Sedona, Arizona · Four-Star · ★★★★
Amara Resort and Spa
Kimpton's Uptown Sedona play. Infinity pool over the Mogollon Rim, gallery district at the doorstep, dogs welcome at the front desk.
Kimpton's Uptown Sedona play. Infinity pool over the Mogollon Rim, gallery district at the doorstep, dogs welcome at the front desk.
"Kimpton's Uptown Sedona play. Infinity pool over the Mogollon Rim, walkable to galleries and Tlaquepaque, free wine hour every evening. Sedona for people who still want to step outside and have dinner where they didn't book."
Amara opened in 2007 as Sedona's first genuinely contemporary luxury address — a deliberate counterpoint to the territorial-adobe vernacular that had defined every other resort in town for two decades. The Kimpton group took over the management contract not long after, and the hotel has been the brand's Arizona red-rock outpost ever since. The address — 100 Amara Lane, tucked off Highway 89A in Uptown Sedona — sits on a low rise above Oak Creek with the Mogollon Rim filling the western horizon. It is the only luxury hotel in town from which you can walk, in under five minutes, into the gallery and restaurant district.
The property has 100 rooms across two low-slung buildings, none of them more than three storeys high, all of them oriented around the infinity pool that is the hotel's defining image. Rooms are clean-lined and quiet — pale wood, deep beds, oversized bathrooms, and balconies on the upper floors that put the red rocks directly in your line of sight at dawn. Premium category rooms add gas fireplaces and the kind of corner views that earn the rate. The footprint is small enough that no room is more than a two-minute walk from the pool, the spa, or the front desk.
SaltRock Southwest Kitchen is the principal restaurant — a chef-driven Southwestern menu (the prickly pear margarita is the house pour, the elk loin and the chile-rubbed half chicken are the dishes worth ordering) with a covered patio that looks straight at the rim. Hundred Rocks Bar, just off the lobby, is where the Kimpton signature happens: complimentary wine hour every evening from 5pm to 6pm, open to all guests, hosted by staff who know the producers. It is, on a Tuesday in October, the easiest place in Sedona to fall into a conversation with the couple from Toronto at the next table.
The infinity pool is the architectural moment — heated year-round, edged with a row of cabanas, and angled so the water appears to spill into the canyon below. Amara Spa, on the lower level, runs the standard menu of massages, facials, and red-rock-themed treatments (the Sedona Stone is the best-seller) at prices that come in noticeably below Mii amo and the eforea spa at the Hilton. A small fitness centre, a yoga studio offering twice-daily group classes, and a fire pit lounge round out the wellness footprint without overstating it.
Two details set Amara apart from the rest of the Sedona luxury bracket. First, it is unreservedly dog-friendly — no fee, no weight limit, water bowls and a dog bed waiting in the room — which makes it the obvious choice for the road-tripping traveler who is not leaving the labrador at home. Second, the location does what no canyon resort can: a five-minute walk drops you into Tlaquepaque, the arts village, and the Uptown strip of restaurants, hat shops, and crystal stores. For the guest who wants Sedona's silence at dawn and its main-street energy at dinner, Amara is the rare hotel that delivers both without a car.
Amara is the anniversary hotel for couples who already know each other well enough to skip the production. Book a Premium Rim View room, request the dinner reservation at SaltRock for the patio at 7pm in October, and the rest assembles itself. The Kimpton wine hour is the unforced cocktail before dinner; the infinity pool at sunrise is the next morning's quiet ritual. For round-number anniversaries, brief the front desk on arrival — they'll route a bottle of Arizona sparkling and a handwritten note to the room without overdoing it.
For solo travelers, Amara is the easiest entry into Sedona's wellness culture without the full all-inclusive commitment of Mii amo. Book a base king, take the morning yoga class, walk to Tlaquepaque for lunch, do an Amara Spa treatment in the afternoon, and use the wine hour to surface the next day's plan. The pool deck is the single best place in Uptown Sedona to read a book in October light. The dog-friendly policy makes it the rare luxury hotel where a solo traveler with a dog is genuinely accommodated, not tolerated.
As a honeymoon hotel, Amara is the urbane alternative to the canyon-secluded options at Boynton or the creekside cottages at L'Auberge. The bet is on activity rather than retreat — Tlaquepaque galleries in the morning, a jeep tour to Cathedral Rock in the afternoon, dinner at one of the eight restaurants you can walk to, and the infinity pool under the stars after. Request a Premium Rim View room with a balcony for the sunset hour. It is the right choice for couples who want a honeymoon that doesn't require driving every time hunger strikes.
Rates checked May 2026. Price may vary by date.
Amara's Uptown location, infinity pool, and free wine hour make it the easy answer for couples who want red rock without the canyon commute. Book the Premium Rim View room and the SaltRock patio at 7pm.
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