The Amazing Desert Southwest: Monument Valley

View from John Ford's Point, Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, AZ

We recently made a wonderful one-week road trip through the Desert Southwest exploring some amazing landscapes including Monument Valley.  It is certainly worth the drive to experience this stunning place.  Here are some observations and tips from our time there.

​​Location:  Along US Hwy 163 on the Utah-Arizona border near Four Corners.

Height:  Some monuments (buttes) top out at 1,000 feet above the desert floor.

Viewing:  

• You can easily experience the grandeur of Monument Valley simply by driving US Hwy 163 north from Kayenta AZ or southwest from Mexican Hat UT.
• For the up close and personal experience, we visited the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park.

A view of The Mittens from the Visitor Center overlook

Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park:

• Link to park info including fees, hours ($20 per car when we visited), and scenic drive map
• The Visitor Center is terrific!
  • Panoramic views from overlook, gift shop, restaurant and restaurant's outside tables
  • Restaurant with nice variety of menu options and great food at reasonable prices
  • Historical information
  • Large gift shop
  • Hotel​

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• Scenic Drive - Included with your admission when you drive your own vehicle
  • Distance:  17-mile loop through the valley floor
  • Duration:  1.5 to 2 hours
  • Surface:  Mostly dirt road which is dusty and rough in many spots
• Time Recommendations
  • 1 Hour:  You can experience a lot just from the Visitor Center
  • Scenic Drive:  Only drive as far as John Ford's Point (#4 of 11 on the drive).  This is a most-spectacular vantage point where the famous film director loved to shoot his western scenes.  In our opinion, the sites beyond this point of the self-drive while grand paled in comparison and could easily be skipped in the interest of time and fatigue.
• Guided Vehicle Tours - While we did not take this option, here is what we found and observed:
  • All are narrated by local guides and appear to be popular based on the majority of them were full
  • Two Options - The standard 17-mile scenic drive or add on a special drive to see unique formations in areas which are restricted to private vehicles
  • Details and rates are available in person at the guided tours office across the parking lot from the Visitor Center (The lowest rate I saw was $65/person for the standard 17-mile drive)
  • Comfort Consideration:  Most of the tours we saw were open-air in the backs of pickup trucks on seats or benches with a canopy cover.  When considering it just keep in mind that it's up to 2 hours of somewhat rough and very dusty roads in an open-air vehicle.

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Getting There

​Monument Valley runs along US Hwy 163 near the Arizona/Utah state line.  Drive times:

• Albuquerque NM Sunport (ABQ):  5:25
• Canyon de Chelly/Chinle AZ:  1:45
• ​Grand Canyon Village/South Rim:  3:10
• Grand Canyon North Rim:  4:20
• Las Vegas NV McCarran Airport (LAS):  6:30
• Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport (PHX):  5 hours
• Zion Nat'l Park/Springdale UT:  4:20

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