Day trips from Prescott?

Spending 2 nights early Feb. on way to Grand Canyon and will have full day to explore area. Staying at Sedona for 2 nights after GC so will explore that area then.

More interested in natural scenery than visiting breweries, museums, etc. and warmer area good too. Like to spend not much more than 1ish hour driving time from Prescott and organized tour considered as well. Sounds like Trolley tours now defunct.

Day trips from Prescott?

Natural beauty as in hiking, arboretums, botanical gardens, or just seeing things?

Prescott itself is a very pretty city, especially around its Downtown. If you don%26#39;t want to shop or drink around the courthouse square, you can walk up the hill a bit and there are tree-lined streets with architecture reminiscent of early 20th century American Midwest.

To the north of town is also the area known as the Granite Dells. It%26#39;s a group of huge granite boulders. Very pretty and open as kind of a park.

There are also hiking trails all around town, many of the best in the Bradshaw Mountains to the south of the city and around Lynx Lake (also very beautiful). fs.fed.us/r3/…bradsahw.shtml

About an hour away is Perkinsville, where the Verde Canyon Railroad stops. If you don%26#39;t want to take the train trip (very dramatic, and you should), you can take an unpaved back road from Chino Valley to wind up here. The Verde River is very pretty here.

Day trips from Prescott?

Thanks - just walking and driving around type of viewing. Wonder what temps are likely to be early Feb. for the walking around part? A look online shows on the coolish side and altho prepared for that in GC and Sedona wondering if Wickenburg area a warmer option for stayover on way to GC from San Diego?

Presently booked into Hassayampa Inn for 2 nights and wonder if there is free parking there for guests?

Stick with Prescott. You will find more to see and do in that area than in Wickenburg. And if you enjoy well-kept historic hotels, you will like the Hassayampa. The rooms (and especially the bathrooms) can be a little on the ';cozy'; side, like most old hotels, but it%26#39;s a great place. Parking in the Courthouse Square area of town can be a little challenging at times, but hotel guests won%26#39;t have a problem.

As for the day trips, consider Jerome and Flagstaff, for beautiful scenery and plenty to walk around and see, as well.

Forgot to answer your temp question. I was in Prescott a couple weeks ago and it was coat weather in the early morning, but by late morning it was clear and sunny. Chilly but not COLD.

Thank you - am sticking with Prescott and looking forward to stay there. Inn sounds very nice and with canal in Ottawa here frozen over and people skating my guess is it will be warmer there!!

Altho warmer in Wickenburg and a couple of the casita options sound nice will leave for another time. Hadn%26#39;t realized Super Bowl was in Phoenix area on Feb. 3 and getting a room around that time even in Super 8 in Wickenburg is in the $200 and over range if you can find space - market demand thing I guess.

I agree: stay in Prescott. Enjoy the town before you enjoy what%26#39;s outside the town. It%26#39;s a really nice place. It%26#39;ll be a treat for you because most tourists from outside the region never see it.

And I know you said that you%26#39;re not interested in it, but there is a great brewery and several really good restaurants right Downtown in Prescott. The Hassayampa is an excellent base for exploring the town. It%26#39;s also supposedly haunted.

The football stadium is actually on the far, far west side of Phoenix so Wickenburg isn%26#39;t really that far away from it. It%26#39;s ridiculous that weekend though. $350 for the Econo Lodge in Tolleson? Wow.

Makes me wonder about ethics of it all - a lady who owns casitas in Wickenburg said somewhat sheepishly she was charging $350 at that time and people were telling her she could get more!!

Have never been to AZ and wondering when you say game is taking place far far west of Phoenix of getting from San Diego to Prescott on Feb. 3. Present plan is to go up via 95 etc and eventually 60 as recommended on another TA post and on map seems to be a fair piece from Phoenix so assuming traffic won%26#39;t be an issue. Wonder if I am right about that? Will be checking weather as we go and guess if not good best route is 17 via Phoenix and also assuming we would not hit major delays but not sure of that either?

It doesn%26#39;t normally snow much in Prescott, if that%26#39;s what you mean by weather. It%26#39;s very unlikely that snow would cause you problems in that area.

The route is US 95 - I-10 - US 60 - AZ 71 - AZ 89.

I would plan to avoid Phoenix on that weekend entirely. If you don%26#39;t want to take 89, take US 60 to Wickenburg, go east a little to AZ 74 (Carefree Highway), and take that to I-17, then north to AZ 69. That would take longer though.

I second the suggestion to drive to Clarksdale for the Verde Canyon Train ride...and stopping in Jerome on your way...It is a nice side trip...Enjoy your visit to Arizonia it is one of our favorite places!

Thank you - I had written those directions down from other post. Looking forward to walking around the town and probably even visiting breweries!!

Not sure if train will work this time but have the link to their site and it does look like a great trip. I can see seeing everything is going to take another trip or two!!