The train everyone in Sedona is looking for

Search for a train in Sedona and you will find a railroad in a town you have never heard of. That is not a mistake: Sedona has no passenger rail and never has. The scenic train that fills Sedona itineraries is the Verde Canyon Railroad in Clarkdale, 25 minutes away, and it is worth the short drive.

Getting there from Sedona

Clarkdale is 25 minutes from Sedona on AZ-89A through Cottonwood - an easy, pretty drive with none of the switchbacks people fear. The depot at 300 N Broadway has free parking, including RV and bus spaces. Plan to arrive an hour before the 1:00 PM departure: check-in is quick, and the depot café, gift shop and John Bell rail museum absorb the wait pleasantly. The full outing is a half-day: roughly noon to 5:30 PM door to door from a Sedona hotel.

Making the day work

The classic Sedona-day pattern: morning in Jerome, the copper-boom ghost town on the mountainside fifteen minutes past the depot, lunch at the depot café, then the train at 1:00 PM. Every ticket includes both an indoor seat and access to the open-air viewing cars, and because the train returns the same way, there is no wrong side to sit on. Book the Adventure package (about $186 with champagne toast, appetizers and a lunch voucher, free cancellation to 24 hours) or the $139 walk-up fare direct - the full comparison is in the ticket math.

The other train people mean

If what you actually wanted from Sedona is a train to the Grand Canyon, that is a different animal: no rail line connects Sedona (or the Verde Valley) to the South Rim. The Grand Canyon Railway departs from Williams, about an hour north - our guide covers how to combine it with a Sedona stay.