Roundtrip Arizona/New Mexico Road Trip Ideas
 

My boyfriend and I are planning 9-day road trip for mid-March 2016. We've got our plane tickets arriving in Phoenix a 6pm on Friday, and leaving at 2:45 on Saturday. I was hoping to get some ideas of thing to do during our trip - we're both pretty outdoorsy although not expert hikers by any means. We're in our 20s and trying to keep our expenses low, and aren't afraid to wander off the beaten path for an unusual experience.

Here's our general plan for the trip:

Friday and Saturday: Stay in Sedona, do some hiking, see Montezuma Castle National Monument

Sunday and Monday: Stay at Bright Angel Lodge in Grand Canyon

Tuesday - Wednesday: Up in the air, but points of great interest are Monument Valley (a must!), Mesa Verde, Antelope Canyon, and Horseshoe Bend.

Thursday and Friday: Spend in Santa Fe

Saturday night: Stay somewhere in between Santa Fe and Phoenix, perhaps in Phoenix itself.

Again, looking for ideas for anything from hikes, attractions, and restaurants! Would love advice for how to prioritize things in our Tuesday-Wednesday segment. Thanks!

If Monument Valley is a must then highly recommend staying at The View hotel for, in fact, unsurpassed views. When we were there two years ago in May it was incredibly windy, blowing sand and dust, you didn't want to be out walking around. But we could comfortably sit on our balcony at The View and, protected from the wind, enjoy the ever-changing light on Monument Valley. We've also stayed at Gouldings and it's fine, but just not the same views.

Don't know if that breaks your budget, but check it out and book very soon. A memorable place in our opinion.

Good choice on Montezuma Castle, worth a few hours we thought.

You are planning a nice trip. March weather can go either way, good luck with that.

Since you want to visit Montezuma Castle, you may want to stay in Phoenix overnight and drive to Sedona first thing Saturday morning. It will be dark by the time you get on the road Friday night and Montezuma is before Sedona, so you'd have to backtrack to visit. Or save it for the journey back from Santa Fe?

Grand Canyon will likely be in winter weather mode yet, could have a snowstorm or it could be beautiful. The upper parts of trails will probably have some snow/ice on them.

The lodge in Mesa Verde is closed until early April, and some of the tours do not run in March either. You may want to consider going there at another time when everything is open.
http://www.nps.gov/meve/planyourvisit/hours.htm

Also, two days (Tuesday/Wednesday) is not really enough time to do justice to Antelope Canyon, Monument Valley and Mesa Verde including the driving from one to the other.

Are you leaving Saturday or Sunday? You initially said you're flying out on Saturday afternoon but later said you will be staying somewhere between Santa Fe and Phoenix on Saturday night...

Hi WhereAreWe - I mistyped in my first post; our flight is Sunday afternoon. I appreciate the advise! I figured that Antelope Canyon, Monument Valley, and Mesa Verde all together would be a little more than we can handle in that amount of time.

Mesa Verde is great, but it's a bit of an outlier on this trip. I'd skip it, take your time getting to Monument Valley, then head for Santa Fe the next day.

Lee Ann

I'm starting to think Santa Fe might also be an outlier. What about a separate trip to Santa Fe/Mesa Verde and southwest CO?

You could add some time in Tucson, Sedona or Phoenix to replace Santa Fe on this trip.