Blue Skies Sunny Days Travel

Known for its red rocks and energy vortexes, Sedona, Arizona is a magical place to visit. My partner and I visited in early June for some hiking, wine and vortex energy, and we were impressed with the breath-taking beauty everywhere we went. Early June was a bit hot but getting out early in the morning to hike worked well as long as we wrapped up by around 11 am or so.

• About Sedona
• What is a Sedona Vortex?
• Getting There
• Where to Stay
• Hikes
• Activities
• Verde Valley Wine Trail
• Restaurants
• Recommendations

About Sedona

• Claim to Fame: red rocks and energy vortexes!
• Location: Arizona, about 2 hours north of Phoenix
• Website: https://visitsedona.com/

Surprisingly, Sedona is not a national park, but it certainly is beautiful and unique enough to be one! Many visit Sedona to experience one of the energy vortex sites (read more about vortexes in the next section). Sedona also has a major focus on spirtuality and wellness – you’ll find crystal shops, places to get massages and other types of spirtual healing throughout the town. There are many great hikes and outdoor recreation options as well.

What is a Sedona Vortex?

So what is a vortex? Sedona’s official tourism site says: “Sedona vortexes are thought to be swirling centers of the earth’s energy emanating all around us. This energy is said to be conducive to healing, meditation and self-discovery. Supposedly, these places are bridges between the realm of nature spirits and mankind – the earth here is alive. Many feel inspired, recharged or uplifted after visiting a vortex.”

According to some, Sedona and Kauai in Hawaii are the only such energy sites in the United States! While all of Sedona is said to be a vortex, there are 4 areas known to have more intense areas of energy, including Airport Mesa, Cathedral Rock, Bell Rock and Boynton Canyon.

Getting There

• Sedona is about a 2 hour drive from Phoenix and a 1 hour drive from Flagstaff. Note: the Grand Canyon is about 90 minutes from Flagstaff.
• On our trip, we spent 3 nights in Sedona and 1 night in Flagstaff. While we were in Flagstaff, we decided at the last minute to drive to the Grand Canyon for the afternoon since we didn’t realize we were so close!
• Time Zone: Mountain Standard Time (no daylight savings time!)

Where to Stay

• Uptown Sedona is the main walkable area with the majority of restaurants and shops. This area has lots of hotels at various price points directly. There are several free parking areas if you’re driving in and need to park.
• Village of Oak Creek is about 10 minutes from Uptown Sedona and has a few hotels including a Holiday Inn Express. It’s a very small area that is fairly convenient with a short drive to most areas of Sedona.
• West Sedona is another area of Sedona with restaurants and shops but it feels more spread out and is not really walkable. There is also a Safeway, a Walgreens and other typical stores and brands you’d find in a city (including the McDonalds that is famous for having teal arches!).
• Tlaquepaque is a an arts and shopping village between West and Uptown Sedona. It has lots of little artist shops and a few restaurants.

Hikes

There are so many great hikes in Sedona and all of the vortex sites have hikes you can check out. We completed 2 major hikes, one each morning of our trip, and a small third hike (it was only half a mile but we can still count it!). We were there in June and it was already pretty hot so try to have your hikes done before lunch. We didn’t hike past 11 am because it was just too hot!

• Cathedral Rock – 1.7 mile vortex hike. This hike includes major rock scrambles and has steep elevation but there are lots of places to stop and rest as needed. We went on Sunday so we parked at the North SR-179 Park & Ride and took the free Sedona shuttle.
  • Cathedral Rock is an Upflow Vortex. It’s the only one of the 4 vortexes in Sedona with “feminine” energy which means the energy enters the earth allowing for introspective power that connects you to memories and some say past lives. It’s great for greater oneness and serenity, calmness and ease. 
  • Some say in order to find the vortex, look for the “end of trail” sign and go to the left for about a minute, then another left around the corner. Look for the “saddles”, the flat gaps between the towering rock spires and try to ground yourself by putting your palms on the rock.
• Devil’s Bridge Trail – 4.2 miles roundtrip (RT) hike. This hike has a few small rock scrambles near Devil’s Bridge (aka mid-hike). There are a few options for trailhead parking but keep in mind on Thurs-Sundays, you will need to park at the West SR-89A Park & Ride and take the free Sedona Shuttle.
  • We went on a Monday and parked at the Mescal Trailhead, which is a prettier route than other trailheads. It’s mostly flat through desert scenery (and you don’t have to walk along the Jeep road, which can be very dusty). We followed the Chuckwagon Trail which takes you through forests, hills, cacti and yuca plants. If you have a Jeep or off-road vehicle you can park at a closer trailhead, cutting off about 1 mile each way.
• Bell Rock – Multiple options; we just hiked about 0.6 miles RT a bit up Bell Rock and then turned around. We parked at the Courthouse Vista parking lot.
  • Bell Rock is also a vortex site, known for its masculine energy. You might feel motivation or a surge of energy. Keep an eye out for the twisting juniper trees. Some recommended counting the rock cairns from the bottom of Bell Rock and stopping between the 10th and 11th cairn and then stopping to your right at a place called “Meditation Point.” I’m not sure that we found that spot exactly, but we did find a small area with some twisty trees (good luck!).
  • You can hike higher if you’d like but apparently the energy is no different on the higher levels so it’s up to you! There’s also a 3 mile or so pathway around Bell Rock if you’d like to hike more.

