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Visiting the ruins in Sedona can completely change your entire trip. After hiking in Sedona and finding these ruins, we looked at the red rocks of Sedona in a whole new light.
These Sedona ruins provide a glimpse into what life would have looked like in AD 1150 – 1350. And honestly, we found it made us appreciate the lives we get to live even more.
When we were in Sedona, we not only visited all six of the established heritage sites in Sedona, but we also made a point to hike along the social trails, finding ancient ruins at the tips of the canyons and deep in the red rock cliffs.
While in Sedona, we strongly suggest you visit at least one of these ruins in Sedona. And, if you can – we suggest visiting Palatki Heritage Site too, as this is a mini tour offering so much more information on the lives of the Native Americans whom inhabited Sedona long ago.
Preserving The Past
Before we dive into this post, it’s important to note a few things. First, when visiting these Native American ruins in Sedona, remember they could be sacred sites for the Natives.
Respect | Visit these places with respect, and do not mark on or take anything from these sites. In fact, it’s completely illegal to do either of those, and there are cameras at many of the places listed below.
Dogs | Dogs are not allowed at any of the archeological sites in Sedona. So none of the following hikes are pet friendly.
Oils | At each of these Sedona ruins, look with your eyes, not with your hands. During our tours, we learned that the oils from our hands actually damage the rocks. We want these places to be here long after we are, so refrain from touching the ruins.
Making The Most Of This Sedona Guide
Pinnable Locations | As with all of our Sedona Travel Guides, we’ve included coordinates for each of these cliff dwellings and parking coordinates. We recommend downloading the free maps.me app, and then pinning each of these ancient cliff dwellings on the map.
From there, you can write in notes for each spot, color coordinate the pins, and have your very own guide to Sedona, accessible offline, right in your hand!
Digital Safety | When traveling and using public wifi, you should be using a VPN. VPNs stop hackers from accessing personal information stored in your computer when connected to public wifi.
For under $4 a month, it’s a cheap and easy way to protect your internet privacy!
Parking Passes | For each of the locations below, a national park pass gets you free entry and free parking. It also work for free parking at all of the trailheads in Sedona.
If you plan on visiting for longer than a week, or will be visiting other national parks and/or public lands throughout the United States, it’s well worth getting the park pass. You can purchase it at Montezuma Castle, Tuzigoot, or online before arrival.
Alternatively, you can grab a Red Rock Pass, which is the parking pass for Sedona. I would recommend looking at the multi-day and weekly rates, along with which trailheads require a pass before just buying a on off pass though.
Established Heritage Sites With Ruins In Sedona
Palatki Heritage Site
- Location | 34.915975, -111.902216
- Parking | $5 | 34.914668, -111.902496
- Palatki Heritage Site Guide | Booking Tickets + Need To Know Info For Palatki Ruins
If you’re going to go to one established heritage site in Sedona, make it be Palatki.
Palatki Heritage Site is the easiest to get to, and offers not only a look at ancient ruins, but also the largest collection of pictographs in Sedona.
To visit Palatki, you must reserve a time slot, which can easily be done on Recreation.gov, costing only 1 USD. If you’re like us, you aren’t big on being pushed through tours like a herd of animals.. but don’t worry, this tour is nothing at all like that!
The reservation system is in place at Palatki Heritage Site because the trails and viewpoints don’t allow for much more than 12 people at them.. and the tour is incredibly informative and well worth it!
Honanki Heritage Site
- Location | 34.939391, -111.933265
- Parking | $5 | 34.936783, -111.934413
- Honanki Guide | Be Sure To Read This Guide To Honanki Heritage Site Before Deciding To Go
Honanki Heritage Site is the next closest established place in Sedona to see ruins, however, it’s really hard to get to. Not because there’s no road, but because the road is ROUGH!
I would only advise going to Honanki Heritage Site if you have mid to high clearance and have 4WD!
When we visited Honanki, we actually rode our bikes from Nolan Campground, and were so thankful we did because there’s no way we would have been able to make it in our minivan conversion.
Honanki Heritage Site offers a few different pictographs and a relatively easy and flat walking trail right up to the ruins.
Montezuma Castle Heritage Site
- Location | 34.613187, -111.836616
- Parking | $10 | 34.613187, -111.836616
- Montezuma Castle Guide | A more detailed look at Montezuma Castle.
If you’re looking for an ancient castle-like building, look no further than Montezuma Castle. This “castle” was built right into the limestone cliffs, and has over 20 rooms in it.
While you can not go inside or really get very close to Montezuma Castle, it’s still a site to see. There are multiple ruins surrounding the castle, and a small visitor center and museum.
