1. Catalina Highway (officially the General Hitchcock Highway)
This scenic route climbs more than a vertical mile (and is the only paved road) into the Catalina Mountains.
Vista points, trailheads, campgrounds and picnic areas and the mountain community of Summerhaven offer everything from big views and vigorous hikes to shopping and dining at an altitude of nearly 8,000 feet.
Distance: 26 miles to Summerhaven, 27 miles to Ski Valley, 28 miles to the top of Mount Lemmon.
Drive time: Plan to spend three hours round-trip from Tucson.
Cool fact: "Because the road starts in the Lower Sonoran vegetative life zone and climbs to the high forests of the Canadian zone, it offers the biological equivalent of driving from the deserts of Mexico to the forests of Canada in a short stretch of 27 miles." — www.fs.fed.us/r3/coronado/forest/recreation/scenic_drives/
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2. River Road
3. (tie) Campbell Avenue
3. (tie) Skyline Drive
5. Pontatoc Road
What you drive is key, says reader Maureen Shields, who drives a 1998 midnight-blue Mustang convertible.
Her pick: "The best place is on Campbell from River to Sunrise — and definitely with the top down."
