Recommendations for January in Sedona, AZ
 

My wife and I will be in Sedona, AZ, from January 10-17, 2015 and would really appreciate any recommendations for day trips or other things to do while we're there. We have heard that the Mexican food is outstanding and would also appreciate any restaurant recommendations. Thanks in advance for sharing your experiences and Happy New Year. Bill

You do know that it will range in temps from mid 50's during day to around freezing during the night?

What kinds of things do you enjoy?

Personally, I think a week in Sedona at that time of year is too long. Have you thought of spending a few days elsewhere?

Are you planning on going to Grand Canyon?

We hike out by Enchantment resort. Nice place for lunch or dinner, too.
http://www.enchantmentresort.com/

You can ski in Flagstaff, an hour away.


http://www.sedona.net/things-to-do

http://www.enchantmentresort.com/thi...ea_activities/

We had our new year's eve dinner here last year. Excellent.

http://www.lauberge.com/dining/

I agree with the above post. Weather may dictate which activities will be possible. If you can, head to the GC for a night or two.

Do you enjoy hiking? If so you can easily spend a week in Sedona as long as the weather cooperates. The scenery is stunning and there are enormous numbers of hiking trails to enjoy. For day trips, check out Walnut Canyon (cliff dwellings), or Jerome, AZ (ghost town). Grand Canyon for a night is a good idea, though two might be a little much.

If you don't like to hike it'll be a bit more of a challenge to stay occupied. Many people enjoy the Pink Jeep tours instead of hiking, but we've never done it. For mexican food, Elote is very good. For italian, we enjoyed Cucina Rustica, in Village of Oak Creek.

Definitely try to do the Pink Jeep Broken Arrow tour the first day there. The guide give you a lot of information on the flora, fauna, and geology of Red Rock Country.

Here are some of our favorite things to do:
Montezuma Castle and Montezuma Well

Bell Rock / Courthouse Butte hike (about 5 mile loop)

Chapel of the Holy Cross

Red Rock Crossing, hike Baldwin trail to Cathedral Rock

Airport Mesa -- overlook half way up on left is great for sunset, overlook at Sky Ranch Lodge is good for sunrise.

Jerome and some wine tasting along Page Springs Road makes a good day trip.

Verde Canyon Railroad

Oak Creek Canyon drive

Hike Boynton Canyon

Day trip to visit Walnut Canyon, Sunset Crater, and Wupatki National Monument.

I haven't found any great Mexican restaurants in/around Sedona. Of course, it is relative, since there are so many great ones in Tucson.

Elote is "Mexican-inspired", so don't plan on finding what you would normally think of as "Mexican", and do plan on waiting -- our one visit there had us waiting well over an hour.

Avoid Oaxaca and Javelina Cantina. The former is just bad and the latter is mediocre and the food is what I call "gringo-ized".

Su Casa, in Clarkdale, near the Verde Canyon Railroad is OK.

My favorite restaurants:
Dahl & Di Luca (sister restaurant to Cucina Rustica, but quieter, IMO, and located right in Sedona)

Silver Saddle Room at the Cowboy Club

Harry's Hideaway in Cornville

Shugrue's Hillside

Red Rock BBQ is pretty good BBQ

We usually have a lunch at the Oak Creek Brewery restaurant at Tlaquepaque.

Sedona Memories is great for lunch. Huge sandwiches, but go early, they are only open from 10 AM to 2 PM.

I have heard great things about the Schoolhouse restaurant in Cottonwood, but we haven't eaten there.

We had Prickly Pear cocktails and rattlesnake at the Cowboy Club!

Prickly Pear Margaritas!Mmm

Thanks for all of the great tips. Everything sounded good except for the rattlesnake at the Cattle Club. We have done the Grand Canyon trip in the past and spent a couple of nights in one of the cabins there so probably will not do that again this trip. The extended weather forecast is sunny and in the mid 50's which sounds good to us because we live in the mountains of Western North Carolina and expecting to drop to 6 degrees tomorrow night. What we enjoy doing on these trips is a big country breakfast, hiking a different place each day and a nice casual dinner at night. I think we'll be okay for a week in Sedona based on all of your good information. Thanks again and Happy New Year.

Billnc- it tasted like chicken! No kidding :)

Oh, I'm with billnc. We had some kind of snake sampler at the Cowboy Club, and it was terrible. Reptiles just do not taste good. MichelleY, no way it tasted like chicken, chicken is tasty! I say stick with the buffalo chili!

billnc, since you like hiking, I'd recommend Brin's Mesa, Devil's Bridge, and Cathedral Rock, and there are many others that are enjoyable too.

Prickly Pear Margaritas-Yes. Rattlesnake-No. Thanks for the extra hiking trails. Bill

Here is a great website for hiking around Sedona.

http://hikearizona.com/traildex.php?ID=42&RID=9