When we visited in March, the crowds were huge. It’s typically a rather quick visit in and out of the castle viewing area, but there was no parking and the line to enter the castle was super long.
However, when we visited in January, there was no line and parking was easy to find. Keep that in mind when planning to visit Montezuma Castle.
Visiting both Montezuma Castle and Montezuma Well would be best done on your way in or out of Sedona from Phoenix, as they’re actually not in Sedona, but down the road off I-17.
Book A Private Tour To Montezuma Castle and Tuzigoot National Monument from Sedona here.
Montezuma Well Heritage Site
- Location | 34.649152, -111.752286
- Parking | free | 34.648637, -111.754407
- Montezuma Well Guide | Check out our more in-depth guide to Montezuma Well Arizona here.
Montezuma Well is a free heritage site in Sedona, that have ruins with amazing desert oasis views!
This heritage site is actually connected to Montezuma Castle, but gets far fewer visitors than the castle — and honestly, I don’t know why. I think the well is much more impressive!
Montezuma Well has a paved path, climbing up a couple of sets of stairs, leading to a viewpoint at the top of the well. However, you can also hike down into the well itself, and if you’re capable, we highly suggest that!
There’s also an extra hike to the outside of the well, where the water runs out and feeds into irrigation channels responsible for bringing water to much of the Verde Valley.
Tuzigoot Heritage Site
- Location | 34.770215, -112.026229
- Parking | $10 | 34.770215, -112.026229
- Tuzigoot Guide | Everything to Know About Tuzigoot and The Artifact Museum
Located in Cottonwood, just down 89A from Sedona, is Tuzigoot National Monument. This monument is a city built on a hill overlooking the Verde Valley.
There is a paved, supposedly accessible path throughout the monument, but I didn’t think it was too accessible with how steep the incline to the monument is.
I found the museum with over 3,000 artifacts found within the Verde Valley to be just as impressive as the Tuzigoot monument itself.
While there is a self-guided walking path through the Tuzigoot monument, you can also hire a private tour guide to not only get a deeper understanding of what life used to be like here, but to also take you to four other national monuments in the area.
Secret Ruins in Sedona
Mescal Trail Dwellings
- Location | Easiest Cave Access | 34.906116, -111.841041
- Parking | $5 Boynton Canyon Trailhead | 34.907356, -111.848582
- Trail Guide | Altar Cave + 5 Cliff Dwellings and Caves on Mescal Trail
Hiking up to Altar Cave was one of our most favorite hikes in Sedona. This trail leads you to not only one of the best sunsets in Sedona, but also to five different caves and cliff dwellings!
I added the coordinates above to the easiest ruins to access along this cave, but you should check out our total trail guide to find coordinates of the others in the area too.
Hiking to these cliff dwellings is relatively easy for accessing ruins inside the cliffs, and it’s also the shortest of the hikes to the ruins in Sedona on this list.
Warrior’s Wall and Loy Canyon Ruins
- Location | 34.946721, -111.927306
- Parking | free at Loy Canyon Trailhead | 34.932065, -111.925126
- Trail Guide | How To Get to Warrior’s Wall and the Wall of Ancient Rock Art
While Fay Canyon is our favorite canyon in Sedona, Loy Canyon is home to our favorite ruins in Sedona. These ruins are so well intact, and the views from them are incredible.
Visiting the ruins in Loy Canyon requires trail finding, hiking along a sketchy ledge, and a long, rough dirt road to get to the trailhead.
However, if you’re up for a challenge and a 5-6 hour adventure from leaving the heart of Sedona to returning, this hike is epic!
Kiva in Fay Canyon
- Location | 34.916467, -111.868352
- Parking | free at Fay Canyon Trailhead | 34.901928, -111.857348
- Trail Guide | coming soon, message us on @arboursabroad if you need it now 🙂
At the end of Fay Canyon trail, there’s a wash that goes both to the right and to the left. Hiking up the right side of the wash, you’ll be greeted with this Kiva ruin at the very end of the canyon.
However, getting to this Kiva isn’t as easy as it sounds. You must be able to do some trail finding and bushwhacking to access this Kiva, but once you’re there, you’ll likely have the place to yourself.
I say likely because when we were in the kiva, there was actually a climbing tour repelling down from the top of the canyon above us!
Fay Canyon Lookout
- Location | 34.913259, -111.868601
- Parking | free at Fay Canyon Trailhead | 34.901928, -111.857348
- Trail Guide | coming soon, message us on @arboursabroad if you need it now 🙂
We stumbled across these ruins in Sedona on complete accident! We were hiking up into Fay Canyon, and wanted to explore the left side of the canyon.
