Chapel of the Holy Cross in Sedona

You do not need a ticket to visit Sedona’s Chapel of the Holy Cross. It is free, it opens at 9 a.m. every day, and the last entry is 4:45 p.m. The best time to visit is 9 a.m. on a weekday, when the lot still has room and the ramp is cool. Your second-best window is the last 90 minutes of the day, when the sun drops low behind you and warms the rock around the cross. Plan on 45 minutes to an hour, a short climb up a concrete ramp, and a quiet room whose glass wall looks out over the valley.

This page answers what people ask us most: when to go, whether you need tickets, which tours stop here, what the hours are, and how to handle a full lot.

Best time to visit the chapel

Our pick is 9 a.m. on a weekday. The gates open a little before 9, so you can be parked and walking up as the doors open. Morning light sits softly on the Verde Valley below the glass wall, and in summer the concrete ramp has not yet soaked up the sun.

Late afternoon is the other good window. Visit Sedona lists the last car into the lot at 4:30 p.m., and the chapel’s own page gives the last entry to the building as 4:45. Arrive by about 4, and you get long shadows on the buttes with enough time to go inside and stand on the terrace before the doors close at 5.

By time of day

By day of the week

Tuesdays and Thursdays have no scheduled service here, so they make the simplest sightseeing days. Mondays work too, as the Taizé prayer service does not begin until 5 p.m., when the building closes to visitors. On Wednesdays and Fridays the chapel keeps Adoration from noon to 3, confession from 1 to 2:30 and Mass at 3, so a morning visit leaves you free to look around at your own pace. The first Friday of each month has a special healing Mass.

Saturdays and Sundays have no scheduled service at this chapel, since the parish holds its weekend Masses at St. John Vianney, its church in town. They are the days when every parking space gets used, so aim for the first hour.

By season

Temperatures are NOAA’s 1991 to 2020 averages for the Sedona station. Spring and fall are when local officials say to expect the most visitors, so a little planning pays off most in those months.

Winter has a bonus for anyone who likes low light. Mid-December sunsets come close to 5:20 in the afternoon, soon after the chapel shuts, so the last hour of the open day is also the last hour of warm color on the rock.

Do you need tickets?

No. There is no ticket, no timed entry and no reservation. Admission is free, and the lot at the chapel charges nothing. The chapel accepts donations but never requires one, and you will find a donation box inside if you would like to help with upkeep.

When a search turns up “Chapel of the Holy Cross tickets,” what you are seeing is a seat on a sightseeing tour that stops at the chapel. Those seats pay for the ride and the commentary. The door itself is free for everyone, with or without a tour.

Are there tours of the chapel?

The chapel’s own visitor pages list hours, parking and services, and they list no guided tour of the building. You walk in, sit for as long as you like, and walk out. If you would like someone else to do the driving and the talking, local companies offer that:

• Sedona Trolley, Tour A. A one-hour narrated ride that leaves 276 North State Route 89A in Uptown at 9 and again at 10 each morning, passes Snoopy Rock, Tlaquepaque and Gallery Row, and goes to the top of the chapel hill for a 20-minute stop. Seats list at $24.99 for an adult and $16.99 for a child 12 or younger, before tax. Call 928-282-4211.
• Sedona Trolley, combination tour. Tour A plus one of its west-side loops, 2.5 to 3 hours in all, for $38.99 and $24.99 plus tax.
• Sedona Hi-Points van tour. Listed on booking sites at about $50 for roughly two hours, with stops at the chapel, Bell Rock and Airport Mesa.

A tour makes the most sense for a guest who is not driving, or for someone who would rather skip the climb, as the trolley goes all the way up the hill. Twenty minutes is enough to see the room and the terrace, though it will not leave time for the gift shop. If you have a car and an hour, going on your own costs nothing and lets you stay as long as you like.

Hours, services and the gift shop

These are the times listed on the chapel’s website in November 2026. Services are the part most likely to change, so check before you plan around one.

