Small groups of up to 14, a road captain on every trip

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The Museum Club log roadhouse in Flagstaff, Arizona, with pines and melting snow

State 7 of 8, driving west

Route 66 in Arizona: Winslow, the Grand Canyon and Oatman

Arizona has the most varied stretch of Route 66: painted badlands and stone logs, a Harvey hotel in Winslow, a detour to the Grand Canyon, the long empty road west of Seligman and a hairpin climb over the Black Mountains.

Trips
81 only in Arizona
Stops
5On our trips
Length
3 to 15 daysSmall groups
Best months
Apr to MayTrips run Mar to Dec
From
$1,190Per person

The Southwest: New Mexico and Arizona

What the road is like in Arizona

Route 66 enters Arizona from New Mexico at Lupton and leaves it at Topock on the Colorado River, about 400 miles later. The first half crosses the high Colorado Plateau, through Navajo and Hopi country, Holbrook, Winslow and Flagstaff, at 5,000 to 7,000 feet among pine forest and red rock. Williams, the last Route 66 town to be bypassed by I-40, in 1984, is the gateway to the Grand Canyon. West of Seligman the old road leaves the interstate for its longest unbroken run, close to 160 miles through Peach Springs, Hackberry and Kingman, then climbs over Sitgreaves Pass to Oatman and drops to the river.

Eight of our trips include Arizona. The Arizona Route 66 and the Grand Canyon trip gives it a full week from Albuquerque to Las Vegas, and the Grand Canyon add-on spends three days in Williams with the train to the South Rim. The photography trip and the Desert Ride by motorcycle both end in the west of the state or beyond, and the classic convertible from Amarillo finishes in Flagstaff. The full-route trips spend three days here. Joe Begay, who is Navajo, leads most Arizona days from the east side, and Sandy Ruiz, a Barstow native, leads days in the western desert toward the Colorado River.

Route 66 tours through Arizona, 2026 and 2027

Per person sharing a double room. Trips that only cross part of Arizona are listed too.

All 16 trips

8 trips

    Your own private trip

    Car club, family reunion or friends: any trip can run just for your group on your dates, from 6 travelers.

    Private and group trips

    Deals and early booking

    Save $150 per person on 2027 departures booked by January 31, 2027, plus last-minute prices on November and December 2026 dates.

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    Not sure which stretch?

    Tell us how many days you have, the month and what you love: neon, diners, museums or open desert. A trip advisor in Tulsa suggests two or three trips.

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    5 stops

    Route 66 stops in Arizona

    Banded red, pink and white badlands of the Painted Desert in Petrified Forest National Park

    Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert: Stone logs and badlands

    Petrified Forest is the only national park with a stretch of Route 66 inside it, marked by a rusting 1932 Studebaker beside the line of the old roadbed. The park road runs 28 miles from the Painted Desert in the north, banded red and gray badlands, to fields of fallen logs turned to quartz more than 200 million years ago. The Painted Desert Inn, rebuilt by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the late 1930s, has murals by the Hopi artist Fred Kabotie. We walk the Blue Mesa loop, about a mile on pavement, and the Crystal Forest trail. Taking even a chip of wood is illegal. Afterward we drive about 20 miles to Holbrook, where some trips sleep in the concrete teepees of the Wigwam Motel.

    • Route 66 marker and the 1932 Studebaker
    • Blue Mesa and Crystal Forest walks
    • Painted Desert Inn and its Kabotie murals

    Best monthsMarch to June, September to November

    Trips that stop here

    Arizona US 66 shield painted on the road at Standin' on the Corner Park, Winslow

    Winslow: A corner and a Harvey hotel

    Winslow got a second life from a song. In 1972 the Eagles sang about standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona, and since 1999 the corner of Second Street and Kinsley Avenue has been a small park with a bronze figure, a painted window mural and a flatbed Ford parked at the curb. A block away, La Posada was the last great Fred Harvey hotel, designed by Mary Colter and opened in 1930; it closed in 1957 and was restored from 1997. Its Turquoise Room serves lunch and dinner, and many of our trips spend a night there or similar. About 25 miles west, Meteor Crater is close to a mile across and some 550 feet deep, and most Arizona trips stop.

