Grand Canyon National Park in a Day

You need to go here once in your life. If you aren’t planning to, change your plans.

Our itinerary:
-A packed breakfast en route from Sedona
-8:30am arrival at the South Gate
-South Rim Visitor Center
-A packed picnic lunch in Grand Canyon Village
-Shopping and ice cream in Grand Canyon Village
-Grandview Point
-Moran Point
-Navajo Point
-Desert View Watchtower
-Drive back to Sedona with a stop at Oak Creek Vista
-Dinner at The Hudson

I imagined the Grand Canyon being just like the movies and the shows but it was so much more, and you have to see it in person to really feel it. It’s huge, obviously - but much bigger than you can really put into words, into photos or on Instagram for sure. While I highly recommend the route we took from the South Gate out through Desert View, I truly believe that any view of this wonder is a good view and any amount of time spent there is time well spent.

We ultimately decided since we were squeezing the trip into one day during our trip to Sedona that we would be Grand Canyon viewers, not hikers. There aren’t many places to stop en route and we figured this into our planning, so we brought a cooler bag with us in our luggage and took a trip to Whole Foods in Sedona the night before our trip. We grabbed breakfast food, pre-made sandwiches, trail mix, fruit salad and a big water bottle that we froze at our AirBnB overnight to serve as an ice pack in our bag. There were plenty of places to eat at the Grand Canyon but as you can imagine, it’s pretty tourist-y and expensive, and plus we were there for the views - not the food - so this was a cheap day for us.

We heard a lot of horror stories about the crowds so we left Sedona bright and early and ate our Rx Bars and bananas en route. The drive to the Grand Canyon is surprising forested, and it literally comes out of nowhere when you arrive. We were at the South Rim Visitor’s Center as the flag rose and did plenty of viewing. If you can only make one stop, this would be the perfect place.

From the Visitor’s Center we went to the Village area, walked around, shopped, took in more views and ate our picnic lunch. From there, we grabbed some ice cream and made our way toward Desert View, stopping at several view points on the way. Navajo Point was by far my favorite viewpoint of them all with a bit of the Colorado River poking through. All of the view points are different, but from wherever you are they are all stunning.

On our way back to Sedona, we stopped at Oak Creek Vista for another scenic view as we got closer to Sedona. We had big plans that night to do a National Geographic stargazing tour however it was cancelled due to clouds, so we took in dinner at The Hudson instead. It was delish! I had the brussels sprouts salad and Kyle had a burger. The service was great and for such a touristy spot we didn’t think the prices were too crazy. We almost went to the Javelina Cantina if you need another option, which is a modern Mexican spot.

After such a long day, we were straight back to our Casita AirBnB ahead of making our way back to Phoenix the next day to fly home. We were so glad we added this day trip to our Scottsdale and Sedona adventure - it’s a must see.