I have taken these Sedona Photos on my way back from my 2013 trip to Kauai, Hawaii. After some great days on Kauai and Oahu I had a stopover of around 14 hours in Phoenix. As I knew the broad area down there (except Sedona) quite well I decided to rent a car at Hertz. This made perfect use of these hours. I arrived at PHX airport at around 8:30 in the morning. After a 2 hour drive with my white Ford Mustang (a beautiful car, and not that expensive to rent) I got into the town to take the spectacular Sedona photos you see below. If you’re visiting Sedona, I can only recommend to take your car, get in touch with some locals and let them give you some tips about the most beautiful places to take Sedona photos. It is not a gated park, but rather the complete area around Sedona that offers some of the most beautiful rock formations of the USA.

I started out driving around Red Rock Loop Road and took some smaller roads for some photo opportunities of Cathedral Rock and Bell Rock. Afterwards I drove up the road to Sedona airport, as you can access a great viewing and photographing spot from there (there’s a big parking space to the right). Afterwards I made my way north to Oak Creek Canyon, which I recommend to everyone! After only 30 minutes of driving, you access a park with a completely different vegetation: no more red rocks, but rather trees, rivers and a colder climate (even some snow). Drive along the scenic road for a great view over the valley! Before driving back to Phoenix airport, I visited the Chapel of the Holy Cross and did a little hike to take some photos of Cathedral Rock at sunset, which was the end of a great trip with some beautiful photo opportunities – check out which other places I have added to the list of the most beautiful places in the USA!

Hans’ tips for travelling to Sedona:

1. Great Photographic book about Sedona

2. Very good Travel Guide for the Sedona Area

3. Top 10 hikes in Sedona