Sedona with Kids

Sedona with young kids

With our California property rented out through March 2023 (sigh?), we needed to find a new location to check out for our winter family trip. I started looking into Phoenix, Arizona since flights were not expensive in February, and Blaine came across Sedona when he started scoping out places to stay on AirBNB. We honestly did not expect the hiking to be so amazing for our kids (more on that later)!

Our kids were 18 months, 4 years and 6 years old when we traveled here in February 2022.

Getting there

We flew into Sky Harbor in Phoenix. We brought our own car seats for the kids, fitting the two convertible seats and one booster between two car seat travel bags (a must-have!).

Vehicle rental can be a high travel expense, so we made sure to shop around for the best deal. We had booked using Budget through Costco (they almost always have the best deals on rental cars!), but when we landed, Blaine did a quick check at Budget.com and found a better deal. Most car rental companies allow you to cancel anytime, so we canceled our first reservation and booked the better deal (one of Blaine’s favorite vacation memories).

The 2-hour drive to Sedona was pretty cool - lots of saguaro cacti to view out the window!

Pro tip: We never want to carry more than we have to when traveling with the kids in tow, so we use vacuum bags for packing! (Order here)

Where we stayed

We don’t often splurge, but we did for this home and it was amazing! It had all the essential baby/toddler gear (high chair and pack-and-play crib). There was a basement level that we didn’t use (other than for laundry) so you could easily stay there with a larger group.

The views were breathtaking - Blaine and I spent the kids’ quiet/nap time in the hot tub and also hung out there after they went to bed almost every night. The wraparound porch and furniture made for a nice place to hang out and read.

One of our number one priorities when selecting a place to stay is walkability. We were able to easily walk to downtown Sedona and the Sedona Heritage Museum (which was closed by the time we arrived, but we still got to walk around and check out more mountain views) from our home away from home.

Hike with kids everyday!

One of the reasons we loved Sedona so much was the ample kid-friendly trails. This trip marked the first time NONE of our kids complained on any of our hikes - they loved it as much as we did!

Pro Tip: always bring a bag of Skittles or other small, unmeltable candy for little treats along the way!

Montezuma Castle (included on America the Beautiful pass)

This one was not really a hike - just a short trail walk where we saw views of the Montezuma Castle National Monument. As a kid growing up, my parents always tried to incorporate at least one history lesson into the places we went, so I appreciated being able to learn about Native American culture. The trail was paved, so it was super easy to walk with the stroller. It was around a 35 minute drive from downtown Sedona.

Bell Rock (included on America the Beautiful pass)

We started out with the stroller, but decided to turnaround about .1 miles into the hike and ditch it. The 18 month old rode in the backpack carrier and the older kids hiked. We especially liked the rock formations on this trail.

This was an out-and-back trail, so we turned around when we thought the kids were ready. We ended up going just under 2 miles total and it took about 1 hour.

We actually meant to hike the Bell Rock trail on our first day, but realized we could use the America the Beautiful pass for parking, and did not have our pass yet. We decided to drive to Montezuma’s Castle so we could buy the pass (If you’re not planning a last-minute trip like us, you can order your pass online before you go) and use it for Bell Rock the next day.

Pro tip: Our new favorite way to get a photo of all five of us when there is no one else around is to prop our phone somewhere and take a video. Later, I grab a screenshot of the video. I find this easier/better than using a timer because I don’t have to keep walking back to try again. The quality suffers, but we usually get all of us smiling!

Schuerman Mountain Trail (free)

This was a 3.6 mile out-and-back trail that we enjoyed. The top has an epic panoramic view of the Sedona valley, and the climb wasn’t too steep.

The kids loved being able to tell everyone they climbed a mountain, and our 4-year-old coined his new favorite joke: “Did you climb a mountain?” “No, I took the elevator!”

It took us 1 hour and 20 minutes to complete. The hiking was more challenging than Bell Rock, but the kids managed just fine!

