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3-Nights Courtyard by Marriott Sedona

Price: $378 - # of Days: 3 days
The Courtyard by Marriott Sedona is located in the beautiful red rock mountains, just 3 miles south of the bustling uptown Sedona city center. Spectacular views of the majestic mountain ranges entice guests to get outside and experience the thousands of acres of the Coconino National Forest nearby. ...

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3-Nights Hilton Vacation Club Ridge on Sedona

Price: $264 - # of Days: 3 days
The Hilton Vacation Club Ridge on Sedona is the perfect base from which to explore the fabled beauty of the Sedona area. Ideally located in the Village of Oak Creek near the red rock buttes and canyons of the area, the attractions of Sedona are a 15-minute drive away, including the Tlaquepaque Arts ...

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3-Nights The Wilde Resort and Spa

Price: $500 - # of Days: 3 days
Discover adventure, connection, wellbeing, and a sense of place at The Wilde Resort and Spa. Located at the base of iconic Thunder Mountain, immerse yourself in the breathtaking Sedona landscape, which can be absorbed at the resort’s Rangeview Rooftop patio or outdoor pool. Unwind and rejuvenate at...

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3-Nights Element Sedona by Marriott

Price: $295 - # of Days: 3 days
The Element Sedona by Marriott is located just steps from the breathtaking Red Rock Mountains and within easy reach of downtown Sedona's array of shopping and dining experiences. Each of the spacious rooms and suites offers fully equipped kitchens and signature Heavenly Beds®, perfect for a ...

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3-Nights Residence Inn Sedona

Price: $441 - # of Days: 3 days
Nestled in the red rocks of West Sedona, the Residence Inn by Marriott creates a tranquil backdrop for your outdoor adventure. The all-suite hotel is designed to feel like a home away from home, offering spacious and well-appointed accommodations with full kitchens, living and lounging areas and a h...

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8-Nights Lost Canyons Of The Southwest

Price: $4,199 - # of Days: 8 days
Everything in life has its ups and downs, including this fascinating tour of Arizona and Nevada that directs your eyes to ancient cliff dwellings, towering spires, the deepest of canyons, and the deepest of mysteries. Exactly how did the Sinagua Indians reach their cliffside, five-story, high-rise a...

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3-Nights Sky Rock Sedona, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel

Price: $375 - # of Days: 3 days
Surrounded by natural beauty, take in Sedona's Red Rocks and all the magnificent views that Sky Rock Sedona offers. Bask underneath the warm Arizona sun and make a splash in the outdoor heated pool. Keep up with your fitness routine at the 24-hour fitness center by going for a run on the treadmi...

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3-Nights Holiday Inn Express Sedona - Oak Creek

Price: $305 - # of Days: 3 days
Beautifully located next to awe-inspiring Bell Rock, the Holiday Inn Express Sedona - Oak Creek is just minutes away from an array of fine dining and more than 40 art galleries featuring traditional, Southwest, Native American, and contemporary art, pottery, and sculptures. The hotel is perfect for...

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7-Nights America's Canyonlands - Land Journey

Price: $4,990 - # of Days: 7 days
America's Canyonlands Dreamers, visionaries, and unsung heroes shaped the preservation of three great national parks of the American West - Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon and Zion - so all who came after would experience their magnificence and relish the moment...  You'll start "climbi...

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7-Nights Southwest Family Journey: Sedona, Zion & the Grand Canyon - National Geographic Family Journeys

Price: $4,199 - # of Days: 7 days
Southwest Family Journey: Sedona, Zion & the Grand Canyon With towering cliffs, colorful canyons, mesmerizing buttes and mesas, this journey through the Southwest makes for an extraordinary family adventure. Explore some of the region’s most iconic landmarks, including the Grand Canyon, Montezuma Ca...

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Overview

Introduction

The hills around Sedona, Arizona, are a magnet for new-age enthusiasts and psychic healers because of their purported vortexes, or psychic-energy sites. But these spiritual seekers don't have this beautiful place to themselves: For nonbelievers as well, Sedona is a welcome oasis sitting beneath massive red-rock cliffs at the mouth of beautiful Oak Creek Canyon. What was once a small farming community is now a major travel destination because of its rock formations and primeval landscapes.

Sedona's main thoroughfare is an official All American Road, which means the highway cuts through an area with significant archaeological and natural treasures that do not exist elsewhere in the U.S. Among the area's most outstanding features are the majestic red-rock mountains that tower over the town. Sedona is tucked into Coconino National Forest and sits at an elevation of 4,300 ft/1,333 m, almost midway between Phoenix and the Grand Canyon.

Sedona's Red Rock Country draws people like few other places on earth. Nature lovers, hikers and mountain bikers find adventure on hundreds of miles/kilometers of marked trails through isolated wilderness. Artists, writers and filmmakers soak up inspiration from Sedona's brilliant light and clean high-desert air. Vacationers relax completely into the slow-flow lifestyle of friendly locals and return year after year to enjoy the world-class restaurants, championship golf courses, one-of-a-kind shops and luxurious spa resorts.

Must See or Do

Sights—Watching the sunset from Airport Mesa; the nature preserve along Oak Creek at Red Rock State Park; Tlaquepaque Arts and Craft Village; Chapel of the Holy Cross.

Museums—Sedona Heritage Museum.

Memorable Meals—Coffee Pot; Sunday brunch at Enchantment Resort's Che-Ah-Chi; dinner on the patio at Cucina Rustica.

