It has been over two years since we moved from Arizona, but this was our first time vacationing to AZ, without a holiday or family event bringing us to town. We made the trip in February (MLK Weekend), which is an ideal time to visit Arizona without melting, and there was even snow on the mountains around Phoenix! Arizona actually has a strong dining scene, and we often find ourselves missing many of the local restaurants when we are in Los Angeles. My general Arizona Dining Guide can be found here, categorized by area. Follow along to see our four day itinerary, from dining at our favorite Phoenix restaurants and bars, to hiking in Sedona and exploring the Grand Canyon!
Day 1: “Hike”, Tacos, & a Speakeasy
5:00 pm: Arrival day. We arrived in Phoenix around 5 pm and checked into our Airbnb. We stayed in the Garfield District in Downtown Phoenix, which was a great centrally-located area.
5:30 pm: After dropping our stuff off at the Airbnb, we headed to Hole in the Rock at Papago Park. This is a quick 5-10 minute walk up to a literal hole in a rock, from which you can see great views of Phoenix. It’s located right above the Phoenix Zoo and Botanical Gardens. I think this is a perfect first spot to take out-of-towners because you can’t beat the payoff ratio of effort to views. It does get a bit crowded but we were able to take some pics and then secure a spot to watch the sunset.
6:45 pm: We had reservations at a South Phoenix restaurant called Cocina Madrigal for dinner. Cocina Madrigal serves great inventive Mexican/Sonoran food and was named the #1 restaurant by the Kelly Clarkson Show (idk either). The food here was delicious and affordable. Reservations were definitely necessary as it was packed when we arrived. The steak tacos are a must.
8:45 pm: After dinner we headed back downtown to our reservation at Rough Rider, a Teddy Roosevelt-themed speakeasy. It’s located in the basement of an office building and is a very cool space. The drinks, prohibition-era cocktails, left a little to be desired this visit but we’ve been a couple times before and they were much better so it may have just been an off night. They also serve food and have a raw bar but we haven’t tried any yet. Overall, great vibes and a fun place to grab a drink.
Day 2: BBQ, Boating & Bayou
10:00 am: Xanadu Coffee was right near our Airbnb and was a great place to grab a quick coffee. Xanadu originally started off supplying coffee shops around the valley before they opened a physical cafe, so they definitely know what they’re doing! I thought the quality of the coffee was amazing and was one of the better coffee shops I’ve been too as of late.
10:30 am: We wanted to go to Little Miss BBQ (University Ave) for lunch. Little Miss BBQ is pretty well known in Phoenix and lines can get very long (I’ve waited over an hour and a half before!) so we wanted to make sure we were in line before they opened at 11. They almost always give you a little sample of their mouth-watering sausage while waiting in line. I would say Little Miss is a must-do if you’re a fan of barbecue. My favorite is the fatty brisket plate with grits and beans, while Axel always gets the Jefe, a sandwich with sausage and brisket.
1:00 pm: Next on the itinerary was Saguaro Lake, which is North of Mesa, about a 45 minute drive from Central Phoenix. This is a large man-made lake with beautiful views of Four Peaks. Axel’s dad was kind enough to let us use his boat but there is also a large riverboat you can just pay admission for or private boats for rent. Lots of people also just hang out, picnic, and swim at the “beach” at Butcher Jones Rec Area.
Saguaro Lake is a dammed portion of the Salt River, stretching ten miles long, with lots of coves, beaches, and open water.
5:00 pm: Made our way back to the Airbnb to relax a bit before dinner.
8:00 pm: Dinner at Clever Koi in Midtown Phoenix. Axel and my first apartment together was walking distance from Clever Koi so we used to go pretty frequently and it’s a bit of a nostalgic place for us. The cuisine is modern Asian fusion and the vibe is very hip. I love their Pig Face dumplings, as well as the Korean Hot Chicken and Pork Belly bao.
10:00 pm: We had a reservation at Platform 18 at Century Grand. This was one of my favorite places we went to during our trip. I had never been but I can’t wait to go back next time I’m in Phoenix. It’s a bar within the larger complex of Century Grand that is themed like a railcar. Disney Imagineers were involved in the design of the bar so it’s very well done. Reservations are a must. The “windows” of the railcar are screens that make it seem like you’re riding through somewhere in America (at the time we went, it was scenes from the Louisiana Bayou). You are served by a “conductor” and the drinks are very inventive and unique. We had an amazing time and it was worth every penny.
Day 3: Jerome, Sedona & Flagstaff
9:00 am: We checked out of our Airbnb and grabbed breakfast at Valentine, also in Central Phoenix. Valentine is located in a midcentury modern furniture store and is both a coffeeshop & restaurant that focuses on using Sonoran ingredients. This was also a place that Axel and I frequented and we make a point to go every time we come back to AZ. It was pretty busy when we went this time since it was a Saturday morning, but we were able to grab a table outside. I recommend the breakfast tacos, the corn cappuccino, any of the croissants, and the mesquite chai. I think this one of the most unique coffeeshops in Arizona and is definitely worth a visit.
10:30 am: Next up it was time to make the drive up to Northern AZ for the second portion of our trip. First stop was Jerome, about a 2 hour drive from Phoenix. Jerome is a former mining town, which is now a ghost town with some very cool history. Axel and I have stayed in Jerome before, at a spooky Airbnb at the top of the town, and wanted to stop by again. Jerome has a cute downtown with some shops and restaurants. My favorite shop is Mooey Christmas and Udder Things, which sells Christmas decorations year round, and is where I bought my first Snowpinion (which spurred a collection).
