<p>Thinking about 3-5 days in and around Sedona in mid December…any thoughts or suggestions?</p>
<p>We did a Pink Jeep Tour in Sedona a few years ago. Loved it! I would highly recommend. Tours vary by length of time and also where to go…look on-line and try to reserve in advance. We took our two children (as part of a larger Las Vegas/Grand Canyon trip) and lucked out that day of the tour by getting the guide & jeep to just the 4 of us. So he took us everywhere! The scenery there is spectacular. I’ve also heard the Spas there are quite nice too…</p>
<p>There is a Mexican restaurant there, very casual, called Javelina Cantina that the guide recommended to us and we enjoyed…</p>
<p>Chocchip beat me to it. The Broken Arrow tour through Pink Jeep is fantastic.</p>
<p>Sounds great. Sedona tends towards the art gallery/mystical type stuff. December wil be nice. Not sure what you are into but Flagstaff is just up the road about 30 minutes (straight up probably 2000 ft) and there are some fun sites there too (lowell observatory). Flag is at 6000 ft however and likely will have snow then…so maybe not.</p>
<p>Stop by the Enchantment Resort on Boynton Canyon Rd. for lunch or a cocktail on the patio. The views of the Red Rocks are stunning!</p>
<p>stradmom,
We’ve been to the Sedona area twice in the last couple of years, although during the summer months. Also recommend a Pink Jeep tour. If you want a really unusual and excellent restaurant, try Elote Cafe. The wait times can be outrageous (they don’t take reservations) but the food is outstanding. The Red Rock scenery is breathtaking!</p>
<p>I personally thought Sedona was gorgeous but rather boring. If I’d have had to spend 3-5 days there, I might have gone postal</p>
<p>Sedona, boring? No, it is not a city. But if you like art, there are numerous galleries, and places to go for galleries. There is hiking galore, at various altitudes, and the scenery varies quite a lot, depending on altitude. One of the biggest collections is at <a href=“tlaquepaque sedona - Google Search”>tlaquepaque sedona - Google Search;
Jerome, an old mining town up on the side of Mingus Mountain can be a spectacular place for a meal and a walk, with more galleries, plus history. The town was named after Winston Churchill’s mother’s family.
There are many, many vantage points from which to see the rocks. Red Rock crossing is one of my favorites. Going up on
Airport Road is also spectacular, as the airport sits up on a plateau above the city and is a great vantage point for the sunset. Two national monuments with Anasazi ruins are half an hour to 45 minutes drive away. Tuzigoot is one [Plan</a> Your Visit - Tuzigoot National Monument (U.S. National Park Service)](<a href=“http://www.nps.gov/tuzi/planyourvisit/index.htm]Plan”>Plan Your Visit - Tuzigoot National Monument (U.S. National Park Service)), and perhaps the more awe inspiring is Montezuma’s Castle <a href=“http://www.nps.gov/moca/index.htm[/url]”>http://www.nps.gov/moca/index.htm</a>
Farther afield is Flagstaff with the Museum of Northern Arizona, as well as the Lowell Observatory. </p>
<p>If you care about such things, you can get a past life reading, with prior appointment, in town, which was something my mom dearly wanted, and received on my last visit. Personally, I’d prefer a great meal, but she was thrilled. </p>
<p>Know that even though nights can be bitterly cold, the days warm quite nicely.</p>
<p>We’ve been to Sedona with and without kids. pink Jeep tour was fun, and agree that Javalina Cantina is good. There’s an Italian place that sounds like “Dean and Deluca” but that’s not really the name… It was really good. Cathedral Rock and surrounding area was one of our favorite hikes, but there are many that are spectacular. There’s a resort called Los Abrigados, and they used to have an “entertainment card” rate that was pretty reasonable. The entertainment thing costs about 30 bucks, so if you got a great deal on resort it would be worth it. Enjoy.</p>
<p>Some people just are not sophisticated enough to enjoy sedona. If you can enjoy art and the company of just one person then sedona is a wonderful vacation spot. I know from experience, with the right person Sedona can be magical, with the wrong person it can be a nightmare.</p>
