Direct Flights from San Diego to Tucson
Tucson · Arizona
Nonstop service from SAN to TUS on Southwest. Here's the schedule at a glance — plus what to do once you land.
How rare is this nonstop?
Only 15 cities have a nonstop to Tucson, so this is a route worth knowing about — most travelers connect to get there.
How long to go to Tucson for, from San Diego
1h 15m in the air, 367 miles: short enough that a single night in Tucson is worth it, and a day trip is not absurd.
About Tucson
Tucson (TOO-sawn), also known as the "Old Pueblo", is the second-largest city in the state of Arizona and the county seat of Pima County in the Sonoran Desert. It is at a higher elevation than nearby Phoenix and is correspondingly cooler. Although with half a million residents it is smaller than the capital city, its cultural life is just as vibrant.
Summary from Wikivoyage (CC BY-SA).
Top things to do in Tucson
- Saguaro National Park is a national park of the United States in southeastern Arizona.
- The Pima Air & Space Museum is an aerospace museum in Tucson, Arizona, US. It features a display of nearly 400 aircraft spread out over 80 acres (32 ha) on a campus occupying 127 acres (51 ha).
- The Cathedral of Saint Augustine is the cathedral and mother church of the Catholic Diocese of Tucson. It is located in Tucson, Arizona in the United States.
- The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is a 98-acre zoo, aquarium, botanical garden, natural history museum, publisher, and art gallery founded in 1952.
- Old Tucson is an American film studio and theme park just west of Tucson, Arizona, adjacent to the Tucson Mountains and close to the western portion of Saguaro National Park and near the Desert Museum.
- Madera Canyon is a canyon in the northwestern face of the Santa Rita Mountains, twenty-five miles southeast of Tucson, Arizona.
- The Arizona State Museum (ASM), founded in 1893, was originally a repository for the collection and protection of archaeological resources.
- Colossal Cave is a cave system in southeastern Arizona, United States, near the community of Vail, about 22 miles (35 km) southeast of Tucson. It contains about 3.9 miles (6.3 km) of mapped passageways.
- Tohono Chul is a botanical garden, nature preserve, and cultural museum located in Casas Adobes, a suburb of Tucson, Arizona.
- Catalina State Park is located at the base of the Santa Catalina Mountains. It is home to nearly 5,000 saguaros and desert plants.
- The Titan Missile Museum, also known as Air Force Facility Missile Site 8 or as Titan II ICBM Site 571-7, is a former ICBM site located about 40 km (25 mi) south of Tucson, Arizona in the United States.
- The University of Arizona Mineral Museum (UAMM) is a mineralogy museum located in the Pima County Courthouse in downtown Tucson, Arizona.
Attraction descriptions from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA); place data from Wikidata (CC0).
Tucson weather, compared with San Diego
14° warmer than San Diego on average across the year, on daytime highs:
- January
- Tucson 67°F · San Diego 66°F · much the same
- April
- Tucson 83°F · San Diego 68°F · 15° warmer
- July
- Tucson 100°F · San Diego 75°F · 26° warmer
- October
- Tucson 87°F · San Diego 74°F · 12° warmer
June averages 102°F, hot enough to plan the middle of the day around. Tucson also swings harder through the year than San Diego does — 36° between its coldest and warmest months against 12°.
Average daily highs, 1991–2020 station normals from Meteostat (CC BY 4.0), measured at each city's airport.
Planning a trip to Tucson
- Best time to visit
- The best time to visit Tucson is November–March, when daytime highs are a comfortable 66–76°F.
- How long to stay
- Tucson rewards a longer visit — a full week lets you explore its many sights, from Saguaro National Park, Pima Air & Space Museum, and Cathedral of Saint Augustine (Tucson, Arizona) and beyond.
Frequently asked questions
- Is there a direct flight from San Diego to Tucson?
- Yes — you can fly nonstop from San Diego (SAN) to Tucson (TUS) on Southwest.
- Which airlines fly nonstop from San Diego to Tucson?
- Southwest flies nonstop between San Diego (SAN) and Tucson (TUS).
- How many nonstop flights are there from San Diego to Tucson?
- There are about 2 nonstop departures per day (roughly 14 per week) from San Diego to Tucson.
- How far is Tucson from San Diego?
- Tucson is about 367 miles from San Diego by air.
- What is there to do in Tucson?
- Popular things to do include Saguaro National Park, Pima Air & Space Museum, Cathedral of Saint Augustine (Tucson, Arizona), Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, and more.
More nonstop destinations from San Diego near Tucson
Airports near San Diego
The closest other departure airports to San Diego — each opens up more nonstop destinations.