One Of America's Most Romantic Small Towns Is A Vibrant Artistic Oasis In Arizona

Just when you think you've seen every version of Americana the United States has to offer, you stumble into this small, mile-high town clinging to our southern border and realize there are worlds within worlds you never imagined, still waiting to be discovered — like the little pocket of fiercely independent, culturally rich, living history that is Bisbee, Arizona.

An hour south of Tucson, and just half-an-hour from the U.S./Mexico border, Bisbee is a town of just 5,000 where history and geography have conspired to create something utterly unique to the world. Founded in 1878, the town's fortunes rose with the prosperity of its Copper Queen Mine. During the boom years, the downtown, nestled in steep-sided Tombstone Canyon high in the Mule Mountains, was built up with no expense spared when it came to graceful period architecture. It remains a breathtakingly picturesque time capsule, and when the mine closed in the 1970s, the artists took over, turning Bisbee into the colorful, bustling gem it is today. Unlike many towns where classic buildings were refaced or replaced in the mid-20th-century, that didn't really happen in Bisbee, making this one of the most charming historic towns in the U.S.

The central shopping district is full of restaurants, galleries, and shops selling handicrafts. But it's the neighborhoods surrounding downtown that gives Bisbee its distinct character. The historic homes are stacked along steep hills lined with stairs in place of sidewalks. Some are grand, but many are the kind of ramshackle, rambling residences, painted and decorated with bohemian abandon, that still evoke the heyday of the artsy, hippie 1970s.

The heart of Bisbee is the 1902 Copper Queen Hotel, which feels straight out of a classic western, lavishly and lovingly restored to period authenticity in recent years. From here, stroll the town's main drags of Main Street and Tombstone Canyon, which follow old arroyo beds rather than any kind of grid. Grab a fresh-baked breakfast bun at the High Desert Market & Cafe, on a flagstone-paved plaza where you can sit at an outside table and admire the Cochise County Courthouse, a magnificent specimen of Southwest Art Deco architecture. Then you can kick off a local gallery tour with a visit to nearby Artemizia Foundation's mural labyrinth and sculpture garden.

Mystery buffs will want to tour the Bisbee they know and love from locally born and raised New York Times bestselling author J.A. Jance's series featuring Cochise County Sheriff Joanna Brady. "Bisbee is a quaint crazy town and Jance grabs all of the details of that small town oasis in the desert," writes one Amazon reviewer, commenting on the first book in the series, Desert Heat. An organized tour starts from the Copper Queen Hotel and takes book lovers to visit many other locales mentioned in the 20 novels.

When you've had your fill of art, history, and mystery, end your day with a pint at the Old Bisbee Brewing Company, located in a charming pocket of downtown called Brewery Gulch. Order up a beer-simmered bratwurst and settle in to watch the sunset light up the canyon. When the Edison lights come on, the winding streets look like a wild west interpretation of Paris' Montmarte, making this one of the most romantic towns you could ever hope to visit.

50,000 visitors per year strap on helmets and headlamps to tour the Copper Queen Mine, but if you ask us, the most entertaining — if thigh-burning — tourist attraction in Bisbee is its hundreds of stairs. A walking tour will take you into a totally unique world as you pass by the quirky homes and gardens of this individualistic, artsy community. Few of the retaining walls you pass will be undecorated — some were built with a colorful riot of glass objects embedded into the concrete, and the rest are slathered in murals. And some Bisbee property owners have taken to the unusual practice of nailing paintings all over the outside of their walls, too: Seek out the Broadway Stairs (pictured) to see a gallery's worth of artworks that appear to have been scrounged from thrift stores and hung up out in the weather.

To find your way through the best of Bisbee's 350 sets of stairs — some wood, some concrete, some stone — you can follow the route for the famous Bisbee 1000: The Great Stair Climb, with over 1,000 feet of elevation gain over 4.5 miles. More a celebration than a race, the annual October event is so popular that participation has been capped at 1,500. But you can walk the same route any time of year — just follow the distinctive signage.

Watch your step if you're visiting in winter tough. At 5,500 feet, Bisbee sits at an even higher elevation than the "mile high" city of Denver, Colorado, and does see its share of winter snow and freezing temperatures. Hard to believe that you're only an hour away from Tucson's balmy winter camping. Most of the year, however, Bisbee's elevation provides a cool respite from the desert heat.