Arizona 7 Day Road Trip Itinerary

During our trip, we discovered all the diverse plants and scenery Arizona has to offer. We started with the tallest cacti I have ever seen, made our way up to the beautiful Red Rocks, passed through a snow covered mountain, explored desert landscape, and ended at the Grand Canyon! In the Arizona 7 Day Road Trip Itinerary, we share everything you need to know to make your trip a success, and some must see places along the way.

Day 1: Fly into Tucson & Explore Saguaro National Park West

We were able to catch an early flight and landed in Tucson around 11AM. 

BK Carne Asada & Hot Dogs for Lunch:

Saguaro National Park West:

Red Hills Visitor Center Open 9:00am – 5:00pm | Summer Hours (June-September) 8:00am – 4:00pm

Fee: $25/vehicle  

Our first stop in Saguaro National Park was the Red Hills Visitor’s Center. Before you begin your adventures, make sure you check out the viewing area and the short Garden Cactus Trail. After leaving the visitor’s center, your next stop is the Desert Discovery Nature Trail. This is a .5 mile long loop that is paved and wheel chair accessible.  Next, you’ll begin the Bajada Loop Drive. 

Bajada Loop Drive is a 6-mile scenic drive with rough terrain, but still suitable for any type of regular vehicle. To get to the Loop from the Visitor’s Center, turn right onto Kinney Road and after 1.6 miles you’ll turn right onto Hohokam Road. Here is a list of the stops we made along Bajada Loop Drive:

1. Hugh Norris Trailhead
2. Valley View Overlook Trail: This trail is 0.8 mi round trip and includes some rock steps. 
3. Signal Hill Petroglyphs 

With the sun now starting to go down, we left the park to grab a quick dinner and some groceries before heading to our Airbnb in Phoenix for the night. Don’t forget to take a picture with the National Park sign before you leave!

Day 2: Phoenix to Sedona

Breakfast: La Purisima Bakery

Desert Botanical Gardens

Hours: Oct-Apr 8am-8pm; May-Sept 7am-8pm

Fee: $25-$30 Adults (18+), $15 Children (3-17)

You might be thinking, why would I pay to go here when I can just go to the National Park?! Let us tell you why it was worth the money for us! It is clear they take great care of everything in the gardens. The plants looked so healthy and there was wildlife all around. We saw quail running across the paths and birds in cacti! Everything was clearly labeled and we were able to answer our own questions of, “Woah, what is that plant?!” I cannot recommend this place enough! We spent around and hour and half making our way along the various paths and sections of the gardens.

Musical Instrument Museum

Hours: 9:00am – 5:00pm

Fee: $20 for adults (20+), $15 for teens (13-19), $10 for children (4-12), FREE for ages 3 and under

We could have easily spent 4 hours at this museum! Housing over 15,000 instruments from 200 countries/ territories, this museum is the largest of its kind in the whole world. When you first get to the museum, you get a set of headphones and a portable audio device that automatically connects to the location of the country/territory you are in! There was even a hands on area where kids were playing instruments ranging from drums to synthesizers to guitars!

Scenic Drive on Rte 89 toward Payson 

To get from Phoenix to Sedona, we took Rte 89 toward Payson which is considered a “scenic drive.” You’ll drive through Tonto National Forest and Coconino National Forest.

Tonto Natural Bridge State Park

Hours: 9:00am – 5:00pm (last entry 4:00pm)

Fee: $7 pp 

Tonto Natural Bridge is the largest natural travertine bridge in the world. There are a few different trails you can hike, weather permitting, and 4 viewpoints. Unfortunately, the day we went the trails were closed due to flooding, so we were only able to see the bridge from the viewpoints. Given that this park cost $14 for the two of us and we were only there for around 30 min because the trails were closed, I don’t think it was worth it. This would be the one thing to skip if you’d rather have more time to explore Sedona.

Montezuma Castle National Monument

Hours: 8:00am – 4:45pm 

Fee: $10 pp OR can use America the Beautiful Pass

This National Monument is dedicated to preserving Native American Culture. It is a 20-room structure nestled into the side of a cliff. There is just a short hike on a paved path to see the monument with many informational signs to give information on how and why the structure was built up there!

Spend the Evening Shopping in Flagstaff

There are a few different plazas you could spend some time and money in. We chose to window shop in the stores that were right on Rte 89A mainly because they were close to where we parked. Another popular spot is the Tlaquepaque Arts & Shopping Village. 

This will be the first of three nights that you’ll spend in Flagstaff. 

