Sedona, Arizona

Sedona had been #1 on my bucket-list of places to visit for a few years because of the pictures of the stunning views that I had seen. After getting engaged in July of 2021, I knew that I had to travel to Sedona and take my engagement pictures with the beautiful red rock scenery behind us. So my fiance and I did just that. When booking our trip to Sedona, it was a bit confusing to find a place to stay and plan out what we wanted to do so i'm hoping that this post can help you plan your trip. We visited from April 30th -May 4th and the weather was perfect. The greenery was starting to come through and while it was still warm outside, it wasn't too hot. It remained between 80-85 degrees while we were there, but it was very tolerable. The mornings and nights get quite cold because of the elevation, but it was a lovely time of the year to visit! 

FLIGHTS

My fiance and I live near the Raleigh, Durham airport in North Carolina so we decided to look at tickets flying out of that airport and into Phoenix, Arizona. The prices were a bit expensive, so when you find a good deal, you have to jump on it. One night, I was checking flights and saw that there was a deal for $321 round trip per person and I immediately bought them without thinking twice. Sedona has an airport, but it is regional which means there's less flights going into Sedona and the prices are astronomical. The closest international airport is Phoenix and it's about a two hour drive to Sedona.

ACCOMMODATIONS

After buying our flights, I started looking at places to stay at in Sedona. A lot of the places are extremely expensive and although very beautiful, it just wasn't in our budget at the time to stay at these hotels. I started to look at towns outside of Sedona that we could stay at and just drive in to Sedona everyday. Eventually, I stumbled upon this Airbnb in Flagstaff that ended up being PERFECT! Flagstaff is about 45 minutes north of Sedona, but we didn't mind the commute. The views on Route 89A from Flagstaff to Sedona were the most breathtaking views that we had ever seen and we enjoyed the drive every time. 

CAR RENTAL

Because of our 2 hour drive from Phoenix to Flagstaff after we landed in Arizona, we needed a car rental. Unfortunately, my fiance and I are both under 25 so many car rental companies add on tons of underage driver fees. We decided to go through the Turo app and rent a car. It ended up being super easy to get to the car at the airport and the Ford Fusion that we had was perfect for our drives. 

THINGS TO SEE & DO

1. Chapel of the Holy Cross: On our first day in Sedona, we wanted to visit the beautiful Chapel of the Holy Cross that is built into the red rocks. We made sure to be there exactly at 9am when it opened, and there were only a few parking spots left. We stayed for about an hour and a half enjoying the breathtaking views, so when we left there was no parking because it is very limited. My advice would be to arrive a little before it opens for a parking spot. There is a short ramp up towards the entrance of the chapel, so there's no hiking involved. 
2. Uptown Sedona: We spent a good amount of time exploring Uptown Sedona where there were a lot of cute restaurants and stores. We did a lot of our souvenir shopping here and got to enjoy the warm weather and views.
3. Broken Arrow Trail: This is where we took our engagement photos, so we didn't do the entire hike. We walked about 10 minutes in and the hike was easy and leads to a plateau of some rocks that are great for taking pictures! 
4. Devils Bridge Trail: This was #1 on our list of things to do in Sedona and it was very much worth it. We arrived at the trail at 7:30am and there was a handful of people on the hike by this time. It took us exactly an hour to hike to the bridge (yes, I timed it!) and this included a few breaks. I will admit though, the last 0.7 mile gets HARD. There becomes more rocks and a bit more incline with steps. To get up to the bridge, it's a bit more of climbing up the rocks and can be very tiring. When we got to the top, there was a bit of a line to take a picture on the bridge but we only waited about 30 minutes. Because it was earlier in the morning, it wasn't too hot and the views were gorgeous so we didn't mind the wait. We recommend going here as early as possible because it did get packed as we were leaving. If you're wondering who will take your photo while you're on the bridge, everyone asks the person behind them in line to snap the photos and it works well! 
5. Grasshopper Point: This is a hidden gem, but is fun if you want to cool off in the warmer months. It costs $7 (cash only) to get in. This is a swimming and picnic area that requires a bit of walking through rocks. There is a stream of water that people hang out in and the red rocks allow people to do some cliff jumping off of them into the water. When we went at the end of April, there was a good amount of people in the water but it was freezing so we didn't go in. 
6. Amitabha Stupa and Peace Park: According to their Facebook page, "The Amitabha Stupa and Peace Park is an outdoor venue for prayer, meditation, and the experience of peace in a sacred place. People of all faiths are welcome. It is open during daylight hours, and entry is free The Park is supported by visitor donations." We visited this park at about 4:30pm and it required no hike. It was so peaceful and beautiful with such beautiful views. 
7. Boynton Canyon Trail: I wanted to do this trail because it leads to an energy vortex and an awesome photo opportunity called "Subway Cave". This trail is very long, but it's more flat and there's tons of shade with all the trees. We were attempting to find the secret path towards the Subway Cave, but ended up missing it and hiking all the way to the end. At the very end, there is a bit of climbing up the rocks but it wasn't too bad. The views of the red rocks from the top were stunning. We ended up meeting a lovely couple that offered to walk us back down the trail to the trail that led to the Subway Cave. When we got to the cave, there is a steep incline that everyone climbs on a slick rock to get to this cave, but we decided to go towards the left and climb through the rocks to get to the top instead. By doing this, we had to hike around the red rock to get to the subway cave but it was easier than the other route in my opinion. We ended up being at this hike for a total of 4 hours, which was longer than we expected so be sure to bring enough water. 
8. Pink Jeep Tour: When visiting Sedona, the pink jeeps are iconic and you see them everywhere. We ended up booking the Scenic Rim tour and it was two and a half hours long. Our tour guide was phenomenal and took us through the red rocks on a bumpy ride to some exclusive, awesome views. I highly recommend doing this tour for great views and to learn more about the history of Sedona.  

RESTAURANTS

1. Mariposa: This restaurant will require you to make a reservation in advance because it gets booked very quickly. It's a high end restaurant but the outdoor patio views are priceless. We ended up doing lunch here and it was amazing! 
2. Canyon Breeze: This is a hidden gem in Uptown Sedona. This is a cafeteria styled place with various options for food and drinks, but there is a back patio that not many people know about and it is a great place to sit and enjoy the views of the red rocks. 
3. Creekside Sedona: We went here for brunch and the food was amazing! We sat on the back patio with gorgeous views and it was definitely a great spot. We didn't make reservations and only waited 10 minutes for our table on a Monday. 

TIPS FOR VISITING SEDONA

1. If you're going to do a lot of hiking, I highly recommend investing in hiking boots because the hikes involve more incline and have rocks. 
2. Be prepared for the elevation and weather differences. Flagstaff had an elevation of about 7,000 ft and Sedona's elevation was a bit lower but it definitely had us out of breath often. The dry heat of Arizona also got to us a bit and it's important to constantly be drinking water.
3. Download the All Trails app if you're going to be hiking. We almost got lost a few times on the hiking trails because we didn't have the app with the map on it. It also provides useful information on the trails and what to expect. 

As I mentioned earlier, we had our engagement photos taken in Sedona by Julia Romano, @juliaromanophotography, and the experience was amazing! She guided us through picking the perfect spot for our photos and was reasonably priced. If you're looking to get photos taken in Sedona, I recommend checking her out!