To the north of Monument Valley, in Utah, you can call into the Canyonlands, into Moab or you can see the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, amongst many more sights and attractions too. There are a lot of great places to see in the area, and you can incorporate monumental destinations such as the Grand Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, and Antelope Canyon into your itinerary if you are traveling through Arizona. Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Salt Lake City are all at least a 6 hour drive in different directions, but they are great places to start or end your trip, as you can easily pick up hire cars or campervans at the airports.ĭepending on how much time you have, you can even start or end your trip on the Pacific coast, in Los Angeles, San Diego, or San Francisco, but be prepared for a lot of driving. There are few connections here – certainly no international ones anyway – and you will need to pass through larger hubs such as Phoenix, Las Vegas, or Salt Lake City anyway, giving you yet another reason to simply turn this into one large road trip through the southwest. In fact, the nearest major cities are a long way from Monument Valley, and the closest large airport is almost 200 miles to the south in Arizona, in the provincial city of Flagstaff. This is not a place you can simply visit on a whim, purely because it’s a long way from any major cities.įor this reason, you will want to consider putting together a longer road trip, that takes in many more of the sights in the Utah-Arizona area and across the Colorado Plateau. The entire highway is a beautiful place to road trip, as it passes not only through Monument Valley but through this spectacular desert-like part of the southwest.īut part of the beauty of Monument Valley lies in its veritable isolation from the rest of the world. The highway is around 60 miles long, and starts in Bluff, Utah, and continues south to Kayenta in Arizona. Monument Valley is located along Highway 163, which passes through the valley itself on its way from Utah south into Arizona. If you don’t drive, then your best option is to join a multi-day excursion on an organized tour through the southwest because Monument Valley is in a remote location – it’s not exactly the day-tripping kind of destination! Monument Valley is best accessed on a self-drive tour. It’s one of the best stops in the southwest, and to inspire your journey, here’s our ultimate guide to Monument Valley.ĭon’t leave home without: Lonely Planet Southwest USA (Travel Guide) Where is Monument Valley? While its landscapes might have been romanticized by famous Westerns, and more recently by Instagrammers living the Van Life and road-tripping west, Monument Valley will always be unnervingly beautiful to see firsthand. This is arid, desert-like land too, and it’s Monument Valley that has been featured more than any other location in Hollywood movies set in the Wild West. The southwestern states are home to some of the USA’s most dramatic landscapes, and one of the best places to visit when you are traveling through the region is Monument Valley, Utah.įound within the vast expanse of land that forms the Navajo Nation, Monument Valley is known for the imposing rock formations that rise sharply from the otherwise flat plateau. There’s a reason this unique area has been featured in countless Hollywood films and it’s well worth a day or two of any road trip. If you’re traveling through the southwestern United States, visiting Monument Valley is a must.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |