Day Trip From Sedona to Horseshoe Bend

Arizona, Day Trip, North America, United States

In November, I spent three days in Arizona with two of my friends, Ashley and Kelsey. While we were in the Sedona area, Kelsey really wanted to check out Horseshoe Bend. It is located on the east rim of the Grand Canyon, near the town of Page. Ashley and I had been there a few years ago, but we loved it so much that we didn’t mind going back. The drive is about three hours north of Sedona. We started our day with a hike, and then left Sedona around 11am.

Lunch in Flagstaff

Flagstaff is about 45 minutes north of Sedona, right on the way to Horseshoe Bend. It is a great place to stop for lunch and break up the drive a little. There are lots of restaurant options, and the downtown is charming. We drove by a cute restaurant called Ahipoki, who served Poke. I got the brown rice with tuna and salmon. It was great!

Pick up beer at Dark Sky Brewing

We had driven by several breweries while checking out the downtown area, and we wanted to stop for a beer. Dark Sky was highly rated, so we popped in. The hostess told us it would be at least an hour to get a seat, but that we could get whatever beers we wanted canned to go. This was perfect! We ended up taking them and drinking them at the rim of Horseshoe Bend while watching the sunset. Much better scenery than a brewery!

Horseshoe Bend

1.5 miles round trip, easy

Horseshoe Bend had been updated since the last time we were there in 2017. There is now an entrance fee of $10 per car, which is not covered by an America the Beautiful pass. The bathrooms are much nicer now, and there is a level, flat 0.75 mile-long path that takes you from the parking lot to the rim.

We arrived around 3pm and it was busy, but not bad. There are several spots to get a good picture, so we walked around and took it all in. I had forgotten just how big the bend really is! It’s quite impressive.

We ended up leaving around 4:30pm to try and get as far as we could before it was completely dark. The sunset was around 5:30 while we were there.

Dinner in Flagstaff

We once again arrived in Flagstaff at the perfect time to stop for a meal and break up the trip. A friend had recommended Famous Pizza in Sedona, and we noticed that they had another location in Flagstaff. Pizza sounded perfect after a long day. None of us were starving, so we each got a slice with a side salad. We were disappointed when the pizza we received was hard and had been sitting out awhile. I would not recommend this restaurant. There were several other pizza places in the area I wished we would’ve checked out instead.

Tourist Home for Dessert and Drinks

After leaving dinner completely unsatisfied, we decided to get dessert. The Tourist Home is an adorable bakery + cafe + bar that we stopped at right before they closed. We got desserts to go. Kelsey and I got skillet cookies with ice cream and Ashley got pecan pie. They were delicious! The cookies were huge, and we were able to snack on them the next day as well.