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Frommer's Arizona and the Grand Canyon, 20th Edition
ISBN 978-1-62887-406-8 (paper), 978-1-62887-407-5 (e-book)
Editorial Director: Pauline Frommer
Editor: Holly Hughes
Production Editor: Lynn Northrup
Cartographer: Roberta Stockwell
Photo Editor: Meghan Lamb
Indexer: Maro Riofrancos
Cover Designer: Dave Riedy
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How to contact us
In researching this book, we discovered many wonderful places—hotels, restaurants, shops, and more. We’re sure you’ll find others. Please tell us about them, so we can share the information with your fellow travelers in upcoming editions. If you were disappointed with a recommendation, we’d love to know that, too. Please write to: [email protected].
Frommer's Star Ratings System
Every hotel, restaurant and attraction listed in this guide has been ranked for quality and value. Here's what the stars mean:
| Recommended | |
| Highly Recommended | |
| A must! Don't miss! |
AN IMPORTANT NOTE
The world is a dynamic place. Hotels change ownership, restaurants hike their prices, museums alter their opening hours, and buses and trains change their routings. And all of this can occur in the several months after our authors have visited, inspected, and written about these hotels, restaurants, museums, and transportation services. Though we have made valiant efforts to keep all our information fresh and up-to-date, some few changes can inevitably occur in the periods before a revised edition of this guidebook is published. So please bear with us if a tiny number of the details in this book have changed. Please also note that we have no responsibility or liability for any inaccuracy or errors or omissions, or for inconvenience, loss, damage, or expenses suffered by anyone as a result of assertions in this guide.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
The author of Tortillas, Tiswin, and T-Bones: A Food History of the Southwest, Gregory McNamee was the first writer to document the Sonoran hot dog, which has since become an international sensation. He has also written The Ancient Southwest: A Guide to Archaeological Sites; Monumental Places: Arizona’s National Parks and Monuments; and many other books. He has lived in Tucson since 1975. Visit him at www.gregorymcnamee.com.
Bill Wyman is a former assistant managing editor of National Public Radio in Washington, where he oversaw the network’s arts, digital, and media coverage across its signature news shows. He was a senior editor at Salon, the pioneering Internet magazine. His work has been published in The New York Times, The New Yorker, New York magazine, and other publications. He grew up in Arizona and currently lives in Phoenix.
Sedona & Oak Creek Canyon
3Planning Your Trip to Arizona
Arriving
Getting Around
Tips on Accommodations
Tours & Guided Trips
Outdoor Sports
Fast Facts
1
Central Arizona
It’s easy—you fly into Phoenix, drive north, and in 4 or 5 hours you’re at the Grand Canyon. Nothing to see in between, right?
Between Phoenix and the Grand Canyon lies one of the most beautiful landscapes on earth, the red-rock country of Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon. It’s one of those places where, when you see it for the first time, it’s almost as if a tympani beats a fanfare. That’s reason enough to allot some extra time on the trip to the Grand Canyon.
But there’s more. Central Arizona also has the former territorial capital of Prescott, historic sites, ancient Indian ruins, an old mining town turned artists’ community in Jerome, and even a few good old-fashioned dude ranches (and some recently-in-the-news rehabilitation clinics) out Wickenburg way. Lately, central Arizona has even begun to become somewhat of a wine region.
People have been drawn here for hundreds of years. The Hohokam nation farmed the fertile Verde Valley as long ago as a.d. 600, followed later by the Sinagua. By the time the first white settlers arrived in the 1860s, Apache and Yavapai tribes inhabited the area, and the U.S. Army established Fort Verde, now in the town of Camp Verde, in 1871, beginning decades of bloodshed and suppression of the native peoples. The mining industry brought prosperity to the region—that is, until the mines gave out, leaving ghost towns in their wake. Layers of history are piled deep in this stunning landscape.
Wickenburg
53 miles NW of Phoenix; 61 miles S of Prescott; 128 miles SE of Kingman
Known a half-century ago as the dude-ranch capital of the world, Wickenburg still has a handful of dude (or guest) ranches, ranging from rustic to luxurious, where you can ride horses and throw a horseshoe or two. A growing sprawl—miles and miles of nice houses are now visible on the road from Phoenix—surrounds a small town with an old-time downtown and a few cowboy activities still to be seen. (Wickenburg calls itself the team roping capital of the world—see box, p. 168.) It’s also home to a number of rehab centers, including the