Arabella – Hotel Review: Sedona, Arizona

During my quick weekend getaway to Sedona, Arizona, I stayed at the Arabella Resort in Sedona. This hotel was recommended by my realtor in Phoenix as this was my first time visiting Sedona and I was pretty overwhelmed on where to stay. And he recommended a good one! So let’s get into it — I’ll tell you everything you need to know if you’re interested in staying at the Arabella in Sedona Arizona.

Where is the Arabella Hotel?

The Arabella hotel is located in Sedona proper and is close to a lot of the downtown action.

But while it’s located on the main ‘strip’, it’s kind-sorta walkable. There are a few restaurants located nearby that you can walk to, but if you’re looking to get into the thick of things with all the gift shops and restaurants, you’re going to need to drive, take the shuttle, or use bikes.

Yes, bikes! The Arabella provides its guests with free use of bicycles! I didn’t take advantage of this, but had my visit been a bit longer, I would’ve taken one for a spin.

A note about traffic in Sedona — it can be a shitshow! There is a roundabout just north of this hotel and that’s where the backups happen. Sedona offers a downtown shuttle that you can use, or you can use the bikes.

Rooms at the Arabella Hotel

The Arabella offers a few different room types, some of which had beautiful views with balconies with cute ‘egg’ chairs. But I took a standard room because I am a cheap sonofabitch and was traveling alone.

Even though I had a “standard” room with no particular “view”, I still thought I had a nice view! I had a room that overlooked the pool, which provided a nice sunset scene.

The Arabella is a pretty decent-sized hotel and there are a few different buildings in which your room might be located; my room was in the main building. I just had two issues with my room — neither were dealbreakers but I thought I’d mention them:

My room was on the second floor, and there is no elevator, so I had to lug my suitcase up a flight of steps which is never fun.

The other issue was the bathtub. When you step into the bathtub to take your shower, the bathtub starts creaking. It’s pretty loud, almost to the point where I thought I was going to collapse through the ceiling. Of course, that didn’t happen but it was a bit disturbing!

Arabella Hotel Amenities

Lots of amenities here at the Arabella! One of the best things about staying here is that you have full access to a private sunset vista on the property. Unfortunately, I did not have the time to venture out and take photos of this particular overlook, as I was busy photographing other locations at sunset, but it’s supposed to be beautiful.

The Arabella is also located at the trailhead of the Marg’s Draw trail. Again, I didn’t have time to do this particular hike, but should I stay here again, I would definitely give it a shot

Two pool areas with hot tubs: I stayed here in December and it was just too cold for me to want to put on my bathing suit and go outside! But it looked fun. And one of the pools is 9 feet deep! You just don’t see deep pools at hotels much anymore, so this was pretty cool.

Fitness Center: I did not use this during my stay, as I did some major hiking instead.

Free breakfast: It’s great! We’ll talk more about this in a bit

Pet Friendly rooms

Fire pits

Live music in the breakfast area during the evening

Of course, for the amenities, a hotel like this isn’t just going to let you have them with your base room price. You’re going to pay a goddamn resort fee of $24 per night. So make sure to factor this in when deciding if the Arabella is within your budget.

Breakfast at the Arabella

Free breakfast is available at the Arabella and starts at 6:30am and lasts until 10am. Because I had a big day of hiking ahead of me, I had to get up early so I wasn’t sure if eating breakfast at 6:30am was enough time for me to eat and drive out to the trailhead and still get a parking spot (it was! But I visited in mid-December, during low season).

Breakfast was excellent — this rivals some of the breakfasts I’ve had in Europe or Asia. They have everything you could want — different flavored sausages, bakery-quality fresh muffins, real eggs, bacon, breakfast potatoes. This isn’t a nasty Fairfield Inn breakfast — this is the real deal!

Breakfast is served in its own separate building and there is plenty of seating.

Araballa Hotel Sedona – Cons

I definitely enjoyed my stay here and I absolutely would stay here again, but there were a few cons that I should note.

• The rooms aren’t anything fancy. If you’re expecting luxury rooms, this isn’t it. The room was clean, decorated nice and had everything I needed but if you’re expecting pure luxe, stay somewhere else!
• No elevator: I was assigned a room on the second floor so I had to schlepp my suitcase up a flight of stairs. This is annoying; there’s no other way around it.
• Some of the rooms with a balcony opened directly to the parking lot with no view. I would’ve been a disappointed if I paid extra for that cute egg chair, only to look at a bunch of cars.
• There is a LOT of traffic in this area! If you want to avoid some of the nasty Sedona weekend and holiday traffic, you might want to look at hotels in West Sedona. West Sedona is also a little bit closer to some of the popular hiking trails, like Devils Bridge and Doe Mountain, and you can avoid getting stuck in the roundabout traffic jam on 179.

Arabella Hotel Sedona – Final Thoughts

I really enjoyed my stay here at the Arabella and would definitely stay here again. The breakfast was one of the best I’ve had and I’d love to visit again when it’s a bit warmer to check out the pools!