Sedona · Chapel Road off SR 179 · Historic Catholic chapel
Chapel of the Holy Cross
A 1956 chapel built right into the red rock buttes, with a 90-foot cross framing the view. Free to visit, open every day, and one of Sedona’s best-known landmarks.
Opens the chapel’s hours and visitor page. There’s no admission fee, and no reservation is needed.
Details checked October 2026
Type
Historic chapel
1956 Catholic chapel built into the buttes
Admission
Free
Donations welcome; prayer candles $1–$5
Hours
9 am–5 pm daily
Last entry 4:45 pm; gift shop 9:30–4:30
Time needed
Short stop
The chapel room is about 50 by 20 feet
Parking
45 spaces
No RVs or trailers; golf-cart help to the ramp
The cross
90 ft tall
A glass-filled cross forms the west wall
What you’ll see
A chapel built into the red rocks
The visit is short and sweet: a walk up the ramp, a few quiet minutes inside, the views from outside and a look through the gift shop below.
Photo: Srikar Devaguptapu on Wikimedia Commons (public domain)
Start here
The cross window
The chapel’s west wall is a 90-foot cross filled with tinted glass, so the red rocks outside become the backdrop to the altar. In front of it hangs the Living Christ, a crucifix of Christ on the Tree of Life. The room itself is small, about 50 by 20 feet, so the window is the whole show.
RV tip: the chapel asks visitors to keep silent, skip food and drink inside, and leave pets outside the building. If your dog travels with you, bring someone to wait with it outside, and never leave it in a hot car.
More to see
- The ramp and the viewsA winding ramp climbs from the parking area to the entrance, with the buttes all around. Golf carts can help visitors reach the ramp, and wheelchairs are available.
- Prayer candlesLight a votive candle for $1 or a three-day candle for $5. The chapel says candles are prayed for at its Friday Mass.
- The gift shopOn the chapel’s lower floor, run by St. John Vianney Catholic Church, with many items made by local artists. Open daily 9:30 am to 4:30 pm; closed Easter and Christmas.
- Mass and prayerMass is at 3 pm on Wednesdays and Fridays, with Adoration from noon to 3 pm. Taizé Prayer is on Mondays at 5 pm.
Why go
A landmark you can see in under an hour
Local rancher and sculptor Marguerite Brunswig Staude commissioned the chapel, and it was completed in 1956 after 18 months of work. The architects, Anshen & Allen, set it on a twin-pinnacled spur of red rock about 250 feet high. It won an AIA Award of Honor in 1957 and was named one of Arizona’s Seven Man-Made Wonders in 2007.
For RVers this is a tow-car stop only. The chapel’s own visitor page says no RVs or trailers, and the lot holds just 45 spaces along the road, so the easiest plan is to unhook at camp and arrive close to the 9 am opening.
There’s no admission fee, and the chapel says it welcomes several million pilgrims and tourists every year, so expect company. Reviewers often mention waiting for a parking spot at midday; early mornings and late afternoons before the 4:45 pm last entry are good bets.
Photo: Bernard Spragg on Wikimedia Commons (CC0)
Why it made our list
- Free admission, open 9 am to 5 pm every day
- A 90-foot cross window framing the red rocks
- Built into the buttes and finished in 1956
- Golf-cart help from the lot to the ramp
- 4.7 stars across more than 28,000 reviews
For RVers
Visiting the chapel with an RV
The practical stuff we wished someone had told us before we pulled in.
Leave the RV at camp
The chapel’s visitor page is clear: no RVs or trailers. Chapel Road climbs to a small lot with 45 spaces, all on the right side of the road, and a turnaround at the top. Bring the tow car or another small vehicle.
Use the drop-off turnaround
There’s a turnaround at the top of the hill where you can drop people off before you park. Then pull into whatever spot is open on the way back down.
Pets wait outside
Pets must stay outside the chapel building. Plan for one person to wait with your dog while the others go in, and keep it out of a parked car in the Arizona sun.