Shuttles and trailhead parking:

• Some hikes require parking at a Park & Ride and taking the free Sedona Shuttle on Thurs-Sundays. Using the shuttle was a pretty seamless process for us when we used the shuttle to get to Cathedral Rock! The shuttle came every 15 minutes so we didn’t have to wait for long either coming or going.
• If parking at a trailhead, for most trailheads, you will need a Red Rocks pass or an annual Ammerica the Beautiful National Park pass placed on your car’s dashboard.

Activities

• Hiking and visting the vortexes! – See section above for more details
• Verde Valley Wine Trail – The wine needed it’s own section (see below!).
• Pink Jeep Tour – We didn’t do this on our trip but I heard it’s recommended.
• Sedona Heritage Museum – this was another recommendaiton I received to learn about the history of the area. Keep in mind it closes early (3 pm on some days).
• Chapel of the Holy Cross – This is a small church with mega-sized views overlooking Sedona. There is a small parking area and is a quick stop to make for a visit (10-15 min).
• Night Sky – Sedona is a certified Dark Sky area so if the timing is right with the moon cycle, you can check out the stars.
• Shopping – Browse the crystal shops, explore the boutique stores around town and visit Tlaquepaque. Many of the shops offer aura readings or other types of spirtual healing and enlightment.
• Massages – Many of the people I talked to before taking the trip recommended booking a massage, especially for after long days of hiking!

Verde Valley Wine Trail

Another big draw for the area is the Verde Valley Wine Trail. On our visit, we explored wineries in the Cornville area, about 20 minutes away from Sedona, including DA Ranch and Page Springs Cellars, and also visited Vino Zona, a wine shop in Tlaquepaque Village in Sedona.

• Page Springs Cellars is a quaint winery with indoor and outdoor seating spread throughout the property. We enjoyed a tasting in the indoor tasing room and then had a glass of wine on the back deck where there was a duo playing live music. We heard that around the area, it’s easy to find a bottle of Page Springs wine at the grocery store.
• DA Ranch is a hidden gem oasis in the desert! We drove on a dusty gravel road to get to the winery but when we arrived there was a big ranch house (which is the tasting room) surrounded by lush green grass, trees and a pond (with a fountain). There was live music on the porch while we were there with seating options inside and also outside on the huge wrap-around porch and throughout the yard. Even though we were there on a hot afternoon, there were misters on the porch so it felt very comfortable to sit outside.
• Vino Zona is a lovely, intimate wine shop on the 2nd floor of Building A in Tlaquepaque Village (there is also another location in Jerome). The store is in a corner suite where open windows allow a breeze to flow through with mismatched chairs and cushions to sit during your tasting. The owner gave us a customized tasting based on our wine preferences and all the wines were locally made in Arizona – some of the bottles were exclusively made for Vino Zona.

Restaurants

• Elote Cafe – Mexican and Latin-inspired restaurant and this was by far this was the #1 recommendation I received for dinner. It was delicious! (And their elote appetizer was excellent!). You will need a reservation and they book up months in advance.
• Mariposa – Another Latin-inspired restaurant with amazing scenic views of the Sedona red rocks. We booked lunch so we could fully enjoy the scenery but it’s also popular to book at sunset. I saw mixed feedback online but I thought the food and service were really good (try their yuca fries!).
• Sedona Beer Company (on Jordan Road in Uptown) – Classic brewery vibes and scenic views of the red rocks, just a few blocks from the Uptown area. They have two locations (another in West Sedona). The food and beer were great.
• Cucina Rustica – Italian with a bit of Latin influences. This restaurant is also owned by Lisa Dahl (who also owns Mariposa) and it was a quaint, intimate place in Oak Creek Village. The rosemary foccacia bread was great and was served with a jalpeno/pepper infused olive oil.

These are just the places we ate at ourselves on our trip but there are lots of other great choices in the area as well. I would have also liked to try Sedonuts (donuts and coffee) and Pisa Lisa (highly recommended pizza place on Reddit).

Recommendations

• DA Ranch – hidden gem oasis and good wine!
• Vino Zona – lovely, intimate wine tasting in Tlaquepaque
• Cathedral Rock hike – I think I actually felt things that could have been energy from the vortext (felt a bit under the weather when I started the hike and felt great after!, the whole day I felt reflective, like I heard a Guster song on the radio while driving through the red rocks and had to text my college roommate since our first concert together was Guster!)
• Devil’s Bridge Trail – cool scenery, iconic for the area and nice photo op if you want to go out on top of Devil’s Bridge