Day 3: Sedona

We started off our morning in Sedona by going on a Jeep Tour. We HIGHLY recommend you go on one during your visit. There are a few different companies in Sedona and ultimately, we decided to go with Arizona Safari Jeep Tours (Arizona Safari Jeep Tours | Sedona Jeep Tours & Off-Roading). They offer a wide variety of trails ranging from mild to very rugged and even have walking and hiking tours. The trail we picked ended up being closed due to rain, but our tour guide was able to take us on two other trails that were open. 

Hiking in Sedona:

Due to it being “spring break” in Sedona, almost none of the trailhead parking lots were open. For these trails, there was a parking lot a few miles down the road where you would park and then catch a shuttle that would take you to the trailhead. We weren’t trying to ride the shuttle, so we drove around until we found a hike where the trailhead parking lot was open, and I’m so glad we did this because the trail we found ended up being one of our favorite parts of the trip!

Bell Rock

This hike was awesome. We chose to do the trail that went straight up the rocks. Once you get to a certain point, it’s kind of arbitrary where the trail ends. There were many hikers that climbed past the last trail marker that I could find. 

Airport Mesa

$3 to park 

This is a very popular spot to watch the sunset. Before you get to the top where you have to pay to park, there are a few parking spots along the left side of the road. Here you can hike to the Airport Mesa Vortex and get an incredible view of the town. If there isn’t parking available, you can just park up at the top and there’s a .6 mile trail that takes you down to the same spot. 

If you have limited time in Sedona, check out our other article, How to Spend a Day in Sedona!

 Day 4: Meteor Crater Natural Landmark & Petrified Forest National Park

Our fourth day started off with a short drive from Flagstaff to Meteor Crater Natural Landmark. Tickets are sold online for $29 for adults and $20 for children, or you can also get them in person once you arrive. Meteor Crater Natural Landmark, also known as Barringer Meteor Crater, is the largest impact crater in the US. Included with the cost of your ticket is an observation deck to view the crater, a short film about how the crater was formed, a 4D simulation, as well as an interactive discovery center. If you are traveling with kids, they would absolutely love it here. 

Petrified Forest National Park

Hours: 8AM-5PM

Fee $25/vehicle OR America the Beautiful pass

After you’ve learned all about Meteor Crater, it’s time to head on over to Petrified Forest National Park. We decided to start at the top of the park and work our way south, so we took Exit 311 off Interstate 40. Once you enter the park, you’ll start at the Painted Desert Visitor’s Center and grab a map. From here, you’ll follow the 28-mile-long road going south through the park, stopping at the points designated on the map! Some of these stops are short trails and some are just look outs. There are also some “off the beaten path” trails for those looking for longer hikes! Ultimately, we liked this park so much more than we thought we were going to and definitely recommend it!

For more information/things to do, check out our Petrified Forest National Park Guide!

After leaving the park, we headed back to Flagstaff to pick up some dinner and have a relaxing night in.

Day 5: Monument Valley

This day is going to be a lot of driving, but it’s SO worth it. 

Wuptaki National Monument

Hours: 9:00am-4:30pm

Fee $25/vehicle OR America the Beautiful pass

We started off the day by going to Wuptaki National Monument. At the Visitor’s Center, we purchased a map for $2 that gave us more information about each stop along the trail. Although it’s not necessary to purchase the map, it’s definitely worth the $2 so that you’re not just looking at the pueblo and can have more background information on the site. 

Navajo National Monument

Hours: 9:00am-5:00pm

FREE

This monument contains villages tucked into the crevasses of massive cliff ledges. There are 3 different cliff dwellings: Batatakin, Keet Seel, and Inscription House. We walked the Sandal Trail, which is a 1.3 mile round-trip paved trail, that goes to the overlook of the Batatakin dwellings of Ancestral Puebloans. Although we could tell the dwelling was huge, it was further away than other monuments we visited during this trip. It was very cool to see, but if we were to do this over again, we would have rather spent time elsewhere.

Monument Valley 

Fee: $8 per person 

Monument Valley is a red-sand desert on the Arizona-Utah border and is known for towering sandstone buttes of Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park. There is a 17-mile drive loop that takes you around the park. It is suggested you have a high clearance vehicle, but we did see some cars making the loop. The Wildcat Trail is a 3.2 mile loop hike, and is the only self-guided hike allowed in the Park. If you go, make sure to sign in and out at the Trailhead.

We did the Extended Sunset Tour with Monument Valley Tribal Tours. There are over 15 companies that give tours of Monument Valley and most meet at the same location in the parking lot to the right so we were able to easily find our van. Our tour left at 4:15 and we got back around 7:15. What we loved about this tour was that we were taken on the backcountry and shown some really cool petroglyphs and rock formations that we would not have been able to see just driving the loop ourselves. During our tour, we were shown a Navajo Hogan where we saw a rug weaving demonstration and were given information about the Navajo people. We also liked that we weren’t going to run the risk of ruining our rental car! 

