Trips & tickets
A narrated jeep ride up toward the Mogollon Rim, about 2,000 feet above the lowland desert, with photo stops looking over the red rocks and the ponderosa pine forest on the rim.
A jeep tour to a couple of Sedona's vortex sites, with short walks at each and a guide who explains the beliefs around them, from Chinese medicine to American Indian lore and New Age ideas.
A train ride from Clarkdale along the Verde River to the old settlement of Perkinsville and back, with living-room-style seats, open-air viewing cars, appetizers and a champagne toast.
The full GetYourGuide listing for Sedona — jeep and van tours, vortex and stargazing tours, the Verde Canyon Railroad and day trips from Phoenix, with live prices.
Sedona is a town, not a park with one gate, so there is no single ticket. What you pay for depends on how you spend the day: a Red Rock Pass to park at the trailheads of the Coconino National Forest, a separate fee at the creekside picnic sites and the state parks, a jeep tour onto the backcountry roads, an evening stargazing tour, the Verde Canyon Railroad from Clarkdale, or a full day tour from Phoenix that handles the driving.
Which ones make sense depends on whether you have a car, how much hiking you plan, and how many days you have. These pages compare them plainly and point out the parking rules that catch first-time visitors.
Plan it properly
Phoenix to Sedona is 113.4 miles, about 2 hours. The two routes from I-17, the drive down Oak Creek Canyon from Flagstaff, the airport shuttle, day tours, and getting around Sedona without a car.
What the Red Rock Pass costs, which Sedona trailheads need it, the creekside sites and state parks that charge their own fees, the free trailhead shuttle, and the 2026 fee-free days.
Sedona jeep tours, open-air van and vortex tours, stargazing, the Verde Canyon Railroad and sunrise balloon flights compared: length, price on the operators' own lists, and who each one suits.
Red rock country
Photographs licensed from Shutterstock.
You need one, or an America the Beautiful pass, to leave your car at most Coconino National Forest trailheads and picnic sites around Sedona. On the forest's list it costs $5 a day, $15 a week or $20 a year and covers everyone in the vehicle. A stop of about 15 minutes or less for a photo needs no pass. Our Red Rock Pass and parking guide lists the sites.
Five creekside sites run by a concessionaire charge their own fee and accept neither the Red Rock Pass nor the America the Beautiful pass: Call of the Canyon and West Fork, Crescent Moon and Grasshopper Point ($15 a day each), Beaver Creek ($14) and Lower Lake Mary ($12). Slide Rock and Red Rock state parks charge their own state park entrance fee.
From Phoenix it is 113.4 miles, about 2 hours: I-17 north for 98.4 miles to exit 298, then 14.2 miles on SR-179. From Flagstaff, take SR-89A south down Oak Creek Canyon, 24.4 miles from the I-17 junction. Without a car, a scheduled shuttle links Phoenix Sky Harbor with Sedona, best booked at least 24 hours ahead; see our guide to getting to Sedona.
Driving yourself, a day from Phoenix works, but with about 2 hours on the road each way it leaves a few hours in town; the 12-hour day tour from Phoenix is mainly a Grand Canyon trip with a photo stop in Sedona. Two or three nights let you add a hike, a 2-hour jeep tour and an evening under the dark sky. The Cathedral Rock trail alone takes about 1.5 hours round trip, and the Verde Canyon Railroad 3.5 to 4 hours; our tours compared guide has the lengths of every tour.