The parish has cancelled Adoration, confession and Mass on Wednesday, November 25, and Friday, November 27, 2026, the days around Thanksgiving. The building’s visiting hours are not listed as changing on those dates.

Reach the chapel at 928-282-7545 or chapel@sjvsedona.org.

The gift shop is run by St. John Vianney Catholic Church and sits on the lower floor of the building. Many of its items are made by local artists, which makes it a good stop for a small keepsake that supports the chapel.

Parking, vehicle limits and the shuttle

The lot holds 45 cars. All parking is on the right side of the roadway as you climb, so take the first open space you see rather than hoping for a closer one.

There is a turnaround at the top of the hill where you can drop people off, which helps anyone who prefers not to walk the hill. The driver then parks on the way back down. RVs and trailers are not allowed on the hill, so leave those behind and bring a car.

You need no Red Rock Pass at the chapel’s own lot. The pass only comes into play if you park at a Forest Service trailhead instead.

If the lot is full

You have three good options, and they all beat waiting on Chapel Road:

Come back in half an hour. Most visits are short, so spaces open up all day. Tlaquepaque and Bell Rock are close enough to fill the time.

Ride Sedona Shuttle Connect. This city-run ride-on-request service added the area in November 2025, and the chapel’s website still points visitors to it. It drops off and picks up at the Mystic Trailhead on Chapel Road, and you walk the rest of the way up the road to the chapel. Rides are available Thursday through Sunday between 6:30 a.m. and 8:30 p.m., plus some holidays, at $2 each, with a $1 fare for those 60 and up, and a van typically shows up in 15 minutes or so. Request a ride in the free TransLoc app or call 928-203-5152. The service began as a pilot, so confirm the stop at sedonashuttle.com before you rely on it.

Walk in on the trail. From the Little Horse trailhead, 3.6 miles south of the Y on Highway 179, the Little Horse and Chapel trails reach the chapel doors in about 2.3 miles, by the Diocese of Phoenix’s count. That is a real hike, so allow around two and a half hours there and back, with the rock formation known as Madonna and the Nuns above you along the way. The trailhead lot requires a Red Rock Pass, which costs $5 for one day, $15 for seven or $20 for the year, and federal park cards work too. Dogs on a leash are welcome on the trail, though they stay outside the chapel building.

How to get there

The address is 780 Chapel Road, Sedona, AZ 86336. Start at the Y, the roundabout at the center of town, drive 3.1 miles south on Highway 179, take the third exit at the Chapel Road roundabout, and follow Chapel Road for 0.9 miles to the lot. The road winds through a neighborhood, so keep your speed down.

From Phoenix, head up I-17, leave at exit 298, stay on Highway 179 through the village, keep going past Bell Rock, and turn right at the Chapel Road roundabout. That puts the chapel on your way into town, and it makes a fine first stop if your timing works.

The November 1, 2026 flood shut Highway 179 for a time, and it has since reopened both ways. Check az511.gov for current road conditions before you set out, since repairs continue elsewhere in the area.

The walk up and accessibility

From the lot, a long curved concrete ramp climbs about a tenth of a mile to the door. It is steep enough that you will feel it, and most people take a few minutes with a stop or two to look back at the view. Wear shoes with grip, carry water and bring a hat in the warm months, because the ramp has little shade.

For anyone who cannot manage the climb, the chapel says golf carts can help people reach the ramp, and families can borrow a wheelchair if they need one. Carts depend on who is working that day, so ask when you arrive or call ahead. The drop-off turnaround at the top of the hill is the other way to shorten the walk.

Facilities are limited up here. Portable toilets stand at the base of the hill, so stop there before you climb. If you can, plan a proper restroom break on the way, at Tlaquepaque or in town.

The chapel is raising $70,000 to restore its historic ramp in honor of its 70th year, which is one way to give if the place moves you.

Inside the chapel

The building was finished in April 1956 on a twin-pinnacled spur about 250 feet high that juts out from a thousand-foot rock wall. A 90-foot cross on the southwest wall serves as both the front of the building and part of its structure. Inside, it is one simple room with a few rows of seats, candles and tall windows that fill the far end with desert and sky.

