A Day in Tombstone and Bisbee

Tombstone and Bisbee sit about 24 miles apart on State Route 80 in Cochise County, in the far southeast of Arizona, and one day is enough to see both. They tell two halves of the same story. Tombstone was a silver town, founded in 1879, made county seat in 1881 and remembered for 30 seconds of shooting that October. Bisbee was a copper town that kept digging for almost a century and took the county seat away from Tombstone in 1929. This route does Tombstone in the morning and Bisbee in the afternoon: a cemetery, a courthouse museum and the O.K. Corral first, then an hour underground in the Copper Queen Mine, the mining museum and the open pit at dusk.

You need a car. From a Sierra Vista base the whole loop is about 70 miles of driving. From Tucson it is about 200 miles and 4 hours at the wheel, so leave by 07:30. The walking is light, about 4 km in total, split between Tombstone's Allen Street and the steep streets of Old Bisbee. Three things set the order. The O.K. Corral's re-enactment starts at 11:00, the Queen Mine runs its tours at fixed times, and the Bisbee museum closes at 16:00.

Book these before you go.

• Queen Mine Tour, Bisbee: reservations are required. Call (520) 432-2071 or book through copperqueenmine.com for the 14:00 tour. As of November 2026 it costs $18 for adults and $9 for ages 6–12, taxes included. Children under 6 are not allowed underground.
• O.K. Corral, Tombstone: tickets are sold online in advance, and on the day at the corral. The corral says its shows often sell out and suggests buying at least 1–2 hours before the one you want. A ticket with the re-enactment costs $10, without it $6, and children 5 and under go free (November 2026).
• Check the date. On Thanksgiving (26 November 2026) and Christmas Day, Boothill, the O.K. Corral and the Bisbee museum are closed (see Practical notes).

09:00 — Boothill Graveyard: the cemetery the town outgrew in five years

Boothill Graveyard is on Highway 80 at the north edge of Tombstone, at 408 N. Highway 80. It opens at 08:00 every day and closes at 17:00. Admission is $6 (November 2026). From Sierra Vista the drive is about 19 miles and 35 minutes. From downtown Tucson it is about 71 miles and an hour and a half, by I-10 east to exit 303 and then State Route 80 south.

The graveyard was used only from 1879 to 1884, when the town opened a new cemetery on west Allen Street. In those five years it took at least 250 burials. The best-known graves are the three men killed in the gunfight of 26 October 1881: Tom and Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton. Nearby are Marshal Fred White, shot by Curly Bill Brocius in October 1880, and the five men hanged on 28 March 1884 for the Bisbee massacre. John Heath, lynched in 1884, has a marker here although he is buried in Texas. China Mary, a storekeeper and money lender who died in 1906, is buried here too.

The graveyard fell into disrepair and was restored by the city from the 1940s. Its most quoted marker, the joke epitaph of one Lester Moore, belongs to a man whose existence is doubted. Allow 30 to 40 minutes, then drive about a mile south into town.

The marker at the entrance to Boothill Graveyard, beside Highway 80 at the north edge of Tombstone. Image: Buffers on tour, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Park once for the morning. The O.K. Corral says cars are not allowed on Allen Street, and it runs a free car park behind the corral on Fremont Street (Highway 80), between Third and Fourth Streets. Leave the car there. Everything in town on this route is within a few blocks.

Buy your corral tickets now. If you did not book online, walk through to the corral's Allen Street entrance at 326 East Allen Street and buy a ticket for the 11:00 show before you go on to the courthouse.

09:45 — Tombstone Courthouse State Historic Park: the county seat in brick

From the car park, walk two blocks south, across Allen Street, to Toughnut Street. The Tombstone Courthouse at 223 Toughnut Street is a two-storey red-brick Victorian building of 1882. Cochise County was created in 1881 with Tombstone as its seat, and the county ran its sheriff's office, courtroom and jail from here until Bisbee won the county seat in 1929. The last county offices left the building in 1931. The National Register nomination for the building calls it the oldest standing courthouse in Arizona.

The 1882 Tombstone Courthouse on Toughnut Street, now a state historic park. Image: Mikepascoe, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The City of Tombstone took it over in 1942, a local restoration commission reopened the first floor in 1956, and on 1 August 1959 it passed to the State Parks Board. That made it Arizona's first operational state park.

Inside are a period sheriff's office, a lawyer's office and the restored courtroom upstairs, with rooms on mining, ranching, a saloon and gaming room, and the town's residents. One room collects artists' drawings of the gunfight and exhibits on Wyatt Earp. The collection also includes a licence to operate a brothel and an invitation to a hanging. In the courtyard stands a reproduction gallows, on the site where convicted murderers were hanged.

