Best time to visit Sedona

United States · North America

All twelve months scored on daily temperature, rainfall, humidity and holiday crowding.

The year in Sedona

Tap a month for its page

Sweet spot
Good
OK
Avoid
Busy

Good for

Hiking Mar–Apr, Nov–Dec · fair Jan–Feb, Oct

Go in May or Aug — 27C max, 2 rainy days. Apr is the next best.

Plan this trip

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Flights

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Where to stay

Things to do

Car hire

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Things to do in Sedona

Chapel of the Holy Cross This unique chapel built into the rock offers great views.
Slide Rock State Park Formerly known as the Pendley Homestead, this historic apple farm is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Red Rock State Park This 286-acre preserve was once part of the Smoke Trail Ranch, and has ten well-maintained hiking trails as well as a visitor center.
Palatki Heritage Site A Sinagua archeological site with cliff dwellings and pictographs and petroglyphs, dated to 1100-1400 CE.
Red Rock Scenic Byway Beautiful views start on Arizona's First All-American Road, also known as the gateway to Red Rock Country.

Tours and tickets in Sedona

Each site opens on its own search: choose your dates there. A few open on their home page, where you type the place too. Links marked Ad pay us a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you; most pay nothing, and what a site pays never decides whether it is listed or where. How we rank

Sights and their lines from Wikivoyage (Sedona), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; in order of how often each one's Wikipedia article was read on phones in the last 12 months.

Month by month

No fare history for this route yet, so this ranking is climate and crowds only — the price column will fill in as the scanner collects.

Month	Max °C	Rain days	Humidity	Sun h/day	Verdict	Why
Jan	11°	6d	55%	8.3h	okbusy	busier than usual
Feb	13°	5d	51%	9.4h	good	13C max, 5 rainy days
Mar	16°	6d	48%	10.2h	goodbusy	busier than usual
Apr	22°	2d	31%	12.2h	good	22C max, 2 rainy days
May	27°	2d	25%	13.0h	sweet spot	27C max, 2 rainy days
Jun	33°	0d	20%	13.6h	good	33C max, 0 rainy days
Jul	34°	2d	36%	12.3h	avoid	extreme heat: 14 days over 35C
Aug	33°	2d	40%	12.3h	sweet spot	33C max, 2 rainy days
Sep	30°	2d	39%	11.4h	good	30C max, 2 rainy days
Oct	23°	4d	40%	10.5h	good	23C max, 4 rainy days
Nov	17°	3d	44%	9.1h	good	17C max, 3 rainy days
Dec	12°	4d	50%	8.0h	ok	12C max, 4 rainy days

Rain days are the days with at least 1 mm of rain, as a weather station counts them.

Weather read at Uptown Sedona: ten years of ERA5 and ERA5-Land reanalysis, through Open-Meteo's open data.

A busy month is a crowded one, not a bad one — usually it is crowded because the weather is good. It is flagged rather than scored down, and crowds alone never make a month “avoid”: that is reserved for weather worth skipping.

How busy it gets

Busiest in January and March; quietest in July, November and December.

Then and now

Sedona's December days now average 12.4°C, 3.2°C warmer than in 1981–1990. 8 of 12 months are clearly warmer.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
1981–90	9.1°	10.8°	14.0°	19.5°	24.7°	30.7°	31.2°	29.9°	26.8°	20.9°	13.9°	9.3°
2017–26	10.7°	12.8°	16.4°	22.2°	26.5°	33.0°	33.9°	32.9°	29.6°	23.2°	17.0°	12.4°
Change	+1.6°	+2.0°	+2.5°	+2.7°	+1.8°	+2.2°	+2.7°	+3.0°	+2.8°	+2.3°	+3.1°	+3.2°

The average daily high, month by month, for the nearest ERA5 grid cell. Bold is a clear change; grey is within the ordinary spread between years. Every destination, ranked.

Getting there

Fly into Phoenix (PHX), then drive. The flights under Where to book are to Phoenix.

Phoenix (PHX)	the drive is not measured yet
Flagstaff (FLG)	the drive is not measured yet

The drive from each airport is the road's, from openrouteservice.org by HeiGIT: typical, not a schedule.

How far Sedona is, and what it costs, depends on where you set off from — the months above do not.

Before you go

Type A and B plugs at 120 V. Drives on the right. The currency is the United states dollar. No UK Foreign Office advice against travel. Everything for United States: cost of living, languages, emergency numbers and health.

Being there

On arrival

Paying — Cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay work almost everywhere, though a few small places take cash only. Keep some $1 and $5 notes for tips; Venmo and PayPal are for locals.
UPI, for visitors from India — Not accepted for paying here; bring a card that works abroad.
Tipping — Expected: 15–20% in sit-down restaurants (18–20% is standard in New York) and 10–20% for taxi, Uber and Lyft drivers. Large groups may find it already on the bill.

Getting around Sedona

Apps — Rides: Lyft, Uber. Maps: Google Maps, Apple Maps. Messages: Text messages (SMS), WhatsApp. In San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami and some other cities you can also book a driverless Waymo in its own app.

Walking in Sedona allows for great views but a bike or car is necessary to access trail heads and most destinations. More on Wikivoyage

From the Wikivoyage article on Sedona, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Help

Emergency — 911 (any emergency).
TravelCharika is not an emergency service: we cannot call for help or send anyone. Numbers can change; if one fails, ask someone local or your hotel.

Put together by hand from the sources listed, checked 7 October 2026. Apps, cards and rules change, so check before you rely on one.

Sources (50)

Sedona in pictures

Sedona Town view 2013 — i

Tuxyso, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Chapel of the Holy Cross, Sedona, AZ — i

Matthew P. Del Buono, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Bear Mountain, Sedona, Arizona panoramio (63) — i

davidpinter, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Cathedral Rock Sedona AZ 1 — i

Terrydarc, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

What Sedona is like

Sedona is a town in Arizona, United States of America, 120 miles north of Phoenix. More on Wikivoyage

Worth seeing: Sedona is home to a bustling downtown and vibrant arts community, but the real attraction is the surreal, red rock landscape, visible from anywhere in town. There are however several notable historic sights. More on Wikivoyage
Worth doing: Canyons, creeks, mountains, forests, spiritual vortices, hikes and mountain biking trails surround the area. More on Wikivoyage
Getting in: Sedona Airport (SDX IATA FAA:SEZ). Too small for scheduled jet traffic, but is popular for as a private aviation destination. The nearest major airport is in Phoenix Sky Harbor or Phoenix Mesa Airport. More on Wikivoyage

From the Wikivoyage article on Sedona, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the full article has far more. The numbers above are measured; this is experience.

Around Sedona

Also in United States

Nearby

Kind of place

Sedona is in United States, North America. Distances are great-circle, so a short one can still be a long way round.

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