<p>I’ve been to Sedona several times in the past few years, all summer visits.</p>
<p>It’s not a matter of sophistication, it’s a matter of what type of traveler you are.</p>
<p>For me 3 - 5 days would be too long unless you used Sedona as a base to visit some of the other areas described above. Second the Pink Jeep tour but I know their offerings are limited during the winter months.</p>
<p>Also, found most food there very mediocre but we might have been influenced by our excellent meals in Phoenix.</p>
<p>I am actually headed to Sedona on Sunday for 5 days. Looking forward to hiking, jeep tour, just relaxing. We will also do day trips to Grand Canyon and Jerome. I found a lot of helpful info on trip advisor. We are staying at a B & B. </p>
<p>Has anyone ever done a helicopter or plane tour over the canyon or just around Sedona? That is something my husband is interested in. I’m not so sure I’m up for that much adventure.</p>
<p>Also, we are taking a red eye home Friday night and thinking of eating somewhere nice in Phoenix before going to the airport. Suggestions? Thanks</p>
<p>A few years ago we rented a car and did a day trip to Sedona. I purchased a driving tour of Sedona CD and followed the route. It took us to see all the high points, along with commentary about their significance. Wish we’d had time for a Pink Jeep tour – this was all on-road.</p>
<p>Lots of great suggestions…I think we’ll pass on the past life reading (after all, I was clearly someone like Marie Antoinette’s assistant hairdresser’s cousin’s daughter’s goatherder) but the pink jeep tours sound like a solid bet. </p>
<p>I hadn’t thought about snow, but it makes perfect sense. Will have to give that more attention!</p>
<p>We were in Sedona August 2012, loved it. Instead of Pink Jeep, I opted to rent our own jeep from Barlow Jeep Rentals for 24 hours. We loved it and neither my husband or myself had ever driven a jeep and definitely not off road! We were able to do so much more and do many trails, including driving right up to the path of Devil’s Bridge, we did Broken Arrow. If you do Pink Jeep, you are limited as to where you can go on the Broken Arrow Trail. When you have your own jeep, you can explore a little more and you are on your own time line. I know everyone raves about Pink Jeep and I am sure it’s great, but there are other alternatives besides them.</p>
<p>^^^Sounds like a cool thing to do, zebradome. However, I loved the Pink Jeep as a first timer who loved having the knowledge & expertise of the tour guide. Also, because we lucked out and had the tour to ourselves, we were able to do so much more with the tour guide. He took us and explained so many things that we may have missed doing it on our own. Your idea is a good one, though, if we’re back there again and want to do our own thing! :)</p>
<p>Hokie…re dinner out…what would you like? I can give lots of great suggestions but you might want to pull the newest New Times Phoenix they just today I think came out with the Best of edition…</p>
<p>The magazine I mentioned above has Richardson’s as their “best place to take out of towners” …it is great and probably about 20m from the airport on the freeway…be careful of their delicious margaritas.</p>
<p>Tempemom- thanks for that suggestion. We like everything. Italian and thai/asian fusion is also something we enjoy. My husband also likes seafood. I’ll check out that magazine.</p>
<p>Just looked up Richardson’s and peeked at the menu - looks like a place we would really like.</p>
<p>Tempemom- We took your suggestion and headed to Richardson’s for a wonderful meal before our long red-eye home. We wound up ordering their chips with homemade guac and salsa’a along with 2 fairly large apps. Throw in a couple beers/margaritas and you have the recipe for a very full tummy.</p>
<p>Sedona was awesome. We did a plane tour around the grand canyon (since it was closed). a hot air balloon ride at sunrise in Sedona, pink jeep tour, a visit to Jerome, a few hikes and enjoyed a wonder B & B. Can’t wait to go again. Thanks again for the dinner suggestion.</p>