Courtesy TerritorioScuola
This eight minute video done by Robert from New Years shows the hotel really well. It also shows how fun driving the "Old River Route" can be. Don't get me wrong the scenic 98 is incredible and probably one of the least used and most scenic drives in the Southwest, but for a real adventure I prefer the more watery route. We have done this a couple of times and each time it still thrills me.
The greenish-yellowish highlighted route from Nogales to Magdelena to Cocurpe to Banámichi is absolutely the fastest way from Tucson. We usually go through Bisbee and Naco toward Canennea and turn South on 98 (which is marked 118 and my Garmin shows as Hwy 17) just before entering Canennea. This is what most would consider the scenic route. Probably takes 30-45 more minutes than Nogales going down, (depending on city traffic), but the return portion is so much easier for me at Naco that I choose this route going North. If I am in no big hurry I turn off toward Bamori at this sign-
about 15-20 miles North of Banámichi there is a dirt road to the right. If you look back 20 yards/meters after turning on this road and see the sign above, you are on the right road. (I will try to include lat lon soon) but you get the idea. Then just follow the road through a little village and make your first river crossing and bear left where the most defined marks are, in a worse case scenario wait until you see a cowboy on a horse and see which way they are heading or ask "Arizpe" and point, they will laugh and point you in the right direction. After all getting a little lost on a wagon trail that criss-crosses the river about a dozen times is part of the adventure, right? We never needed 4x4, but may need it during monsoon season when I expect much higher water levels and rougher road conditions.
Then if you are lucky, you will roll into the Southside of Arizpe on a shady tree-lined smoothe dirt road that is where the teenagers and young folk hang out after church on Sunday afternoons. We even saw several of those gorgeous Sonoran girls riding bareback. A couple of them sharing a horse almost ran into a tree while flirting with this old gringo in the old 4x4 Montero. Cheri was telling me to keep my eyes on the road....and believe me I was, but I was driving sllooooww to take in all the sights and sounds and finally the smooth feel of pavement. Then we backtracked a bit on the main road and had a Great Lunch at the Pemex on the Southside of Arizpe. Leave a note on a napkin under the clear plastic table-clothe if you do make it there, and tell 'em DJ and Cheri sent ya (they won't understand a word of it, but they will smile and feed you some really great food at a very decent price anyway).
