ina Rd.)

2. Highways / Scenic Route (“the back way”)

2.5-hour approximate drive time.
Slower, more interesting route through Florence to State Route 79 then to Copper Corridor Scenic Road (SR 77).
Tohono Chul is just west of SR 77, so this route practically drops you at its front door.

Large sculpture of a horned lizard. — “Regal Horned Lizard” by Dave Stone.

Art in Nature

Even though the sun was out, it was pleasantly chilly when we arrived. Many of the less cold-tolerant plants in the gardens were covered up because of a freeze warning, draped in sheets like furniture in an unused room of a Victorian mansion.

Cactus wren sculpture — Part of “Two Cactus Wrens” sculpture by Mark Rossi.

Of course, plenty of the cactus varieties there are unfazed by frost. For example, no one needs to cover 30-foot-tall saguaros. Which is good. They take care of themselves and tend to outlive us humans.

Which brings me to my favorite plant we saw that day: a friendly-looking crested saguaro! Crested saguaros have a rare mutation that causes them to fan out at top.

vulture sculpture by Kioko Mwitiki — “Standing Life-size Vulture” sculpture by Kioko Mwitiki.

While we didn’t go into any of the galleries, we did see several outdoor animal sculptures woven throughout the gardens, like a life-sized rusted metal vulture (by Kioko Mwitiki) and a much-larger-than-life horned lizard (by Dave Stone).

During the summer, it would be great to spend the morning exploring outdoor trails and then retreat into the galleries during the heat of the day.

There’s an outdoor geology wall that uses rocks from the nearby Santa Catalinas to illustrate the layers of stone under the mountains.

The Desert Living Courtyard showcases several types of gardens you could DIY with plants that grow well here, including a moorish garden and a “barrio garden” that replicates a backyard garden space with art from upcycled materials. For each garden vignette, there’s a list of plants and materials you could use to recreate it.

More Tucson Gems

After Tohono Chul, we ate lunch at the nearly 100-year-old restaurant El Charro. While there is a much closer location in Oro Valley, we opted to go to the original old building in Downtown.

It was the time of year where the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show® happens at the Tucson Convention Center. If you don’t have time for the massive, main show, you can get kind of a sampling at dozens of smaller gem shows that spring up around it.

I knew that we’d be in walking distance of Hotel Tucson City Center, which had its own free, open-to-the public show with 300 vendors selling minerals and fossils on their property.

Before our guests returned to Phoenix, we took a drive around Downtown, stopping for ice cream at HUB.

Everything Changes

I’m extra grateful we happened to go on that day a year ago, just before a certain coronavirus would shut everything down, when 2020’s dumpster fire was only a spark.

After being closed for months, Tohono Chul has reopened 7 days a week with pandemic precautions in place (details below).

Many Downtown Tucson restaurants are open for takeout. El Charro is celebrating its 99th anniversary with a special menu. HUB Ice Cream Parlor has remodeled and now has a walk-up window.

While the main Tucson Gem & Mineral Show® has been canceled for 2021, Hotel Tucson is hosting their own gem show, currently scheduled for April 8-25.

On a more personal note, my parents’ Midwestern friends were getting ready to launch their annual winter visit, when my dad received a cancer diagnosis and found out he would need major surgery right away.

It has all given him – and us – a new perspective.

After coming through his surgery successfully, he made himself a rule to focus on the moment we have now. It’s a good thing to practice.

Treasure your corner of the desert.

– More Tohono Chul info –

Not to be confused with Tucson Botanical Gardens (which is a collection of urban gardens in the middle of town).
Park map.
Current exhibitions (both on the grounds and virtual).
Plant lists to re-create their themed gardens in your own backyard.
Shop online.
There’s a BOGO admission deal in the Tucson Attractions Passport.

Re-opening protocols (as of February 2021):

Instead of buying admission tickets at the Park, you purchase tickets for a specific time online in advance.
Shops and Garden Bistro have reopened with limited capacity.
Masks are required. If you forget yours, you can call from the parking lot and they’ll bring one out to your car.
B.Y.O.B.: bring your own (water) bottle! Drinking fountains are currently off-limits, but there are hands-free water bottle refill stations available.

If you’re not ready to go in person, there are lots of videos and resources to enjoy Tohono Chul @ Home.

July 30, 2020April 9, 2026

Colossal Cave Coatis

We were already on the road to Colossal Cave Mountain Park, when we realized we’d overshot our original destination. We had heard about the cave but hadn’t ever been there. So, instead of doubling back and trying to find the entrance for the nature preserve we had probably just driven through but weren’t sure how to access, we kept going!

We weren’t even sure if we’d be able to get into the park or if it was still closed due to the coronavirus. And we certainly weren’t planning on going into any caves since Quijote was with us. But it was Phillip’s birthday, and he voted to go see what we could find.

Colossal Cave Mountain Park

Colossal Cave is a dry cave system under the Rincon Mountains in the Tucson-adjacent community of Vail. Before being developed into a tourist attraction by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930s, the cave had served a variety of functions, including a shelter for the Hohokam people, train robber hideout, and guano mine.

What to know if you decide to visit:

The park around the cave is open for hiking, camping, and taking in the views. (Free entrance. You just pay fees if you’re going on a cave tour or camping.)
Cave tours have restarted on a limited basis – currently only the Classic Cave Tour is available.
You can choose your tour time and book tickets online. (Adult $18 / child $9 / military or first responder $14) You can only enter the cave on a tour.
Face coverings and social distancing (six feet apart) are required during tours.
Under the roof of this cool rock structure built by the CCC is the cave entrance, Terrace Cafe, and gift shop.
Because the CCC were so instrumental in developing Colossal Cave Mountain Park, there’s a statue in honor of the CCC workers at the entrance to the terrace.

There are also nice hiking trails outside the cave – I’m sure they’ll be even nicer when it’s not summery hot.

Coatimundis

We were looking around the terrace when I overheard one of the staff tell the group waiting for their tour time that they often see coatimundis going in and out of the cave.

That stopped me in my tracks.

A coatimundi (or “coati”) is a long-nosed member of the raccoon family that mostly lives in Central America, but has also found its way into higher elevations of the Southwestern U.S. and Mexico (Mt. Lemmon, for example).

Phillip and I have been on the lookout for one ever since we went to Chiricahua for the first time and didn’t see any there.

We had no idea there’d be a chance to see one that day. Apparently, though, they’re a common sight, going in and out of the cave and hunting around the park for trash (which, of course, is on-brand for the raccoon family).

Moments later, we saw a young coati atop the hill above the cave entrance! He started sniffing along the edge, and then scampered down its sheer face and into the cave.

Phillip barely had time to snap photos, and I had my hands full with Quijote.

But we saw it.

It was like nature gave Phillip a colossal birthday surprise!