If you find yourself in the Phoenix area, it’s well worth taking a drive through Sedona. In fact, we’d recommend staying there and spending plenty of time exploring the canyons, hikes, and other natural attractions in the area. Sedona is home to Red Rock State Park and holds some of the most impressive and unique natural rock formations in the southwestern US. One particularly notable destination is Cathedral Rock, a towering sandstone butte that’s one of the most photographed spots in Arizona. Sedona is featured in more than just photographs though – the town is sometimes called “Little Hollywood” because of the films and TV shows filmed there. Some famous films shot partially in Sedona include National Lampoon’s Vacation, William Shatner’s cult classic Kingdom of the Spiders, and a handful of westerns including Broken Arrow, 3:10 to Yuma, and Sam Raimi’s The Quick and the Dead.
Besides the area’s natural beauty, Sedona also attracts visitors looking for a more spiritual experience. The town is known as one of the centers of New Age philosophy and spiritualism as well as its concentration of spiritual vortices, wells of positive energy that are purported to purify and cleanse the spirit. In the late 1980s, New Age author José Argüelles used Sedona as a base when organizing the Harmonic Convergence, a synchronized global meditation event coinciding with a portentous alignment of the planets. Even if you’re not a believer in New Age spirituality, it’s hard to deny that the overall vibe of the town is pretty unique. That’s not the only thing that’s unique either: Sedona is famous for its turquoise McDonald’s, one of only a handful of locations without the classic golden arches.
To see the area for yourself, we recommend taking our Sedona & Red Rock State Park Self-Guided Driving Tour. If you enjoy the tour, we also offer Action+, a yearly subscription that includes access to all of our US-based tours for a single price.
Essential Travel Guide:
