Cool Things to Do in Bisbee, Arizona

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Most people have never heard of the charming, quirky mining town of Bisbee, Arizona near the Mexican border. They’re more familiar with its sinful sister city Tombstone, just a short drive away and famous for Old West lore. Of the two, Bisbee is overwhelmingly the more enjoyable and livable spot today, although Tombstone stands as a relic to fascinating history. There are plenty of things to do in Bisbee to keep you busy, while Tombstone can be done in a day trip. I based myself in Bisbee for an entire month.

Largely forgotten, Bisbee was once one of the most populous cities in the West back when the copper (and gold, silver, and lead) mines were booming. You can’t miss the giant Lavender Pit hole in the earth that serves as a reminder as you drive into town (this pit is not on my list of “cool things to do in Bisbee” – just look at it for two seconds out the window and continue driving). After the rush subsided it had a bit of an identity crisis, but now the Bisbee Renaissance is in full swing. 

Artists and musicians, many from Los Angeles, have moved in and repurposed the town. Original flavors of the Wild West mix with new age hippie values. Steam punk mixes with bordello burlesque. Antique mining equipment sits on display next to vintage rock’n’roll couture. Old jail and bank buildings have been turned into homes and antique stores. Local fashionistas combine folk references ranging from cowboy to flower power to goth alien, all in the same outfit. Meanwhile, being so close to the border means Mexican culture also finds its way into the decor, art, and food. Native American history, particularly from the era of the Apache Wars, surrounds the town in all directions.

Clearly, I’m absolutely in love with it. This is the problem I run into with travel; I want to live everywhere I go. After working remotely in Bisbee for a few weeks I’ve begun to fall in step with the vibe. You may not have that kind of time, but even on a short trip you can fit in these cool things to do in Bisbee, Arizona:

Visit the Abandoned Ghost Town of Lowell

Back in the day, Lowell used to be a separate town from Bisbee. It was incorporated into Bisbee in the early 1900s. As the mining industry waned, Lowell’s population moved on. Now all that’s left is Erie Street, which appears frozen in time. It’s as if some sort of apocalyptic event took place in the 1950s and people simply vanished, leaving wares behind in the shop windows. Vintage cars, buses, and motorcycles line the street, somehow not stolen or vandalized by passersby over the years. Even the posters and ads on the street are old school. 

There is one open and active business still standing, the Bisbee Breakfast Club. I ordered the huevos rancheros per suggestion from Atlas Obscura, which was as good as advertised.

Since Lowell has its own name, at first I thought it was a separate suburb or town sort of like nearby Warren. However, Erie Street is practically inside of Bisbee, right off the roundabout. I’ve overheard tourists asking locals for directions after having trouble finding it. It is a little confusing how the street is hidden under the overpass. It’s probably best to follow your Google Map while driving there so you take the right exit off the roundabout. 

Explore Main Street

TIP: The roads in Bisbee are extremely narrow. Some of them wind up into the hills, and most of them do not have enough room for two cars to pass each other. Ditch your car as quickly as you can when you arrive in town and just walk everywhere.

Find Street Art

Walking around the town of Bisbee is a pastime within itself. I’ve loved exploring all the little tributary side streets branching off from the main drag! If you wander aimlessly you’re likely to stumble upon plenty of points of interest, but I’d also advise downloading the route for the Bisbee 1000 Great Stair Climb. The race route is lined with local art and brings you up hidden staircases and backroads weaving throughout the neighborhood. 

Over the 4.5 mile route, runners climb 9 flights of stairs (over 1000 steps), sometimes while being serenaded by local musicians. The stairs are a characteristic feature of Bisbee. Some homes and neighborhood streets can only be accessed by climbing a long, narrow flight of stairs built into the side of a hill. As a hermit, this would be my dream location for a home. 

The street art around town gives you a real glimpse into the mindset of Bisbee locals. I’ve seen a lot of artistic sentiments aggrandizing the archetype of the weirdo hippie outcast rebel, similar to Austin, Texas’ “Keep Austin Weird”. 

It’s still Arizona, and there’s a dusty motorcycle gang vibe at times, so I’m sure there is quite a range of political leanings and belief systems. However, a lot of the street art makes clear progressive statements. There are displays in support of Black Lives Matter, the LGBTQ community, and science.

I think most people here agree that the government should stay out of their business and let them live how they choose, whether this is because they’re an off-grid liberal who wants to grow their own food or because they’re a conservative building a doomsday bunker.

FUN FACT: Every night at exactly 8pm, Bisbee townies howl in the streets or out of their balconies like wolves at the moon. It started during COVID when other cities were clapping or clanking pots and pans, but never ended. I was very confused by this the first few nights. 

There is also a “Bisbee After Dark: A Ghostly Tour on Wheels” if you prefer to avoid walking and stairs.

See a Haunted Magic Show

The Bisbee Seance Room, aka Magic Kenny Bang Bang’s Victorian Parlor, hosts a theatrical haunted-history-meets-magic-show every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 6pm, 7pm, 8pm, and 9pm.

When you walk in, you’ll be seated at a long shared table in what looks like a dining room frozen in time from the late 1800s. It’s a cozy setup for maybe a maximum of 15 people. The decor features taxidermy, flickering candlelight, an antique jukebox, old black and white pictures from Bisbee history, a painting of Harry Houdini, a strange chandelier, and Kenny himself, who looks like the living, breathing personification of it all.

