A small town wedged among enormous red sandstone buttes. Trails, a creek you can slide down, a chapel built into a cliff, and a sky with the lights turned off.
Our surveyors arrived in Sedona expecting a desert and found a creek, a sycamore canyon, a chapel in a cliff and several hundred square miles of red sandstone carved into shapes that people have named after bells, cathedrals, coffee pots and snoopy dogs. They also found a great many shops selling crystals. The robot has filed the rocks under 'remarkable' and the crystals under 'pending further evidence'.
| Model | Sedona, Arizona — inc. 1988, settled 1876, sandstone considerably older |
|---|---|
| Location | Verde Valley foot of the Mogollon Rim; ~2 hr north of Phoenix, ~45 min south of Flagstaff |
| Elevation | ~4,350 ft. Warmer than Flagstaff, cooler than Phoenix. Goldilocks territory |
| Finish | Red. Iron oxide on sandstone, applied over several hundred million years |
| Surroundings | Coconino National Forest on nearly every side; hundreds of miles of trails |
| Night sky | International Dark Sky Community (since 2014). Streetlights kept on a short leash |
| Fuel | Prickly-pear margaritas, Southwestern everything, Verde Valley wine |
| Warranty | Energy fields not covered. Sunburn, however, is guaranteed |
March–May and late September–November are the sweet spots. Summer is hot with afternoon monsoon storms (July–Sept). Winter is quiet and crisp; red rocks with snow on them happen a few times a year and are worth the drive.
numbers correspond to the Items of Interest below
a catalogue, with candid notes from the field robots
Sedona's signature spires. The trail is short (about 1.2 miles round trip) but it is really a scramble up slickrock with a notch near the top. From below, Red Rock Crossing on Oak Creek gives the famous reflection shot.
The bell-shaped butte you pass on the way in from Phoenix. Easy, mostly flat loops wander around its base and Courthouse Butte next door; ledges up the side for the curious.
The largest natural sandstone arch in the area, and you can walk across it. About 4 miles round trip from the Dry Creek Vista trailhead, or less via the rough dirt road if you have a high-clearance vehicle or are on a jeep tour.
A modernist Catholic chapel set into a red-rock buttress in 1956, with a 90-foot cross in its façade and a view straight down the valley. Free to enter.
A low mesa in the middle of town with a 360° view. It is also one of Sedona's famous 'vortexes', said to be swirling centres of energy. Our instruments detected wind, a very good sunset, and a lot of people standing very still. They did not detect an energy field. We are, of course, open to further evidence.
A green, sycamore-lined gorge with 1,000-foot walls, and the scenic drive up to Flagstaff. Slide Rock State Park is an old apple farm where the creek runs down a natural sandstone chute you can slide along.
Tlaquepaque is a 1970s arts-and-shopping village built to look like an old Mexican town — courtyards, fountains, sycamores, galleries and good restaurants. Uptown up the hill is busier: shops, pink jeeps, ice cream, crystals.
Sedona was named an International Dark Sky Community in 2014, so the lighting rules are strict and the Milky Way shows up on a moonless night. Local guided tours set up big telescopes and explain what you're looking at.
A former copper-mining boomtown hanging off a mountainside, once nearly empty and now full of galleries, tasting rooms and stories about ghosts. Views across the Verde Valley to the red rocks.
A roughly four-hour round trip along the Verde River into a canyon no road reaches, with open-air viewing cars, old trestles and red cliffs. It runs year-round.
