Sedona Unit Info

[rob621]

Planning a trip to Wyndham Sedona. Looking for any advise on which unit(s) to try to request. Any advise is appreciated.

Thanks,
Rob

 

[JimMIA]

I'm not sure it makes much difference. We were just there -- twice, actually, July 8-9 and July 16-19.

Our first two nights, we were in a ground floor unit in the 1300 building -- might have been 1316, but I'm not sure. The second stay was in 2521, a second-story unit in the 2500 building. From our experience, the only real difference was having to lug Mommy's 800 pound suitcase up the stairs!

We loved the resort. If I can answer any questions, fire away.

 

[VivZ]

Same here. Have stayed there 5 times and all units are comparable. Stairs tocthe second floor units so if anyone ha a disability, keep that in mind. Enjoy!

 

[JimMIA]

Same here. Have stayed there 5 times and all units are comparable. Stairs tocthe second floor units so if anyone ha a disability, keep that in mind. Enjoy!

They called us a couple of weeks prior to arrival and asked if we needed first floor for any reason. We didn't, but ended up on the first floor for the first stay anyway.

 

[Don40]

The second floor would provide a better view of the red rocks. Also no one above you. My luck is to always have the person upstairs walking around at 3am.
One of my favorite places to stay.

 

[rob621]

Thanks for the insight all! While we're at it, any suggestions on "must do's"? To set the stage my wife and I will be traveling with our two boys, 13 & 16. Definitely want to do some sort of tour (thinking Pink Jeep as we've heard good things). Want to do a day trip to the Canyon, just not sure on the best way to see it (i.e. train, raft, car stopping at various places, ect.). Any other thoughts are appreciated, as I am just getting into my research.

Thanks!

 

[JimMIA]

While we're at it, any suggestions on "must do's"? To set the stage my wife and I will be traveling with our two boys, 13 & 16.

First of all, some neighborhood things about Wyndham Sedona itself. There are a lot of necessary things located very close to the resort.

For reference, Wyndham Sedona is located a couple of short blocks south of AZ 89A, between Shelby on the east and Stutz Bearcat on the west. Downtown Sedona is 2-3 miles east of the resort via 89A.

Directly across 89A (on the north side) at Shelby, there is a very large Safeway grocery store.

A little bit east of the Safeway, also on the north side of 89A is the Coffee Pot, which serves breakfast all day (they close at 2 PM, I think) and featuring 101 different omelets. VERY good breakfast spot and very close.

A block or two west of Safeway, also on the north side of 89A is the Barking Frog Cafe. Very good food, moderately priced, cool teeshirt, highly recommended.

If you need a pharmacy, one block east of Shelby (at Sunset), on the south side of 89A is a Walgreens.

There are several gas stations and other restaurants located on both sides of 89A within a few blocks.

Definitely want to do some sort of tour (thinking Pink Jeep as we've heard good things). Want to do a day trip to the Canyon, just not sure on the best way to see it (i.e. train, raft, car stopping at various places, ect.).

Your boys would probably enjoy a couple of hours at Slide Rock State Park, located a few miles north of downtown on AZ 89A. The big deal there is sliding over the rocks in the freezing water. There is also a big rock they can jump off into a pool below. There is a fee ($20 per car, I think) and you have to go early -- especially on a weekend. The parking lot fills up early on weekends. You can get a good sense of Slide Rock, except for the water temperature (brrrrrr!), from YouTube videos.

(Indian Gardens Cafe, just a little south of Slide Rock, is a great place to stop for a meal, either going to Slide Rock, or returning.)

We didn't take any tours, so I can't help you there, but there are numerous companies. You can also rent your own street-legal ATV for the day from several places. The concierge at the resort can help with those things and they may have some discounts available that don't involve an owner's update.

General sightseeing by car:

• Great red rock viewing anywhere off 89A west of Sedona, and especially AZ 179 south of downtown Sedona. As you enter Sedona from Wyndham Sedona, you will go through two roundabouts. You go straight through the first; at the second, the first right takes you south via 179, going 3/4 of the way around takes you into what passes for downtown.
• On the southern leg (179), be sure to check out the Chapel of the Holy Cross -- beautiful Catholic church built into the red rock with some very nice views.
• Also on 179 south of Sedona are great viewing areas for Courthouse Rock and Bell Rock.
• Another good viewing location is the Sedona airport, just a few blocks east of Wyndham Sedona, south of 89A. You'll see the signs.