When the door closes and the red curtains shut behind you, the show begins. Magic Kenny Bang Bang talks you through the haunted history of Bisbee while weaving magic tricks into the story, calling upon ghostly spirits and mind-reading powers to assist. His sorcery is impressive! I truly can’t understand how he pulled any of the tricks off. There’s one in particular where something is materialized out of thin air…I won’t ruin the surprise, but it doesn’t make any sense.

He does include the audience in the show, which gives me anxiety. But thankfully we weren’t expected to do anything embarrassing. He’s not going to hypnotize you and make you quack like a duck in front of everyone.

Shop at the Saturday Farmer’s Market

Every Saturday at Vista Park there is a Farmer’s Market with fresh locally grown ingredients and artisanal foods. I work on Saturdays so I was extremely bummed to miss this every single week. There was also another street market of some kind closer to Main Street, which I know because I could hear the live music outside my window, taunting me.

I was mostly interested in trying to sneak away from work in order to get some of the fresh homemade bread that Mimosa Market would sell there every week. They haven’t been open to the public at their brick and mortar store, so going to their street booth on Saturday is really the only way to get this supposedly awesome bread. I’m so mad.

Take a Day Trip to Tombstone, Arizona

You can’t not make a day trip to Tombstone! I’m a huge Wild West history buff. I love anything to do with outlaws, shootouts, and wagon trails. While I was living in Flagstaff it took some effort to uncover legends like this from northern Arizona, but in southern Arizona the stories can be found around every corner.

Tombstone, “the town too tough to die”, is most famous for the OK Corral shootout between Wyatt Earp, Virgil Earp, Morgan Earp, and Doc Holliday on one side and Billy Claiborne, brothers Ike and Billy Clanton, and brothers Tom and Frank McLaury on the other side (a loosely associated gang known as the Cowboys). The whole skirmish lasted about 30 seconds, but left Billy Clanton and both McLaury brothers dead. This shootout and the events before/after are depicted in the movie Tombstone. 

While the town is now quite touristy and feels like a movie set, I still thoroughly enjoyed the visit. So many of the buildings and furnishings are original. The most impressive collection of artifacts is at the Bird Cage Theater (1881-1889), my favorite museum in town. The faro card table where Doc Holliday and Johnny Ringo had their famous confrontation is still there on display. The original curtains hang in the balcony boxes. Bullet holes created by drunken cowboys still mar the stage and the painting of Fatima that’s been hanging there since 1882 (Fatima was a belly dancer who performed at the Bird Cage in 1881). 

In the back sits a Black Moriah, a hearse that buried everyone in Tombstone (with the exception of 6 people) in Boothill Cemetery. There were only 8 of this particular model built that year, and the Black Moriah at Bird Card Theater is the only one remaining. The trim is sterling silver and 24 karat gold. On the lower floor, poker tables and whiskey bottles were all left exactly where they were; even the mirrors are original. Two bordello rooms on this floor have been kept in their original state as well. Apparently, employees expected to return to town and left many belongings behind. Instead, multiple fires that destroyed local businesses and mining enterprises practically turned Tombstone in a ghost town.

You might also check out the courthouse, the Tombstone Epitaph newspaper building, Wyatt Earp’s house, and the Boothill Cemetery where the casualties from the OK Corral shootout are buried (see gallery). About a 10 minute drive from Tombstone is the ghost town of Fairbank, which I only know about because Rodney from the Pin Pals visited there with his pin recently!

TOUR: Coming from Phoenix, Scottsdale, or Tuscon and don’t want to rent a car? There are guided day trips with transportation included here, as well as ghost tours and self-guided audio tours.

Hike in a Sky Island

A “sky island” is a mountain range that inexplicably juts up out of surrounding lowlands. Sky islands are a stark contrast to the flat deserts that stretch around them for miles, as if one of the Old Gods had punched his fist up through the ground to create a singular blemish. From Bisbee, it takes about an hour and a half to drive to Chiricahua National Monument or to Cochise Stronghold Campground in the Dragoon Mountains. Both locations have spectacular hiking trails which I’ve detailed here:

I also did the Crest Trail in Coronado National Memorial near Sierra Vista in the Huachuca Mountains, which provides gorgeous panoramic views. You can see into Mexico from here, and out over the lands where Coronado would have marched his party of 1000 explorers into America.

Staying in Bisbee this month was exactly what I needed. It was the perfect base to relax on the down low and get some work done while also being able to explore an artsy town I’d never been to before, experience history in a hands-on way, and hike in some of the coolest mountain ranges I’ve ever seen.

I’ve tagged Bisbee in my mental list of places I would consider living one day. Maybe in ten years if I ever get travel out of my system, this could be a town where I might think about settling longer term. I’ve started comparing all USA small towns to Bisbee when researching other places to visit; the only town to rival its coolness so far has been, surprisingly, Eureka Springs, Arkansas.

Of course, like what happened in the original boomtown days, housing in Bisbee is once again in high demand. I also left Los Angeles for a reason. I’m not sure if being surrounded by artists, musicians, and “gurus” is really my M.O. anymore. Still, I truly enjoyed its character and the ability to live on your own terms with a bit of privacy. Anywhere that takes pride in its array of weirdos is a place I can get down with.

If you’ve been, what were your favorite things to do in Bisbee, Arizona? What was your impression of its eccentricities? What other small towns in the United States do you think have the potential to be “the next Bisbee”? It’d be so fun to be involved in the revitalization of a town like this from the start.

🏨 Not into budget hostels and AirBnBs? Check out the standard Bisbee, Arizona hotel options here.
🏕️ Find free or paid campsites near Bisbee on The Dyrt.
✈️ Coming to Arizona from further afield? Use an Airalo eSIM for affordable international cell data and don’t forget to protect your investment with travel insurance.

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