Sedona, Arizona, is one of the most unique places to visit in the U.S. and even a short trip there will leave you feeling energized by the mystical forces at work. The scenery is incredibly beautiful and the community is emboldened by a connection to it.
We spent one day there on our way through from Phoenix to Flagstaff. One day is not nearly enough time to really enjoy what this place has to offer and to soak up the mystique, but you can make the most of it. There is nothing quite like driving from the valley of Phoenix up to Sedona to be greeted by huge red rocks jutting out of the landscape. I’m sharing our itinerary because one really well organized day will still allow you to accomplish a lot and experience at least the best of Sedona. If you scroll all the way to the bottom, I’ve shared our Google Maps so you can use it as a reference for your trip.
If you are heading north from Phoenix, then you’ll be coming through the quaint Village of Oak Creek and will run right into Bell Rock before you even reach downtown Sedona making it the perfect first stop. We arrived early wanting to get a jump on the day, so the morning clouds had not completely burned off yet and obstructed our view slightly.
Next to Bell Rock sits Courthouse Butte with a few trailheads starting from the Bell Rock Vista parking area. You can take the moderately easy 2.5 mile Bell Rock Pathway looping up and around Bell Rock for an up close view. The path looked relatively flat and wide. On the back side of Bell Rock is Courthouse Vista offering views from a different vantage point where you can also climb up to a viewpoint on the rocks via the same Bell Rock Pathway.
Having decided to hit the road early that morning around 7am, we opted to wait to eat breakfast in Sedona. By now we were all starving and needing a caffeine boost. We made our way into town and found Creekside Coffee, one of the few local cafes serving up breakfast with a fantastic view. It was crowded and a bit pricey (it is Sedona afterall), so we waited in line for about 15 minutes just to order, but it was worth it. The almond pastry was divine as was my goat cheese quiche and Remington’s egg sandwich.
Despite it being a bit slow, service was very friendly though. We realized it’s a small local cafe with a small staff and they were slammed, so we gave them a little grace. Like I said, the food was delicious and the coffee up to our standards, so we can definitely recommend it.
After enjoying breakfast, we took a few minutes to check out the shops around it and use the public restrooms available below Creekside, which is where I snapped this giant crystal. It was sitting outside of a crystal shop for sale. Can you imagine loading this thing up in your car and displaying it in your home? It’d definitely be a conversation starter at dinner parties. LOL. We also found a great local tea shop, Trailhead Tea, that we just had to go into and peruse. We sniffed lots of tea leaves, including some unique blends they make themselves and even purchased a couple to take home.
We knew we wanted to do at least one hike in Sedona and had selected the main Cathedral Rock trail, which was back towards Bell Rock so we opted to make a quick stop at the Chapel of the Holy Cross first since it was sort of on the way. Well, it wasn’t such a quick stop after all because there is one two lane road in and out with very limited parking, so it took forever just to get up to the parking area and find a spot to park. And we started to get an idea of the traffic jams that visitors to Sedona talk about all the time.
The view from the top was amazing though. The church itself is built into the cliffs of Sedona and is a must see. There is no other sight quite like it! You will have to walk up a long ramp to get to the church, but the building is very unique jutting up out of the rocks. The Chapel of the Holy Cross was a gift from Marguerite Brunswig Staude, a sculptress, philanthropist, and devout Catholic. It is free to enter and walk around.
From the Chapel of the Holy Cross we headed for Cathedral Rock Trail, a 1-mile out and back moderate trail up into the spires of Cathedral Rock. There is a small parking area at the trailhead, so get there early to get a spot or you can also access it from Baldwin or Templeton Trails. You will have to purchase a Red Rock Pass to hike this trail (and many others in Sedona). The Pass costs $5 for a day and can be purchased from a vending machine at the Cathedral Rock Trailhead as well as many other locations. You can find more information about the pass here. This is one of the most popular trails in Sedona because it is a shorter length with a big pay off. The panoramic views along the trail and at the top are some of the very best in the park. This trail is not hard per se, but there is some scrambling up towards the top and then to get to the peak you will have to billy goat climb along the rocks. We had the baby with us in the carrier, so we did not go to the very top peak. I didn’t think it would be safe to attempt with him.