upcoming happenings — wired in automatically, every few hours
Sedona STOP via Visit Sedona events calendar
Sedona STOP via Visit Sedona events calendar
Sedona STOP via Visit Sedona events calendar
Sedona STOP via Visit Sedona events calendar
Sedona STOP via Visit Sedona events calendar
Historic Apple · Sedona STOP via Visit Sedona events calendar
Sedona STOP via Visit Sedona events calendar
D.A. Ranch · Sedona STOP via Visit Sedona events calendar
Sedona STOP via Visit Sedona events calendar
4:00pm · Sedona STOP via Visit Sedona events calendar
Sedona STOP via Visit Sedona events calendar
Sedona STOP via Visit Sedona events calendar
| Late Feb – early Mar | Sedona International Film Festival — nine days of screenings across town |
|---|---|
| Mar – May | Prime hiking season; wildflowers; the free shuttle often runs daily over spring break |
| July – Sept | Monsoon season: hot mornings, dramatic afternoon thunderstorms, flash-flood warnings to obey |
| October | Sedona Plein Air Festival — artists painting outdoors all over Red Rock Country |
| Nov 1 | Day of the Dead at Tlaquepaque — free, with music, altars and marigolds |
| Early December | Festival of Lights at Tlaquepaque — thousands of luminarias lit at dusk |
| Every clear, moonless night | The Milky Way, by permission of the Dark Sky ordinance |
how to get there, by air, road and rail
The main gateway, with nonstops to almost everywhere. Groome Transportation runs shuttles to Sedona several times a day if you'd rather not drive.
Compare rental cars at PHX →Small, with only a few daily flights to connecting hubs (check current routes), but you come in through the canyon, which is the best way to arrive.
Compare rental cars at FLG →Many trailhead lots require a Red Rock Pass ($5 a day, $15 a week, at the kiosk or on recreation.gov). An America the Beautiful pass also works. Or skip the parking entirely and take the free shuttle.
where the robots would recharge
Casitas tucked into a box canyon, with Mii amo spa next door. Remote, quiet and expensive.
Check dates & rates →Creekside cottages a short walk from Uptown. The creek-side dining is the reason to book.
Check dates & rates →Modern, central, with a pool facing the rocks. Walk to Tlaquepaque and Uptown.
Check dates & rates →Formerly the Sky Rock Inn. Good value, firepits and rock views; walk up to the Airport Mesa sunset.
Check dates & rates →Log and adobe cabins beside the creek. No traffic, just water noise and breakfast outdoors.
Check dates & rates →The robot may earn a small commission on bookings made through these links. Rates are never affected.
the robot's reading list for Sedona — from independent bookshops
Links go to Bookshop.org, which supports independent bookstores. The robot may earn a small commission.
answered plainly, for once
The robot's top picks: Cathedral Rock, Bell Rock & Courthouse Butte, Devil's Bridge, Chapel of the Holy Cross, Airport Mesa & The Vortex Question and Oak Creek Canyon & Slide Rock. Each has a practical tip in the Items of Interest catalogue on this page.
March–May and late September–November are the sweet spots. Summer is hot with afternoon monsoon storms (July–Sept). Winter is quiet and crisp; red rocks with snow on them happen a few times a year and are worth the drive.
Phoenix Sky Harbor International (PHX), ~2 hr via I-17 → SR-179. Flagstaff Pulliam Airport (FLG) is another option: ~45 min via SR-89A through Oak Creek Canyon.
Recommended places to stay: Enchantment Resort (Boynton Canyon, $$$$); L'Auberge de Sedona (Uptown, on Oak Creek, $$$$); Amara Resort & Spa (Uptown, near Oak Creek, $$$); Sky Rock Sedona, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel (West Sedona, below Airport Mesa, $$).
Many trailhead lots require a Red Rock Pass ($5 a day, $15 a week, at the kiosk or on recreation.gov). An America the Beautiful pass also works. Or skip the parking entirely and take the free shuttle.
This page lists upcoming events in Sedona, collected automatically from local event calendars (Visit Sedona events calendar, Sedona Arts Center, Tlaquepaque Arts & Shopping Village) and refreshed every few hours.
Our three-day plan for Sedona, Arizona — itinerary, packing list, the lot. Read it here, or have it wired to you below.
Complete and return this coupon and our dispatch robot will wire you a free field manual for each territory ticked — itineraries, packing lists and the good bits — plus the occasional dispatch when something worth the trip is happening.
Splendid. Your field manuals are on the wire — check your inbox (and, regrettably, your spam folder).