Hours and tickets (November 2026). From 1 October to 31 May the park is open daily 09:00–16:30. From June to September it closes at 15:00. Adults (14 and over) pay $10, ages 7–13 pay $5, and children 6 and under go free. On Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve it closes at 14:00, and it is closed on Christmas Day. Arizona State Parks currently warns of construction noise and work crews during visits. Allow an hour.

10:50 — O.K. Corral: the gunfight, staged where it happened

Walk back up to the O.K. Corral in time for the 11:00 re-enactment. The corral is a private attraction, run by the Tombstone Historama Corporation, and it is open 09:00–17:00 every day except Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. The re-enactment runs daily at 11:00, 13:00 and 15:00 and lasts about 30 minutes. The schedule can change. On busy days the corral adds a fourth show and shifts the times to 11:00, 12:00, 14:00 and 15:30.

The O.K. Corral's frontage on East Allen Street, Tombstone. Image: P,TO 19104, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The fight itself happened on 26 October 1881. City Marshal Virgil Earp, his brothers Wyatt and Morgan, and Doc Holliday confronted Ike and Billy Clanton and Tom and Frank McLaury. The corral's own history page says nearly thirty shots were fired in about thirty seconds. Tom McLaury, Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton were killed, and Virgil and Morgan Earp were wounded. The shooting did not happen inside the corral. It started in a narrow vacant lot behind it, off Fremont Street, between the Harwood house and C. S. Fly's photography gallery and boarding house. Today the corral's grounds run from Allen Street back to Fremont and take in that lot.

After the show, walk the complex. Life-size figures of the eight men stand where a map drawn by Wyatt Earp placed them. There are 1880s-style stables, a blacksmith's shop and buggies, and a gallery of Fly's photographs, including his pictures of Geronimo. The ticket also covers Tombstone's Historama next door, a 26-minute multimedia history of the town narrated by the actor Vincent Price, at 12:00, 14:00 and 16:00 (12:00, 13:00, 15:00 and 16:15 on four-show days). On this route there is no time for it if you are making the 14:00 mine tour; take the 15:30 tour instead if you want it (see the alternative below).

The corral is a commercial attraction that mixes history with entertainment. The city's website notes that Tombstone has several gunfight shows; this route names only the corral's because it stands on the site. For the documentary record, the courthouse is the better source.

11:45 — The Epitaph and Allen Street

The Tombstone Epitaph Museum at 11 South Fifth Street, a block and a half from the corral, is free and open 10:00–16:00 daily except Thanksgiving and Christmas. It is the museum of the town's newspaper. Its 1881 reports of the gunfight are on show, along with an original Washington hand press. Your corral ticket includes a reprint of that 1881 issue.

The Tombstone Epitaph office on Fifth Street, now a free museum. Image: Marine 69-71, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Then walk a few blocks of Allen Street, the town's main street, with its covered boardwalks. Tombstone's silver district produced about 32 million troy ounces of silver, and the town's historic district is a National Historic Landmark. The city calendar lists "Vigilante Sundays" on 8 and 22 November 2026, from 10:00 to 16:00.

A covered board sidewalk in Tombstone, photographed by Russell Lee in May 1940. Image: Russell Lee / Adam Cuerden, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Leave Tombstone by about 12:15. You can eat lunch in either town, but eating in Bisbee keeps the timing safe.

12:15 — Drive to Bisbee

From the corral car park, follow Highway 80 south. It is about 24 miles and 35 minutes to Bisbee. The road goes through a tunnel just before town. After the tunnel, take the second exit, signed for Historic Old Bisbee. The Queen Mine Tour driveway is 50 feet ahead, but its own parking is limited.

Bisbee was founded in 1880 and named for Judge DeWitt Bisbee, a backer of the Copper Queen Mine. By 1910 it had 9,019 people and was the third-largest town in the Arizona Territory. Old Bisbee, at about 5,500 feet, is compact and walkable, with Victorian houses, an Art Deco county courthouse, and a four-storey high school with a ground-level entrance on every floor. Eat in Old Bisbee and be back at the mine by 13:30.

Parking in Old Bisbee. The town's visitor website points to paid public parking at St. Patrick Parish, 100 Quality Hill Road; turn at the Iron Man statue and drive up Quality Hill Road.

14:00 — Queen Mine Tour: an hour inside the Copper Queen

The Copper Queen Mine Tour at 478 N. Dart Road asks you to arrive 30 minutes before your tour, and late arrivals may not be taken. Tours run daily at 09:00, 10:30, 12:00, 14:00 and 15:30 and last about an hour.

The Copper Queen made Bisbee. Its ore ran about 23 percent copper, and from 1885 it was run by Phelps Dodge through the Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Company. Phelps Dodge closed Bisbee's underground mines in the summer of 1975. Volunteers then cleared fallen rock and re-timbered the old workings, with a federal grant to the City of Bisbee, and the tour opened on 1 February 1976.