    • Standin' on the Corner Park
    • La Posada and the Turquoise Room
    • The rim of Meteor Crater

    Best monthsMarch to June, September to November

    Trips that stop here

    Mist drifting through the layered red cliffs of the Grand Canyon from the South Rim

    Grand Canyon South Rim: The detour everyone makes

    The canyon lies about 60 miles north of Route 66, and most of our Arizona trips make the detour. The Grand Canyon add-on goes the old way, on the Grand Canyon Railway from Williams, a line first opened in 1901: about two hours and 15 minutes each way through ponderosa pine and grassland, with musicians walking the cars. At the South Rim we walk the paved Rim Trail between Mather Point and the Yavapai Geology Museum, then ride the park shuttle along Hermit Road for sunset at Hopi Point. Mary Colter's Desert View Watchtower is a stop when we drive in from the east. The rim sits at about 7,000 feet, so November and March mornings can be below freezing.

    • Grand Canyon Railway from Williams
    • Rim Trail from Mather Point
    • Sunset on Hermit Road

    Best monthsMarch to June, September to November

    Trips that stop here

    Old storefronts, Route 66 signs and a red classic car on the main street of Seligman

    Seligman: Where the revival began

    Seligman is where the Route 66 revival started. In 1987 the local barber Angel Delgadillo and a group of business owners founded the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona, and that same year the state named the old road a historic highway. His barbershop is now a visitor center and gift shop, and nearby his brother Juan's Snow Cap Drive-In, opened in 1953, still serves burgers and shakes with fake mustard bottles and a menu full of jokes. From here the longest unbroken stretch of the old road runs west through Peach Springs and past the Hackberry General Store to Kingman's Powerhouse Visitor Center. Williams, with its 1900s brick downtown, is about 45 miles east on I-40.

    • Angel Delgadillo's barbershop
    • Delgadillo's Snow Cap Drive-In
    • Hackberry General Store on the long stretch west

    Best monthsMarch to June, September to November

    Trips that stop here

    A wild burro crossing Route 66 over a painted shield in Oatman, Arizona

    Oatman and Sitgreaves Pass: Burros and a mountain pass

    Oatman is a gold mining camp in the Black Mountains that never quite let go. The mines here boomed after strikes in 1915 and closed in the early 1940s, and wild burros, descended from the miners' pack animals, now walk down Main Street among the visitors. Shops sell hay cubes, the only food you should give them. Clark Gable and Carole Lombard are said to have stayed at the Oatman Hotel after their 1939 wedding in Kingman. The road from Kingman climbs to Sitgreaves Pass at about 3,500 feet through tight hairpins with long drops and few guardrails. Convertible guests and riders drive it themselves; our coach takes it slowly. Summer afternoons here pass 100 degrees.

    • Wild burros on Main Street
    • The Oatman Hotel
    • Hairpins over Sitgreaves Pass

    Best monthsMarch to May, October and November

    Trips that stop here

    Coach, convertible or motorcycle

    Ways to drive Route 66 in Arizona

    1. By small coach with Joe Begay

      Arizona Route 66 and the Grand Canyon is our full week here: seven days from Albuquerque to Las Vegas, with Gallup, Petrified Forest, a night in Winslow, the South Rim, Seligman and Oatman. Joe Begay leads, with a professional driver and at most 14 guests in a 24-seat coach. He grew up near Gallup and adds stories of the Navajo lands the road crosses that most guidebooks leave out.

    2. By motorcycle on the Desert Ride

      Desert Ride: Route 66 by Motorcycle starts in Las Vegas and gives riders the best of western Arizona on rented Harley-Davidson touring bikes: a day to the Grand Canyon, the long empty road from Seligman to Kingman, and the climb over Sitgreaves Pass to Oatman. Hank Delgado leads, a support van carries the bags, and a passenger can ride pillion or in the van.

    3. By rail and with a camera

      The Grand Canyon add-on spends three days in Williams, with a full day on the Grand Canyon Railway to the South Rim and back; it suits anyone finishing a trip in Flagstaff. The Route 66 Photography Road Trip, with Annie Cho and no more than 10 guests, times Petrified Forest, Winslow and the canyon rim for early and late light.

    One price

    What is included on our Arizona trips

    In Arizona our prices cover hotel and motel nights (such as La Posada in Winslow or the Wigwam Motel in Holbrook, or similar), breakfast every day, the dinners listed in each itinerary, Petrified Forest and Grand Canyon park entry fees, the Grand Canyon Railway on the add-on trip, the Meteor Crater visit where it is in the itinerary, and the road captain and driver or motorcycle and vehicle support.