The chapel asks three things of visitors: keep silent, do not eat or drink in the building, and leave pets outside. You may hear people call it a sight, but many of those around you have come to pray, so we would add a few courtesies of our own. Put your phone on silent, skip the flash, keep long photo sessions away from the aisle, and leave people at prayer out of your pictures. If Adoration or Mass is underway, put the camera away for a while.

There is no dress code posted, though you will feel most at ease in what you would wear to any church.

The views and where to stand

From the terrace you can pick out Courthouse Butte, Bell Rock and, farther off, Cathedral Rock. The formation called Madonna and the Nuns rises close by. You did not hike for any of this, which is what makes the chapel such a good stop for a mixed group: the grandparents and the kids get the same view as everyone else.

For pictures, these three spots work well:

• The top of the ramp, looking back at the building. The cross and the rock wall fill the frame, and this is the shot you will recognize from postcards.
• Inside, near the back row. Frame wide enough to catch the cross against the glass, and let the valley fill the rest. No tripod is needed, and the room is narrow, so keep it brief.
• The terrace rail. Late in the day the low sun warms the buttes across the valley, so this is the place to be in your last half hour.

Our photography spots guide has more places to shoot around town, and our sunset spots guide picks up where the chapel’s closing time leaves off for most of the year.

A short history of the chapel

The idea came from Marguerite Brunswig Staude, a local rancher and sculptor, who was inspired in 1932 by the construction of the Empire State Building. She first tried to build a church in Budapest with Lloyd Wright, son of Frank Lloyd Wright, but the outbreak of World War II stopped the project, so she brought it home to Arizona.

Richard Hein was the project architect and August K. Strotz carried out the design, both from the firm of Anshen & Allen. The chapel stands inside the Coconino National Forest, and Senator Barry Goldwater helped Staude obtain the special-use permit. Construction supervisor Fred Coukos built it in 18 months at a cost of $300,000. The parish of St. John Vianney looks after it today, and the Diocese of Phoenix named it an official Jubilee site for 2025.

It draws more than a million visitors a year, and 2026 is its 70th year. Architectural Digest has listed it among the world’s most beautiful churches, and our Sedona history guide puts it in the larger story of the town.

Visiting around Christmas and Easter

The chapel’s website lists it as open seven days a week and says the gift shop closes on Christmas Day and Easter Sunday. Visit Sedona notes that the chapel closes on some holidays. If either day is in your plan, call 928-282-7545 first.

Winter holiday trips suit the chapel well. Afternoons are mild, the hill is quieter than in spring, and it pairs nicely with an evening at Tlaquepaque. For December dates, see our Festival of Lights page, and our holiday season guide plans the rest of your stay.

A half-day along Highway 179

The chapel sits along one of Arizona’s loveliest roads, so a morning plan comes together easily.

1. 9 a.m., the chapel. Allow 45 minutes to an hour, then a few more minutes in the gift shop once it opens at 9:30.
2. 10:30 a.m., Bell Rock. About five minutes south. The flat paths at the base give you an easy walk with close-up views of the rock.
3. Noon, Tlaquepaque. About ten minutes north for lunch and galleries in shaded courtyards. Its courtyards have reopened since the November flood, while a few shops are still getting ready, so check ahead if you have one in mind.

If you have more time, our page on the scenic byway covers the pullouts along the road, and Cathedral Rock is close by. The free Sedona Shuttle trailhead route is the way in there from Thursday to Sunday. Our three-day itinerary shows how a chapel morning fits into a longer stay.

From Sedona Pickler

We are in West Sedona, about 10 miles and 25 minutes from the chapel lot. An easy way to do it is to leave after an early coffee, be parked by 9, and come home by lunch. The afternoon is then yours for the indoor pickleball court, a soak in one of the tubs on the deck, or a slow dinner around the fire table. To plan your stay, check dates.