The Queen Mine Tours building and mine entrance on Dart Road, Bisbee. Image: Shal Farley, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

You are given a hard hat, a headlamp and a safety vest, and you ride an original mine train, sitting astride a bench seat. The train goes about 1,500 feet into the mountain on a half-mile round trip with two stops. At one you walk about 300 feet along the tunnel. At the other there are 36 steps, and you can stay on the train if you prefer. It is cool underground, so bring a light jacket even in summer. Open-toed shoes and high heels are not allowed.

15:05 — Bisbee Mining & Historical Museum: the company's head office

Walk a short way north to the Bisbee Mining & Historical Museum at 5 Copper Queen Plaza. It is open daily 10:00–16:00, so you have about 55 minutes. As of November 2026 admission is $12, $11 for veterans, active military and seniors 60 and over, and free for children under 10 with an adult. It is closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The museum is a Smithsonian Affiliate housed in the two-storey red-brick Phelps Dodge General Office Building, the company's local headquarters until 1961. It became a museum in 1971 and a National Historic Landmark in 1983. Its website features the exhibits "Bisbee: Urban Outpost on the Frontier" and "Digging In: Bisbee's Mineral Heritage". Bisbee azurite and malachite specimens are in mineral collections around the world.

The Phelps Dodge General Office Building, home of the Bisbee Mining & Historical Museum. Image: Karen Fasimpaur, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Look for the story of the Bisbee Deportation. On 12 July 1917, during a miners' strike, about 1,300 strikers, supporters and bystanders were rounded up, held at the ballpark in Warren and sent in cattle cars on a 16-hour journey to Tres Hermanas, New Mexico.

16:00 — Main Street and Brewery Gulch

When the museum closes, walk Main Street and Brewery Gulch. The museum's website offers a self-guided walking tour of Brewery Gulch and a self-guided 1920s "shopping trip" down Main Street; print them before you go. Allow about 40 minutes. The streets are steep, and the town sits at about 5,500 feet.

Main Street in Old Bisbee. Image: Marine 69-71, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Brewery Gulch in Bisbee, about 1904. Image: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

16:45 — The Lavender Pit at dusk

Drive about a mile and a half southeast on Highway 80 to the Lavender Pit, the open-pit copper mine on the edge of Old Bisbee. Its name has nothing to do with its colour: it honours Harrison M. Lavender, a vice president and general manager of Phelps Dodge. According to the Bisbee museum, work on the pit began in 1951, it was dedicated in 1954, and mining stopped in 1975. By then it covered 300 acres and was 900 feet deep, and 351 million tons of rock had been removed to produce 600,000 tons of copper. Many travel sites give 1950 to 1974; the museum's dates are used here.

The pit was dug where Highway 80 used to run between Bisbee and Lowell. About 250 homes and businesses made way for it, a hundred houses were moved to Saginaw, and the highway was rebuilt along what is now the pit's east rim. It is a closed mine site, not a park, and has no official visitor page. Travel guides describe a roadside pull-off on Highway 80 where you can look in. Do not climb any fence.

The terraced walls of the Lavender Pit, Bisbee. Image: Marine 69-71, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Sunset in Bisbee is at about 17:20 in mid-November and mid-December, and about 17:40 in mid-January. Then drive back: about 27 miles and 40 minutes to Sierra Vista, or about 100 miles and 2 hours to Tucson.

Alternatives

Take the 15:30 mine tour instead. If the 14:00 tour is full, or you want the Historama, stay in Tombstone until about 13:00. In Bisbee, see the museum first (from 13:45), then be at the mine by 15:00 for the 15:30 tour. The pit comes last, as before.

With children under 6. They cannot go into the mine. Spend longer at the museum and walk Old Bisbee instead.

On Thanksgiving. On 26 November 2026, Boothill, the O.K. Corral, the Epitaph museum and the Bisbee museum are closed, and the courthouse is open only 09:00–14:00. The Queen Mine's site gives no holiday schedule; call before you go. Tombstone's tree and park lighting is the next evening, 27 November, from 17:30 to 18:30.

The day at a glance

Practical notes

Driving. From Tucson, take I-10 east to Benson (exit 303) and State Route 80 south. The loop Tucson–Tombstone–Bisbee–Tucson is about 200 miles. From Sierra Vista it is about 70 miles. Arizona does not use daylight saving time, so sunset stays early all winter.

Cash. The O.K. Corral has an on-site ATM that charges a $2.50 fee.

Walking. Tombstone is flat. Old Bisbee is steep and sits at about 5,500 feet, so take water and go slowly on the stairs and hills. Wear closed-toe shoes for the mine.

Weather. The summer monsoon officially runs from 15 June to 30 September and can bring sudden storms and flash floods. Winter days are mild, but nights can be near freezing.

Holidays. Boothill, the O.K. Corral, the Epitaph museum and the Bisbee museum close on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. The courthouse closes on Christmas Day and closes early on Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve.

Prices and hours are as published by each site in November 2026. Check them before you go.