    Flights are optional: each trip page shows the add-on price for flying into the start and home from the end, from 10 US cities. Full list and payments.

    Included on every Arizona trip

    • Restored vintage motels and good 3 to 4 star hotels, double room with private bathroom
    • Breakfast daily plus the lunches and dinners listed in the itinerary
    • A road captain from the first day to the last, and local guides at museums and parks
    • Small coach with a professional driver, or your classic convertible or motorcycle on themed trips
    • Museum, park and attraction entries listed in the itinerary
    • Airport pickup on day 1 and drop-off on the last day

    Seasons

    Best time to drive Route 66 in Arizona

    Arizona has two climates on one road. The plateau around Winslow, Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon is high and cool, with snow possible from November to March. The west, from Kingman to the Colorado River, is low desert, pleasant in spring and fall and above 100 degrees from June to September. April, May and October suit both, and they are our best months. Only the full-route trips cross in early July, and they reach Oatman in the morning. The Grand Canyon add-on runs into December, when the rim can be snowy.

    1. JanNo trips: No trips
    2. FebNo trips: No trips
    3. MarGood: Good
    4. AprBest: Best
    5. MayBest: Best
    6. JunGood: Good
    7. JulGood: Good
    8. AugNo trips: No trips
    9. SepGood: Good
    10. OctBest: Best
    11. NovGood: Good
    12. DecGood: Good

    Best monthsGood, some trips runNo trips

    Practical

    Route 66 in Arizona at a glance

    • Route 66 miles

      About 400 miles from Lupton to Topock, through Holbrook, Winslow, Flagstaff, Williams, Seligman, Kingman and Oatman, with the longest unbroken run of the old road

    • Main towns on the road

      Holbrook, Winslow, Flagstaff, Williams, Seligman, Peach Springs, Hackberry, Kingman, Oatman

    • Airports

      Flagstaff Pulliam (FLG); Las Vegas Harry Reid (LAS) for the west end; Albuquerque (ABQ) for the east; Phoenix (PHX) about 2.5 hours from Flagstaff

    • Time zone

      Mountain Standard Time all year: Arizona does not observe daylight saving time, so in summer it matches California, but the Navajo Nation does observe it

    • Road weather

      Cool plateau with winter snow from Holbrook to Williams; hot low desert from Kingman west; summer storms July to September; dry, mild spring and fall

    • What to eat

      Navajo tacos on frybread, the Turquoise Room at La Posada, burgers at the Snow Cap in Seligman, steak and beer in Flagstaff and Williams

    • Best months for our trips

      April, May and October; March and November for quiet rims, with cold mornings

    6 questions

    Route 66 in Arizona: questions

    What time is it in Arizona?

    Arizona stays on Mountain Standard Time all year and does not use daylight saving time. From March to November that puts it on the same clock as California and an hour behind New Mexico. The Navajo Nation, which our trips cross in the northeast, does use daylight saving time, so phones can jump an hour there. Our road captains keep the schedule in local time and remind you at each change.

    Is the Grand Canyon included on every Arizona trip?

    It is on the End to End journey, Arizona Route 66 and the Grand Canyon, the Desert Ride, the photography trip and the Grand Canyon add-on. The classic convertible trips and the full-route motorcycle trip keep to Route 66 itself and skip the detour; you can add the three day Grand Canyon add-on in Williams after them.

    How hard is the drive over Sitgreaves Pass?

    It is a narrow paved road with tight bends, steep drops and few guardrails, climbing to about 3,500 feet between Kingman and Oatman. Drivers who take it slowly have no trouble. Convertible guests can hand the wheel to the mechanic for this section if they prefer, and our coach driver handles it on van trips.

    Can we feed the burros in Oatman?

    Only with the hay cubes sold in town. The burros are wild and protected, and they can kick or bite, so do not stand behind them or bring other food near them. Mothers with foals should be left alone. They come into town in the morning and wander back to the hills by late afternoon.

    Can I take a piece of petrified wood from the park?

    No. Removing anything from Petrified Forest National Park is illegal and fined. Shops in Holbrook sell petrified wood collected legally on private land outside the park, with paperwork, if you want a piece to take home.

    How cold is the Grand Canyon in March or November?

    The South Rim is at about 7,000 feet. Mornings in March and November are often below freezing, with daytime highs in the 40s and 50s, and snow is possible. Bring a warm jacket, hat and gloves. The canyon under fresh snow is one of the best sights of the trip.

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    Drive Arizona on the old road

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