The Azure Gate Bed & Breakfast
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The Azure Gate is a romantic secluded estate on 5 acres of botanical garden ambiance located in northeast Tucson at the gateway to magnificent Mt. Lemmon.
Open its gate and enter a magical place of brightly designed Mexican tiles, saltillo tile floors, colorful walls, courtyards with splashing fountains, and exquisite gates made by artist, Simon Donovan.
Relax by its pool. Explore meandering pathways and trails. Fall asleep in one of the beautiful bedrooms to a desert lullaby of hooting owls and yipping coyotes. Awaken to a sunrise song of cooing doves and the fragrant anticipation of a delicious breakfast.
The Azure Gate is near the intersection of Tanque Verde and Catalina Highway, just minutes from Saguaro National Park East, Mt. Lemmon, Bear Canyon, and Sabino Canyon, and twenty-five minutes from the airport.
The Azure Gate offers the solitude of nature, the glow of sunrise and sunset, the renewal of mountain views, and nights where the stars seem close enough to touch. Yet a world of recreation, history, and culture wait just outside its gates.
For those interested in hiking and birding there is...
- Aqua Caliente Park
- Saguaro National Park East
- Sabino Canyon
- Bear Canyon
- Mount Lemmon
A little further afield (about an hour's drive one way or the other)...
- Madera Canyon
- Coronado National Conservation Area
- San Pedro Riparian Conservation Area
- Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve
- Patagonia Lake State Park
- Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge
As for Historic Sites...
- San Xavier Mission
- Tumacacori Mission
- Tubac - Artists Community & Historic District
- Cochise Stronghold
- Tombstone
- Bisbee and Copper Queen Mine
Other Nearby Attractions...
- Old Tucson Studios
- Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum
- Tucson Botanical Gardens
- University of Arizona
- Downtown Tucson
- Colossal Caves
- Golfing, Horseback Riding, Biking
It's all at your finger tips and ready to make your stay a memorable one!
The Azure Gate is also a birders paradise. With hummingbird, nut & bug, seed, and thistle feeders it attracts literally hundreds of birds. Binoculars are provided in the main house for guests to use during their stay. Among the many daily visitors are cardinals, pyrrhuloxias, goldfinches, house and casin's finch, silky flycatchers, mockingbirds, white winged/mourning doves, quail, thrashers, verdins, warblers, wrens, nuthatches, sparrows, and hummingbirds. And, of course, there is the occasional Cooper's, Sharp-shinned, Zone-tailed, and Harris Hawk, along with the Turkey Vulture. Plus our friend, the roadrunner.
Animals are present as well, though some not often seen. On a daily basis you'll see desert cottontails, Harris antelope squirrels, and a variety of lizards. Less frequently you could come across one of our family of coyotes (though you may hear them nightly), javalinas, or one of several varieties of snakes.
Your hosts, Dennis and Christine Widman...
Dennis and Christine have lived and traveled throughout the US and Europe. Dennis is an avid wildlife photographer and does training and consulting in business communication. Christine is a children's book writer. Her sixth book, Cornfield Hide and Seek, will be in bookstores spring of 2003. Both love hiking, nature, good food, conversation, and the arts. They will gladly assist you in finding the spectacular trail, savory dinner, local festival, or artistic SW memento that creates a vacation in Tucson which is uniquely yours.