Adobe Grand Villas ★★★★

Sixteen Villas Behind a Quiet Gate in West Sedona

Hozoni Drive runs off the main road through West Sedona and stops being a town street almost immediately. Adobe Grand Villas sits along it, low and adobe coloured against the red rock, reading more like a private compound than a hotel. There are sixteen villas here and nothing else: no lobby bar, no conference floor, no corridor of identical doors. Each villa was built and decorated on its own theme, each has its own entrance from the garden, and the smallest of them runs to 850 square feet. The effect is a resort's comfort delivered at the scale of a guesthouse.

Why It Works

Three things decided this for us. The first is space: 850 square feet is a floor rather than a ceiling, and the villas are laid out with proper sitting areas instead of a bed and a chair. The second is the detail guests remember, the bread maker in each villa that staff stock daily, so the room smells of baking by morning. The third is the ratio. Sixteen villas means the chef knows what you ate yesterday and the concierge books the jeep tour without a queue. Villa scale with small house attention is rare in Sedona, where most red rock addresses are either large resorts or three room inns.

Why This Location

West Sedona is where the town does its ordinary business, which is exactly the point. Uptown, a few miles east, absorbs the coach traffic and the souvenir shopping; here the streets are residential and quiet after dark. The trailheads matter more. The Devil's Bridge and Chimney Rock approaches are short drives, close enough that you can be walking before the parking lots fill, and the Airport Mesa road climbs to its sunset overlook in minutes. Groceries, a handful of restaurants and the road south toward the Village of Oak Creek are all a few minutes away. You will want a car, and there is free parking on site for it.

Fast Facts

• Price: Luxury

• Vibe: Themed, romantic, cosseting, quietly grand

• Rooms: 16 villas, each individually themed, from 850 square feet, with private entrances and garden patios or balconies

• Best For: Couples marking an anniversary, travellers who want space rather than a suite number, hikers who want an early start

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: The bread maker in every villa, restocked by the staff each day

• Dining: Chef cooked breakfast included, multi course dinners arranged with the chef on request, stocked coffee bars in the villas

• Amenities: Heated outdoor pool and spa open year round, on site spa treatments, two fireplaces per villa, two person jetted tubs, concierge for jeep tours and balloon flights, EV charging, free parking

• Attractions: Devil's Bridge trailhead, Chimney Rock, Airport Mesa sunset overlook, Tlaquepaque Arts and Shopping Village, Uptown Sedona

Inside the Villas: Two Fireplaces and a Tub Built for Two

Each villa carries its own decorative theme, and the house leans into it rather than hinting at it: this is Southwestern romance, unembarrassed. What they share is the specification. A California king, a two person jetted tub placed in the room rather than hidden away, a waterfall shower, two fireplaces, a desk, and a sitting area large enough to read in. Private entrances mean you never cross a lobby to reach your door, and most villas open onto a garden patio or a balcony. If you are choosing between them, ask which ones face the rock: the views are not evenly distributed.

Breakfast with the Chef, and Dinner if You Ask

Breakfast is cooked to order and eaten properly, not collected from a counter. It is included in the rate, and it is the meal the house is proudest of. Dinner is the interesting option: the kitchen will plan and cook a multi course meal for guests who arrange it in advance, which in a town where the good tables fill weeks ahead is worth knowing. Between meals there are snacks and cookies, and the coffee bar in the villa is kept full. The pool and spa sit in the garden, heated through the year, and treatments can be booked without leaving the property.