Fay Canyon

This easy trail was mostly flat and had an area for some climbing at the turnaround point. All of the trails we hiked had such different scenery, and this was more of a forest. It had snowed the night before (which we are told doesn’t happen often in Sedona), and snow was clinging to cactuses in shadier spots.

It took us 1 hour and 20 minutes to complete.

West Fork Trail ($11 for day pass)

This was the only trail that wasn’t free or included in our America the Beautiful pass. The $11 got you a day pass and there were other trails we could’ve checked out.

We wish we would’ve been a little more prepared for the river crossings on this one - our 6-year-old stepped in the creek accidentally on the first crossing. We learned the hard way that younger children like ours need a parent for hand-holding and guiding across the rocks and logs. Since it was our last day, we decided to keep on going as far as we could. We noticed that smarter parents had their kids in rain boots - that would have been a game changer for this hike.

The hike into the canyon was mostly flat and had yet another different vibe. There was snow in the cooler part of the canyon, so we took a little extra caution, but it was not too slippery.

Because of the aforementioned creek foot dip, we ended this one early but still made it almost 2 miles out-and-back and crossed the creek three times. It took 1 hour and 20 minutes to complete.

What we ate

There were plenty of walkable restaurants in downtown Sedona to choose from.

We got our Mexican fix at Don Diego (downtown), which has a nice outdoor patio and an additional patio (and menu!) for patrons with dogs. We thought the separation was a nice touch since our older kids are a little uneasy around dogs.

We also walked to Oak Creek Brewery and Grill one night. Unfortunately, many of their beers were not available, but it was a nice spot to grab dinner. The Veggie Confetti pizza was delicious.The patio was small (just barely big enough for our party of 5), but was ideal for smaller groups. We didn’t get a chance to check out the actual brewery in West Sedona, but it did look like they had live music a few nights a week.

Of course, we had to visit at least one brewery on our trip to get a souvenir pint glass! Sedona Beer Company did not disappoint - in fact, we went there twice! The brew and food was spot on and suited us vegetarians well. We especially loved the nachos with vegan chorizo and pub pretzel (the whole fam was fighting for the last bite). They had an outdoor patio, and it was located on the edge of downtown, about .5 mile walk from our rental home.

During our stay, we also ordered yummy Margherita pizza from Sedona Pizza Company and bought food at the grocery store to make things at home (which is usually easier with the three kids along!). The kids also loved Sedonuts and still ask to go back. We had the kindest woman helping us at the donut shop!

One last stop before the airport

We had lunch at Throne Brewing and Pizza Kitchen in downtown Phoenix on our way to the airport (if you are counting, yes, this is the THIRD time we had pizza on this trip…) and were VERY happy with this last minute stop! We enjoyed the food and beer, and the kids got a kick out of watching the passing light rail trains and self-driving taxis. It was only 10 minutes from the airport and had free parking. This was in a very nice area of Phoenix that was fun to check out!

For the money conscious people, here is the breakdown:

6 nights in Sedona

• Airbnb: $3,959

• Flights: Free using credit card miles (but would have been about $250/person)

• SUV Rental (Kia Sorento worked great for 3 slim car seats and stroller/carry ons in the trunk : $585

• Rental Car Gas: $53

• America the Beautiful National Parks Pass (good for 12 months, we’re big fans of this since it pays for itself after just a few park visits and it was time for us to renew): $80

• Groceries: $150

• Restaurants: $461 (6 meals)

• Souvenirs: $57

Total without flights: $5,345

Definitely not our cheapest vacation, but we had a specific week we had to make work due to school and work schedules. It was a memorable trip and worth every dollar. With the unknown of the pandemic and whether places would be open and traveling with 3 kids, we decided to splurge on the Airbnb and it was totally worth it to have an awesome place to hang out with the kids and cook some meals in (sometimes going to restaurants with 3 kids just isn't that much fun). It looked like there were lower cost options if you were willing to forego the location right outside of the main area in Sedona and hot tub. Next time, I would definitely book directly with this management company to save nearly $500 on the Airbnb fees. Being vacation rental owners, we were impressed with them and would definitely use them again!

Take a family trip to Sedona! You'll love it!

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