If you are looking for an easy weekend getaway itinerary that is great for littles, older folks or anyone really, look no further! We planned a very last minute trip to take my Mother-in-law to go and see the Grand Canyon for her 78th Birthday. While planning this trip there were a few things we had to take into account; accessibility, distance (driving/ flying), where to stay in relation to what we wanted to see.
My MIL can’t hike anymore and has some knee and back problems so we wanted to plan a trip that wouldn’t push her past her limits and so we split our sightseeing into very manageable chunks. The goal was to see The Strip in Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon and Sedona, Arizona and to do it all in 3 days. Challenge accepted!
This is the route we decided to go with:
The plan was to fly into Las Vegas on a Thursday evening (so we wouldn’t need to take off an additional day of work) and fly out of Phoenix on Sunday evening. Roundtrips flights are cheaper a lot of times but for the sake of seeing the most and not spending unnecessary hours in the car, we opted for separate one way tickets. We chose to rent a car from the airport to give us the most flexibility. * I do want to note that the rental car terminal is a 10 minute shuttle bus ride away from the Vegas airport.
With an evening arrival into the city, it was the perfect time to take a drive down the Strip! If you have never been to Las Vegas, The Strip is the area where you can see all the major hotels- Bellagio, Venetian, MGM, Cesars Palace, etc. The scale of these hotels is so grand, that it takes quite a while just to get from one hotel to the other, so seeing it via car is a great option. If you are arriving at night like we did, the lights are a spectacle on on their own. My MIL had seen plenty of Vegas from movies and TV but she said that seeing it in real life was so different than she expected. The grandeur of the main casinos – the architecture and seeing building from France, Venice, etc. that she had seen in real life, blew her away.
Where we stayed:
Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, Curio Collection by Hilton (4455 Paradise Rd, Las Vegas, NV 89169)
We intended to stay on the Strip but two conventions made it impossible to get a hotel or astronomically expensive. SO we opted to stay a bit off the strip, a 6 minute car drive away to be exact, at the Virgin Hotel. Now let me tell you that this hotel was AMAZING. Our room was stunning, the midcentury flair was so fun.
The next day we got up early and packed our things. We had to grab breakfast at our favorite place, Mon Ami Gabi, on our way out of town. Mon Ami Gabi sits at the bottom of the Paris Hotel and gives you a fantastic view of the Bellagio Hotel and passersby. The breakfast is always delicious and the restaurant is so tres chic!
After breakfast we walked across the street to check out the Bellagio and let my MIL sit at a slot machine for a few rounds. The Bellagio is stunning inside and unfortunately they weren’t wrote done with their Chinese New Year display but it is still a sight to see. If you can only go inside one hotel during a stop off in Vegas, I would recommend either the Bellagio or the Venetian. Both fantastical for their own reasons.
I want to add a little blurb for those traveling to Vegas with someone who is either handicapped or with a stroller, etc. Las Vegas actually does have a monorail that runs between several of the larger hotels. You can purchase a day pass for $13 which I think is 100% worth it. This will allow you to see so much more if you are short on time! I’m including a map below:
Then it was time to head to Arizona. Now the original plan was to drive 2 hours, stop in Kingman along Route 66 and then see sunset at the Grand Canyon. Well we forgot that LV and AZ are on two different time zones and with the sun setting at 5:30 in early January, it just wasn’t doable. So we took our time in Kingman and then continued to Sedona.
We stopped at Mr. D’z for milkshakes and burgers and some great photo op’s. There is also a great Route 66 museum, an old locomotive and a museum in Kingman. It’s a cute little throwback to years gone by.
Grand Canyon
My advice for the Grand Canyon is to determine which section you want to see. The South Entrance has the Visitor Center, Grand Canyon Village with restaurants, hotels, etc. This area is super accessible for strollers and wheelchairs, with guard rails all around.
Now in my personal opinion, this viewing area is too busy. There are so many people! Part of the magic of the Grand Canyon is the vastness, the stillness, the beauty… it’s hard to get all that when you are surrounded by people. That being said, I like to go to the East Entrance. If you have time, make the drive and stop at the viewpoints along the way. As you can see on the map below, it’s about a 30 minute drive to get over to the Desert View Watchtower viewpoint, this is my preferred sunset stop.
Below you can see the distance of the drive to Sedona. No matter what order you do this trip in, I always like to know how far everything is apart, this allows me to plan my days accordingly.
Sedona
Where we stayed:
Sedona Uptown Suites in the Juniper Suite (390 Jordan Rd #4830, Sedona, AZ 86336)
This small hotel was perfect for us – we had a huge room with a small kitchenette, within walking distance of the shops and restaurants. I would definitely recommend this for a larger family, we had 2 AMAZING king beds and the room was fully stocked with personal care products, plenty of towels, etc.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, this trip wasn’t our typical trip with lot’s of hiking, etc., we needed easily accessible activities and were really happy with what we found.
We spent a good amount of time exploring the shops in Uptown Sedona which was walking distance from our hotel. Funny story about the picture below, last time we were in Sedona we met a guy that was showing off some of his snakes outside some of the shops, very recognizable guy with 2 big Great Danes and lots of snakes. Well when we were in town this time, the same guy was there so we had to stop and chat and we got to hold Bruno his 3 year old Ball Python and we may have fallen in love with a snake 🙂
We had a great meal at Canyon Breeze Restaurant (300 AZ-89A, Sedona, AZ 86336) with this stunning view. Great place to stop for ice cream or a smoothie as well. The patio is open year round and the restaurant is conveniently located in between all the shops.
Mesa Grill is another favorite spot! I already raved about this place in this blog post. The view of the private airport is really fun, the food is awesome and then on the way back in to town you can pay $3 to park and take a look at the overlook where you will find panoramic views of Sedona.
Slick Rock Trail
This short trail offers beautiful views of Cathedral Rock. and being only 0.7-mile out-and-back, this seemed like a doable activity for all of us. There is a downhill portion, that you can skip and still see amazing views.
Another place that was highly recommended was Chapel of the Holy Cross Observation Trail – you can take in the views from the Chapel or continue on an easy, partially paved trail called “Chapel Trail”. We didn’t make it over here but I’d love to next time we visit.
On our last day we headed down to Phoenix to catch our flight and conclude a fabulous 3 days trip. I hope you enjoyed my accessible guide to Sedona Arizona in conjunction with a weekend roadtrip from Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon! AS always feel free to leave me any comments or additional recommendations below.
