Beautiful America: Monument Valley
Is Monument Valley America's most beautiful drive?
The Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park in Arizona is called America's most scenic drive. Famous from John Wayne and John Ford movies, it's America at its most beautiful
To describe a place as the most beautiful in America, and a drive through it as America's most scenic drive, is a bold claim. But it is a claim that many people have made about the drive through Arizona's Monument Valley, not far from the border with Utah. There's only one way to find out if you agree that this is America's best drive – hit the road!
DIRECTIONS
Take Scenic Highway 163 north from Kayenta, Arizona. You can also approach from Bluff in Utah, at the other end of the Scenic Highway, which goes through Mexican Hat.
You can enjoy the beautiful scenery from Highway 163, but to make the most of America's best drive you need to turn off the highway into the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park. This covers several thousand square miles and its most distinguishing features are the towering red sandstone pinnacles which can stand up to 1000 feet high. It is a spectacular and dramatic landscape.
MAKING MOVIES
It's through the movies that Monument Valley looks so familiar when you get there. The first movie to be filmed here was The Vanishing American in 1924, but it is the later films of director John Ford which put Monument Valley on the movie map. His first film in Monument Valley was Stagecoach in 1939, which helped to make John Wayne a movie star. A more recent movie which used Monument Valley as a location was Back to the Future III, starring Michael J. Fox.
INFORMATION
The Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park is open daily, 6am-8pm May-Sept, 8am-5pm Oct-Apr. It may be closed during bad weather. A small admission fee is payable.
VISITOR CENTER
The Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park Visitor Center is in the Tribal Park off Scenic Highway 163, about 4 miles southeast of the turn-off. It has a good collection of information about Monument Valley, and is also where you can find out more about self-guided tours of the area, and book a guided tour. You can buy books, souvenirs and some fine examples of Navajo arts and crafts.
ACCOMMODATION
To get the most out of a visit, stay nearby. You can find accommodation in Kayenta, Mexican Hat and Gouldings. Gouldings Lodge is an old trading post that is now also a museum of Monument Valley's movie-making history. Book well ahead.
TOP TIP
Do not photograph any Navajo people without asking permission, and expect to be asked for a small gratuity
To learn more about the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park click here.
