Last updated on June 7th, 2026
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!
Sedona is not only one of our favorite places to visit in Arizona, but also in the entire 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!
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.
Want to Learn More as you explore?
We highly suggest downloading the Guide Along – Sedona (totally worth the cost!!) audio tours to navigate you on the road. Even when you don’t have service it knows where you are and provides commentary and history about the area. As well as alerts you when to stop for specific sights. These guides are fun to listen to and the narrator feels like a fun friend in the car with you!
2 Days in 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, then check out our “if you have extra time” section below!
Day 1
Watch the sunrise at Devil’s Bridge
Length: 3.9 Miles
Elevation Gain: 528 Feet
Type of Trail: Out and Back
Pass Required: None
Reviews & Current Conditions: Devil’s Bridge
Start your Sedona itinerary adventure with a sunrise hike to Devil’s Bridge (3.9 miles, 528 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. When we were there, we had the whole bridge to ourselves for 30 minutes! Don’t forget your headlamp. 🙂
Have Breakfast
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!
Hike the Popular Soldier Pass Trail
Length: 4.5 Miles
Elevation Gain: 856 Feet
Type of Trail: Out and Back
Pass Required: None
Reviews & Current Conditions: Soldier Pass Trail
Hike Soldier Pass Trail (4.5 miles, 856 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, then 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.
Despite this being a popular trail, we really loved it and think it’s a must to include on your 2 days in Sedona!
Have a Picnic Lunch
After your Soldier Pass hiking excursion, enjoy your picnic lunch before heading to your next stop! Like we mentioned earlier, we recommend grabbing something from Indian Gardens Cafe & Market where you had breakfast this morning! They have lots of great options in the market for a grab and go lunch. It’s what we did when we were here and thought it worked out great!
Enjoy Downtown Sedona
After a lot of hiking, walk around town, do some shopping, and relax a bit. The town itself is so cute and unique and has so much to look at. We loved wandering around and taking in all the town had to offer.
Have an early Dinner in Town
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 Plus membership? Use our code aplusk30 (you must redeem this code on the website, not the app)!
We use AllTrails Plus 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
See the Sunrise at Airport Mesa
Length: 1.4 Miles
Elevation Gain: 216 Feet
Type of Trail: Out and Back
Pass Required: Free or $3 depending where you park
Reviews & Current Conditions: Airport View Trail
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.
Eat a gourmet Cinnamon Roll for Breakfast
Enjoy a delicious breakfast and coffee at Red Rock Cafe. They have a massive 3lb cinnamon roll that is great for sharing!
Hike Bell Rock
Length: 4.1 Miles
Elevation Gain: 380 Feet
Type of Trail: Loop
Pass Required: Red Rock Pass or America the Beautiful Pass Required
Reviews & Current Conditions: Big Park to Bell Rock Pathway Loop
Head over to Bell Rock and hike the Big Park to Bell Rock Pathway Loop (4.1 miles, 380 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!
Love Hiking in Sedona? Here’s our full list of the best hiking trails in Sedona, Arizona!
Get some delicious Mexican Food for lunch
Grab lunch at Tamaliza, an awesome local spot with tamales and other Mexican food. (Closed on Mondays) We love Mexican food, and this spot has some great authentic options!
Go Shopping
Wander around the Tlaquepaque Arts & Crafts Village, a cute little Spanish inspired shopping area. While you’re here, head to The Chai Spot for some fresh chai. We had the butter chai drink and it was so good!
Hike to Cathedral Rock for Sunset
Length: 1.2 Miles
Elevation Gain: 741
Type of Trail: Out and Back
Pass Required: Red Rock Pass or America the Beautiful Pass Required
Reviews & Current Conditions: Cathedral Rock Trail
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!
Eat dinner at a Local restaurant
End your 2 day Sedona itinerary with a delicious dinner, check out The Hudson or Hideaway House!
If you have extra time in your sedona itinerary…
Food
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? Join Tripadvisor Rewards to earn 5% Trip Cash on any hotel or experience booking made in their app, which can be applied to future in-app bookings!
When to visit for this Sedona itinerary
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, then 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. We drove here in our van, but that’s not an option for everyone, so flying into Phoenix is the next best option!
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 Phoenix, 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 during our 2 days 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 than a hotel.
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: A 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom house with gorgeous views! (It seems that views are standard in Sedona 😉 )
- Option #2: A luxurious little home with 1 bedroom and one bathroom that’s perfect for 2.
- Option #3: A super cute Sante Fe Style Cabin with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms that sleeps 4.
- Option #4: 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!
- The Wilde Resort and 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!
Want to get FREE flights and hotel stays?
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Looking for more things to do in Arizona?
- 20+ Best Places to Visit in Arizona
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- 1 Day in Page, Arizona Itinerary
- How to visit Antelope Canyon X (Tour Options in 2025, Cost, & More!)
- The BEST Things to do in Saguaro National Park West
- Hiking Wasson Peak at Saguaro National Park in Tucson, Arizona
- One Day at the Grand Canyon South Rim Itinerary
- 13 Best Things to Do at the Grand Canyon South Rim
- Hiking the Havasu Falls trail: Everything you need to know!
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