Transportation between Tucson and Sedona
 

I will be visiting AZ in late March/early April and wondered if anyone had any ideas how to get from Tucson to Sedona. Are there Shuttles? Does anyone fly? We'd rather not drive as we are on vacation and feel it is too far for a first-time USA driving experience. (We're British!)

From Tucson to Sedona is about a 5-hour drive, via I-10 to Phoenix and I-17 from Phoenix north to exit 298, from there it's a short drive (15 miles) on Rte. 179. If you can drive any of the "M" motorways in the UK, you can handle our interstate highways and lesser roads. There is a shuttle between the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport and Sedona...but how would you get around in Sedona after you got there? It's a marvelously scenic drive from Tucson -- the desert will fascinate you with its wide varieties of plants, including the giant sahuaro by the jillions. Just take it easy, keep over toward the right side, let the zoomies pass you, and you will have a marvelous trip. But if you insist on flying, there is an air shuttle between Phoenix and Sedona, and you can rent a car at the Sedona airport. If you can, telephone 1-800-288-7336 (or have some American friend do it) and ask the Sedona Chamber of Commerce to send you their free booklet, "Experience Sedona." It will answer all your questions. Takes several weeks for mailing. Or you can check the web site, sedonachamber.com -- lists a lot of good information.

Mitch, <BR>The 5-6 hr. drive from Tucson to Sedona is not bad - really! We've driven in England and once we got over the initial nervous feeling we were fine, and you probably will be too if you drive. In all honesty, the only way to really see anything in the southwest is to drive - I live here I know! An option that might be do-able is take the shuttle from Tucson to Phoenix (to the Sky Harbor Airport), rent a car there and drive to Sedona. The Arizona Shuttle has 3 pickup spots in Tucson. (Unless you are visiting someone with a car you can't get around in Tucson without driving either). Without a car you will be at a very very distinct disadvantage in trying to see Sedona or anyplace out this way, public transportation is just not a viable solution. As Al said, drive slowly (not too slow tho, that is dangerous too on the Interstate) - keep to the "slow lane" and have a good map! The interstate can be full of 18-wheelers (lorries!) but they will pass you no matter what speed you are driving at so don't worry too much about that. It's basically all interstate highway until you take the turnoff for Sedona so it's nearly impossible to get lost. Phoenix traffic can be a bit hectic, but try and schedule yourself so you are not driving during morning or evening rush hour (that goes for Tucson too .. there is some road construction along I-10 that can be bad during rush hour). If you leave Tucson after 9 a.m. you should get to Sedona without too much traffic difficulty if you decide to drive. What we did in England was only one of us drove all the time, the other kept a "look out" - it worked great, I drove and after the first day really got into the hang of it and had no real problems (I probably drove a bit slower then some of the British liked, but .... hey we came home in one piece!) Actually we drove on several trips over there and it was fine after the first day.