Phoenix or Sedona in January

[Kauaipres]

Traveling for pleasure with my boyfriend.  Which city would you recommend for early January long weekend?

Recommendations for lodging?  Activities?  Gay friendly environments?

Thanks in advance.

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

6 hours ago, Kauaipres said:

Traveling for pleasure with my boyfriend.  Which city would you recommend for early January long weekend?

Recommendations for lodging?  Activities?  Gay friendly environments?

Thanks in advance.

Sedona will be 10 degrees Fahrenheit colder than Phoenix.  That's great for summer, but not for winter when trying to escape the cold.  Expect lows around freezing in January.

Sedona is pretty quiet.  Not much to do except hike, enjoy the red mountain views, and shop.

Phoenix has a handful of gay bars and one fully nude male strip club, Dick's cabaret.  There's a handful of male go go dancers which offer private dances at various locations.  Check out Wild Men of the West Productions on Facebook to see which bars they perform each night of the week.  Sadly, the one gay hotel in Phoenix closed during the government mandated shutdowns.  There's still one gay B&B in Phoenix that advertises, although I've never stayed there.

[+ azdr0710]

18 hours ago, Vegas_nw1982 said:

Sedona will be 10 degrees Fahrenheit colder than Phoenix.  That's great for summer, but not for winter when trying to escape the cold.  Expect lows around freezing in January.

Sedona is pretty quiet.  Not much to do except hike, enjoy the red mountain views, and shop.

Phoenix has a handful of gay bars and one fully nude male strip club, Dick's cabaret.  There's a handful of male go go dancers which offer private dances at various locations.  Check out Wild Men of the West Productions on Facebook to see which bars they perform each night of the week.  Sadly, the one gay hotel in Phoenix closed during the government mandated shutdowns.  There's still one gay B&B in Phoenix that advertises, although I've never stayed there.

@Vegas_nw1982  what was the one now-closed gay hotel and where was it?.....

good comments from Vegas.....Sedona and Phoenix are entirely different....Sedona will be cold at night and may not reach 60 in the daytime, though it can be very comfortable in direct sun (if it's not raining).....because of low humidity, day and night temps range greatly and shady areas are remarkably cooler than sunny areas.......

it's about a 2.5 hour drive door-to-door Phx to Sedona.....if you can squeeze in an extra day, try to do an overnight from Phx to Sedona just to see the famous rock formations and to grab a short hike (many choices)........if the weather is not good, skip it entirely......sounds like you may be coming into the area thru Phx anyway.....

Phx is a very large (4.5 million people metro) spread-out metro region.......leaning conservative just a bit, it's not really a gay mecca at all, though there are the normal amount of couples living their quiet lives and the average amount of single guys as in any large city.....there is no gay neighborhood, though some will claim the "Melrose" district (7th Avenue and Indian School Road) is it, but that spot is really just an artsy area with just a very few various widespread businesses......the few tame gay bars are spread out all over the city......Dick's Cabaret, mentioned by Vegas above, is one of a small handful of fully nude clubs in the country.....it's very casual and small, can be very quiet early in the evening (I've never been there past 11:30 or so), and dancers vary greatly......

 

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

43 minutes ago, azdr0710 said:

@Vegas_nw1982  what was the one now-closed gay hotel and where was it?.....

It was called Royal Villa men's clothing optional hotel, located at 4312 N 12th Street.  I stayed there in 2018.  Now it's apartments.

There is still the Arizona Sunburst Inn, which advertises as a gay guesthouse, and it looks like a converted single family home.