Tucson, Arizona- Vegan & Dog Friendly!

We have been to Tucson, Arizona on vacation twice and really liked it. Besides having weather that we absolutely adore, Tucson is a very vegan and dog friendly city.

They have a lot of dog friendly places to stay, but there are a few that I would like to highlight here. On our first visit, we stayed at the Westward Look Resort and loved it. The rooms were very private, quiet & nice and the gorgeous resort grounds had several trails & pathways to walk on. For a short stay, I would definitely stay there again or at one of the several La Quinta hotels. We've stayed in quite a few La Quintas and haven't been disappointed yet. Plus, they're always dog friendly!

Mike & Emma on one of Westward Look Resort's pathways. For stays that are a week or longer, there is Project Vegan's Welcome to Paradise Guest House. We're hoping to get enough time off of work sometime in the next few years to stay at this divine sounding place. It's located in a very nice, quiet area of Tucson at the side of the foothills on 1/2 an acre and has all the comforts of home: a king sized bed, washer & dryer, fully equipped kitchen, a fully gated & contained side yard, a covered rear patio and much more. Their rate is extremely reasonable and includes all utilities. Paradise indeed!

As far as places to eat, you have quite a few restaurants to pick from. Our favorites were the vegan pizza from Magpie's Pizza and Lovin' Spoonfuls, which is a 100% vegan restaurant. Although you can't bring dogs into the restaurant, they do offer takeout or you can eat with them on the covered patio. We brought Emma there quite a few times and she was always greeted warmly and with a bowl of water. Very nice!

On Lovin' Spoonfuls patio, ready to chow down. There are a lot of outdoor places to go with your dog in Tucson, too. Most of their city parks allow dogs and they also have seven fenced-in dog parks in the city as well as several more in the area. We visited all of them and found them all quite nice!
There are also several state parks and trail areas around the area. While not all of them allow dogs, a lot of them, including the nearby Catalina State Park (one of our favorites!) does. The surrounding mountain areas also have several trails that dogs are allowed on. If you're there in the summer, you can reach elevations as high as 9000 feet, so it's a nice way to escape the heat for a while. The temperature went down 30 degrees from what it was in Tucson once we got that high up! The landscape also changes quite a bit, which reminds us of Colorado.

Check out the dog friendly guide to Tucson for more places that allow dogs around the Tucson area. There is also a lot of great information on all things vegan in Arizona at AZVegan.com. You can see more pictures of our road trips here. Enjoy!