Trips & tickets
A 4x4 ride with a guide at the wheel from the tour office in Uptown Sedona into the Coconino National Forest, climbing high desert trails past Snoopy Rock, Thunder Mountain and Doe Mesa, with photo stops and a drive-by of Cathedral Rock.
A train ride from the Clarkdale depot through a 20-mile wilderness along the Verde River to the Perkinsville turnaround, in luxury-class seats with appetizers, a Champagne toast and a cafe voucher at the depot.
A small-group van day from Phoenix hotels with stops at Montezuma Castle, the Chapel of the Holy Cross and Bell Rock, and about 2-3 hours to explore Uptown Sedona on your own.
The full Viator 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 11-hour day tour from Phoenix leaves about 2-3 hours in Uptown 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.