Travel Blog

The Desert Rose Benson Arizona is located in southern Arizona, east of Tucson and close to Bisbee and Tombstone. Tombstone as you may know is home to an old western cowboy town were the famous Bird Cage Saloon was located. Many card games, bar fights and gun battles took place inside and outside of the Bird Cage. There is a tour you can take of the Bird Cage in Tombstone which I would recommend. Very interesting and informative about how women and men lived a 100 years ago in this area. They also have cowboy gun fights at various times during the day if you are into that sort of thing.

Why We Like to Stop Here

We like to stop at the Desert Rose hotel in Benson just off I10 for a number of reasons. For those of you who have never heard of the Desert Rose, it was the Benson Holiday Inn Express.  We like staying here because it is the price reasonable. In addition it is always immaculately clean, has a great breakfast and a very nice pool area just off the breakfast area. Which is very enjoyable during warm spring, summer and fall days. You can also do a laundry if you have been traveling for a while. There is a small gym for those who want to limber up and get some exercise after being in the car for some time.

Also at this particular exit off I10, there is the usual gas stations, fast food joints and one other hotel.

Benson itself is not that exciting. Consisting of a spread out village ( There is a Walmart), there does not seem to be a lot you would want to do here. There are many trailer parks for RV travelers to stay at, although we cannot attest to how good or bad they are.

Nearby Attractions

You are only an 30 minutes from Tucson, 30 minutes from Tombstone and an hour from both the Titan Missile Museum and old town Tuscon.  There is also the Bone Yard and the PIMA Air museum. For those of you who do not know what the bone yard is, it is a place were old airplanes and planes that are not currently needed to be in service are stored.

There is well over a thousand planes at this one location. It was chosen because of the dry climate. In addition there is also the hard packed earth that will support the weight of the planes. The PIMA air museum is an excellent place to go. But be prepared to spend a day  touring this facility. You can see World War 1 and 2 planes. There are many other famous planes that have played a part in our history.

Desert Rose Benson Arizona

As we mentioned we always try to stay at this hotel if we are passing through the area. However we are concerned that it may not last, since it no longer is part of the Holiday Inn Express chain.

They lose out on a lot of advertising and many people might not stay there if they do not know about it. We heard the operator at the front desk explain several times that they were under the same management, just no a member of the Holiday Inn group any longer.

If you have stayed at this hotel and would like to offer your comments please do so. Our rating is high and we recommend it to everyone. Spam comments will be auto deleted.

For more information about places to stay in Arizona and things to do in the state, click here.

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