Arizona serves as a primary tourist destination for nature lovers from around the world. Famous for the Grand Canyon, Meteor Crater, and the Sonoran Desert, Arizona offers so many sights one could stay here for years and never see them all. With a list of destinations this impressive, many people wonder: What is the best way to see the sights in Arizona?
A guided tour provides the most economical, most enjoyable, and least stressful method of seeing Arizona's splendor. While you can drive yourself to many places, what's the fun if you are not free to peer out the window and take in the scenery?
For example, the Apache Trail near Phoenix provides one of the most stunning panoramas in the state, but much of the road is literally a cliffhanger. Driving the Apache Trail takes intense concentration. By taking a guided tour, you can rest assured you are safe in the hands of a professional tour company and sit back, relax, and enjoy the sights.
While we cannot possibly cover all the places you can see on a guided tour in Arizona, we highlight several options for tours leaving from Phoenix. Located in the center of the state, Phoenix provides a perfect jumping-off point to see the mountainous North or the Sonoran Desert of the South. Whichever you choose, you will have a fantastic time with no worries.
Guided Tours of Famous Destinations
Phoenix provides a great starting point to see the Grand Canyon on a one- or multi-day tour. The ride to the South Rim takes about four hours. An eight-hour round trip may be a lot of driving in your own vehicle, but when you relax on a guided tour, it's an opportunity to see Arizona in detail.
On the drive to the Grand Canyon, you will see the landscape change from the Sonoran Desert to high plains to high-altitude pine forests. The weather will also change drastically. It's not unusual for Phoenix to rank as the hottest spot of the day in the lower 48 while Flagstaff ranks as the coldest!
Upon arriving in the Grand Canyon Village, you'll have a chance to stop in the gift shop and, of course, walk the Rim Trail and peer into what looks like eternity.
With plenty of breaks for meals and to stretch your legs, you'll see the canyon and have a great time!
For those who want to see more of the Grand Canyon and are willing to stay overnight close by, a two-day guided tour offers the opportunity to see much more of this wonder of the world.
Sedona
If you have seen the pictures of the Red Rocks of Sedona, you should experience them in person. Sedona is famous worldwide for its high desert panorama of red pillars towering into the blue sky. At over 4,000 feet in elevation, Sedona also has a pleasant climate. Like Phoenix, it's sunny almost all the time, but you won't bake in triple-digit heat. Summer days are hot and dry with pleasant nights, while spring and fall are perfect. It may get a little frosty after the sun descends in the winter but expect sun-filled, warm afternoons.
Sedona also has a gorgeous downtown full of gift shops, restaurants, and a pleasant atmosphere. Enjoy the scenery, have a wonderful meal, and take home some souvenirs!
Montezuma Castle
If you are ready to be amazed by the ingenuity of an ancient people, jump on a tour of Montezuma Castle. The "castle" is a five-story dwelling constructed by the ancient Sinagua people. Built into a cliffside, this enormous structure was a small city containing residences, common areas, and building technology to rival the castles of Europe.
A 1/3-mile loop trail leads you past the dwelling for a close look at this archeological find. At Montezuma Well, another 1/3-mile trail leads you to the beautiful oasis that served the Sinagua people over 600 years ago.
Meteor Crater
How would you like to stand on the edge of the best-preserved impact crater on Earth?
Doing so is as easy as booking a guided tour of Meteor Crater, located just east of Flagstaff.
A meteor exploded the crater into existence 50,000 years ago when it slammed into the ground with an explosion equivalent to 10 million tons of TNT. At 50,000 years old, Arizona's Meteor Crater is one of the Earth's youngest. Its youth and location in arid Northern Arizona are responsible for its well-preserved condition.
Though from a distance, Meteor Crater looks like a small ridge, upon reaching the rim, you are treated to the view of the 4,100-foot circumference. The crater is 570 feet deep and was once a lake. Now that it is dry, it has become one of Arizona's most popular tourist destinations.
Jerome
Jerome, located in the Verde Valley, provides a slice of history. From the 1850s through the 1950s, the Jerome area was a mining industry hotspot. The hills around the town contained vast deposits of copper, silver, and gold. Settlers rushed to Jerome to strike it rich as miners, and the town's population boomed to 15,000 by the 1930s.
A collapse in copper prices caused the mines to close. By the 1960s, the town's population dwindled to just 50.
Then artists and hippies discovered this old ghost town, moved in, and built it into today's attraction. Now, it is a haven for artists of all kinds, and tours of the old ghost city offer a spectacular view back to the Wild West. See the historic buildings and mines that predominated the West when cowboys roamed the range.
Apache Trail and Dolly Steamboat
Ready for a Sonoran Desert adventure? Then sign up for a tour of the Apache Trail and Dolly Steamboat.
Just east of Pheonix, the Apache Trail is a historic highway that winds through the Sonoran Desert. The road traverses rough terrain, winding up and down mountainsides and providing a panorama of the Sonoran Desert as it was before people arrived.
Crater Lake is a gorgeous body of water located in the desert. The Dolly Steamboat runs daily tours of Canyon Lake, allowing you to see the desert from a unique perspective.
Arizona Guided Tours
Arizona guided tours go to many destinations. In addition to the ones detailed, tours are available to Tucson, Tombstone, Suargo National Park, and countless other destinations.
Few parts of the country offer such diversity of landscapes as Arizona. Whether you want to tour the desert, the Grand Canyon or the Ponderosa forests, Arizona's guided tours provide a way to see it all in comfort with nothing to worry about except taking in the sights.