We kept on climbing and climbing and then came across a makeshift ladder. At that point, we knew there had to be something cool to see.
Up we went, slowly traversing the side of the canyon walls, and then bam! There it was.. an incredible lookout, and as we got closer, we realized there were ruins up there too!
To get to these Native American ruins, you have to trail find, rock climb, and traverse some sketchy ground with major drops if you slip. We do not recommend this hike to anyone who is inexperienced in climbing and trail finding.
The Illicit Still in Fay Canyon
- Location | 34.909149, -111.866768
- Parking | $5 at Doe/Bear Mountain Trailhead | 34.893448, -111.865196
- Trail Guide | coming soon, message us on @arboursabroad if you need it now 🙂
At the illicit still in Fay Canyon, you won’t find much rubble ruins, instead you’ll find what remains of an old illegal still!
Accessing this ruin site actually ruined me. I was so scared at multiple points along this trail and stopped to cry having an minor anxiety attack of how far down the bottom of the canyon is if I fell.
With that said, if you have even a minor fear of heights, this is not the trail for you!
To get to the illicit still ruins, you start at Bear Mountain trail, and once you reach the second red rock layer, there’s a trail to the right. You’ll follow a faint social trail all the way around the ledge, and actually end up hiking along the top of Fay Canyon.
There is a lot of trail blazing, trail finding, and sketchy spots along this trail.. so hike it at your own risk.
As you get closer to the coordinates of the illicit still, you have to find the place you feel the most comfortable dropping down onto the ledge. From there, walk along the ledge until you reach the still.
That’s a very rough guide to find this illegal ruin, and I hope to have a better one posted soon. But please, make sure you only do this hike if you are confident in your trail finding skills and are not afraid of heights.
Kachina Tree + Dwellings in Boynton Canyon
- Location | 34.920187, -111.859385
- Parking | $5 Boynton Canyon Trailhead | 34.907356, -111.848582
- Trail Guide | Check this full day adventure guide to Boynton Canyon to get the trail finding information for these ruins.
The famous Kachina Cave or Kachina Tree in Boynton Canyon is a sight to see. But if you walk through the cave, and along the ledge, you’ll actually stumble across old Native American ruins as well.
These ruins aren’t the most impressive ruins in Boynton Canyon, but they’re still worth checking out, and if you can make a full day adventure out of visiting these ruins, we definitely recommend the Sedona Loop in the trail guide above!
Women’s Village in Boynton Canyon
- Location | 34.923111, -111.863617
- Parking | $5 Boynton Canyon Trailhead | 34.907356, -111.848582
- Trail Guide | Check this full day adventure guide to Boynton Canyon to get the trail finding information for these ruins.
The Women’s Village in Sedona is a viewpoint high above the base of Boynton Canyon that offers a wide ledge to explore ancient ruins at.
While these ruins can be access via a wash, coming from the base of the main Boynton Canyon trail, we actually don’t recommend accessing them that way. Instead, I suggest doing the entire Boynton Canyon Sedona loop in the guide above.
This loop is a full day hike with amazing views, secret caves, and two different ruins in Sedona. There’s also a beautiful painted wall from the water seeping through the canyon and reacting with the minerals.
As you’ll see in the guide, this full day loop is only for those who can navigate and trail find without real trails, are willing to get scratched up from bushwhacking, and are experienced and well prepared hikers.
Subway Cave Cliff Dwellings in Boynton Canyon
- Location | 34.932365, -111.862797
- Parking | $5 Boynton Canyon Trailhead | 34.907356, -111.848582
- Trail Guide | How To Get To The Subway Cave in 5 Easy Steps
The Subway Cave is an extremely popular hike in Sedona. In fact, if you’ve researched things to do in Sedona, I have no doubt hiking to the Subway Cave has popped up time and time again.
However, most people don’t share about the Sinagua ruins within the same ledge as the Subway Cave.
These ruins are easy to climb up into, and with a pretty good size ledge, even those afraid of heights can likely climb into them.
Since we’ve witnessed the damage done on these ruins specifically, please remember to not mess with any of the rocks, and do not carve into or draw on the caves or rocks here.
It’s worth noting, this area is extremely popular. It’s a busy spot for parking, the trail is always full of people, and the cave and ruins here will likely have 20-30 other people visiting at the same time.
