Planning a family vacation (parents and 3 grown children) in early January to Arizona. Will be flying into Phoenix but don't have to leave from there. Must sees are Sedona and Grand Canyon. Here are the questions:

1. Will be driving from Phoenix to Sedona first, should I spend any time in Phoenix before doing so?
2. Besides the two locations mentioned above, what other locals should be added?
3. Weather wise, is January a bad time to go?

Thanks all.

Welcome back after 11+ years. How many days do you plan for the rental vehicle section of the trip? Your 3 adult children should have a vote on how much time you spend in the Phoenix area. Have them do some research on what they want to see.
You might be disappointed with the amount of snow you encounter at the south rim of the Grand Canyon.
If you discover that there is bad weather/snow at the Grand Canyon, you might want to extend the trip to southern Arizona. If early January is the only time of year that you can all make the trip, you should know that there is plenty to see and do in Arizona in all seasons of the year.

I love Tucson--plenty to do there for 2-3 days. The Sonoran Desert Museum is awesome! If you click on my username you will see my trip report for Tucson. My kids were young but there were a number of things we did that would be fun for all ages.

At that time of year you can be flexible on when to go to Grand Canyon and Sedona, based on the weather. We once went at the end of January and there was no trouble getting lodging in Grand Canyon and the weather was fine - temps in the 50s, sunny and trails were dry. I would make tentative reservations that could be cancelled without penalty.

Tucson is a more reliable good weather site and we have headed from there to Sedona and GC.

Hi Tom,
Thanks for the "welcome back". Though I haven't been active in the forum asking questions, I've always been a lurker...
We plan to rent the car for whatever amount of time is needed during that week. That's nice of you to give my children the vote on Phoenix but waiting for them to do research on it will take too long; and I am paying the trip after all. Unfortunately, we do not have the luxury of extending the trip since some of the kids need to go back to school. What are some of the areas you can suggest for us to put on our plan that is driving distance from Sedona and Grand Canyon. Thank you so much.

Thanh

Either on the way into GC or on the way out, you can go through Flagstaff on rt. 89 and a short hop east visit Wupatki, an ancient Native American ruin, and also Sunset Crater. About 10 miles east of Flagstaff is Walnut Canyon National Monument where there are cliff dwellings you can climb up into (it is quite a climb but on stairs most of the way).

Close to Sedona are Montezuma's Castle and Well ruins. There are other more remote ruins in the area too as well as lots of hiking trails. Do drive through Oak Creek Canyon while there.

I totally disagree with this idea that snow at the Grand Canyon makes it a bad choice. Yes, if there's a major snowstorm you'll want to avoid driving but otherwise, why would someone avoid the Grand Canyon simply because they discover that there's snow on the ground? It's gorgeous in winter, especially after snowfall.

Make a 3-4 night reservation in Sedona and a 1 night reservation in Grand Canyon. Watch the weather and if there's a major storm forecast, adjust those nights as needed. Unless the storm lasts for days (unlikely) or there are storms back to back, the roads should be clear in a day or so.

Emalloy has good ideas for things to visit near Flagstaff. Petrified Forest could also be included although that may be somewhat out of the way.

You can easily spend 2-3 days in Phoenix at the beginning or end. Heard Museum, botanical gardens, drive the Apache Trail, visit Boyce Thompson Arboretum, hike in South Mountain...plenty to do there.

Highly recommend this tour
https://azstateparks.com/kartchner/

vaga

PS: Winter at GC is marvelous - all ridges/valley are better defined, etc.

Update... I think we plan to settle in Phoenix for the week and just take tours from there. Our thoughts are to rent the car for the week and use it to get to the locations within Phoenix but use a tour company for the tours (don't want to use our vacation driving). Thoughts on our current plan please... thank you so much.
Day 1: Arrive at Phoenix
Day 2: check out Phoenix
Day 3: Tour to Cantelope Canyon
Day 4: Oak Creek Canyon
Day 5: South rim Grand Canyon
Day 6: More of Phoenix
Day 7: Sedona
Day 8: return home

I don't want to rain on your parade, but i'm going to rain on your parade. Have you plugged those locations into a map and looked at the drive time? Your plan is 24 hours of driving.

Day 3: (I'm assuming you mean Antelope Canyon - that is a 4 hour and 15 minute drive from Phoenix. 8.5 hours round trip.
Day 4: the head of Oak Creek Canyon is about 2 hours 15 minutes from Phoenix, 4.5 hours round trip
Day 5: Grand Canyon South Rim is 3.5 hours from Phoenix, 7 hours round trip.
Day 7: Sedona is 2 hours from Phoenix, 4 hours round trip.

