I recently went on my first trip without the kiddos (and husband) since they were born! My parents were doing business out in Phoenix and wanted to do some hiking in Sedona for the weekend. I jumped at the opportunity to go to Sedona - I’ve never been and there are SO many good hikes. I invited one of my friends from my California days to join me. She has two little ones about the same ages as my boys, so I knew she needed a mom-break as much as I did!

Per usual, I did a TON of research so we could maximize our long weekend. Sharing everything we did below! We went in December, so doing everything we wanted to while losing daylight was a bit of a challenge but the temps were wonderful! We wore layers of leggings, tank tops, sweatshirts and jackets. If you haven’t been to Sedona yet, I highly recommend planning a trip. We had a wonderful time and I will definitely be back to tackle some more trails! Happy travels :)

Day 1: Scottsdale

My friend Sara and I both flew into Phoenix (she was coming from Portland and I was coming from Chicago). We landed around 10:30am so we could get the most out of our day! We took a 20 minute Uber to our hotel in Scottsdale - The Saguaro Hotel . It was an AMAZING location and definitely on the inexpensive side. Great for a quick stop, but I wouldn’t recommend for a long stay. The hotel caters to groups (bachelorette, bachelor parties, girls trips, etc.) and knows their audience. There aren’t many frills, but it is literally steps away from Old Town.

The pool at The Saguaro Hotel - Scottsdale

After we dropped our bags in our room, we relaxed by the pool for an hour and then walked over to Olive & Ivy to meet my mom for lunch. The restaurant was recommended by a few different friends and was super cute. Located right on the little river going through Scottsdale. We had a cocktail and shared the bruschetta flight. After lunch, we wandered around Old Town and did some shopping. My mom headed back to meet my dad for dinner, so we got ready for our dinner reservation.

We had dinner at Sumomaya , which is an asian mexican fusion restaurant - we LOVED it. We had yellowtail sashimi, tuna tartare tostados, rock shrimp, and a specialty roll. It was so yummy and the ambiance was the perfect mix of trendy but chill. Loved it and highly recommend!

Day 2: Road Trip + Devil’s Bridge

If you’re planning to drive from Phoenix area to Sedona, definitely plan to get an early start. There is so much to see on the way to Sedona, let alone in Sedona itself. Give yourself as much time as possible! We picked up my parents around 9:00am and headed north to Sedona. With no stops, it would take almost 2 hours to get there.

On the way, we stopped at Montezuma National Monument - if you have a National Parks pass, you’ll get in for free. If not, it’s $5 a person. This is a very quick stop, as it’s only located about 10 minutes off of the highway to Sedona. The walk up to Montezuma Castle isn’t more than 3 minutes and is a flat road. I couldn’t believe that people used to live on the side of the cliff like that! Up to 30 family members would live in one dwelling. I bet the views were amazing.

On our way out of Montezuma, we stopped at a roadside stand to get frybread. If you don’t know about frybread, it’s a native snack and pretty much a MUST try when you’re in Arizona. There are roadside stands all around, but this one outside of Montezuma is famous. The man makes them on site so the frybread is nice and warm! You can choose from cinnamon sugar, honey, or salt toppings - I went with the traditional salt and it was so good! We tried frybread twice on our trip and this was the best one!

After we fueled up on frybread, we were back on the highway to Sedona. Once we arrived in Sedona, we went directly to the parking lot for Devil’s Bridge. We were losing daylight as it was already early afternoon. Parking at Devil’s Bridge is a challenge - you can either parallel park on the road adjacent to the trail. OR test your luck and drive up the trailhead road to the parking lot. There are probably 40 spots in that parking lot and it was PACKED. If you don’t find a spot, you’ll have to drive back out and park on the road. We ended up finding one spot and were able to squeeze the car in and get a bit of a head start on our hike! It saved us about 0.2 miles of walking.

The Devil’s Bridge hike is 2 miles each way or 4 miles round trip (3.9 miles to be exact). The ONLY way to cut down on that time is to rent a 4x4 or Jeep vehicle or join a Jeep tour and drive up to the next trailhead. Pink Jeep Tours is the main tour company in Sedona. If you do this (not cheap, but definitely fun!) then you can save 1 mile each way. Meaning, you’d only have to physically hike 2 miles round trip. I read so many blogs on this and still didn’t fully understand until I got there. Hopefully this description helps! We did not rent a Jeep, so we hiked the full 4 miles.

The first mile of the hike is just a flat road, for the most part. Again, it’s a dirt access road that gets you to the next trail head. Once in a while a Jeep will pass by you. There were plenty of people on this hike, you will not get lost. The scenery is still beautiful, cactus surround the trail and the red rocks of Sedona are in the distance surrounding you. Beautiful, but a mostly flat road.

Once you hit the next trail head, no cars are allowed at all and it feels more like a hike - you’ll be on this trail for the next mile to the top! The trail gets narrow and a bit rocky. Nothing strenuous yet, but definitely not flat. About 3/4 of the way up the hill it gets more challenging. There are some rock scrambles where you need to physically climb a little bit. There were children and retirees doing this hike, but I still think I should warn you. I found the rock scrambles to be a challenge and took my time getting my footing.

Admiring the view halfway to Devil’s Bridge

Once you make it up the rocks (there are 3 or 4 sets of them) you are at the top! You come around a curve and can start to make out Devil’s Bridge. There will be a line of people waiting to take pictures on the bridge itself. You can admire the view, take a seat on the rocks, or get directly in line. Everyone takes pictures for each other so make sure you offer to take pictures for the people in front of you and pay it forward!

