Traveling in Arizona, USA

To advertise on this page

A guide to touring...

Arizona

by piero scaruffi

To advertise on this page

Back to the main page | Back to Travel resources | Back to the USA | Pictures of these attractions

Border with Utah:
- Glen Canyon: Lees Ferry (where you can walk to the Colorado river), ++Horseshoe Bend (south of Page, $10 per car in 2022, must walk 2 kms on trail to reach it from the parking lot), Rainbow Bridge (reachable only by 3-hour boat trip from Wahweap marina plus 1 hour of walking), , Wahweap Viewpoint of Lake Powell (south of Page: drive a few kms past the Carl Hayden Dam and Visitor Centre), +Cathedral Wash hike (from the Lees Ferry access road between Marble Canyon and Lees Ferry), Lower Antelope Canyon and Upper Antelope Canyon (the most visited and photographed slot canyons in Arizona - the Upper one is flat whereas the Lower one requires visitors to climb upside and down through staircases and ladders - both require joining a tour, but avoid resellers and use the authorized operators - $50 per person in 2022)
- +++Grand Canyon : Trail of Time between +Mather Point and Yavapai Museum of Geology (2 kms), Hermit Road shuttle bus (80 minutes round trip plus stops, especially Powell Point, ++Mohave Point, The Abyss and +Pima Point), Desert View Drive viewpoints along the east of the south rim between Grand Canyon Village and the East entrance (especially +Grandview and Moran tower)
- +Havasu Canyon to Supai village (near Grand Canyon)
- ++Vermilion Cliffs (near Jacob Lake in Utah): Paria Canyon, Coyote Buttes, The Wave (in Coyote Buttes North). There are no paved roads. High clearance vehicle required because of deep sand. Permit required for almost anything (ranger station in Kanab or online, and very difficult to get for the Wave). Very good views of the cliffs driving on highway 89A between Jacob Lake and Marble Canyon
- BLM road 1065 (off 89A about 40 kms west of Marble Canyon): condor viewing site
- +Cliff dwellings of Betatakin (near Tsegi, inside Navajo National Monument, 1.5 h from Page)
- +Monument Valley Notes of 2022: The entrance is $8 per person. You cannot use the national park pass. You have to remain in the car most of the time and simply drive around a loop. The road can be very bad after rains. Popular picture spots are the visitor center (view of the buttes), Three Sisters, Totem Pole. Extremely dusty.
- ++Canyon de Chelly, 1.5 h drive from Monument Valley Notes of 2008: There is a campground right at the beginning of the two rims ($14). The south rim has the best attractions. The only hike you can do on your own is the White House trail, a steep but short trail that takes you to the floor of the canyon in 30 minutes (but then you have to hike back up which may take you twice as much). You cannot enter the ruins but you get close enough. There are many other viewpoints before and after the White House trailhead. It is worth checking out all of them but the very last one, the Spider Rock is everybody's favorite, probably the most impressive view of the canyon. The north rim has one lookout that is worth checking out: Mummy Cave overlook. You can exit the area from the north rim, and this might be ideal if you are headed east towards Four Corners. If you are coming from or going to Kayenta (Monument Valley, Grand Canyon), then it is faster to retrace your steps to Chinle and take 191 and then 59 to 160.
- Southern Utah
Flagstaff vicinity:
- +Wupatki ruins. The highlight is the 104-room Wupatki Pueblo on top of a hill, reached via an 800-meter trail from the visitor center
- Sunset Crater Volcano (22 minutes from Wupatki): Lava Flow trail
- +Meteor Crater (29 kms west of Winslow, 1h from Sunset Crater, $25 per person in 2022)
- +Sedona: Chapel of the Holy Cross (20-minute south of Sedona)
- +Tuzigoot ruins (30 minutes west of Sedona)
- +Montezuma Castle ruins (30 minutes south of Sedona)
- Walnut Canyon ruins
- ++Painted desert (notably the Blue Mesa Trail) and Petrified Forest national park (they are joined in one park, but completely different). The north entrance to Painted Desert is clearly marked on I-40 east ("Route 66") and the paved is dotted with scenic viewpoints (Tiponi Point, Tawa Point, Kachina Point, +Chinde Point, +Pintado Point, Nizhoni Point, Whipple Point and Lacey Point) plus the short easy hike to the Blue Mesa. The southern entrance to the Petrified Forest is off highway 180 east and the paved road leads to the 1-km Giant Logs Trail from the Rainbow Forest Museum , +Crystal Forest (a 1-km trail with the best petrified logs that have quartz crystals embedded in them), Jasper Forest (an overlook over several scattered petrified logs), Agate Bridge (a long petrified log).
Phoenix area
- +South Mountain Community Library (campus of South Mountain Community College on 24th Street north of Baseline Road)
- Scottsdale: Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West at 12621 North Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard (scam alert: you can visit it only on an organized tour which costs $40 in 2020 - the tour is a waste of time but it's the only way to take pictures of the house, which is otherwise hidden by trees)
- Paolo Saleri's Arcosanti (one hour north of Phoenix). To get there you have to drive 2 kms on an unpaved road. You can visit it only on an organized tour - which costs $30 in 2020 - the tour is about the people who live there, not about the architecture. To get a view of the complex, hike about 1 km the "visitor trail" that begins from the lowest floor of the entrance tower.
- South Mountain Community College/ Library (7050 S. 24th st)
- Casa Grande Ruins (1h south of Phoenix)
- Tonto cliff dwellings in Roosevelt
- Tonto national forest (Flatiron, Weavers Needle)
Border with Mexico:
- Florence: McFarland Historic Park
- Tombstone (but nothing is left of the old Far West town)
- Organ Pipe Cactus
- Tucson: Mission San Xavier del Bac
- Oracle: +Biosphere 2 (one hour northeast of Tucson)
- +Chiricahua national park (2 hours east of Tucson): 10 km drive to Massai Point with several viewpoints (China Boy, Sea Captain, Organ Pipe); Echo Canyon Grotto trail (1.6 km); rock formations of Heart of Rocks (12 km round-trip hike from the visitor center, or do the 16-km Big Loop that includes the Echo Canyon, Upper Rhyolite Canyon, Sarah Deming, Heart of Rocks, Big Balanced Rock, Inspiration Point, Mushroom Rock and Ed Riggs trails)
- +Saguaro national park for cacti. There are two non-contiguous sections: West Saguaro only has dirt roads, +East Saguaro's main road is paved (and dotted with several overlooks all the way to the top of) and 150 kms of hiking trails.
- Tumacacori (mission church, 46 kms south of Tucson)
- Bisbee: art deco Cochise County Courthouse
Border with California:
- Ehrenberg Sandbowl near the Colorado river
- Quartzsite: Dome Rock camping area (where people from all over the country move for the winter season, turning this small desert town into a 700,000 people city)