When you leave Canyonlands (the Needles Unit), take US 191 to US163 South for 138 miles. It will take you around 2.5 hours to reach Monument Valley. I will first say that Monument Valley is not a National Park. It is a Navajo Tribal Park. It is also one of my most favorite places to visit in the entire World. Yes, I did say World!!
It is very hard for me to express exactly what I feel about the area. I do not know if it is because I grew up watching so many old Western movies and Western TV shows with my dad or if I have some kind of weird connection with the actual Monument Valley area. I loved seeing John Wayne (a/k/a “The Duke”), Clint Eastwood, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, and many more (Cowboy) actors on the big screen. After all, when I was young, Westerns were all the rage!!
All I know is that, for me, it is one of the most fascinating areas I have ever visited (to date). That is quite amazing to say since I have traveled to many great places during my lifetime (so far)! Sure, I loved visiting (and hiking) 40 National Parks in America. And, of course, I still like visiting the beautiful States of Hawaii and Alaska.
The trips I took to New Zealand, Australia, and many countries in Europe were also wonderful. However, they do not compare to the feeling I get every time I visit Monument Valley! It is extraordinary indeed!
One of my best days (ever) was first stopping at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon for lunch (and, of course, a little hike along the canyon rim) and then driving to Monument Valley, where we spent the night. We ate dinner at the View Hotel’s restaurant while watching the sunset in Monument Valley. That goes down in my book as a really, really great day! Lunch at the Grand Canyon and dinner in Monument Valley!
I remember seeing “The Mittens” for the very first time…I really could not believe my eyes! They are so incredibly large! (A lot larger than I had ever imagined.) I could almost see the old Western movies come to life. This area was where John Wayne ruled, all the Cowboys rode hard and fast, the Indians were always a real nuisance, and all the bad guys (almost always) wore black hats! After seeing Monument Valley for the first time, I completely understand why Director John Ford selected this location for a lot of his Western movies.
So, do you remember John Wayne’s famous movies shot in Monument Valley? Well, I can “sure as heck” tell you. Stagecoach, Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Rio Grande, and The Searchers.
And, yes, (if you were wondering) I “reckon” I have seen them all! They were all filmed on location in beautiful Monument Valley. Not into Westerns? How about scenes from Forrest Gump, 2001: A Space Odyssey, National Lampoon’s Vacation, Easy Rider, Back to the Future II…and the list goes on and on! You get the idea…It really is a great location for many types of movies.
You can actually enter the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park by paying a small fee (per person), so you can take a 17-mile scenic drive in your private vehicle (on some pretty rough roads) or do what we did. You can book a private tour. Private tours allow you to get a closer view of everything on Navajo Nation land. So, please check with the Navajo Tribal Park for current Visitor Center hours and road conditions in the area and book a private tour before visiting the area. For your information: The private jeep tours into the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park are only given by Native American Navajo Guides.
On one of our first trips to Monument Valley, we booked a private tour with a Native American Navajo Guide so we could get a closer look at all the famous landmarks in the area. We went to:
John Ford Point, The Three Sisters, Elephant Butte, Camel Butte and other areas surrounding “The Mittens” and the Monuments. It was a wonderful full-day tour, and at lunchtime, we offered to buy our Navajo Guide some lunch at The View Hotel restaurant. He was very grateful and took us up on our offer. (It was the first time he had eaten at the hotel.) We asked him what it was like to live in Monument Valley and about the Navajo ways. He told us his own personal story, and the whole lunch experience was wonderful and very informative. And, then after lunch, we continued our tour with him to some more remote (off-road) areas on Navajo-owned land.
View from "The View Hotel"
We have stayed at The View Hotel three separate times and have always been very happy with everything about the place. We highly recommend this hotel and hope you get the chance to stay there for a day or two before you continue your travels to another great destination. The View has a great gift shop and a wonderful restaurant that was built to view the main attraction, the amazing “Monuments”! You get to look at the Monuments daily while eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If you stay at this hotel, make sure you try an order of their Navajo Fry Bread. It is delicious and is made from local ingredients found only in the Monument Valley area.
Navajo Fry Bread
For your information, there is another hotel located just across the road from The View Hotel. It is Goulding’s Lodge. This Lodge is a little farther away from the premier views of the Monuments, and even though we have never stayed overnight at Goulding’s Lodge, it also has a very good hotel rating in the Monument Valley area. We purchased gifts from their lovely gift shop and took pictures in front of their Lodge. They have a life-sized image of John Wayne and a Stagecoach outside so you can take cute touristy pictures with great scenery in the background. Now, who can resist that? Definitely not me!
