The fair place to meet is El Paso, TX — the city closest to the midpoint of Albuquerque and Tucson. From the farther side that’s about 5 hr 33 min of driving.
Recommended midpoint
El Paso, TX
From Albuquerque
4 hr 49 min
230 mi to El Paso
From Tucson
5 hr 33 min
265 mi to El Paso
Albuquerque has the shorter trip; the split is off by about 44 min. The alternatives below can even it out. Albuquerque and Tucson are about 318 miles apart.
Albuquerque and Tucson are about 318 miles apart by road. Split the difference and you arrive near El Paso, the city closest to the halfway point between them. That puts roughly 4 hr 49 min of driving on the Albuquerque side and 5 hr 33 min on the Tucson side — the fairest single meeting point among the cities near the middle.
That's a half-day drive from each side, so El Paso suits an overnight or a weekend rather than a quick coffee — long enough to want a reason to stay, short enough to drive.
If El Paso doesn't have what you're after, Phoenix and Las Vegas are also close to the midpoint and worth a look — each keeps the drive reasonably balanced between Albuquerque and Tucson.
El Paso is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. It is the 22nd-most populous city in the U.S., sixth-most populous city in Texas, and the most populous city in West Texas with a population of 678,815 at the 2020 census. Read more →
Albuquerque is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Founded in 1706 as La Villa de Alburquerque by Santa Fe de Nuevo México governor Francisco Cuervo y Valdés, and named in honor of Francisco Fernández de la Cueva, 10th Duke of Alburquerque… Read more →
Tucson is the county seat of and the most populated city in Pima County, Arizona, United States. Read more →
City descriptions adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA); photos via Wikimedia Commons, credited above.
Estimates use straight-line distance and typical road speeds; real drive times vary with route and traffic.