Is El Paso Texas MORE BEAUTIFUL than Sedona Arizona?

Is El Paso Texas MORE BEAUTIFUL than Sedona, Arizona?

The Verdict

In this episode, we're comparing El Paso to Sedona, Arizona, and asking the question: is El Paso more beautiful? Leah and I really enjoyed our trip to Sedona, where we got to try out the rooftop tent in Flagstaff the night before and do some pretty serious exploring. So, is El Paso more beautiful than Sedona? Leah's answer was an immediate no, and she's right: El Paso is not as beautiful as Sedona, but as you're about to see, Sedona is a pretty magical place. You're basically surrounded by beauty everywhere you look, just because of the way the geography is, and for Leah it was one of the most beautiful places she's been.

We like comparing El Paso to other cities because it's a great excuse to get out and explore, and El Paso does great against most cities when it comes to things like cost of living and weather. But when it comes to views, it's really hard to beat Sedona.

Driving Into Sedona

This is us driving through the canyon from Flagstaff into Sedona, and once you come into Sedona, it's pretty awe-inspiring. When you pop out of the canyon, you come into a little area called Uptown, which is a reminder of one of the big differences with El Paso: the size of the city. Sedona is a cute little town, not a city. We didn't check the population, but we'd guess a hundred thousand, tops, probably less.

It's definitely a smaller type of place than El Paso. Part of this channel has always been about real estate, so if you're interested in comparing El Paso real estate to Sedona real estate, stick around to the end, where we check out a home and do a little comparison.

Where We Stayed

This is us driving to our Airbnb. One of the things about Sedona is that even if you don't have a view from your house, you've got views. On every road, no matter which way you're driving, there are incredible views, so even if your home doesn't have one, your drive to it will be beautiful. We don't think we found an area in Sedona where that wasn't the case.

The Airbnb ran about $130 a night, and once you added in all the extra Airbnb fees, the total cost for three nights was about $550, which felt like a reasonable price for Sedona. There were a lot of cool options when we were looking, and it was hard to decide, but we chose this one because it looked nice and new, it was one of their plus or recommended listings, and it was in a nice location.

We also have to mention Karen's, a fully gluten-free bakery that was a dream come true for Leah, who has celiac disease. About 99% of it is dairy-free too, and we had breakfast there a few days. It was a real treat.

Touring by Electric Bike

This was Leah's first time really visiting Sedona, aside from maybe driving through once around age 16. We wanted to get out and explore. The next day we went out in a Jeep and things got a little hairy, but before that we set up an electric bike tour that Leah had found, and we were super excited about it. The bikes had a power button that lit up red and a display that showed you the battery condition.

Leah loved the electric bikes and wants to look into doing more of that, either when we travel or by getting a couple of our own. You definitely want an electric bike if you're living in Sedona, unless you're Lance Armstrong crazy. We did see some people out on regular bikes, but there's no way we could have kept up without the electric assist.

Chapel of the Cross

This was Chapel of the Cross, a stunningly beautiful place whether you're inside or outside of it. It was completed in 1956, took 18 months to build, and cost a total of $300,000.

On our way back from the chapel, we passed the homes right around it. Lots alone were going for up to about $400,000, and most of the homes for sale in the area at the time were between $1 million and $2 million.

The Village of Oak Creek

The final leg of our e-bike tour took us to the Village of Oak Creek, a little area outside of Sedona that's still considered a suburb of it. It was beautiful. We guessed we were about five to seven miles from Sedona at that point.

There's an actual Oak Creek there, and we passed a big, mansion-like house along the way, an interesting mix of public and private land. The public area we stopped at was a pretty beautiful little space with a gorgeous river, and it felt great to walk in it after all that biking. I went in a bit more than just walking, pretty casually, since it felt like something I had to do for the channel. I kind of wish I'd had my suit, but it looked refreshing to jump in, and it was a little cold but very refreshing.

It's hard to beat. El Paso has the Rio Grande, but it's nothing quite like this. You could tell you could do some pretty serious fishing in that creek, and between the views, the forests, and no shortage of water, it's a pretty beautiful place. We ended up at a spot called the Hideaway, where we earned a much needed drink after biking for four hours.

Sedona or El Paso: Which Is More Beautiful?

That wraps up the part of this episode where we jokingly tried to answer whether El Paso is more beautiful than Sedona. The point we're really trying to make is that every city has its good things and its bad things. All in all, El Paso is awesome, but if you're looking for beauty, Sedona is probably the place to check out. That's not to say El Paso doesn't have some beauty of its own within our community, but Sedona is definitely the more beautiful of the two.

Comparing Home Prices

For this next part, we wanted to get into the nuances of the housing market in El Paso versus Sedona. We're real estate agents, so real estate is one of the things we love, and it's genuinely interesting to us how home prices and values change from city to city. Whenever we compare El Paso to another city, we're going to spotlight a home there too.

This one is in the west part of Sedona, in an area comparable to somewhere like the west side of El Paso, the Franklin Hills or Bear Ridge area: not the most prestigious location, but a great one regardless. The home is a three bed, two bath with 1,981 square feet, which happens to also be the year it was built, 1981. It's for sale right now for $969,000, just under a million dollars, which works out to about $489 a square foot. In El Paso, our average price per square foot is about $150.

What you get for that difference in Sedona is unbelievable views and being surrounded by nature. This particular home sits on 0.34 acres of usable ground, so you could garden, grow food, and probably raise chickens, with a lot more vegetation, trees, bushes, and plants able to grow there. The kitchen has also been redone.

It comes down to what you get for your money. In El Paso, you get a lot of home for your money. In Sedona, you get beauty and nature. At $489 a square foot versus $150 a square foot, you'd better get something for that money, and in Sedona, you do.