Four Day Trips from Sedona Worth the Drive (and One That Barely Counts as a Trip)

Sedona can hold your attention for days without trying. But if you're here four or five nights and you've done your hikes, you might start wondering what's just over the ridge. The answer is: quite a lot. Here are four day trips I actually recommend — with honest notes on how long each takes and whether the payoff justifies leaving.

Oak Creek Canyon: You Don't Even Have to Commit

This one barely counts as leaving. Oak Creek Canyon runs directly north of Uptown Sedona along Highway 89A — the same road you came in on if you drove down from Flagstaff. The canyon itself is maybe 12 miles of winding two-lane road, with pull-offs, swimming holes, and a few trailheads tucked in along the way.

Slide Rock State Park is the main draw. It's exactly what it sounds like — a natural rock slide worn smooth by Oak Creek, maybe 30 feet long, sitting in a canyon full of apple trees. Honest take: it's cold, the line on summer weekends is long, and parking fills up fast. Go early or skip it and walk the West Fork Trail instead, which starts about 10 miles north of town. That trail follows the creek through a narrow sandstone canyon and turns around at a natural swim hole. Three miles in, three miles back. Bring water shoes.

If you just want to drive it, the canyon tops out at Oak Creek Vista — a pull-off right at the Mogollon Rim that looks back down over the whole thing. It's a 20-minute drive from Uptown. No reason not to do it.

Jerome: A Ghost Town That Actually Has Good Food

Jerome is 35 miles southwest, about 45 minutes on 89A through Cottonwood. It's a former copper mining town perched on a near-vertical hillside above the Verde Valley. In its 1920s heyday it had 15,000 people. Now it has about 450, most of them artists.

It sounds like a tourist trap and parts of it are. But the town has genuine character and some places worth stopping for. The Haunted Hamburger has been there forever and the view from the deck is legitimately good. Caduceus Cellars makes wine in the basement of an old building and pours on a patio with views of the valley. The Jerome Grand Hotel sits at the top of town in a converted hospital and is worth walking through even if you don't stay.

Give yourself two to three hours. If you get there at 10am, you'll beat the afternoon crowd and have your pick of parking.

The Verde Valley below Jerome — same basin that Oak Creek drains into before the Colorado River.

Flagstaff: A Proper Town with Mountains

Flagged is 45 minutes north on 89A. Most people think of it as a pit stop, but it's actually a college town (NAU) with a real walkable downtown, good coffee, good food, and the San Francisco Peaks rising behind it to nearly 12,700 feet.

If it's summer, the peaks are worth the drive alone. The Arizona Snowbowl road takes you up to around 9,500 feet — you can hike above treeline in the same week you hiked among red rocks at 4,000 feet. That range of landscape in a single day trip is unusual.

Downtown Flagstaff has a few spots I'd point you to: Macy's European Coffeehouse has been there since 1981 and makes a good espresso. Brix Restaurant is where I'd go for dinner if I were staying the night. Historic Brewing on Beaver Street is solid if you want a beer and a patio.

Plan for a full day here. Half a day is fine if you just want to walk Route 66, grab lunch, and get back — but the peaks deserve more time than that.

The Grand Canyon: Yes, You Should Go. Here's What To Know.

The South Rim is 115 miles north on 89A, roughly two hours in good traffic. It's a long day. But if you haven't been, go.

What people don't account for: the canyon itself is overwhelming in a way that makes most people just stand there. You need at least two or three hours to walk a section of the Rim Trail and let it settle. I'd recommend the stretch between Mather Point and Yavapai Point — flat, paved, and gives you multiple angles on the canyon without committing to anything strenuous.

If you want to go into the canyon even a little, the top section of Bright Angel Trail is accessible without serious preparation. Thirty minutes down, thirty back up, and you get a sense of the scale that rim views alone don't give you.

Leave Sedona by 7am. Get to the rim by 9. You're back in time for dinner.

Sedona from above — the red rock basin you'll return to after any of these drives, which honestly makes coming back part of the point.

If you end up doing the Grand Canyon day, ask me before you go — I have a few specific notes on where to park and which entrance to use that will save you time on the back end.