Sedona Day Trips

The typical Phoenix group we quote is 15 people, and Sedona trips fit that pattern almost exactly — a family plus visiting relatives, or a work team taking a day out.

At that size you're really choosing between a Sprinter and a compact party bus, and for this trip the Sprinter wins on windows and on the climb up the switchbacks. The 14-passenger limo Sprinter is the common pick, the 12-passenger executive Sprinter if sightseeing matters more than lounging. Larger groups go to the 28-passenger coach.

On hours, be realistic. Four hours is what most Valley groups book, and it doesn't come close here — four hours is barely the round-trip drive. A proper Sedona day is nine or ten hours door to door. Build the request around that number and everything else falls into place.

I-17 north out of Phoenix climbs from about 1,100 feet to 4,500 by the time you reach the Sedona exits. You watch saguaro give way to scrub, then juniper, then the first red cliffs near the Village of Oak Creek.

From the Valley it's roughly two hours to Sedona without stops. Add fifteen minutes from the East Valley, more from Goodyear or Surprise. Check your own address on the drive time calculator.

There are two ways in. State Route 179 from the I-17 exit at the Village of Oak Creek is the scenic approach past Bell Rock and Courthouse Butte, and it's also the slow one on a Saturday — seven roundabouts in a few miles. Alternately, staying on I-17 to the Highway 89A exit and coming in through West Sedona is faster when town traffic is heavy.

The one detour worth the time is the Oak Creek Canyon switchbacks north of town, up to the vista at the top. Twenty minutes each way, and the best view you'll get without leaving the pavement.

Sedona is small and its parking was designed for a smaller town than it turned into. Knowing where a large vehicle fits saves you an hour of circling.

• Tlaquepaque and the uptown shops work well. Drop the group, the vehicle stages nearby, and everyone walks the arts village.
• Chapel of the Holy Cross has a small, steep lot that isn't built for buses. Ask us about it when you call and we'll plan the drop.
• Popular trailheads like Cathedral Rock and Devil's Bridge fill early and some are shuttle-served in busy seasons. Not a place to arrive at 11:00 a.m. hoping.
• Airport Mesa overlook is a short road with limited space, better as a quick stop than a long one.

If your group's real interest is hiking, send us the trailhead names ahead so we can talk through drop-offs and pickup timing.

Sedona sits at the top of the Verde Valley, and the wineries are twenty to thirty minutes down 89A. That's what turns a sightseeing day into a tasting day.

Page Springs Cellars and the cluster of tasting rooms on Main Street in Old Town Cottonwood are the usual route. Jerome is another twenty minutes up a mountain on a genuinely narrow road — spectacular, and worth asking us about vehicle size before you commit to it.

A realistic version: red rocks and lunch in Sedona until about 2:00, two tasting rooms in Cottonwood, back on the road by 5:30. That's a ten-hour day and it's plenty.

If wine is the whole point rather than a bonus, our wine tour page is the better starting place, and the Arizona wine country guide covers the Verde Valley in more detail. Either way, someone should eat a real lunch before the first pour.

Four recurring problems, all avoidable.

• Booking too few hours. Ten hours sounds like a lot until you subtract four hours of driving. Ask for the full day up front rather than extending from a roundabout.
• Leaving at 10:00 a.m. A 7:30 or 8:00 departure gets you into town before the weekend crush and gives you the good light coming home.
• Forgetting the altitude. Sedona runs 15 to 20 degrees cooler than Phoenix and can snow in winter. Bring a layer even in April.
• Assuming everyone wants to hike. Mixed groups split badly at a trailhead. Pair a short walk with a shopping stop so nobody's stuck.

Sunset timing is the other thing worth thinking about. Red rock glows best in the last hour of light, which means a winter departure from Sedona around 5:00 and a summer one closer to 7:30. Decide which you want before you set the pickup, because it moves the whole day. The timeline planner makes that easy to share with the group.

Three groups book Sedona from Phoenix more than anyone else, and they want different things from the vehicle.

Hosts with visiting family want comfortable seats, big windows and a restroom plan. Forward-facing seating and a stop roughly every ninety minutes covers it.

Work teams on a day out want the ride to be usable — quiet enough to talk, with a stop schedule that's published in advance. A day like this often sits inside a longer company retreat.

Milestone groups — a big birthday, an anniversary, a bachelorette weekend taking a break from Old Town — want the wine detour and a nicer cabin for the ride home. The limo Sprinter handles that better than a coach.

Tell us which of those you are when you call. It changes the vehicle we suggest more than the headcount does.