GUIDEBOOK : Tucson’s Resorts and Ranches

The Westin La Paloma, 3800 E. Sunrise Drive, Tucson, Ariz. 85718. Telephone (800) 222-1252 or (602) 742-6000. Rates are $195/$225 single, $225/$255 double. Activities include golf, swimming and tennis. The hotel also has a health club, three therapy pools, a service center (to schedule massages, body wraps, etc.) and 24-hour room service.

Tanque Verde Ranch, Route 8, Box 66, Tucson 85748, (602) 296-6275. Rates for casitas with private baths, air conditioning and fireplaces are $150/$200 per day single, $210/$270 double. Activities: horseback riding (Arizona’s largest stable), tennis, fishing, swimming and shuffleboard.

Two other recommended Tucson dude ranches are the Lazy K Bar and the White Stallion. The latter is a 3,000-acre spread 17 miles outside Tucson that’s operated by Allen and Cynthia True. Like Bob Cote at Tanque Verde, the Trues play host to foreigners as well as Americans.

At last count, they’d entertained guests from 47 countries who ride, sunbathe by a pool, soak in a hot tub and gather in the lounge with piano, billiard table, serve-yourself bar, wood fire and shelves of books.

White Stallion Ranch, 9251 W. Twin Peak Road, Tucson 85743, (602) 297-0252. Twenty-eight units with private baths. Daily rates are $119 single, $212/$226 double. Weekly: $798 single, $1,288/$1,498 double (includes room, meals, horseback riding and other activities).

Lazy K Bar Guest Ranch, 8401 N. Scenic Drive, Tucson 85743, (602) 297-0702. Rates are $100/$125 single, $170/$200 double (includes riding, meals, transfer from Tucson International Airport).

Two additional Tucson resorts are:

Loews Ventana Canyon Resort, 7000 N. Resort Drive, Tucson 85717, (800) 424-2929 or (602) 299-2020. Loews rises at the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains and features a natural waterfall that flows into a man-made lake. Activities: golf (36 holes), tennis, swimming and hiking. High tea (and a piano concert) is featured each afternoon in the lobby. Rates are $175/$195 single, $195/$215 double.

Sheraton Tucson El Conquistador, 10000 N. Oracle Road, Tucson 85704, (800) 325-3535. Also at the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains, the hotel features rooms, suites, casitas with wood-burning fireplaces for $100/$150 single and $110/$160 double. Swimming pools, lagoons, riding, golf, 16 tennis courts, biking, racquetball. Famous for its Sunday brunch.