WHY IT’S SPECIAL

Getting in touch with the spirit of the Wild West is tough in the 21st century, but not in south-east Arizona, where ranches still abound, the saguaro cactus towers in iconic fashion – and Tombstone is a living homage to the cowboy era. Modern Tucson – the home of numerous movie classics – is the starting point for a journey into a world made famous by John Wayne, Randolph Scott and others, not just because much of the landscape remains untouched, but for Old Tucson. Set in Saguaro National Park, with its arid desert and 40ft cacti, this 1939 film set has become a theme park for all things Western-related.

Close to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, which is part zoo, part botanical garden and part hands-on natural history museum, it is also the gateway to Tombstone, a destination etched into folklore by the 1881 Gunfight at the OK Corral. Its core remains magnificently intact, providing a spine-tingling journey into an era of saloons, stagecoaches and shoot-outs at places such as Big Nose Kate’s Saloon, Crazy Annie’s Bordello and Boot Hill, where the Gunfight victims are buried. Take a tour of the evocative Mission San Xavier del Bac, the 18th-century White Dove of the Desert (sanxaviermission.org).

YOU’LL NEVER FORGET…

Walking into Allen Street, Tombstone’s principal thoroughfare, with its dirt street, boardwalks and authentic buildings lining both sides.

INSIDER TIP

The Helldorado Days festival (three days each October) features a parade and historical re-enactments.

HOW TO DO IT

Fly to Phoenix with BA. Tucson is a 113-mile drive south-east. For max Western effect, spend a few days at Tombstone Monument Ranch (tombstonemonumentranch.com), with its 1880s frontier style.