#4 in Top 20 Sedona for A Wellness Retreat · Kimpton
Amara Resort and Spa
Walking distance to Sedona's Tlaquepaque village, the in-town wellness option.
Walking distance to Sedona's Tlaquepaque village, the in-town wellness option.
The short answer: Amara Resort and Spa is a 100-room Kimpton hotel on a ridge above Sedona's Tlaquepaque village and Oak Creek, the rare red-rock resort within a short walk of Uptown's galleries and restaurants. Its zero-edge saltwater infinity pool and walkable setting make it the in-town wellness pick, best booked with a creek or red-rock view.
"A short walk to Tlaquepaque and Uptown, a zero-edge pool facing the rocks, the walkable Sedona wellness base rather than a secluded canyon resort."
Scored on our six-part method (Romance, Service, Value, Design, Food, Location). See how we score.
Yes, especially for travellers who want red-rock views with galleries, restaurants and creekside trails on foot rather than a drive away. Amara Resort and Spa, a Kimpton hotel, sits on a rise above the Tlaquepaque Arts and Crafts Village and alongside Oak Creek, with 100 rooms across several low buildings in Uptown Sedona. Its defining feature is location: it is one of the very few Sedona resorts within a short walk of Tlaquepaque, Uptown's shops and restaurants, and the creek path. That walkability is the whole argument for choosing it over the canyon resorts.
The honest framing is a trade. You swap the deep seclusion of Boynton Canyon or Oak Creek Canyon for a lively, connected setting where you can leave the car parked and structure a wellness day around walking. On our six-part method it earns an aggregate 9.5 out of 10, carried by that location score and by a recent renovation that lifted the rooms and public spaces. Best for the wellness traveller who wants the town and the trails as much as the spa.
Book a suite with an outdoor patio over Oak Creek and the cliffs for the best of the setting, or an entry-level room with a red-rock view if the budget is tighter. The property steps down the ridge toward the creek, so the rooms worth requesting are the ones facing the water and the rocks rather than the parking or the road. As with any view-led resort, confirm the orientation in writing when you book and again at check-in.
A multimillion-dollar renovation recently reworked the guestrooms and public areas in a warm tree-lodge aesthetic, with natural materials and laptop-friendly workspaces, so the interiors are current rather than dated. Ground-level rooms give the easiest access to the creek path and pool; upper rooms trade that for a longer red-rock sightline. Either way, prioritise the outlook over raw square footage on a wellness stay built around the view.
Walk to Tlaquepaque at 9am, before the arts village fills, then eat in Uptown in the evening. Save the zero-edge saltwater infinity pool for sunset, when the red rocks turn amber, and ask the front desk about the shortest creekside walking route down to Oak Creek from the resort.
The wellness core is the Amara Spa, a heated, zero-edge saltwater infinity pool framed on the red rocks, and SaltRock Southwest Kitchen for dining. The spa runs a full treatment menu alongside a fitness centre, and the pool is the signature image of the resort: a clean saltwater edge that appears to spill toward the cliffs, best at golden hour. Because the pool is saltwater rather than heavily chlorinated, it reads as gentler on the skin, a small but real wellness detail.
SaltRock Southwest Kitchen handles food on site with Southwestern cooking and al fresco tables, serving through the day from breakfast to dinner. It is a competent resort restaurant rather than a destination in itself, which suits Amara's model: the walkable Uptown and Tlaquepaque dining scene is a few minutes away on foot, so many guests split meals between the hotel and town. The recent renovation extended through the restaurant, spa and public spaces, so the whole guest journey feels of a piece.
Against Sedona's canyon resorts, Amara wins on walkability and value but gives up seclusion and scale. The comparison below sets it beside three properties higher on our Sedona wellness list, so you can weigh the in-town convenience against canyon privacy.
| Hotel | Best for | Setting | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amara Resort and Spa | Walkable, in-town wellness | Uptown ridge above Tlaquepaque and Oak Creek | ~$450 |
| Enchantment Resort | Deep canyon seclusion and programming | Boynton Canyon, sprawling casitas | ~$700 |
| L'Auberge de Sedona | Creekside cottages and fine dining | Oak Creek Canyon, wooded creekfront | ~$650 |
| Adobe Grand Villas | Villa-scale privacy for couples | West Sedona, themed villas | ~$500 |
Rates are indicative starting prices and move with season and demand. Enchantment is the canyon-seclusion benchmark and L'Auberge the creekside romantic pick; Amara's counter-argument is that you can walk to dinner, galleries and the creek without ever getting in the car.
The honest drawbacks all come from the in-town setting, which is also the resort's biggest strength. Decide which side of that trade matters more to you.
Amara Resort and Spa sits within our broader Top 20 Hotels in Sedona for a Wellness Retreat list, where it ranks #4 on the strength of its walkable location and refreshed rooms rather than on canyon seclusion. With firm dates, book roughly twelve weeks ahead and request a creek or red-rock view at the time of reservation; the view rooms and patio suites sell through first, and spring and autumn, Sedona's prime red-rock seasons, are the tightest for availability.
If seclusion outranks walkability for your trip, the canyon alternatives in the comparison above are the better fit, and the related wellness lists below show how the same in-town-versus-remote choice plays out in Bali and beyond.
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