2 Days in Sedona Itinerary

Heading to Sedona? In this 2 days in Sedona itinerary and guide we’re sharing where to stay, what to eat, and the best things to do in Sedona! Ready to plan your Sedona adventure? Keep on reading!

Ahhh Sedona, you’re definitely one of our new favorite places in the US! With amazing weather, beautiful red rocks, lots of hiking trails, vortexes, and a cute little town, it’s hard to not fall in love with Sedona.

We spent a day in Sedona during our recent Arizona trip and wish we could’ve stayed so much longer. Despite not being there for too long, we were able to cram a lot into 24 hours. We went on 3 hikes, ate some delicious food, explored the town, and soaked up as many amazing views as possible. It was an absolute blast!

We are so excited to share our favorite spots with you in this Sedona itinerary. Whether you have 2 days in Sedona or more, we hope this list of things to do in Sedona helps get you started on planning your own adventure!

PS: Want to have an epic Arizona road trip? Check out our Scottsdale, Grand Canyon, and Page itineraries!

Before embarking on your adventure, please review the Leave No Trace principles to ensure you leave every place better than you found it, so that others can enjoy these beautiful places for many years to come!

These seven principles include planning ahead and preparing, hiking and camping on durable surfaces, disposing of waste properly (pack out what you pack in!), understanding campfire rules and always fully extinguishing your fires, respecting wildlife, and being considerate of other visitors. 

Note: this blog contains affiliate links. Full disclosure– if you click on these links and make a purchase, we get a small commission at no extra cost to you. We will only ever recommend products we truly love, actually use during our adventures, and think you can benefit from too!

When to visit Sedona

Sedona, similar to the rest of Arizona, gets very hot in the summertime. We visited Sedona in April and the weather was beautiful!

We’d highly recommend visiting Sedona in the spring or fall if you don’t want to get extra sweaty. The weather will be warmer during the day and not too cold at night. The only downside is that this is a popular time to visit Sedona due to the great weather, so prices and crowds may be higher.

Since our April trip to Sedona, we also made a quick stop in Sedona in December. We lucked out big time with the weather during this trip! It had snowed just days before we arrived, so we were able to see a little bit of the aftermath of the snow, but without the worry of the roads being icy.

Snow isn’t an everyday occurrence in Sedona in the winter, but it does happen every now and then. If you don’t mind the slight risk of snow, the winter is a great time for this Sedona itinerary!

Getting to Sedona

The best way to get to Sedona is to fly into Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) and drive 2 hours up to Sedona. The drive is absolutely beautiful, so you won’t mind being in the car for a couple hours!

The Phoenix airport is an awesome airport with tons of domestic flights, so finding a decent price and flight option should be pretty easy.

Getting Around Sedona

Sedona is definitely a destination where you’ll want to have a car, especially for the items on our Sedona itinerary. With hikes spread out among the town, plus being a more residential area, it’s not super walkable beyond the main street with shops.

We bet most of you will be coming from Scottsdale, so plan to rent a car there (if you haven’t already) and take a 2 hour road trip north to Sedona!

Where to Stay in Sedona

Vacation Rentals

We stayed at an Airbnb in Sedona and loved having a bigger space to come back to after hiking, plus a kitchen to cook some meals. It also was definitely cheaper for us to stay at an Airbnb.

However, Sedona is also home to some really nice resorts and hotels if you want to pamper yourself a bit. 🙂 Here is a list of suggestions for both vacation rentals and hotels/resorts!

• Option #1: This 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom guest house is where we stayed and we loved it! It was close to trails, close to a Whole Foods (score!), and has a sky deck with views of the mountains. The beds (even the pull out couch) were also SO comfy!
• Option #2: This 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom cottage is in the coveted Solider’s Pass area, which is home to one of the best hiking trails in Sedona! The perk of walking to this trail (instead of trying to drive and park) makes this spot awesome on its own, but it also looks super cute and has a hot tub!
• Option #3: A 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom house with gorgeous views! (It seems that views are standard in Sedona 😉 )
• Option #4: A 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom apartment in uptown Sedona.
• Option #5: A large 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house, perfect for the family!

Hotels + Resorts

• Amara Resort & Spa: Just one look at the infinity pool view and we are SOLD on this place! Definitely one of the priciest options, but wow what a gorgeous resort!
• Sedona Rouge Hotel & Spa: Another nice, but pricier, option in Sedona.
• Courtyard Marriott Sedona: This hotel has a pool (score!), a really nicely decorated interior, and is close to town!
• Holiday Inn Express Oak Creek: A little bit out of the main part of town, but still in a beautiful area and cheaper than the resorts right in town.
• Southwest Inn: As the name implies, this spot has Southwest vibes. It is also quite a bit cheaper than the first two options!

