Border Wall Jeep Tour - 3 hrs - Also Bisbee Lowell and Open Pits

Highlights

Inclusions

Itinerary

1. Starting from your selected Guest-Choice pickup location, the Tour introduces the origins of Bisbee, including its founders and the reasons behind its founding. You'll learn about the town's first copper smelter and its environmental impact. Next, the tour takes you to OK Street to explore John Wayne's favorite hangover spot and the miners' historic architecture. You'll pass the first brewery site and go up Brewery Gulch, learning about the miners' flood challenges and driving through the Red Light District with its historical significance. The tour then visits the Lyric Theater and the Central School parking lot, showcasing local history and design. A visit to the Old High School provides insights into the area’s educational past. Climbing High Road, you'll enjoy panoramic views and a thorough history lesson on Bisbee. The tour concludes on Main Street via Quality Hill, highlighting historical and architectural details, with three stops that bring Bisbee’s story full circle.

   45 min

2. Our rugged 4x4 Jeep rumbles to the brink of the 900-foot-deep Lavender Pit. You’ll stop just five feet from the edge, gazing into a man-made canyon carved by decades of mining. Your expert guide will point out the mining process, and precision blasting techniques that turned solid rock into this industrial marvel. Then, we’ll bounce over to Erie St., where the eerie remains of old leaching ponds shimmer in the sun. Here, your guide explains the chemistry: how sulfuric acid seeps through massive ore heaps, dissolving copper into an orange solution—visible in the stained earth and evaporation ponds that stretch across the landscape. Throughout, we’ll share the human stories—nearby mining towns that boomed then vanished, the cultures that grew around the pits. This exclusive 4x4 journey blends raw industrial power with natural beauty, delivering an unforgettable insider’s look at copper mining’s past, present, and future.

   30 min

3. You will visit Lowell, AZ, and stroll down Erie Street. This area, with its 1940s classic cars and old-style shops, is perfect for taking pictures. Your guide will also talk about the history of the Junction Mine. Next, you will go to the Shady Dell Hotel. As you pass through its parking lot, your guide will discuss the hotel's historical and cultural significance. The lot is filled with old cars and vintage items. Your tour then heads to Lowell School, noticeable for its copper roof and doors. The guide will provide historical details and share personal anecdotes related to the school. Another point of interest is a leaching drainage ditch with polluted water. Here, the guide will recount childhood adventures centered around this ditch. The final stop is a drive through the Evergreen Cemetery, a site of national historical importance. Your guide will explain the cemetery's history and its importance to Bisbee.

   45 min

4. You'll visit the iconic Border Wall at two distinct locations: first, your Jeep will pause at a scenic overlook for breathtaking panoramic views of the landscape, then proceed to the nearby port-of-entry, where you'll have the option to step out and touch the wall up close. Along the way, your expert guide will share the gripping story of the first foreign aerial bombing in American history. The journey continues to historic Fort Naco, where you'll discover the weathered remains of this early 20th-century military outpost, built to defend the border during the Mexican Revolution.

   1 h

Cancellation

Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the experience starts, for a full refund.

Reviews

Ratings come from 4 reviews collected by our booking partner. They are travellers' own words, in the order they were written — never reordered to flatter the experience.

Know before you go

How it compares in Tombstone

• Its from-price is 186% above the median of the 22 experiences we list in Tombstone.
• It is longer than most of them.
• By number of reviews it ranks 17 of 22.
• The operator lists free cancellation on it.

About Tombstone

Tombstone is a preserved Old West silver-mining town in southern Arizona, site of the 1881 gunfight near the O.K. Corral, with boardwalks and saloons.

Tombstone was founded in 1879 after the prospector Ed Schieffelin struck silver in the surrounding hills; he had been warned that all he would find there was his tombstone. The historic district preserves Allen Street's boardwalks and saloons and a courthouse of 1882, now a museum, and the town calls itself the Town Too Tough to Die. The gunfight of 26 October 1881, between the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday and the Clanton and McLaury cowboys, took place near the O.K. Corral.

See all 22 experiences in Tombstone