Sunfinder Vacations

What to expect: This sprawling resort, attracting vacationers and business travelers with a passion for golf, is located at the base of the rugged Santa Catalina Mountains. The large lobby, decorated Southwestern style, opens to the central courtyard and pool through the lobby bar with its grand piano. An intricate copper mural decorates the wall over the registration desk.

Amenity highlights: Resort guests have access to the nine-hole Pusch Ridge golf course and two 18-hole courses at the Hilton Country Club, three miles away by complimentary shuttle. An equestrian center offers riding classes and organized excursions.

The resort also features 31 lighted tennis courts, four pools, two fitness centers, spa services, and a seasonal kids’ club. Surcharges apply for some amenities. Five restaurants include indoor and poolside dining options.

What to expect: A destination unto itself, this resort allows guests to experience mountain and desert serenity, yet is only six miles from downtown Tucson. Championship golf, a full-service spa, supervised children’s activities, fine dining, and extensive meeting facilities attract a diverse clientele. Smoking is permitted only in designated outdoor areas.

Amenity highlights: The resort features a 27-hole Arnold Palmer Signature Golf Course, along with a driving range, putting green, and 20,000-square-foot clubhouse.

A multi-level zero-entry pool includes two spa tubs and a poolside bar. A lazy river and water slide are also available. Children enjoy their own pool, and a kids club is available year-round for a surcharge.

The Hashani Spa provides traditional and alternative treatments, a lap pool, sauna and steam rooms, and a spa café.

Other dining options include a steakhouse, a grill with terrace dining, and a gourmet Mediterranean restaurant.

Insider tip: The International Wildlife Museum, four miles from the resort, encourages visitors to take photos of birds, reptiles, insects, mammals, and other wildlife on the grounds. Photo submissions to the museum may be selected for the photo gallery, which includes the photographer’s byline.

Loews Ventana Canyon Resort is set in a pristine habitat where the Catalina foothills give way to the Sonoran Desert. Towering saguaro cacti, coyotes, and great horned owls live in undisturbed harmony throughout the 93 acres. Sited to showcase a natural 80-foot waterfall, the resort has a distinctive exterior created from massive stone blocks that came from the land on which it was built. Resort decor makes use of native copper, desert amethyst, and muted desert tones to blend with the surrounding landscape.

La Paloma's huge lobby features eye-catching views of gorgeous scenery and intimate seating arrangements for conversation. Golf carts provide easy transport all over the resort, but strolling the winding footpaths puts guests in closer touch with their Sonoran desert surroundings. Paloma means "dove" in Spanish, and the dove motif is everywhere: on street signs, in the exterior wall lamp covers, the stained glass over the resort's front doors, in the wrought iron pieces at the entrance of the country club and Janos Restaurant.

Created in 1912, the 80-acre resort consists of a central complex with lobby, restaurants, shop and meeting space; and outlying casitas, pools, the tennis courts, all connected with landscaped and paved walkways or nature trails. The spacious lobby, decorated in muted southwestern colors with flagstone floors, features a grand piano, native plants in pots, and a view of the landscaped courtyard. The majority of guests are vacationers, corporate travelers, and tour groups.