Arizona Road Trip Itinerary
+ Top Attractions

Phoenix is the capital of Arizona and a major city within the USA that's surrounded by mountains and desert. The city's Downtown area features great restaurants, bars, and shopping. Among the city’s top attractions is Papago Park, which showcases a beautiful desert environment and hosts the lush Desert Botanical Garden.

In order to enjoy views over the city you can hike up into the surrounding mountains, via the extremely popular Camelback Mountain Trail or the Piestewa Peak Trail. Drive up to the Dobbins Lookout atop South Mountain for more sweeping views over the city.

This beautiful city in Northern Arizona is surrounded by striking red rock scenery and formations in every direction with countless opportunities for hiking and outdoor activities. The city of Sedona is very lovely and features many great restaurants, resorts, and art galleries, as well as many interesting shops selling unique decorations, art, crystals, and new age/metaphysical items.

The city hosts the Chapel of the Holy Cross, a church aesthetically built into the red rock cliffs offering gorgeous panoramic views, as well as the Amitabha Stupa Buddhist shrine. The Sedona area hosts several spots which are said to be energy vortexes, including the Airport Mesa Vortex (which offers striking views) and the Boynton Pass Vortex.

The South Rim of the Grand Canyon is the main tourist destination within the massive Grand Canyon National Park. This area is very well-developed and features over 20 miles (32 km) of easily accessible viewpoints along the rim, each one offering a different perspective.

At the western entrance to the park is Grand Canyon Village, a small town located along the rim hosting hotels, camping, restaurants, and the visitor center, as well as the park’s most popular and easily-accessible viewpoints, Mather Point and Yavapi Point.

The city of Page is located in Northern Arizona very close to the Utah border and the extremely scenic Lake Powell, in an area of immense natural beauty. Page is surrounded by stunning geological formations such as the gorgeous Horseshoe Bend, a massive and picturesque canyon bend in the Colorado River that's approximately 1,000 feet (300 m) tall.

Just east of Page are the iconic Upper and Lower Antelope Canyons, which consist of incredibly beautiful winding red slot canyons. Upper Antelope Canyon is known for the famous beams of light that shine into the canyon, however both canyons are extremely scenic and used in images such as screensavers around the world.

Around Page you'll find many other mesmerizing places, some of which are only accessible via special tours, such as Rainbow Bridge National Monument, Secret Canyon, and X Canyon.

Visit Monument Valley, a stunning desert landscape with massive sandstone buttes and mesas that rise above rise high above the valley floor. This valley has been featured in many films and TV shows as an idyllic portrayal of the great American Southwest. Monument Valley sits along the border of Arizona and Utah and is a Navajo Tribal Park.

The best way to see the valley is to drive along the smooth 17 mile (27.5 km) dirt road loop, which is incredibly scenic offering many viewpoints along the way (and can be traversed by almost any vehicle). Within the park you'll find the iconic John Ford Point, countless stunning formations, as well as beautiful and inexpensive handmade Navajo jewelry and crafts. The park's only hiking trail is the Wildcat Trail, which loops around the Sentinel Mesa.

Consider booking a Navajo-led tour to see the picturesque Lower Monument Valley, as well as several arches, Anasazi ruins, and petroglyphs. This section of Monument Valley is only accessible via guided tour and contains many scenic and highly picturesque sights.

This remote area of Arizona hosts the Petrified Forest National Park, a vast scenic area of colorful hills and ancient petrified wood fossils that are over 200 million years old. The landscape of the national park is part of the beautiful Painted Desert.

This national park is known for its surreal landscapes, such as the Crystal Forest Trail which is full of countless crystallized ancient logs. Also incredible is the Blue Mesa Trail, named for its fantasy-like bluish-purple colored barren desert hills.