🌿 RelaxedLong weekend · from Las Vegas, NV
Sedona & Jerome: Red Rock Country and Arizona's Arts Towns
Four hours southeast of Las Vegas across the Mojave, the Sonoran Desert transitions into the red rock canyon country around Sedona — a small city (pop. 10,000) surrounded by 430 million-year-old Permian sandstone formations that are among the most distinctive landscapes in North America. Sedona's vortex sites attract a particular kind of spiritual tourism; the landscape that surrounds them is valid regardless of the belief system. Jerome, perched on a 5,000-foot hill above the Verde Valley 30 minutes west, is a former copper mining town of 450 people that declined from a 15,000-resident boomtown to near-abandonment before artists colonized it in the 1970s. The combination of Sedona's geological spectacle and Jerome's Victorian mining architecture makes this one of the best relaxed weekends in the Southwest.
Day 1 — Drive and Cathedral Rock at sunsetDay 2 — Sedona red rock hiking and Oak Creek CanyonDay 3 — Jerome's vertical mining town and drive home
Day 1 — Sedona
Day 1 — Sedona
🚗 4 hr 30 min driving📍 3 stops
🌅
Morning
🚗
Drive
Las Vegas, NV → Sedona, AZ
4 hr 30 min8:00 AM → 12:30 PM
🍽️
Lunch
Tlaquepaque Arts & Shopping Village
★ 4.6A Mexican village-style arts complex in Sedona built around sycamore trees — the gallery and studio complex is modeled on the Tlaquepaque arts district in Guadalajara, with cobblestone courtyards, arched walkways, and galleries focused on Southwest landscape and Indigenous art. The attached restaurant, Rene at Tlaquepaque, is the best lunch option in Sedona proper. Arrive early afternoon to avoid the heaviest crowds.
12:30 PM📍 See location
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Afternoon
Cathedral Rock Trail
A 1.2-mile round trip with 600 feet of elevation gain to the saddle below Cathedral Rock — the most photographed formation in Sedona and the most dramatic accessible viewpoint in the red rocks. The route is partly a scramble on slickrock; grippy shoes are essential. The best time to be on the summit is the 90 minutes before sunset when the light turns the Permian sandstone formations red-orange.
1:30 PM📍 See location
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Evening
L'Auberge de Sedona
★ 4.3A creek-side resort on Oak Creek in the center of Sedona — the creek-side cottages are the most atmospheric rooms; the L'Auberge Restaurant on the Creek serves French-Southwest cooking beside the water. The most romantic property in Sedona and the default choice for anniversary trips.
5:00 PM📍 See location
Day 2 — Sedona & Oak Creek Canyon
Day 2 — Sedona & Oak Creek Canyon
📍 5 stops
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Morning
West Fork Trail
★ 4.8A canyon creek hike in Oak Creek Canyon 10 miles north of Sedona — the trail follows West Fork of Oak Creek through a sandstone slot canyon with 200-foot walls, shaded by maples, sycamores, and cottonwoods. The first 3 miles (6 miles round trip) are easy walking on the canyon floor; beyond that point, the trail requires wading. Fall color in October makes this the most-visited trail in the Coconino National Forest; spring wildflowers run April–May.
8:00 AM📍 See location
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Lunch
Slide Rock State Park
★ 4.7A natural water slide on Oak Creek — the creek flows over a 30-foot section of smooth sandstone bedrock polished by 80 years of swimmers. The state park occupies a 1910 apple orchard with the original farmstead buildings preserved above the creek. The water is cold (68°F) and the natural slide is exactly what it sounds like: the best natural swimming hole in Arizona.
9:00 AM📍 See location
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Afternoon
Sedona Arts Center
★ 4.6The oldest cultural institution in Sedona (founded 1958) — the gallery and studio complex shows work by Sedona-based and Southwest landscape artists across painting, sculpture, and ceramics. The Uptown Sedona gallery district on SR-89A has numerous additional commercial galleries; the Exposures International Gallery is the largest gallery in Arizona.
12:00 PM📍 See location
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Evening
Elote Café
★ 5The best restaurant in Sedona — a Mexican kitchen focused on the regional cooking of Sonora and Oaxaca with house-made tortillas, the eponymous elote (grilled corn with cotija and spice), and a mole program that rotates with the seasons. No reservations; arrive at 5pm when it opens to get on the list.
5:00 PM📍 See location
L'Auberge de Sedona
★ 4.3Night 2 at L'Auberge de Sedona — the creek-side resort is walkable from Elote Café. The Orchards Inn (adjacent property, same management, lower price point) is the alternative if L'Auberge is at capacity.
6:00 PM📍 See location
Day 3 — Jerome & Drive West
Day 3 — Jerome & Drive West
🚗 4 hr 30 min driving📍 2 stops
🌅
Morning
🚗
Drive
Sedona → Jerome, AZ
30 min8:00 AM → 8:30 AM
Jerome Historic District
★ 4.5A former copper mining town on a 5,000-foot hillside above the Verde Valley — Jerome produced $1 billion worth of copper between 1876 and 1953 before the mines closed, leaving a town of 15,000 workers to dwindle to 50 inhabitants. Artists began colonizing the empty Victorian buildings in the 1970s; the town now has 450 permanent residents and 3 wineries in abandoned mine buildings. The main street climbs steeply up the hillside; the view from the Jerome Grand Hotel (a converted 1926 hospital) over the Verde Valley to the red rocks of Sedona and the San Francisco Peaks beyond is one of the best panoramas in Arizona.
8:30 AM📍 See location
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Lunch
Jerome State Historic Park
★ 4.7The preserved mansion of mining magnate Jimmy Douglas above the Douglas Mine — the 1916 adobe mansion contains the history of the Jerome copper mining era with original mining equipment, photographs, and artifacts. The overlook from the mansion terrace gives views directly into the United Verde Mine pit below. Lunch at the Haunted Hamburger or the Flatiron Café before the drive west.
9:30 AM📍 See location
☀️
Afternoon
🚗
Drive
Jerome, AZ → Las Vegas, NV
4 hr12:00 PM → 4:00 PM
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