Restrooms are at the bottom
Facilities at the chapel are limited, with porta-potties at the base of the hill. Stop at camp or on the way, and bring water for the walk up the ramp.
What visitors say about Chapel of the Holy Cross
The visitor report card
We don’t copy other sites’ reviews, but the published scores are worth reading together. Scores checked October 4, 2026.
It is a place of great beauty and peace.
Chapel of the Holy Cross, on its visitor page · chapeloftheholycross.com
What visitors often mention
Recurring themes in Yelp’s review highlights
The gift shopThe walk upBuilt into the rock
Yelp’s review highlights point to the gift shop downstairs (124 reviews), the winding walk up from the parking area (71) and how boldly the chapel is built into the red rock cliffs (35). Checked October 4, 2026.
How it measures up
Wall and cross heights from the Society of Architectural Historians; the rock spur is about 250 feet high, according to the chapel.
Good to know
AdmissionFree donations welcome
Votive candle$1 three-day candle $5
Gift shop9:30–4:30 daily; closed Easter and Christmas
On siteGolf-cart helpWheelchairsPorta-potties
Hours and prices from the chapel’s website, checked October 4, 2026. Mass is at 3 pm on Wednesdays and Fridays, and service times are occasionally cancelled, so check the hours page.
Know before you go
Plan your visit
Chapel of the Holy Cross
- Address780 Chapel Rd., Sedona, AZ 86336
- Hours9 am–5 pm daily
Last entry 4:45 pm; gift shop 9:30–4:30 - Phone(928) 282-4069
- AdmissionFree. Donations and candle offerings help support the chapel.
- Getting thereChapel Road leaves SR 179 south of Uptown Sedona; follow it uphill to the chapel parking area.
- Parking45 spaces, all on the right side of the road, with a drop-off turnaround at the top. No RVs or trailers.
Service times can change from week to week, and the chapel posts updates on its hours page, so check before you go. Last entry is at 4:45 pm.
Where to stay nearby
RV parks near Chapel of the Holy Cross
We haven’t written up a Sedona RV park yet, so these are the closest parks we’ve visited. Munds Park is the quickest drive, down I-17 and up SR 179.
Munds Park RV Resort
Full hookups at 6,500 feet in the cool pines off I-17, open April 1 through October 31.
Woody Mountain RV Campground
Pine-shaded full-hookup sites on West Route 66, open year-round on Flagstaff’s west side.
Black Bart’s RV Park
Full-hookup and pull-thru sites a quarter mile off I-40 Exit 198 on Flagstaff’s east side, open year-round, with Black Bart’s Steakhouse next door.
Helpful answers
Frequently asked questions
The questions RVers ask most before pulling in.
9 am–5 pm daily · last entry 4:45 pm
Ready to see the cross window?
Come early in the tow car, use the drop-off turnaround, and leave time for the gift shop.
Thank you to the people behind these photos and this video. Please support them by giving their work a look. Photos: Srikar Devaguptapu (inside the chapel; public domain), Marine 69-71 (between the buttes; CC BY-SA 4.0), Beyond My Ken (the entrance and the red rock; CC BY-SA 4.0), Bernard Spragg (the chapel on its spur; CC0) and D. O. Todd for the Coconino National Forest (1957; CC BY-SA 2.0), via Wikimedia Commons; the images were resized. Video: Passage Pioneer on YouTube. Review-site logos are trademarks of their owners.
Disclaimer
RV-Roundup is an independent, community-based resource created to help RV travelers and to support and promote the places we feature. RV-Roundup is not owned by, operated by, or officially affiliated with Chapel of the Holy Cross unless otherwise stated.
The information on this page was prepared using the most current details available at the time of publication, including the chapel’s published materials and publicly available sources. Hours, rules and other details are set by the chapel and may change at any time without notice. Before you travel, please confirm all details directly with Chapel of the Holy Cross at chapeloftheholycross.com or (928) 282-4069. RV-Roundup is not responsible for errors, omissions, or changes made after publication.
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