Tucson - Category of Backgroud

Though downtown Tucson shuts down pretty early each evening it's hard to find anywhere open after 9pm the city has a fine selection of restaurants . Mexican joints and cowboy-style Wild-West steakhouses abound in the central districts, while fancier restaurants are found in the exclusive St Phillips Plaza and other parts of the Foothills, a few miles north, as well as in the resort hotels. Most of the arty cafs and night clubs on Congress Street downtown double as bars and restaurants, while several student-oriented places can be found in the university area. There are half a dozen country-and-western saloons on the outskirts of town. For a full rundown, check the listings in the free Tucson Weekly .

Blue Willow 2616 N Campbell Ave tel 520/327-7577. Tasty, fruity breakfasts and light lunches and dinners, served on a pleasant garden patio.

Club Congress Hotel Congress , 311 E Congress St tel 520/622-8848. Hectic, trendy, late-opening bar, with live music a couple of nights each week; the Cup Caf , off the hotel lobby, is a jazzy caf, straight out of the 1930s but updated to include an espresso bar, which serves a bewilderingly broad menu from 7am until 11pm during the week, until 1am weekends.

El Charro 311 N Court Ave tel 520/622-1922. Housed in the same El Presidio building since 1922, this claims to be the oldest Mexican restaurant in the US, and now has its own lively bar next door. The moderately-priced food is good, though not especially fiery; specialties include fine chimichangas.

Gentle Ben's Brewing Co 865 E University Blvd tel 520/624-4177. Microbrewery serving simple food; regularly packed out with students.

J-Bar Westin La Paloma Resort , 3770 E Sunrise Blvd tel 520/615-6000. Terrific southwest-Mex cuisine by Tucson's nationally acclaimed chef Janos Wilder at half the price of his upscale restaurant, Janos , next door. That and the view make it work the trip north to the Foothills.

Kingfisher 2564 E Grant Rd tel 520/323-7739. One of the few restaurants in town with a late-night menu, specializing in relatively expensive seafood. Very cool bar, too, and music on the weekends.

Maverick, King of Clubs 4702 E 22nd St tel 520/748-0456. Old-fashioned country-music honky-tonk, a bit out from the center and brimming with Stetsons.

The Rialto Theatre 318 E Congress St tel 520/740-0126. A 1920s vaudeville theater that's re-opened as Tucson's hottest venue for touring bands.

Tohono Chul Tea Room Tohono Chul Park, 7366 N Paseo del Norte tel 520/797-1222. Attractive adobe caf in small desert park on the northern fringes of town. Open daily 8am5pm; ideal for breakfast, a light lunch or a scones-and-jam afternoon tea.

After serving as a colonial outpost under the Spanish and Mexicans, and then as territorial capital for both the US and Confederate governments, TUCSON (pronounced TOO-sonn ) a mere sixty miles north of Mexico on the cross-country I-10 has grown into a modern mini-metropolis of nearly a million people without entirely sacrificing its historic quarters. Now equal parts college town and retirement community, it's one of the more attractive big cities of the Southwest which admittedly isn't saying much. Although it suffers from the same Sunbelt sprawl as Albuquerque and Phoenix, it does have a wanderable center, some enjoyable restaurants and a pretty good nightlife, energized by the 35,000 students at the University of Arizona. It is also redeemed by having so much superb landscape within easy reach, from the forested flanks of Mount Lemmon to the rolling foothills of Saguaro National Park .

Tucson International Airport , eight miles south of downtown, receives far fewer long-distance flights than Phoenix. It's connected to the city by the slow Sun Tran bus #11 or #6 ($1), and the $15 Arizona Stagecoach shuttles (tel 520/889-1000). For taxi service, call Allstate Cabs (tel 520/798-1111). The Amtrak station, downtown at 400 E Toole Ave, is served by three trains weekly in each direction (eastwest), with connecting buses running north to Phoenix. Greyhound buses also stop very centrally, at 2 S Fourth Ave.

Tucson's downtown visitor center , 110 S Church Ave (MonFri 8am5pm, Sat & Sun 9am4pm; tel 520/624-1817 or 1-800/638-8350), has free maps and information. North of the university, Tucson Map & Flag Center, 3239 N First Ave (tel 520/887-4234), stocks Arizona's best selection of maps and local guides. Great Western Tours (tel 520/572-1660) offer three-hour city tours for $35, and an extensive program of trips further afield.