Best Bed & Breakfast--In Town
STAFF PICK: If you're looking for a longer stint of quiet, and a chance to escape without going far, there're always Tucson's bed and breakfast inns. Inn stays always include complimentary breakfast, and many will include afternoon tea and other impromptu servings. Rates for Tucson's inns vary from around $40 to over $100 per night, depending on the accommodations. Without exception, Tucson's intimate bed and breakfast inns serenade the soul, recall grace and make a sanctuary for the weary. Each tells a story separate from the lives of the proprietors. You leave these quiet precincts refreshed, with a greater sense of place, home and Tucson's history. El Presidio Bed and Breakfast is the grand dame of the bunch. The Victorian structure, with wrap-around veranda and balustrade atop a hipped-gable roof, was built of 22-inch thick adobe sometime after the Southern Pacific came in 1880. Its elegance has been restored to make it a showcase of Main Street. In 1979, after the house had passed through many hands and some years of neglect, Jerry and Patti Toci bought the property. Breakfast at El Presidio is served family style in a garden-facing room of windows off the central Victorian parlor. Tall trees of the courtyards make for dappled shade, and the gardens and house are comparatively cool even in the height of summer. Patti, a native Virginian, has a preference for Smithfield ham and sausage at breakfast. Her personal blend of coffee is sent from New Orleans. Even if you're late out of bed, you'll find fresh-squeezed orange juice waiting; a bowl of fresh, chilled mango, strawberries, orange, pink grapefruit sections and pear; and hot, fresh muffins, flavored with lemons from Patti's tree and studded with walnuts. You may get baguette French toast stuffed with farmer and cream cheeses, strawberries and banana, served with almond-nut butter and a platter of deliciously crisp bacon. After breakfast, explore the El Presidio historic neighborhood, or just sit in the quiet, shaded yard. El Presidio Bed & Breakfast Inn is at 297 N. Main Ave.