We took a TON of pictures here. Then we slowly wandered back down the hill. We were fighting daylight and had another 2 miles to get back to our car. The walk down was pretty easy (once we got past the rocky bit).

After the hike, we drove about 5 minutes down the road and checked into our AMAZING Airbnb - called Hikers Haven III. Seriously, I cannot recommend this place enough. It was perfect for our group. Open floor plan, decorated perfectly, beautiful bedrooms and so comfortable. HIGHLY recommend staying here if you’re in Sedona.

View from our Airbnb - Hikers Have III - Sedona

We all got showers and left for dinner - which we were really excited about. Everyone recommended dinner at Mariposa, but they were booked out for the whole weekend. Last minute we found an opening and were so happy we did. Dinner was delicious but the ambiance at Mariposa is what it’s really about. Twinkle lights everywhere. Art made from crystals, It was gorgeous and just what we needed after our hike.

Day 3: Horseshoe Bend + Antelope Canyon

On Saturday we woke up bright and early for our guided tour to Antelope Canyon. I booked our tour through Viator and we did the Antelope Canyon and Horsehoe Bend Tour from Sedona. The tour operator was Sedona Venture Tours. We met our tour van at a parking lot at 6:15am since we were staying at an Airbnb (they do door-to-door pick ups and drop offs for hotels). Luckily, we had time to stop into Sedonuts for coffee and donuts before we hit the road! Our guide’s name was Steve and he was wonderful. Super knowledgeable and pointed out all of the sights on our drive up to Page, AZ.

Here is what the tour included:

Scenic drive through Sedona - The drive through Sedona was gorgeous but really dark in the morning. On the return trip it was much easier to see and the sunset made a great backdrop!

Cameron Trading Post / Snack break - The guide makes routine stops for bathroom and snacks. But the Cameron Trading Post is a staple and has lots of goods from nearby natives like rugs, pottery, food, jewelry, etc.

Horseshoe Bend / Lunch - Horseshoe Bend was my favorite sight of the trip! We spent a good hour here. It takes about 15 minutes to walk the path to the bend. It’s crazy because you can’t see the river until you’re right up at it. Horseshoe Bend is technically a part of the Grand Canyon. You can see how vast and deep the canyon is when you’re at the edge of the bend. The pictures are spectacular. My favorite part of the trip! There are a few different spots to go to get that good picture of the bend. Just walk around and try different angles.

Glen Canyon Dam - I was least interested in this stop, but for someone who is an engineer or architect, they may find this to be more exciting. I was ready to get back to the nature. We only stopped here for about 10 minutes.

Antelope Canyon - A few things to know about Antelope Canyon. You MUST have a native tour guide to walk the canyon. That is why we booked an organized tour. Our guide, Steve, made sure we were booked with a native guide to see Antelope Canyon. We met our guide in a parking lot, where we hopped off of our larger tour bus and got onto a smaller van for Antelope Canyon. You’ll see everyone is doing this and there will be many other vans parked outside. You’ll know you’re in the right place! You only permitted to bring a water bottle and your phone / wallet into the canyon. No backpacks or bags. You also have to wear your mask the entire time.

Our guide, Sharon was lovely and gave us a lot of history about Antelope Canyon. The drive onto the reservation to the canyon opening was about 10 minutes. We toured Upper Antelope Canyon (there is also Lower) and we were told upper has the best light. Once inside the canyon, your guide will pace your group (we will still with our same tour group of 10). We spent about 5 minutes at each spot in the canyon. We were probably inside the canyon for about 45 minutes total.

Let me tell you: it is beautiful. It is out of this world like you’ve never seen. I can see how it became so popular. Pictures don’t do it justice so I recommend taking a few and then just putting your phone away and taking it all in. It is pretty epic and I recommend doing this tour if you’re in Sedona. After you exit the canyon, you can no longer go back through, but instead walk outside and around the canyon back to the van. This takes about 10 more minutes.

Once we were back with our tour guide we made a few more stops for bathroom and snacks, but generally just took in the sights on the drive back to Sedona. As I mentioned, once we were near Sedona, the drive gets really pretty (feels like Highway 1 in California at some parts) and we started talking about dinner plans.

Our Airbnb was so great that we decided to pick up dinner and eat at the house, relax, catch up on pictures. We ordered dinner from another highly recommended restaurant - Elote Cafe. We ordered some things to share and it was great!

Day 4: Sugar Loaf & Return to Phoenix

On Sunday we woke up and picked up coffees at the nearby Starbucks (less than 5 minutes down the road). We took in the views from the Airbnb while we got packed up. My friend Sara and I decided to do one more hike before the trip was over. Our house was at the base of Sugar Loaf and the trail head was 10 minutes down the street. So we took our coffees and went for a morning hike. We saw so many neighbors and tourists doing the same thing. This was an easy hike and took us an hour round trip. We were going really slow and just chatting. It was not strenuous at all, but just really enjoyable. The views from the top were incredible! You could see Chimney Rock, all of Sedona, and some hot air balloons taking off in the distance.

After our hike it was time to check out of the Airbnb and do some shopping! Downtown Sedona has great shopping. The main drag was so nice to just walk around, popping into the shops. We bought books for the kiddos, some crystal bracelets, a candle, and some tshirts. My mom got a really cool silver bracelet. Then it was time to drive back to Phoenix.

Overall I LOVED this trip! It was the perfect long weekend for me. I highly recommend going to Sedona. I’ll be back!