#18 in Top 20 Sedona for a Wellness Retreat · Boutique B&B · Highway 179
The Inn Above Oak Creek
A creekside boutique B&B, steps from Tlaquepaque, where the wellness is the water and the quiet.
A creekside boutique B&B, steps from Tlaquepaque, where the wellness is the water and the quiet.
The Inn Above Oak Creek is the creekside-boutique pick on our Sedona wellness list: an 11-room bed-and-breakfast on Highway 179, beside Oak Creek and a five minute walk from Tlaquepaque. It suits a couple who wants the sound of the water, a fireplace and a spa tub in the room, and a walkable, quiet base, rather than a full resort spa under one roof.
"Small, intimate and right on the water. The wellness here is the creek and the quiet, not a treatment menu."
HotelsForKings aggregate 9.3/10, scored on Room & Design, Service, and Location. One editorial opinion, not a user-review average. See our methodology.
Choose The Inn Above Oak Creek when your version of wellness is calm, water and walkability rather than a resort spa. It is a small boutique inn of just 11 rooms set directly above Oak Creek on the Highway 179 corridor, and its whole case rests on that setting. Every room has a gas fireplace and an en-suite bathroom with a spa tub, and the creekside rooms open to the sound of running water below, which is the restorative core of a stay here.
The wellness comes from what surrounds the inn as much as the inn itself: coffee on a creekside deck in the morning, a five minute walk to the Tlaquepaque arts village, and Sedona's trailheads, vortex sites and day spas a short drive on. It lands at #18 on the list precisely because it is an inn and not a destination spa; there are no treatment rooms or fitness centre on site, so the property earns its place on setting, intimacy and location rather than facilities.
Book a creek-view room, ideally one of the creekside kings with the water directly below the balcony. All 11 rooms share the same core comforts, a gas fireplace, a spa tub and a private bath, but the rooms set back from the water miss the single feature that defines the inn: the constant, soft sound of Oak Creek that turns a good room into a restorative one.
When you reserve, ask specifically for a creek-facing room rather than a red-rock or garden view, and confirm it in writing, because the difference in experience is larger than the difference in price. Light sleepers should note the reverse trade-off too: the same running water that soothes most guests is a constant presence, so if you need silence to sleep, a set-back room may suit you better.
Take your continental breakfast out to the creekside deck early, then walk the five minutes to Tlaquepaque before the galleries open and the day-trippers arrive. Save the afternoon for a Cathedral Rock or Bell Rock trailhead a short drive away, both easy vortex-adjacent walks, and return to a fireside spa-tub soak as the red rocks turn.
The inn sits on the Highway 179 gallery corridor, beside Oak Creek and roughly 0.7 miles from central Sedona, which makes it walkable in a town where most stays require a car for everything. Tlaquepaque, with its galleries, courtyards and restaurants, is about five minutes on foot, and several trailheads are a short drive rather than an expedition. For a wellness trip built on gentle days, walks and early nights, that walkable-yet-quiet position is genuinely valuable.
It is worth being clear about what the setting is not. This is the 179 corridor, not the more hotel-dense Uptown strip, and not a remote canyon hideaway either; you are close to the road and to town rather than deep in the wilderness. The payoff is convenience and the creek; the trade is that you are not isolated, and on a busy weekend the nearby road and village carry the usual Sedona traffic.
The inn does creekside calm and location very well, but it is a small B&B, and that shapes who it suits.
The Inn Above Oak Creek ranks #18 in our Top 20 Sedona for a Wellness Retreat list, with an aggregate 9.3/10. Against its neighbours it wins on the creekside setting and the walk to Tlaquepaque and gives ground on on-site facilities. Here is how it lines up with the properties ranked around it.
| Hotel | Style | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Inn Above Oak Creek (#18) | 11-room creekside B&B | Couples wanting water and quiet |
| Lodge at Sedona (#16) | Rustic-luxury inn with grounds | More facilities, red rock views |
| Briar Patch Inn (#17) | Creekside cabins in Oak Creek Canyon | Rustic cabins in the canyon |
| Tlaquepaque Inn (#20) | Boutique rooms at the arts village | Walking to galleries and dining |
Pick the Inn Above Oak Creek for the water and the walk to town; step to the Lodge at Sedona if you want more on-site facilities, or the Briar Patch Inn for rustic creekside cabins deeper in Oak Creek Canyon. All four appear on our full Sedona wellness ranking.
A ranked shortlist, a special offer worth booking, and the overpriced stay to skip. Straight from the editors.