Scenic driving in Arizona can carry an RV traveler through high desert, red-rock country, ponderosa forests, volcanic landscapes, and the Colorado Plateau. The goal is not to collect road numbers. It is to give the landscape enough time to become part of the trip.
Do not automatically choose the fastest line
Life is short, and the most memorable travel days are often the ones that take a little longer. A scenic route can turn the space between campgrounds into the reason for going: a mountain overlook, an old bridge, a fading motel sign, a family-run cafe, or a town that the interstate left behind. Build room into the itinerary for slow miles, safe pullouts, local conversations, and changes of plan.
Routes worth considering
Historic Route 66Historic Route 66 offers a slower look at older road alignments, vintage commercial buildings, diners, motor courts, bridges, signs, and bypassed downtowns.
Along Historic Route 66, the road itself can become part of the story. The Arizona section highlights older road alignments, vintage commercial buildings, diners, motor courts, bridges, signs, and bypassed downtowns. Take time for safe pullouts, preserved buildings, local exhibits, and places that still carry the personality of earlier road travel.
Points of interest along or near this route
- Petrified Forest National Park
- Wigwam Motel in Holbrook
- Standin’ on the Corner in Winslow
- Meteor Crater area
- Flagstaff’s historic downtown
- Williams and the Grand Canyon Railway
- Seligman’s preserved roadside businesses
- Hackberry General Store
- Kingman Route 66 Museum
- Oatman’s mining-town streets
Scenic and nostalgic possibilities: watch for designated overlooks, preserved road structures, old highway alignments, classic signs, locally significant architecture, and communities shaped by tourism, agriculture, industry, railroads, waterways, or earlier automobile travel.
RV planning: confirm current grades, clearances, lane width, seasonal closures, construction, fuel availability, parking, turnaround space, and campground access. A tow vehicle or smaller vehicle may be the better choice for constrained historic segments.
U.S. Route 89AU.S. Route 89A offers a slower look at scenery, local history, and communities that are easy to miss at interstate speed.
U.S. Route 89A is worth approaching with curiosity rather than a strict mileage goal. Across Arizona, travelers may find scenery, local history, and communities that are easy to miss at interstate speed. Slow the pace enough to notice historic districts, viewpoints, museums, and communities that reveal how the region grew.
Points of interest along or near this route
- red-rock overlooks
- historic trading posts
- railroad towns and preserved motor courts
Scenic and nostalgic possibilities: watch for designated overlooks, preserved road structures, old highway alignments, classic signs, locally significant architecture, and communities shaped by tourism, agriculture, industry, railroads, waterways, or earlier automobile travel.
RV planning: confirm current grades, clearances, lane width, seasonal closures, construction, fuel availability, parking, turnaround space, and campground access. A tow vehicle or smaller vehicle may be the better choice for constrained historic segments.
Coronado Trail Scenic BywayCoronado Trail Scenic Byway offers a slower look at scenery, local history, and communities that are easy to miss at interstate speed.
Consider Coronado Trail Scenic Byway as part of the journey, not simply a way to reach the next destination. In Arizona, it opens the door to scenery, local history, and communities that are easy to miss at interstate speed. Leave room for unhurried stops, local conversations, older roadside businesses, and the kind of short detours that become favorite memories.
Points of interest along or near this route
- red-rock overlooks
- historic trading posts
- railroad towns and preserved motor courts
Scenic and nostalgic possibilities: watch for designated overlooks, preserved road structures, old highway alignments, classic signs, locally significant architecture, and communities shaped by tourism, agriculture, industry, railroads, waterways, or earlier automobile travel.
RV planning: confirm current grades, clearances, lane width, seasonal closures, construction, fuel availability, parking, turnaround space, and campground access. A tow vehicle or smaller vehicle may be the better choice for constrained historic segments.
Kaibab Plateau–North Rim ParkwayKaibab Plateau–North Rim Parkway offers a slower look at scenery, local history, and communities that are easy to miss at interstate speed.
Kaibab Plateau–North Rim Parkway invites a more relaxed day behind the wheel. In Arizona, look for scenery, local history, and communities that are easy to miss at interstate speed and make room for the unexpected stop—a historic bridge, a classic sign, a family-run cafe, or a view that deserves more than a passing glance.
Points of interest along or near this route
- red-rock overlooks
- historic trading posts
- railroad towns and preserved motor courts
Scenic and nostalgic possibilities: watch for designated overlooks, preserved road structures, old highway alignments, classic signs, locally significant architecture, and communities shaped by tourism, agriculture, industry, railroads, waterways, or earlier automobile travel.
RV planning: confirm current grades, clearances, lane width, seasonal closures, construction, fuel availability, parking, turnaround space, and campground access. A tow vehicle or smaller vehicle may be the better choice for constrained historic segments.
Apache Trail Historic RoadApache Trail Historic Road offers a slower look at older road alignments, vintage commercial buildings, diners, motor courts, bridges, signs, and bypassed downtowns.
Along Apache Trail Historic Road, the road itself can become part of the story. The Arizona section highlights older road alignments, vintage commercial buildings, diners, motor courts, bridges, signs, and bypassed downtowns. Take time for safe pullouts, preserved buildings, local exhibits, and places that still carry the personality of earlier road travel.
Points of interest along or near this route
- red-rock overlooks
- historic trading posts
- railroad towns and preserved motor courts
Scenic and nostalgic possibilities: watch for designated overlooks, preserved road structures, old highway alignments, classic signs, locally significant architecture, and communities shaped by tourism, agriculture, industry, railroads, waterways, or earlier automobile travel.
RV planning: confirm current grades, clearances, lane width, seasonal closures, construction, fuel availability, parking, turnaround space, and campground access. A tow vehicle or smaller vehicle may be the better choice for constrained historic segments.
Why Arizona deserves a slower look
The state’s strongest road trips combine scenery with human history. Look beyond headline destinations for motor courts, trading posts, neon signs, railway towns, and surviving fragments of the Mother Road. These places explain how people traveled, worked, advertised, vacationed, and built communities before every stop looked the same.
A slower itinerary also creates room for the places that rarely fit into a fastest-route calculation: historic downtowns, older highway alignments, small museums, locally owned cafes, overlooked viewpoints, and roadside structures that reveal how travel once worked. Plan shorter driving days, leave room for safe pullouts and unplanned stops, and treat changing weather or road conditions as part of the journey rather than an interruption.
Planning with an RV
Heat, elevation changes, long grades, and limited services can occur in the same day. Confirm water, fuel, tire condition, and mountain-route suitability.
Use this guide as an introduction, not a turn-by-turn instruction. Confirm current road conditions, bridge and tunnel dimensions, vehicle restrictions, seasonal closures, wildfire or storm impacts, ferry rules, reservations, and campground access using official transportation, park, land-management, and local sources.
Travel Resource Websites
Use these third-party resources to check current conditions before departure.