Our view from the restaurant was of “Snoopy Rock”, it is the smaller formation on the right side.
2:00 pm: Our next stop was Sedona, which is about a 35 minute drive from Jerome. Sedona is one of the most beautiful parts of Arizona, with world-famous red rock vistas. We decided to get lunch first as we were all pretty hungry. We ate at Salt Rock Kitchen at the Amara Resort. This restaurant, while a bit pricy, has a beautiful views and delicious Southwestern cuisine. The Amara Resort is also my favorite hotel in Sedona and is a lovely place to stay if you want to spend the night in Sedona.
3:30 pm: When in Sedona, the #1 thing to do, in my opinion, is hike. There are a variety of trails, all with gorgeous views, but it was a little muddy since it had snowed recently so we wanted to do one that wouldn’t be too steep. I’m not sure that that’s what we got, honestly. There were moments where all of us feared for our lives (just kidding, kind of) and got down on all fours to navigate our way down. But the views were beautiful and we had a lot of fun so I think it’s still a worthwhile hike, as long as you’re wearing proper footwear. After we got back to the parking lot, we realized that the battery in our car keys had died and we had to figure out how to unlock the car manually (harder than it sounds!) Our car was the only one left in the lot and some kind of law enforcement officers came by to see what the issue was, probably suspecting that we were breaking into the car. What a memory!
6:00 pm: After the hike, we drove to Flagstaff, about a 50 minute drive on AZ-89A (Scenic Route) or 70 minutes via the I-17 (Best route for bad weather). Since it had gotten late, we decided to get dinner first. We wanted to go to a restaurant called Pizzicletta, but they told us it would be a ninety minute wait. We found a brewery, Dark Sky Brewing, on Yelp that looked like it had good pizza and were able to be seated at the bar right away. Lo and behold, the pizza they served was from Pizzicletta so we got our original pizza in the end. We got the pepperoni and the fungi pizzas on the server’s recommendation. While the pepperoni pizza was delicious, the funghi pizza left a little something to be desired. The brewery also offered tasting sizes of their beers for a very reasonable price so we tried a couple of those as well. Although none of us are big beer drinkers, we still enjoyed trying some of their more unique varieties.
9:00 pm: We were pretty tired so we went to check into our Airbnb at this point. We stayed at a place about a twelve minute drive from downtown Flagstaff in a quiet suburb. We played one of the board games found at our airbnb, watched Borat, and went to sleep.
Day 3: Grand Canyon
Finally our Grand Canyon day! The grand finale of our Arizona trip
10:00 am: We decided to go to downtown Flagstaff to grab an early lunch. We stopped at Lux Coffee, which is one of my favorite coffeeshops in Phoenix as the coffee is my favorite and the place is very vibey. The Flagstaff location left a lot to be desired however, there wasn’t much to speak of as far as vibes (picture a low-rent lawyer’s waiting room) and they had hardly any food. **Update: Lux Coffee has closed their Flagstaff location** My favorite drink, the Velvet (white mocha), was still great though. Options were somewhat limited at that hour so we walked over to Proper Meat + Provisions. Axel and I shared the muffuletta sandwich, which was very tasty and big enough to split.
12:00 pm: And we were on our way to the Grand Canyon at last, departing on the hour and a half drive from Flagstaff. When we arrived, we paid the $35 per vehicle entrance fee and parked. It was COLD and windy up there but still quite a sight to behold. We enjoyed walking the path around the rim, which featured touchable samples of the different types of rock that form the Grand Canyon. There’s also a variety of bus routes you can take tour around the Canyon. We opted to do one of these to get a break from the cold and see some different parts of the Canyon.
At one of the gift shops inside the visitor’s center, I bought a National Park Passport and had it stamped. Hopefully I’ll get more than just the one stamp at some point because it’s a cute idea and reminds me of the gakuinsho you can get in Japan to collect stamps from different temples. After about four hours, we were ready to head back to Flagstaff.
6:00 pm: The restaurant we had originally planned to go to, La Santisima Taco had permanently closed their Flagstaff location so we had to scramble to find another restaurant. We ended up at Shift Kitchen and we were so glad we did. There was a little bit of a wait when we arrived and they recommended that we wait at their sister concept, a wine bar called Oeno Wine Lounge that was down the street. We shared a very reasonably priced pitcher of wine there and enjoyed the cozy atmosphere until it was time for our reservation at Shift.
Once we were seated at Shift, we ordered the pickled french fries with special sauce, the bread board, two pastas, and the butterscotch mousse for dessert. Everything was delicious but the french fries and mousse were my favorite.
9:00 pm: After a very long day and with a long drive ahead of us the next day, we had a pleasant night of sleep back at the ol’ Airbnb.
Day 5: Departure
9:00 am: Checked out of the Airbnb and fueled up for the drive with some breakfast burritos Madrezcafe. They weren’t the best breakfast burritos I’ve ever tried but the place has stellar reviews so I’m clearly in the minority there. I also had to make sure to take my non-Arizona friends to Dutch Bros Coffee, since every Gen Zer who grew up in AZ knows how iconic it truly is. I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed the Flapjack Latte (half sugar!), which I tried with white bean coffee, something i’ve never had before.
After we procured our provisions, we began the nearly eight-hour drive back to LA. We played a fun roadtrip game called Contact, which I’ve never played before. Although this trip involved a metric ton of driving, I think we hit all the best spots in Arizona and was so happy to show my friends my home state.