Late Night—Dancing to DJ spins and live-band music at Olde Sedona Bar and Grill; sipping fresh-brewed beer and listening to live music on the patio at Oak Creek Brewing Co.; taking in a performance at the Dragonfly in Cliff Castle Casino.

Walks—Hiking along the shady banks of the West Fork of Oak Creek; ambling through the galleries in Uptown.

Especially for Kids—Snoopy Rock; taking a Jeep tour through Out of Africa Wildlife Park; swimming at Slide Rock State Park; enjoying a pony ride followed by the old-west dinner show at Blazin' M Ranch.

Geography

Arizona Highway 179, the All American Road, offshoots from Interstate 17 and leads visitors through the Village of Oak Creek, an unincorporated area that meets Sedona city limits near the often-photographed Chapel of the Holy Cross. A short distance to the north, Highway 179 curves west toward the center of town, where it meets Highway 89A at a traffic circle. These are the only main roads in the 25-sq-mi/65-sq-km town, which is surrounded on all sides by natural red-rock monuments with whimsical names, such as Coffee Pot, Snoopy and Merry-Go-Round.

Paved secondary roads branch off the highways into residential neighborhoods, but most of Sedona's businesses are on north-south Highway 179 or east-west Highway 89A, so it is almost impossible to get lost. Locals tend to give directions based on distance from the meeting of the highways, which has been called The Y for as long as most people can remember. A traffic circle has replaced the stoplight at the crossroad, and the intersection has become an O, but residents still refer to it as The Y.

West of The Y is West Sedona. To the east is Uptown. Although West Sedona lacks distinctive character, Uptown features Main Street, a pedestrian-friendly stretch of shops and restaurants with individual personalities. The Village of Oak Creek, located 5 mi/8 km south of Uptown, has absorbed Sedona's suburban growth, with plenty of shopping and dining opportunities, in addition to less congested roadways.

History

The spectacular red-rock formations that surround Sedona were formed throughout millions of years. About 300 million years ago, the area alternated between being the bottom of the ocean and coastal plains. Between 65 and 20 million years ago, a complex process of uplifting and down faulting created the Mogollon Rim at the south end of the huge 150,000-sq-mi/388,500-sq-km Colorado Plateau. Then, about 3 million years ago, the plateau uplifted. The erosion of the landscape since then is what has created the red rock formations we know as Sedona.

About 10,000 years ago, hunter-gatherers, sometimes called "Paleo Americans," moved into caves that pitted the rocks. The next migration into the area brought the Anasazi, followed by the Hohokam between the years 500 and 700 and the Sinaqua between 900 and 1000. Evidence of these first civilizations is found in 1,000-year-old ruins near Sedona, at places such as Tuzigoot National Monument and Montezuma Castle National Monument. By 1400 AD the builders of the pueblos had moved on, but the Yavapai and Apache began migrating into the area around that time.

The first European settlers were Spaniards who arrived in the Sedona area in 1583 looking for silver and gold. Since there was no gold, most of the early explorers quickly moved on, although they left behind some descendants and traces of Spanish Colonial architecture. The area was under Spanish rule until Mexico declared its independence in 1821. After the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hildago, Arizona became part of the United States in 1848. The first Caucasian settler was John James Thompson, who was lucky enough to find an abandoned Yavapai area still growing crops in 1876. He claimed squatters' rights in Oak Creek Canyon on the land that is now occupied by Indian Gardens Store.

During the next three decades, other settlers joined Thompson, mostly to work in the copper mines of nearby Jerome. Soon, the little community needed mail service. In 1902, Theodore Carlton Schnebly opened the first post office and named it Sedona after his wife, Sedona Arabella Miller. A scenic road named after Schnebly, and suitable for driving only in a four-wheel-drive vehicle, connects Sedona to the interstate on the southern outskirts of Flagstaff.

Peaches and apples were the area's first commercial crops, started by Frank L. Pendley. His original homestead is now Slide Rock State Park, where the apples are still grown and sold to cover administrative costs for the park.

Although Sedona has been featured in films since the 1920s, it wasn't until the 1950s that its unique landscape and desert formations attracted Hollywood filmmakers. Since then it has been featured in more than 70 films, attracting tourists from around the world. Today, tourism is still Sedona's primary industry.

Potpourri

Because of its elevation (4,300 ft/1,310 m), Sedona is about 20 F/7 C degrees cooler than Phoenix in the summer, and 20 F/7 C degrees warmer than Flagstaff in the winter.

The sun shines an average of 300 days per year in Sedona, where the average January high temperature is 55 F/13 C, and the average July high temperature is 95 F/35 C. Nighttime temperatures hover around freezing November-March.

Sedona was the name of the wife of the town's first postmaster and was made up on a whim by newborn Sedona's mother.

Celebrities often are spotted around Sedona, especially during the annual Sedona International Film Festival held each February. The area's red rocks have been the backdrop for hundreds of western movies and commercials, beginning with Zane Grey's Call of the Canyon, filmed in 1923.

The median age of Sedona's residents is around 60 years old.

According to certain believers, a vortex is an area that has concentrated spiritual energy, which is supposed to be conducive to healing, meditation and power. Other places where vortexes exist include Stonehenge, the Great Pyramids of Egypt and Machu Picchu. (Note: The plural of vortex in Sedona is vortexes, not vortices as is grammatically correct in other contexts.)