Flagstaff, Arizona
Our first stop on this grand adventure was to the charming little town of Flagstaff, which served as an excellent base for exploring the surrounding area during this portion of our trip. For a small town, Flagstaff was rich with the amenities of a large city such as an airport, railroad, highways, museums, malls, theaters, name brand retailers, excellent restaurants, ample nightlife and even a major university.
What makes it a good base?
Ideal Location: If you are driving, Flagstaff is only 1.50 hours to Grand Canyon National Park, 40 minutes to Sedona, 2 hours to Phoenix, 2 hours to Glen Canyon/Lake Powell, 40 minutes to Meteor Crater and it’s adjacent to the country’s largest Native American governed lands. Additionally, the town is surrounded by the world’s largest contiguous Ponderosa pine forest so there is plenty to explore.
Accommodations: Flagstaff has the best quality hotels for the most reasonable prices in the area. We stayed at the Little America Hotel and would highly recommend staying there as it is right off the highway, is next to 2 gas stations and is just a 6 minute drive to the downtown area.
Food: We’ve traveled to many places in the world and Flagstaff can hang with the best of them. As foodies, the excellent cuisine of Flagstaff was the most unexpected surprise of this trip. Also, the food portions are huge!
People: The locals are very welcoming to tourists and will happily offer helpful tips of places to visit during your stay. The town also enjoys some diversity due to the Northern Arizona University main campus as well as its close proximity to Native American governed lands.
Restaurant Recommendations:
Fat Olives - This pizzeria cooks its pies in true Neapolitan fashion and is in fact 1 of only 96 restaurants to be Vera Pizza Napoletana (VPN) certified. Guy Fieri even visited this restaurant during an episode of his show on the Food Network. Our favorite dishes were the wood fired artichoke hearts, oven roasted olives, Margherita pizza with pepperoni and Calabrian peppers.
Salsa Brava - This is another restaurant made famous by Guy Fieri’s TV show which specializes in Mexican and American Southwestern cuisine. The food portions are jumbo sized and that includes the specialty margaritas too. We had the stuffed sopapilla, which was a football sized (literally) frybread stuffed with meat, pinto beans, cheese, rice and topped with chili sauce. We also had some specialty street tacos (Maui and Cochinita Pibil) with some prickly pear margaritas to wash it all down. For appetizers, they served us complimentary corn chips with 3 different salsas which were also delicious.
Tourist Home All Day Café- This is a casual breakfast and lunch spot which features craft coffee, pasties, cocktails and some creative dishes inspired by American Southwestern cuisine. We highly recommend the breakfast burrito, tomato soup, French toast and a peppermint oat milk latte to wash it all down. This is the perfect spot to fuel up before a long day of hiking or day tripping.
Lotus Lounge at Hotel Monte Vista - This upscale restaurant is located in the heart of downtown Flagstaff and it features an excellent menu of Asian fusion dishes as well as craft cocktails. According to Nina, “the sushi was to die for.” Due to its popularity with the locals, reservations and proper attire are recommended. We were actually turned away the first time we tried to eat at this restaurant due to it being too full for dinner so plan accordingly.
Mozelle’s Bakery - This nondescript bakery is located at the popular Heritage Square. All of their pastries are made from scratch daily and it’s the perfect place to stop for some treats while strolling around downtown. We highly recommend the home made French macaroons and lemon tarts.
Places to Shop:
The Rainbow’s End - This was such a cute boutique selling a variety of local designers and artist crafts such as Boho-chic inspired dresses and accessories. Nina bought some laser cut earrings as a small keepsake from our trip.
Suite 104 - If you want a little bit of a chuckle, stop by Suite 104. They have some unique and weird pieces that make you question taste level and art as the trinkets they sell are very outlandish.