Grandmother Cave in Boynton Canyon
- Location | 34.920979, -111.852263
- Parking | $5 Boynton Canyon Trailhead | 34.907356, -111.848582
- Trail Guide | coming soon, message us on @arboursabroad if you need it now 🙂
Grandmother Cave is a cave in Boynton Canyon that’s passed by hundreds of people a day. You can actually see the cave from the Boynton Canyon trail, and it’s not that difficult to get to!
What’s impressive is the two-room ruins inside the cave!
These ruins are pretty well intact and offer some amazing views across Boynton Canyon.
To get to the Grandmother Cave ruins, hike on the Boynton Canyon Trail for 1.2 miles. If you get to the end of the Enchantment Resort, you’ve gone to far.
There’s a small social trail to the right at 1.2 miles, and you’ll hike up that trail, doing some trail finding, for another .3 miles until you reach Grandmother Cave.
The good news is this cave is easy to see from the trail, and you can even start to see the cliff dwelling ruins as you begin hiking up the .3 mile social trail.
The Grandmother Cave ruins are the best in this area, but you can can continue up past Grandmother Cave and actually find a handful of ruins on your way up to Grandfather cave, listed below.
With that said, I honestly wasn’t that impressed with Grandfather Cave, as it’s hard to get into, and really think there are better ruins and caves in Sedona to explore instead of continuing up past the Grandmother Cave ruins.
Grandfather Cave in Boynton Canyon
- Location | 34.921656, -111.851517
- Parking | $5 Boynton Canyon Trailhead | 34.907356, -111.848582
- Trail Guide | coming soon, message us on @arboursabroad if you need it now 🙂
The Grandfather Cave ruins are up above Grandmother Cave, and on the way to these ruins, you’ll actually pass by a handful of other small ruin sites.
While the hike up to Grandfather cave isn’t technical or sketchy, getting up into the cave to get a closer look at the ruins definitely is! So much so that we actually couldn’t really get into them.
To get to Grandfather Cave, continue hiking up into Boynton Canyon from Grandmother Cave. You’ll get to a couple holes in the rock, which you actually have to climb through.
From there, you’ll see a small cliff dwelling, and then continue hiking up the trail. There is some major trail finding going on here, but just know, if you take more than ten steps and don’t see the trail, you’re in the wrong spot.
You have to climb up some red rocks, scrambling your way up a number or ledges before reaching a big grassy field.
This field has awesome views of Boynton Canyon, and looking toward the red rock cliffs, you’ll also be able to see the Grandfather Cave ruins.
Trisha’s Spire and Acropolis
- Location | 34.890798, -111.753066
- Parking | $5 Wilson Mountain / Midgley Bridge Trailhead | 34.885643, -111.741516
- Trail Guide | coming soon, message us on @arboursabroad if you need it now 🙂
I feel like this area of Sedona is so untouched. Not many people venture out to hiking in the Oak Creek Canyon bit above Uptown Sedona. But this area is home to some great hikes!
One of which is hiking up to Steamboat Rock, offering incredible views all the way across Sedona from the northeast corner. Up at Steamboat Rock, there are a couple different ancient ruins.
One actually looks like a stone circle of sorts, all tucked into a ledge overlooking the red rock wilderness, and the others are similar to the rest, ancient walls providing shelter within caves.
To get to these two Sedona ruins, you have to hike up to Steamboat rock, and then along the saddle to the red rock cliffs on the right. Exploring in this area, you’ll easily find these ruins, with a pretty wide safe ledge to hike to them on.
Visiting Ruins In Sedona
Whew! That’s a lot of ruins! And honestly, I’m sure that’s just scratching the surface. When hiking to these different ruins in Sedona and actually even when hiking in Sedona in general, loop up into the canyon walls, I’m sure you’ll find more ruins!
We certainly found more ruins than what’s in this post, however, we didn’t hike to them all, and this is the list of the best ruins in Sedona in our opininon!
Remember to not move the rocks at these archeological sites, be respectful, and pack out all trash you bring on the hike with you!
What To Pack For Hiking in Sedona
You may be surprised to see the kind of things we include in our must have packing list for Sedona. Things like tweezers, hand sanitizer, and headlamps don’t often make packing lists! But they’re all a must for Sedona!
We also highly recommend some really good grippy trail shoes. A lot of people love hiking in boots, but we’ve found that these trail runners work the best. In fact, they’re the only shoes we hiked in while in Sedona.
No matter how short or long the hike, you must pack water with you! The red rocks of Sedona hold their heat, and even in the winter months, its dry and hot and you can easily become dehydrated. We recommend hiking with a backpack like this, with a water bladder, snacks, and extra layers inside!
More Sedona Travel Guides
5 Things To Know Before Visiting Sedona
Things To Do In Sedona Arizona In The Winter
