sedona az/ vegas 10 days July 2010 on the cheaper side, can this be done?

[dis2cruise]

we are a family of 4 ...2 adults/2 older teens. We want to switch it around instead of disney I know we can pull ourselves away from the mouse for one vacation...right !!
This would be the 1st time ever we would be visiting this area!!

Anyway, we figured we would fly into vegas from what I have read flying into vegas and car rentals are cheaper than Arizona? We are thinking of arriving on Thursday, July 1st leaving on Saturday July 10th. Would we be better off
booking hotel stays just before our trip or in advance? Since we were flying into vegas we were thinking of spending about 4 nights there (we would be there for July 4th) then head out to Sedona for the rest of the vacation and then head back to Vegas to fly home.

We would like to do the following..

Hoover dam
Grand Canyon
Lake Powell (it is in the area??)
anything else you could recommend??

 

[PrincessMom98]

Shhh... Don't tell Mickey but this is my favorite vacation. You might be able to find a good Air/Hotel deal for the Vegas part, but I would book that early if you want to be there over the 4th. Hoover Dam is an easy day trip from Las Vegas and so is Lake Mead, but Lake Powell is several hours past the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon can be done as a day trip from Sedona but try to spend at least one night in the park if you can. Sunrise and sunset have the nicest views and its less crowded because many of the day trippers have left. You can book rooms at http://www.grandcanyonlodges.com/. My favorite budget choices are the Bright Angel cabins (right near the rim) or Maswick is a short walk.

In Sedona I have stayed at http://www.skyranchlodge.com/index.htm . It was several years ago but it was very nice and reasonable. be sure to check out Slide Rock State Park while you are in the area. My kids keep asking to go back!

Time for the mom taxi to run, feel free to ask more questions!

 

[Janet Hill]

We were there this summer and I have to agree that Slide Rock State Park is a must do. There were many people of all ages there enjoying the rock slides and jumping off the rocks. My family also enjoyed the Petrified Forest and along that road is Puerco Pueblo which are ancient Indian ruins with lots of petroglyphs.

Montazuma Castle is another interesting Indian site in the Sedona area. This is an area of cliff dwelling built by the Sinagua Indians about 700 years ago.

There's lots to see and do and my kids already want to go back.

 

[leahjade]

We rented a beautiful 2 story time share from VRBO in Sedona for 7 days for $700. We flew into Phoenix and it wasn't that much more than flying to Orlando. We had a great time and a lot of the things to do are very economical: Grand Canyon, Montezuma's Castle, Slide Rock. We had a blast.

 

[andrews_dad]

Once you see the quality of the rooms you can get on Vegas for less than $50 a night, you might never want to travel elsewhere again.

One warning, Sedona and Vegas in July um, it is a DRY heat they say... but so is your oven.

 

[leahjade]

Phoenix was hot but when we were in Sedona in July, it was beautiful. Low 80's and we hiked every afternoon. The temperature drops when you enter the Sedona area and it was actually cooler than the northeast where we are from in the summer.

 

[Jeanne B]

We went to Sedona two summers ago (late June into early July) and I absolutely loved Sedona, so beautiful, and an overnight trip to the Grand Canyon was definitely a highlight. We flew in and out of Phoenix, I'm assuming at the time it was cheaper because I'm always looking for the best price.

Slide Rock is fun as others have mentioned, we also did the Pink Jeep tour, another highlight of our stay.

But for us, it was WAY too hot...the Grand Canyon was perfect but by 8:30 or 9:00 every morning in Sedona it was miserably hot, almost too hot to do anything outside unless you were parked in a pool, or at Slide Rock. It was hot enough that if I went back again I wouldn't go that time of year.

 

[Lucky4me]

We flew into Phoenix, rented a car there and flew out of Vegas. The airfare was about the same, it was extra for the car rental.
We went to Sedona and the Grand Canyon. Both were breathtakingly beautiful.

 

[dis2cruise]

Well thanks everyone for all of your ideas!! Never thought about staying right near the grand canyon sounds beautiful . You all gave me something to really think about and to research.

 

[Jeanne B]

Well thanks everyone for all of your ideas!! Never thought about staying right near the grand canyon sounds beautiful . You all gave me something to really think about and to research.

I highly recommend staying at one of the lodges INSIDE the Grand Canyon for a night. Rather than repost what I typed on another thread I'll just attach a link to the thread...

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2302749

 

[Evi]

hrm I stayed in scottsdale but drove through sedona and have to say I saw a couple camping at the bottom near a river and swore someday I would come do that. it was just probably one of the most beautifull vistas I've ever seen. Enjoy it I'm sure you will all love the trip.

 

[jwwi]

I can highly recommend the Bright Angel if you like rustic rooms. It was clean and quaint. Nothing fancy, but we loved being just steps from the edge of the Canyon. So much fun, can't wait to go back.........

 

[Vivianne]

We drove a 1300 mile loop LV-Hoover Dam- Sedona - Grand Canyon (South Rim) - Bryce Canyon - Zion in 2 weeks. It was wonderful. There's so much to do.

We stayed 2 nights in each park. At GC we stayed at Yavapai, adequate, clean. Bryce is beautiful (we stayed at a cabin in the park). In Sedona we stayed at the Sky Ranch Lodge mentioned by a previous poster. There's a small airport at the end of the road that serves a good breakfast that locals frequent. (Found out about it on a different travel forum). We also stayed at a Navajo run hotel http://www.camerontradingpost.com/

There so much to see and do, you can't fit it in one trip. Oh yeah, we went in April. Happy planning..

 

[AnnMarie3]

We loved our visit to Sedona last summer. We stayed at Los Abrigados Resort. We enjoyed it and would stay there again.
We went on the pink jeep tour, which was great.
There is a free trolley that takes you around uptown Sedona.
We also enjoyed Montezuma's Castle and a cowboy dinner theatre in Cottonwood, Az.- about 30 min. from Sedona.
We can't wait to go back!

 

[Imzadi]

I stay in Flagstaff when I got to Sedona, Grand canyon & Monument Valley. It's only about 15 miles away from Sedona, 40 miles from G.Canyon and a 2 1/2 hour drive to Monument Valley.

The drive to Sedona, down one of the most scenic historic routes in America every day is fabulous.

Flagstaff is a fairly big city. So it has plenty of hotels with a variety of AAA ratings and discounts. You can probably get good deals for one of them on the travel discount sites like Orbitz.

 

[maelstrom]

At the very least, you'll want to book your Las Vegas hotel way ahead of time since you'll be there over the fourth of July. I know it's not quite the same, but a few years back, we made a spur of the moment trip to Atlantic City on July 4th (as in, my dad wakes up and says, "hmm, want to go to Atlantic City?" [we're only about 3.5 hours away by car]) and there were TWO rooms left at any of the Boardwalk casinos, and we paid a dear $350 per night at the Hilton.