If you cannot afford to stay at these two hotels, more hotels are available in the town of Kayenta, which is located around 30 miles away from Monument Valley. Important Note: There are only a few small gas stations and only two restaurants in the Monument Valley area. (It really is a very remote area!) Goulding’s Lodge and The View Hotel are the only restaurants in the area. So, make sure you first stop in Kayenta to buy gas for your vehicle and any additional food items you may want or need before heading out to stay in the Monument Valley area.
For your information: There is a $20 fee per vehicle when you stay/park at The View Hotel because you enter the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park when you arrive at the hotel.
To us, it is well worth the price because of the location of the hotel and the spectacular views.
Another important note regarding alcoholic beverages in Navajo Nation: It is well known that Native Americans have a known physical weakness regarding the consumption of alcohol; therefore, the possession of alcoholic beverages is strictly prohibited on Navajo Nation property. So, before making any reservations at The View Hotel (or Goulding’s Lodge) in Monument Valley, please get in touch with the hotel for their current policy regarding any alcoholic beverages you may bring into their hotel and the consumption of alcoholic beverages on hotel property. It is always better to be safe than to be sorry!
So, as my final comment to you, I have stayed in many hotels in America (and many other countries), but for me, nothing has even come close to the three separate times I have visited beautiful Monument Valley. Maybe I am not just Italian and Irish, after all? I may have a little bit of Navajo blood running through my veins.
I am unsure what the true answer is, and I have not examined it very closely at all! I know it is always the same wonderful feeling I get every time I visit Monument Valley. And, I know for sure, that I will never (ever) just drive by Monument Valley without staying for at least one night. I would never want to miss out on experiencing the feeling of absolute calmness once again, listening to the complete sound of silence, and gazing in wonder at the amazing “Views.”
So, visit Monument Valley if you want to get away from it ALL…and I mean ALL!! And maybe you will love the area just as much as I obviously do!
We love to stay at the Navajo-owned hotel, “The View”. It is a bit pricey, but worth it to us because of the fabulous scenery you can see right from your hotel balcony. We try to reserve a special “Stargazer” (3rd floor) room because it has a balcony that juts out farther from the rest of the other balconies at the hotel. It gives you a lot more privacy, and you really can see a ton of stars each night (and, on occasion, even the Milky Way)!
Monument Valley in Arizona offers a rare opportunity to see the Milky Way due to its lack of light pollution. The valley's remote locations, clear skies, and minimal artificial light make it a great place to view the Milky Way. Some say that Monument Valley is a top location for panoramic photography of the Milky Way.
If you are into sunsets, then get ready for a real treat! “The Mittens” and the other Monuments (actually) light up, like magic, right before your eyes as the setting sun shines on them!
It is amazing to witness the setting sun as it hits those Monuments and lights them up! I have taken many fabulous pictures from my hotel balcony during sunsets in Monument Valley. So, do not miss any sunsets when you visit the area! Then, after the sun actually sets, get ready for another great show. The night skies light up with thousands of beautiful stars. I really have to say that the dark skies in Monument Valley are really quite impressive! (More so than any other place we have visited.) And, if you look really close from your private balcony, in the distance, you can still see the outline of those massive Monuments standing out there in pitch-black darkness!
There is nothing between you, the massive Monuments, and the dark star-filled night sky. The rooms at the hotel are nice, the beds comfortable, and the scenery is totally breathtaking. I do not think there is a bad room to be had at this hotel because it was built especially for the “View.” It is incredibly quiet every night (especially after 8 p.m.).
Between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., you will occasionally hear the crunch of rocks from the tires of the last cars traveling back (on the dirt road) from their 17-mile scenic drive into Monument Valley. From your balcony, you can see the car lights from the returning vehicles in the distance as they slowly make their way back to the main gate. You know there are other people staying at the hotel, but you never hear a peep out of any of them. Sometimes, you can hear something that sounds like a whisper in the wind. Then, you realize it is from someone else who is also sitting quietly on their balcony gazing at the amazing views. It is like they are so mesmerized by all the stars in the night sky that they can only talk in very quiet and hushed tones. We have caught ourselves doing the same thing! As you sit on your balcony, I really believe you can actually hear the sound of silence. It helps that the hotel only has minimal lighting at night and was built to blend into the scenery around the area. (It is extremely dark outside at this hotel!)
And, for me, I can sit on the balcony for hours just gazing at all the stars in the night sky (looking for constellations and the elusive Milky Way) and listening to nothing but total peace and quiet. I have never even heard a coyote yip, a bird sing, or a cricket chirp in the distance to disturb the ultimate silence at this hotel. This is a totally magical place…forget Orlando!!
ALMA'S MONUMENT VALLEY PHOTO ALBUM
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