Arizona holds the longest continuously drivable stretch of Route 66 in the country at 385 miles. From the New Mexico border at Lupton to the Colorado River crossing at Topock, the Mother Road cuts through painted desert, petrified forest, ponderosa pines, and some of the most storied small towns in the American West.
In 2026, the centennial year, this stretch matters more than ever. Here's every stop worth making, east to west.
The Eastern Gateway: Lupton to Holbrook
The road enters Arizona at Lupton, where the first thing you see is a cluster of trading posts and souvenir shops that have been selling turquoise and moccasins to road trippers since the 1940s. It's kitschy and unapologetic, and it sets the tone for the whole drive.
From there, Route 66 parallels I-40 through the Painted Desert and past Petrified Forest National Park. The landscape is flat, vast, and colored in stripes of red, purple, and cream that look like someone spilled paint across the earth.
Holbrook is the first real town stop. Home of the Wigwam Motel, where you can sleep in a concrete teepee that's been standing since 1950. It's one of the most photographed motels on the entire route.
Standing on the Corner: Winslow
"Standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona" is one of the most famous lines in American rock music, and the town has built an entire park around it. The Standing on the Corner Park at Route 66 and Kinsley Avenue features a life-size bronze statue, a trompe l'oeil mural, and a steady stream of visitors recreating the pose.
Beyond the corner, Winslow has La Posada, a 1930 Harvey House hotel that was rescued from demolition and restored into one of the most beautiful hotels in the Southwest. The Turquoise Room restaurant inside is worth the detour on its own.
The Heart: Flagstaff
Flagstaff is the only city in Arizona where Route 66 is still a working main street. Not a museum piece, not a plaque on a bypassed highway. The road runs right through downtown, past the Weatherford Hotel, past Heritage Square, past the neon signs that flicker on at dusk and make the whole town feel like it's still 1957.
At 7,000 feet, Flagstaff is also the highest point on Route 66. Ponderosa pines instead of saguaros. Cool summers, snowy winters. It surprises people who expect Arizona to be nothing but desert.
Stop by The Underground at The Temple (2 E Aspen Ave) for Weird & Wild West merch, including the Route 66 Centennial collection created in partnership with the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona. Then take a Freaky Foot Tours Route 66 Walking Tour: 18 stops, 1.3 miles, the only guided walking tour in the country built entirely around Route 66 history.
The Gateway to the Grand Canyon: Williams
Williams, 30 miles west of Flagstaff, was the last town on Route 66 to be bypassed by I-40 (in 1984). It wears that distinction proudly. Downtown Williams is packed with Route 66 nostalgia: vintage signs, old-school diners, and the Grand Canyon Railway depot that sends a daily train to the South Rim.
Williams is also where most Grand Canyon visitors base themselves, which means the town runs hot with tourism from spring through fall.
The Birthplace of Route 66 Preservation: Seligman
Seligman is where the Route 66 revival started. When I-40 bypassed the town in 1978, local barber Angel Delgadillo launched a campaign to preserve the road. His effort led to Arizona designating the Seligman-to-Kingman stretch as "Historic Route 66" in 1987, the first such designation in the country.
Angel's barbershop and gift shop is still open. The town celebrates the centennial on April 30, 2026, with new monument signs and an all-day party. Seligman is small, eccentric, and essential.
The Western Stretch: Kingman to Topock
Kingman is the hub of western Arizona's Route 66 country. The Powerhouse Visitor Center houses a Route 66 museum, and the town serves as the gateway to the most dramatic driving section of the Arizona stretch: the twisting mountain road through Oatman.
Oatman is a former gold mining town where wild burros roam the main street and the Oatman Hotel still has bullet holes in the ceiling from the old days. It's exactly as weird as it sounds.
From Oatman, the road descends to the Colorado River at Topock, where Arizona ends and California begins. If you started in Lupton, you just drove 385 miles of the Mother Road.
The Centennial Collection
Weird & Wild West's Route 66 Centennial collection features original, hand-drawn designs by Brigitte De Marco, created in partnership with the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona. Available at The Underground in downtown Flagstaff and online with free shipping.
Written in the basement of a 1917 Masonic Temple: The Underground at The Temple, 2 E Aspen Ave, Flagstaff, AZ 86001. Every design mentioned above is an original by Brigitte De Marco of Prickle & Pine Designs, printed to order in 2–5 business days and shipped free.