You can either spend the night around Monument Valley or drive 2 hours to your day 6 destination which is Page! We chose to drive and stay in Page so we could wake up there and not worry about missing our tour. 

Day 6: Page

We started off the day by going to Hot n Sweet Coffee and Donut Shop. Their donuts were amazing! Definitely recommend going here for a little morning pick me up. 

Lower Antelope Canyon

We booked the 11:00am deluxe tour with Ken’s Antelope Canyon Tours. The deluxe tour included an earlier start time that the regular tours to allow for more time in the canyon, a smaller group (6 people max.), and included lunch which came with Navajo tea and a Navajo taco or “fry bread”. I think it was definitely worth spending the money and booking the deluxe tour. Because of the smaller groups, we had more time to take pictures. Our tour guide did an excellent job telling us where and how to get the best photos. 

Horseshoe Bend

Fee: $10 per person 

Like Tonto Natural Bridge, this was a bit underwhelming for us. We went in the middle of the day and it was very very busy. It’s about a mile walk from the parking lot to Horseshoe Bend, but the path is easy and there are several shade structures if you need a break. Once you get to the bend, there is only 1 lookout point that has a railing, so you may have to wait a good while to get your picture. If you’re more daring, you can climb the rocks on either side to get a better view. It was cool to see, but with it being so busy and honestly not having a great viewpoint, the pictures I’ve seen online looked better than the actual thing. 

Unless you end up planning other activities in Page, spend the night in Flagstaff again because it’s actually a shorter drive to the Grand Canyon than from Page! 

Dinner at Lumberyard Brewing Co. 

Day 7: Grand Canyon back to Tucson 

Last, but not least…… The Grand Canyon! When making this itinerary, I thought it would be fun to save the (what I thought would be) best thing for last. Don’t get me wrong the Grand Canyon is truly stunning. In comparison to a lot of the other National Parks we’ve been to, it just seemed like there was a lot less to do if you didn’t want to hike down into the canyon. 

Grand Canyon National Park 

Hours: Check the NPS website. It’s different for each rim and depends on which month you go.

Fee: $35/vehicle OR America the Beautiful pass

We were originally planning on hiking the South Kaibab trail down to Ooh Aah Point. Between the Grand Canyon and Bell Rock in Sedona, this was definitely the trip where Hayley discovered she’s afraid of heights. So, given we weren’t going to hike any trails that went down into the canyon, we decided to just walk along the Canyon Rim Trail which starts at the Visitor Center/Mather Point and goes around the rim of the canyon. You can walk however far you want and then turn around, we walked to the Geology Museum then turned around. Then we headed back to our car and drove to the next trail we wanted to do which was Shoshone Point. It was a nice 20 mile walk through the woods to get to the canyon. At the end of the trail, there was also a nice pavilion if you wanted to have a picnic. If you’re like Hayley and are afraid of heights, this was a great trail to still be able to go on a hike, just not down into the canyon!

Unfortunately, we had a super early flight the next morning, we needed to leave and make the 6-hour drive back to Tucson. We didn’t get to spend as much time as we wanted in Grand Canyon National Park, but the time we did spend was amazing. 

Other Things About This Itinerary:

1. Obviously, we ate more times than what we included. On the first night of the trip, we stopped at a store to get groceries to make sandwiches, breakfast, and snacks for the week. So, there were a lot of meals of just PB&Js in the car and some fast-food stops. There were also a couple restaurants I just wouldn’t recommend so I didn’t include those either. 
2. We prefer staying in the same place several nights in a row and making day trips. If you don’t care about staying in a new place every night or want to spend less time driving, then instead of staying in Flagstaff for those 3 nights, you could find a new place to stay each night in whatever town you end the day. 
3. Our flight back home was originally much later in the day, but the airline switched it up on us, so we had to adjust our last day plans. We were going to stay in Flagstaff again that night and drive to the airport the next morning, but with our flight getting changed to so early, we decided to make the long drive back to Tucson that night and try to get some sleep. 
4. Don’t have 7 days to spend in Arizona? Check out this article to make sure you visit the best spots! 20 Things to do in Arizona

Places to Add if You Have More Time:

1. Saguaro National Park East
2. Chiricahua National Monument
3. Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument
4. Bearizona – a great option if you have kids!
5. Four Corners Monument 
6. Grand Canyon North Rim
7. Upper Antelope Canyon