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Sedona boasts the kind of beauty that stirs the senses and moves the soul
Getting There
Although Sedona does have a small airport, it's only open to charter and private planes. Instead, fly into Phoenix (120 miles south of Sedona) and travel via ground transportation from there or opt to continue on with a 55 minute connecting flight on US Airways/America West (www.usairways.com) into Flagstaff's smaller Pulliam Airport (928/556-1234), situated 30 miles north of Sedona. Phoenix's Sky Harbor International Airport (www.phoenix.gov/aviation) is served by most major airlines with American (www.aa.com), Continental (www.continental.com), Delta (www.delta.com), and smaller, budget airlines such as Southwest (www.southwest.com), and JetBlue (www.jetblue.com) among them and is easily accessible from across the U.S. with non-stop routes operated from more than one hundred cities. Flight time is 5 hours from New York; 1.5 hours from Los Angeles; 3.5 hours from Chicago; and about 4 hours from Atlanta.
Alternatively, Amtrak (www.amtrak.com) offers train service into Flagstaff, while Greyhound (www.greyhound.com) buses make stops in both Flagstaff and Phoenix.
Package providers
Booking air and hotel together (and other trip essentials such as airport transfers, car rentals, and even tours and activities) can save a bundle of cash – online travel discounters such as Orbitz (www.orbitz.com), Expedia (www.expedia.com), and Travelocity (www.travelocity.com) are a good place to start your search.
Getting into Sedona
Car rentals are available from major agencies in Flagstaff and Phoenix including Avis (www.avis.com), Budget (www.budget.com), Hertz (www.hertz.com), and National (www.nationalcar.com), among others. Be sure to book well in advance and shop around to lock in the best rates. From Phoenix, you can zip through the 120 miles to Sedona in less than two hours via I-17 (north). Take the Sedona-Oak Creek Canyon exit (exit 298) to Highway 179 (west), which runs for 14 miles through the Village of Oak Creek before hitting Sedona. From Flagstaff, the 30-mile drive to Sedona can be made via I-17 (south), but we recommend taking the incredibly scenic Highway 89A through Oak Creek Canyon instead.
If you decide to hold off on renting a vehicle until your arrival in Sedona, ground transportation from Phoenix's airport is available by bus on the Sedona-Phoenix Shuttle (928/282-2066 or 800/448-7988; $45 one-way, $85 round-trip; reservations required; www.sedona-phoenix-shuttle.com), which has scheduled departures eight times a day.
Getting around
We highly recommend renting a car during your stay, as there is little in the way of public transportation, save for the free Sedona RoadRunner trolley (www.sedonaroadrunner.com) that was initiated in fall 2006 – it runs every 10 minutes (during daytime hours) between the Hillside shopping center on Highway 179 and the north end of Uptown Sedona. While much of the compact Uptown area is easy enough to navigate on foot, you'll need wheels to get out to the trailheads and scenic backcountry – also keep in mind that four-wheel drive can come in handy for some of the area's unpaved side streets. Local car and jeep rental companies include Enterprise (www.enterprise.com); Avis (www.avis.com); Sedona Car Rental (www.sedonacarrental.com); BTW Sedona Rent-A-Car (www.sedona-rent-a-car.com); and Farabee Jeep Rentals (www.farabeejeeprentals.com). Thrill seekers can even opt to rent Harley-Davidson motorcycles or ATVs from EagleRider of Sedona (www.sedonamotorcyclerentals.com).