Shopping, dining, weird stuff:

• Along the main stretch in downtown Sedona, there are numerous tourist shops, jewelry stores, and cafes. Also some opportunities to get your "aura" photographed. There are also places to get "readings," take nighttime UFO tours, etc. Sedona is beautiful, but not everyone who lives there is well.
• Just south of Sedona, on the right side of 179 is the Tlaquepaque Arts & Crafts Village. That's common pronounciation -- Ta-LOCK-a-POCKee. Lots of really nice stores and upscale shopping. The Oak Creek Brewery there is an excellent place for dining, or just for stopping in for a Beer Flight of 7 5-oz glasses of their very good craft beers.

 

[Ty1on]

First of all, some neighborhood things about Wyndham Sedona itself. There are a lot of necessary things located very close to the resort.

For reference, Wyndham Sedona is located a couple of short blocks south of AZ 89A, between Shelby on the east and Stutz Bearcat on the west. Downtown Sedona is 2-3 miles east of the resort via 89A.

Directly across 89A (on the north side) at Shelby, there is a very large Safeway grocery store.

A little bit east of the Safeway, also on the north side of 89A is the Coffee Pot, which serves breakfast all day (they close at 2 PM, I think) and featuring 101 different omelets. VERY good breakfast spot and very close.

A block or two west of Safeway, also on the north side of 89A is the Barking Frog Cafe. Very good food, moderately priced, cool teeshirt, highly recommended.

If you need a pharmacy, one block east of Shelby (at Sunset), on the south side of 89A is a Walgreens.

There are several gas stations and other restaurants located on both sides of 89A within a few blocks.



Your boys would probably enjoy a couple of hours at Slide Rock State Park, located a few miles north of downtown on AZ 89A. The big deal there is sliding over the rocks in the freezing water. There is also a big rock they can jump off into a pool below. There is a fee ($20 per car, I think) and you have to go early -- especially on a weekend. The parking lot fills up early on weekends. You can get a good sense of Slide Rock, except for the water temperature (brrrrrr!), from YouTube videos.

(Indian Gardens Cafe, just a little south of Slide Rock, is a great place to stop for a meal, either going to Slide Rock, or returning.)

We didn't take any tours, so I can't help you there, but there are numerous companies. You can also rent your own street-legal ATV for the day from several places. The concierge at the resort can help with those things and they may have some discounts available that don't involve an owner's update.

General sightseeing by car:

• Great red rock viewing anywhere off 89A west of Sedona, and especially AZ 179 south of downtown Sedona. As you enter Sedona from Wyndham Sedona, you will go through two roundabouts. You go straight through the first; at the second, the first right takes you south via 179, going 3/4 of the way around takes you into what passes for downtown.
• On the southern leg (179), be sure to check out the Chapel of the Holy Cross -- beautiful Catholic church built into the red rock with some very nice views.
• Also on 179 south of Sedona are great viewing areas for Courthouse Rock and Bell Rock.
• Another good viewing location is the Sedona airport, just a few blocks east of Wyndham Sedona, south of 89A. You'll see the signs.

Shopping, dining, weird stuff:

• Along the main stretch in downtown Sedona, there are numerous tourist shops, jewelry stores, and cafes. Also some opportunities to get your "aura" photographed. There are also places to get "readings," take nighttime UFO tours, etc. Sedona is beautiful, but not everyone who lives there is well.
• Just south of Sedona, on the right side of 179 is the Tlaquepaque Arts & Crafts Village. That's common pronounciation -- Ta-LOCK-a-POCKee. Lots of really nice stores and upscale shopping. The Oak Creek Brewery there is an excellent place for dining, or just for stopping in for a Beer Flight of 7 5-oz glasses of their very good craft beers.

Add lunch at Enchantment Resort

 

[Don40]

Great suggestions above.
We got lucky at the rental car agency in Phoenix they gave us a jeep instead of a mid- size car. We drove off road and the kids had a blast. Some places really shook your teeth, and good size bolders to navigate. I did not do the really scary stuff, because we were not sure of the insurance situation on the jeep.