Sedona Itinerary

There are so many things to do in Sedona it’s impossible to fit them all into this one guide. But we hope that this Sedona itinerary can help you figure out how to spend your 2 days in Sedona! If you are looking for more ideas of things to do, check out our “if you have extra time” section below!

Day 1

1. Start your Sedona itinerary adventure with a sunrise hike to Devil’s Bridge (4.2 miles, 564 ft elevation gain). This hike is crazy popular, so we recommend going at sunrise to beat the crowds. When it gets busy, there can be a big line to stand on the bridge, so it’s worth getting up early to avoid that. We had the whole bridge to ourselves for 30 minutes! Don’t forget your headlamp 🙂
    
2. Head a little north of town for breakfast and coffee at Indian Gardens Cafe & Market. We LOVED this place and it was one of our favorite meals of the whole trip! They have a great outdoor seating area with blankets and a super delicious, fresh menu. We recommend grabbing a picnic lunch from here to take with you on your hikes!
    
3. Hike Soldier Pass Trail (4.1 miles, 620 ft elevation gain). Warning: This trail gets very busy and parking can be a nightmare. Please pay attention to the signs so you don’t get ticketed or towed. If the main parking is full, you’ll need to park down the road a bit from the trailhead.
   
   There is a reason it’s so popular though–the trail is awesome, easy, and it has so many sights to see along the way! Shortly after you start the hike you’ll come across Devil’s Kitchen, which is a sinkhole and then shortly after that, the Seven Sacred Pools, which depending on the year, may just be puddles, but the view from them is awesome.
   
   As you continue along the trail, there is a pathway to the right, about 0.9 miles from the pools, that takes you to a secret cave (this blog by Backcountrycow is SO helpful to find it!). After getting back on the trail from the cave, keep going on the trail to a panorama lookout before heading back to the car.
    
4. After your Soldier Pass hiking excursion, enjoy your picnic lunch before heading to your next stop!
    
5. After a lot of hiking, walk around town, do some shopping, and relax a bit.
    
6. For dinner, head to Elote Cafe for an incredible meal with a view! Make sure to get here early, the wait can be extremely long (a lot of people get there at 4 to make the first seating). We recommend timing your visit so you can watch the sunset as well. 🙂

Want to get 30% off an AllTrails+ membership? Click this link or use our code aplusk30 (you must redeem this code on the website, not the app)!

We use AllTrails+ on every single hike and it is the most helpful hiking tool out there! Some of the features we love are offline maps (so we can navigate even without cell service), wrong-turn alerts, and its 3D maps feature, so we can get a feel for trails before we hike.

Day 2

1. Watch the sunrise from Airport Mesa. This spot is a vortex, which is a place in nature where the earth is exceptionally alive with energy. It’s $3 to park here and the hike is super quick to the top, where you’ll have a great view of Sedona as the sun rises.
    
2. Enjoy a delicious breakfast and coffee at Red Rock Cafe. They have a massive 3lb cinnamon roll that is great for sharing 🙂
    
3. Head over to Bell Rock and hike the Big Park to Bell Rock Pathway Loop (4.0 miles, 377 ft elevation gain). This hikes takes you around Bell Rock, but if you’re not afraid of heights you can climb to the top of Bell Rock too!
    
4. Grab lunch at Tamaliza, an awesome local spot with tamales and other Mexican food. (Closed on Mondays)
    
5. Wander around the Tlaquepaque Arts & Crafts Village, a cute little Spanish inspired shopping area. If you need more sugar after your gelato, head to The Chai Spot for some fresh chai. We highly recommend the butter chai drink!
    
6. Hike to Cathedral Rock for sunset. This was one of our favorite hikes of the whole trip. It’s so magical to be among the rocks as the sun goes down. This blog by The Mandagies has a ton of great info about hiking Cathedral Rock at sunset and the best spots for photos. Make sure to bring a headlamp if you plan to hike down in the dark!
    
7. End your 2 day Sedona itinerary with a delicious dinner, check out The Hudson or Hideaway House!

If you have extra time…

Food

• Wildflower
• Creekside Sedona
• Mesa Grill Sedona
• Tortas de Fuego
• Picazzo’s Healthy Italian Kitchen

Coffee

• Creekside Coffee & Bakery

Activities

• Pink Jeep Adventure Tours
• Outdoor yoga
• Bear Mountain Trail (4.3 miles, 1,975 ft elevation gain)
• Slide Rock State Park
• Oak Creek Canyon
• Red Rock State Park
• West Fork Trail (7.2 miles, 820 ft elevation gain)
• Birthing Cave (~2 miles, 430 ft elevation gain). This is a super cool cave with a pretty awesome view through the hole.

Want to save some money on this tour or experience? Book it on Tripadvisor and use our code APLUSK10 for 10% off!

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