tohono chul park

I loved seeing the desert plants and flowers. The greenhouse and plant shop have a great selection if you want to take some home. The large gift shop has a fantastic selection of jewelry, ornaments, foods, items for kids, and many garden items. I've heard the Café is great but a 15-20 minute quoted wait for a Tuesday lunch hadn't provided a table after 40 minutes, so we gave up and went elsewhere. I highly recommend arriving quite early if you want to actually eat there.

We felt fortunate to have visited Tohono Chul on a day when admission was free. However, the admission fee would still have been well worth it! You will see Butterfly Gardens, Hummingbird Gardens, Cactus Gardens, a Garden for Children (interactive), Riparian habitat, and Desert Palm Oasis among many others. They also have some indoor arts and crafts exhibits by local artists. A very well-laid-out plan for hiking on various trails with beautiful views of the Catalina Mountains and the Tortolita Mountains. It is still very convenient to get to, in Oro Valley (NW Tucson). The docents are very knowledgable and we were also lucky to find Jill, a bird expert, who took us to areas of the park where we saw many different types of birds (binoculars optional but very helpful). This park is truly an Oasis in the middle of Tucson!

This is a great place to get the feeling of a desert environment. Many different trails to take to experience the flora and fauna of the local desert. Many things were in bloom. Trails are very well groomed. Easy to navigate. They could use more tags of identification we thought on plants. They have some rooms of art as well. As we were leaving they even gave us some local grapefruit that some workers had brought in from their homes. Very nice. :-) We spent about 4 hours here. They have an on sight lunch place that looked very nice. It was more expensive that we were looking for. We just went to a local shop nearby. They allow you to come and go. I really liked this place for my first desert experience.

We ate at the restaurant, strolled the surrounding walkable park area, visited the gift shop, although we did not go to the plant sale. Totally enjoyed the food and the place, and the facility. We wished that we knew a little more about the building and it's history, but got to have a three hour brunch, with thoughtful considerate service that did not rush us or make us feel unwelcome. Love this place!

We visited the garden in the morning and toured for three hours. We met a great and knowlwledgeable docent who walked around with ustalking about various desert plants pointing out interesting facts. She also saw several bird species that inhabit the park. My only complaint is thesignage and labeling of plants. I would have appreciated the visit more if I would have known what I was looking at. I think that it would be great to hire a couple of University students to relabel the display plants for those of us unfamiliar with desert flora. Regardless it was worth the trip.

If your time is limited and you want an interesting primer on the desert environment, this place works. We found the area's well-known attractions (e.g. desert museum, Sabino Canyon) were far superior to this. There are some nice spots to sit and ponder, but on balance this was something of a letdown.

This is a lovely garden with many facets. By all means, join one of the volunteer-led tours that are included in the $10 admission fee. It will greatly enhance your experience, especially if you, like me, are unfamiliar with the flora of the desert. The small art museum is worth a look also. The flatbread salad at the Garden Bistro was the perfect lunch. I spent almost four hours at Tohono Chul and greatly enjoyed the visit.

A very worthwhile spot to visit when in Tucson...uncrowded botanic gardens and a small atmospheric bistro great for breakfast or lunch. Knowledgeable docents help you enjoy the scenery...Paths are level, very walkable, many places to sit.

We enjoyed a delicious lunch at the bistro in pleasant surroundings. Walking around the park was a great way to get some exercise. We learned a lot about the fascinating Saguaro cacti. The art gallery was nice. We liked the combination of art and nature.

The Cafe is charming, with excellent food. We all had different egg dishes and they were wonderful. The Cafe has a charming outdoor patio for eating if the weather is warm enough.

We learned of Tohono Chul from another traveler. It's a great place to spend a morning or part of an afternoon. Lovely surroundings with a nice restaurant and gift shop. The walking paths are mostly paved and easy to manage. Many, many sculptures. A variety of birds flitting in and out of trees, easily seen. Plenty of places to stop and rest. Excellent for seniors or anyone with disabilities. Entrance fee is reasonable.

Spend a few hours winding trough the foot paths of this garden. You'll find sculptures interspersed with the many varieties of cactus, trees and flowers. The gift shop is the typical tourist stuff, but the cafe is lovely.

The Breakfast is always good. Like the Eggs Benedict especially.The lunches are great as well---like the Cobb Salad. Very filling.The Lemonade is very tasty---it has Prickly Pear juice in it.The garden is lowly--lots of areas for shade as well as partial shade if you don't like the sun or you can eat inside.Great place to bring Tucson guests.

This 49-acre park provides easy access to beautifully landscaped desert gardens. Myriad cactus, including saguaros, flowers and trees contribute to the flora. Hummingbirds and butterflies help make up the fauna. And I've always heeded the signs to watch out for rattlesnakes but have never encountered one here.Perfectly maintained, the mostly level park features both paved and unpaved trails. Lifelike sculptures appear frequently. I especially like the creations of Kenyan sculptor Kioko Mwitiki, such as "Horse" and "Mule Deer." And I find the placement of his "Vulture" in a tree by the La Galeria Museum Shop to be perfect. This shop has a vast array of Southwest items for sale, such as pottery, jewelry, hats, T-shirts, fetishes, books, etc. Attached to the shop is the Exhibit House with paintings and other creations focusing on the desert. On a recent visit I found the temporary exhibition "Tumamoc Hill: Art, Culture and Science" (ends March 15, 2015) to be fascinating. For example, Paul Mirocha's digital image of "Three Rattlers on Tumamoc Hill" was done just before the snakes awakened from anesthesia after receiving radio transmitters. Scientists wanted to know where these reptiles go and what they do.The Exhibit House has a room, where a long red couch faces a window that overlooks a lovely staged desert scene. Sculptures of a javelina and her babies gaze at a pool forming from a trickling waterfall. Though there are plenty of beckoning benches throughout the park, this is a lovely place to sit and rest for a while.Despite the many labelled plants, there is a noticeable lack of identifying signage. Docents stationed throughout the park, however, can answer questions. The wildflower garden has a helpful book for visitors to leaf through to learn which of the park's 50 species of wildflowers are blooming in front of them. Daily tours occur at the park, which provide additional information, such as art in the park or birds of Tohono Chul.Tohono Chul Park is located in the Northwest part of Tucson near the intersection of Ina and Oracle. If coming from Downtown, head north on Oracle, turn west on Ina and north again at the second stoplight, Paseo del Norte. Admission is $10 for adults.

I am a charter member who has been supporting this place for nearly 30 years. What more needs to be said.