Have fun, great place.

 

[JimMIA]

Sedona Day Trips:

First of all, a disclaimer. We used Wyndham Flagstaff as a base for day trips, and it's a better base because it saves you almost an hour in any direction.

South:
Montezuma Castle National Monument - In northern Arizona, many of the sites to see are Indian ruins, mostly from various Pueblo Culture tribes of 800-1000 years ago. That's the group who used to be called "Anasazi," or the "ancient ones" until people figured out a) they ain't THAT ancient, and b) the word "anasazi" means something ugly/unflattering in other native languages. So now, the PC term is "Pueblo Culture," and it covers a very broad range of Indian groups, many with totally different lifestyles and cultures.

All that said, Indian ruins, and the cultures they represent, are very interesting. If you want to check them out, there are a range of places you can visit. We visited several, and I'll give you our impressions which are based mostly on whether you're IN the ruins or close by, or viewing them from a mile away.

Montezuma Castle National Monument is roughly 30 miles (+/- 40 minutes) south from Sedona. The official National Parks website is www.nps.gov/moca

Very pretty cliff-dwelling site that you can easily get quite close to -- but not INto. Close-up look at the ruins and lots of rangers there during summer, both of which I count as a plus.


North:
At least two great trips here, and then some.

Lower Antelope Canyon - If you are anywhere in northern AZ, I would strongly recommend that you visit LOWER Antelope Canyon. It's a Navajo Tribal Park about 2 hours north of Flagstaff (3 hours from Sedona, according to Google Maps). Search it up on Google Images or YouTube. $28 one-hour guided tour and some of the most spectacular pictures you will ever take. I took almost 100 on my cellphone in an hour. We used Ken's Tours, and they were great. Well worth the +/- 6-hour drive. Seriously.

Monument Valley - 3 hour, 40 minute drive from Sedona. This might be the one where you consider driving there, spending the night in The View Hotel or a hotel in nearby Kayenta, AZ, and then returning the next day or going to Grand Canyon the next day. Breathtaking red rock mesas that you have seen in many car commercials over the years. Another Navajo Tribal Park with an $8 per person entry fee, but another of the prettier places in the world.

Sunset Crater Volcano and Wupatki National Monuments - Easy day trip from Sedona. Flagstaff is about 45 minutes from Sedona. Sunset Crater is another 30 minutes or so north, and then Wupatki is a little further. Beautiful country, really interesting ecosystem in the volcanic area, and then gorgeous views of the Painted Desert to the east as you drive to Wupatki. The ruins near the Visitor Center are quite extensive -- desert ruins, NOT cliff-dwelling. It will take you a total of about 3 hours to get to Wupatki, but only about 2 hours back to Sedona.

Official NPS websites are: www.nps.gov/sucr and www.nps.gov/wupa


East:
Meteor Crater -- I have a little reluctance about this one. I was there 25 years or so ago, and enjoyed it...but. All my NPS buddies tell me it's just a tourist trap, and my wife (who had been there with me last time) didn't want to go. So we didn't. ("If Momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!"). This is an actual hole in the ground where a meteor crashed, and there aren't a whole lot of those you can visit. Google it and decide.

Petrified Forest National Park -- a little east of the Meteor Crater. Used to be two parks -- Painted Desert and Petrified Forest. For reasons known only to NPS bureaucrats, the two parks were merged many years ago. The Painted Desert (also very visible from Wupatki) is beautiful. Petrified Forest is cool -- wood turned to stone, let's see you do that! Official website is www.nps.gov/pefo

Petrified Forest is about 2 1/2 hours east of Sedona, with the Meteor Crater somewhat closer.

Grand Canyon is sorta West, and I'll save that for a separate post.


*****
If I had to pick TWO places to go for day trips from Sedona, Grand Canyon would be #3. Antelope Canyon would be #1, and Monument Valley would be #2. And...if I could, I would do both from Flagstaff, not Sedona -- but they are doable from Sedona.

 

[rob621]

Jim - Great intel! VERY much appreciated. If you have more, keep it coming when you have a chance. I really appreciate you taking the time to lay all of this out for us. This will be very helpful.

Thanks,
Rob