Hi,
My husband and I are going to Phoenix in April for a conference. We plan to stay a few days to visit Sedona and maybe the Grand Canyon. We really want to make it a healing trip so we’re looking for insight into places not to miss or maybe tour guides you would love to recommend. We want to avoid big tourist group trips. We’re looking for those not to miss gems - vortex tours maybe. Any suggestions? At this point our days are wide open.
http://www.americansouthwest.net/arizona/coyote_buttes/index.html
better then the Grand Canyon IMHO. The Wave requires a lottery (which is too late for you to get into for April), but there might be walk-ups available. Depends on if you think hiking is healing, which I do!
If you want something to do while in Phoenix…and have the time…I highly recommend two places.
1.the MIM…Musical instrument Museum. It’s amazing. I’ve been several times…and will go back. And it’s not just for musicians. It’s really fantastic!
- Desert Botanical Gardens....go first thing when they open in the morning in time for a docent led tour. Really excellent.
We love the Canyon de Chelly (pronounced “de shay”). It’s in Navajo territory. You can get a half day or day tour with a Navajo guide. Just gorgeous, and lots of old native American dwellings.
Of course, it’s on a smaller scale than the Grand Canyon, but in some ways I like it even better.
If you venture north of the Grand Canyon, two hours drive to Page, AZ with Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend, incredibly popular on instagram and with tourists.
Also the Painted Desert. It is what the Grand Canyon turns into at the east end and it is quite vast and off the map for tourists. Right off of I-40, with the Petrified forest on the other side of the highway.
There is also a utopian/experimental community off I-17 near Cordes called Arcosanti. I’ve never visited there but they may have something you are interested in.
James Turrell’s monumental Roden Crater isn’t open to the public yet but maybe you can drop in, lol - http://rodencrater.com/about/
If you’re going up to Sedona definitely do a jeep tour. It’s really cool.
essay - I wish I had know about the Wave - missed the lottery by one day 
Not sure about trying to show up for the onsite lottery - I read that hundreds can show up daily for 10 spots.
Any other suggestions?
MaineLonghorn - any suggestions on who to hire as a Navajo guide - is there someone you can recommend?
@rightfit, we signed up for the tour at our hotel. I think they just assign you a guide. I don’t believe there are competing companies. I imagine all the people are pretty good. They are passionate about the area! We did the full-day tour and it was one of our favorite activities of ANY vacation we’ve ever taken.
Part of the appeal is that the number of people they allow in the Canyon at any one time is severely limited. You feel like you’ve gone back in time, it’s so quiet. Kind of a spiritual experience for us.
Musical instrument museum if you have any interest in music is great. If you are hikers that is a pretty good time to hike (early in the month at least). What sort of interests do you all have?
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesen West … very interesting tour
I spent a good part of this snowy day playing around on the internet and there are so many options. I’d love to heart recommendations for guides or tours in Page or surrounding areas. We missed the lottery for Coyote Buttes but it looks like there are other good options. We hope to spend a few days in Sedona, maybe do a jeep tour and then head towards Antelope Canyon for a few days.
There are many National Monuments, Montezuma’s Castle and Well, Tuzigoot, near Sedona, and near Flagstaff, Walnut Canyon, Sunset Crater and Wupatki. The Petrified Forest is farther east. The Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff is very good. Have lunch at Cameron Trading Post at the east end of the Grand Canyon.
Another vote for Taliesin West.
On the same trip to Phoenix, we also went to Acrosanti. (About 70 mi north Phoenix). It’s a town/area that represents the vision of architect Paolo Soleri, who wanted to contain urban sprawl. Acrosanti was his laboratory. There’s also a foundry there where they make very cool bells (Cosanti), which are for sale. This helps fund the organization.
Another place I loved was the Desert Botanical Garden, which is in Phoenix.
We stayed at The Boulders, which I’d recommend, unless you want to stay in the city. The Boulders is about 35 miles from the city.
I love the idea of the bells - my husband is building a Bird Sanctuary garden in our backyard and adding a special bell would be perfect. We’ll have to check that out along with Taliesin West.
If you like to hike, when in Sedona go up Oak Creek Canyon to West Fork. It’s a beautiful hike up a side canyon.
Canyon de Chelly is a 5 hour drive from Phoenix, so not sure if that fits into your timeframe.
Jerome is an old mining town near Prescott – it was more ghost town when I was a kid going there but now it’s more of an arts enclave.
If staying in Sedona I’d stay in the Oak Creek area south of town at the many hotels or Airbnb. Bell rock is right in town and other trails easily accessible. Less traffic but still a nice concentration of shops /restaurants.
We have a full week + so driving 5 hours is fine 
Sedona is really nice and lot’s of great hiking. We did go up to the Grand Canyon and the one thing to remember is you are going up in elevation so even in April it can get cold. We got caught in a Snow/Ice storm our last day at the South Rim a few years ago. There is also near Flagstaff a park that is a Volcano and it had some neat lava fields. We stumbled upon it so I don’t recall the name but there was another park connected that has old Indian ruins and it was a fun time exploring. As for the Jeep tours in Sedona, we did the Pink Jeep and they have several options, we did the Broken Arrow trail.
The bells are sold at Arcosanti, but you can also buy when you tour the Cosanti Foundation in the Scottsdale area, which was Paolo Solari’s original workshop and project. They also offer tours. The volcano monument is Sunset Crater and the other with ruins is Wupatki.