This trail took us an hour in total at most, including time spent soaking up the view at the top and taking our time.
When we finished the hike up to Cathedral Rock, it was nearing 12:00, but we weren’t starving for lunch yet and had plenty of snacks for the kid. We drove back to downtown Sedona and decided to stroll through the Tlaquepaque Craft Village. Driving back towards the center of town from Cathedral Rock trail gave us a good glimpse at the traffic issues. Earlier in the day this two lane road in and out was clear with little traffic, but coming back through around lunchtime and it was completely backed up. Getting stuck in traffic is not how we pictured spending our day and so it was a little more than frustrating to feel like we were wasting precious moments, but we finally made it through after about 20-30 minutes.
The arts and crafts market hit or miss for true local products, but the village itself was stunning and worth checking out for no other reason. There were a few stores we strolled into that sold true crafts from the area and not just kitchy souvenirs, like Esteban’s, which featured gorgeous handcrafted pottery. We spent about an hour walking around the entire area, going into shops that looked interesting.
We were ravenous by this point in our day and made our way over to Mariposa Latin Inspired Grill, a local restaurant with amazing views and consistently high review scores. This place definitely lived up to the expectations, except that service was a little slow. Other than that the food and the views were both incredible. Honestly, this was one of the best meals of our trip to Arizona. The fish tacos were legit. Served with a very unique three seed cilantro slaw and salsa verde on the side, they were the perfect lunch. We also shared the Neptuno salad – Romaine Hearts tossed with Chilled Gulf Rock Shrimp, Hearts of Palm, Artichoke Hearts, Capers, and Niçoise Olives in a Louis Dressing. That salad was the bomb diggity, man was it good. So fresh and flavorful. We most definitely recommend eating here for lunch or dinner when in Sedona! They even have a great enclosed patio area with fans!
Drive further west and up a big hill, you’ll be greeted with the Airport and a giant overlook. After our bellies were full, we headed that direction to check out the Airport Mesa overlook. You’ll come first to the vortex on the left with very limited parking, but a little further up and you’ll find a larger paid parking area across from the walk up overlook. You can also hike down to the Vortex viewpoint from that same parking area. The overlook was a nice stopover to see views of the entire valley.
Our final stop was to Crescent Moon Picnic Site where you can pull up a picnic table for an outstanding view of the back side of Cathedral Rock or walk trails along Oak Creek in the Coconino Forest. Be aware they do charge $10 per car as a daily rate to enter the area. Asher passed out in the car as we drove down to this section of the park, so I loaded him up in the Lillebaby carrier and we walked on the path along Oak Creek. Reflections of Cathedral Rock in the water make this a regular favorite of photographers. It’s definitely one of the best spots in the park to get photos of Cathedral Rock. We walked all the way up to Buddha Beach, the area of flat red rock leading up to views of the Cathedral, and it turned out to be one of the best points on our itinerary or at least one of my favorites. It’s probably less than a mile down the trail to Buddha Beach on an easy path along the river. In the summer heat, this is also a great spot to come swimming. Families were there soaking up the cool water even in March!
As we were walking back to our car, it started to sprinkle, so it was a good time to call that a day and bid farewell to beautiful Sedona. It was nearly 4:00 and we still needed to drive an hour to Flagtsaff, where we were staying overnight before driving to the Grand Canyon the next morning. We promised to return someday soon because there was so much more we wished to see. We had Devil’s Bridge trail, Slide Rock State Park, and Oak Creek Canyon on our list for next time as well as some other trails like the Airport Mesa trail and vortex, and the Red Rock Crossing. If you want our one day itinerary though, you can click on the Google Map below to get the location of each stopping point and directions to the route we followed. We packed a ton in a nearly full day in Sedona, saw tons of red rocks, ate good food, and strolled through mystical downtown.
Enjoy! Next stop is Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon!
Leave a Reply