Oak Creek Canyon is not a day trip destination in and of itself. It should be combined with Sedona and/or the Grand Canyon. Driving Oak Creek is an hour or two at most, depending on how many stops you make.

The most logical thing would be to drive to Page on day 3, tour Antelope. Stay overnight in Page (or drive to Grand Canyon), spend day 4 at the South Rim. Drive down Oak Creek Canyon on day 5, spend the rest of that day and all of day 6 in Sedona. Head back to Phoenix on day 7. That is 11 hours of driving with almost no backtracking.

Second most logical thing would be to base yourself in Sedona for 4 nights and do day trips to Page/Anttelope and the Grand Canyon. That would be about 14 hours of driving total including the back and forth (once) to Phoenix.

Ask yourself if you'd rather drive 11 hours, 14 hours or 24 hours in 4 days. The only advantage to your plan is that you can all sit back and let someone else do the driving, but I don't think that's justifies the extra time on the road and inability to stop at anything that catches your eye (and trust me, there are plenty of things that will catch your eye).

Well, thank you for raining on my parade but that's why I asked the question.
I guess it's back to the drawing board. I kind of didn't want to have to move from one hotel/Airbnb to another..
For the above suggestion, I would stay in Phoenix for the first 3 days and do the Phoenix thing and then go to Sedona for the remainder?

Thanh

The plan WhereAreWe gave you is the best in terms of not having to spend too much time in the car and is the kind of trip I would want to take. I do understand that some folks think it is more difficult to change lodging, so if you only want to stay in two places, then Sedona and Phoenix make sense.

If the driving part is the problem for you, you might find a tour company in Sedona that would take you to Grand Canyon and Antelope Canyon in a long loop. For me, staying over night in Grand Canyon is a real plus as you get to enjoy the park when it is less crowded and see sunrise and/or sunset without having to drive on small, unfamiliar roads when it is dark.

Thank you emalloy. I am actually looking closely at WhereAreWe's suggestions and hopefully can come up with a better plan.
Do you think it's doable to book lodging in Grand Canyon for early January now? I heard they book up months in advance. Also, got any suggestions for lodging?

You have several options for lodging inside the park at the south rim. Yavapai is run by one company, the rest of the lodging is run by another company.

https://www.visitgrandcanyon.com/yavapai-lodge
https://www.grandcanyonlodges.com/lodging/

Lodging books up months in advance for busy times (spring break, summer, etc.). I just looked at January 3rd and 5th and almost everything was still available so I'm 99.9% positive your exact date will have open rooms.

If you don't want to switch rooms a lot, I think you can manage 3 nights in Phoenix, 3 in Sedona and 1 at the Grand Canyon. The exact order of hotel nights is pretty flexible - you can do Phoenix first then go to Antelope and overnight at Grand Canyon before Sedona (that's probably what most people would do). Or you can do Sedona, then Grand Canyon for a night, visit Antelope the next day and head to Phoenix from there. Or some other combo that hits everything but I think those are the two most logical.

The other option where you stay in Sedona 4 nights and do a big day trip to Grand Canyon and Antelope is doable but not ideal for the reasons emalloy mentioned.

Thank you so much for your insight...
I think I will try to do as you suggested (3 Phoenix, 1 GC and 3 Sedona). We would need to head back to Phoenix for the return flight so I think Sedona is the closest.

I'm sure you will have your choice of lodging in GC. I would try the second link WhereAreWe gave you. The nicest will be elTovar which is right on the rim, and it is probably going to be the most expensive. My next choice would be either Kachina or Thunderbird, these are also right on the rim but are kind of like a chain motel. Bright Angel Lodge is also on the rim but some of the rooms share a bathroom. Some Bright Angel cabins are on the rim and some are back a few steps. Maswick is also a motel style place and is about a 5 minute walk from the rim. Yavapai is on the first link and is a bit farther from the rim.

I've stayed in elTovar, Thunderbird, Bright Angel cabin and Yavapai and understood that I was paying for location although all had comfortable beds and clean bathrooms. el Tovar had much better linens, and toiletries. Our Bright Angel cabin was the smallest room of them all.

Your decision the do 3 days in Phoenix and Sedona and one in GC sounds reasonable. If you have a long flight in or are arriving late in the day, doing Phoenix first makes the most sense.

For one night stays, I only unpack what I plan to wear the next day and my night clothes to make checkout faster (and I'm less likely to leave anything in a drawer)

Thank you for the suggestions on lodging at GC.
Our return flight will be later in the day and the drive from Sedona is only about 3 hrs so definitely doable. Getting super excited about this trip.