Enchantment Resort

Hotel description

Phoenix is nice enough, if you like sprawl, and if you don’t mind the fact that the landscape is so flat and featureless that the one modest hill in the center of it all is revered as cactus country’s answer to Mt. Fuji. The real Arizona, though, begins at the end of the city planners’ grid, and by the time you get to Sedona, the suburbs are a distant memory.

Here in red rock country it’s still possible to feel some of the romance of the American Southwest, and Enchantment Resort, situated at the bottom of Boynton Canyon, is an immersive escape. The adobe villas, dwarfed by the red sandstone cliffs, are scattered throughout the property, surrounded by pine trees and juniper bushes. They’re divisible into single rooms and one- or two-bedroom suites, and it may be worth booking a suite just for the living room, with its fireplace, kitchenette and high timbered ceiling—though even the bedroom-only option is attractive enough, with its spacious layout and private deck. All rooms, no matter the layout, are comfortably furnished, with conveniences like broadband internet, in-room movies and High Desert bath products made from local plant ingredients.

The restaurant, Yavapai, serves breakfast, lunch and dinner against the backdrop of a 180-degree view of Boynton Canyon, and Tii Gavo is the more casual affair, offering outdoor terrace dining.

The spa, Mii Amo, is something like Vatican City; though completely enclosed by the Enchantment Resort’s grounds, it’s a semi-independent operation with its own guest rooms and restaurant. Treatments and services here are available to Enchantment guests, for a fee.

How to get there:

Enchantment Resort is approximately 2 hours from Phonenix and Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. It is a 5 hour drive from Las Vegas.