Drive Through Monument Valley
Still to do
Drive a dirt road among giant red buttes, the landscape every Western film was shot in.
The adventure
You come over a rise on Highway 163 and there they are, rising out of the flat red desert: the West and East Mitten Buttes and Merrick Butte, towers of sandstone hundreds of metres high, exactly as they look in a hundred films and adverts.
The Valley Drive is a dusty, bumpy 17-mile loop among the buttes and mesas, past John Ford's Point, where the director filmed scene after scene with John Wayne. Navajo guides can take you deeper, to arches and rock art away from the loop, and tell the stories behind the shapes. At sunset the buttes glow red and cast long shadows across the valley floor, and at sunrise the sun comes up between the Mittens.
Why it’s epic
- The West and East Mitten Buttes and Merrick Butte.
- John Ford's Point, scene of many classic Westerns.
- Guided tours into restricted areas with Navajo guides.
What it is
A Navajo Tribal Park of red sandstone buttes rising from the desert, the backdrop to countless Westerns since John Ford's Stagecoach in 1939.
How to do it
Drive the 17-mile Valley Drive yourself, or take a Navajo-guided tour to see areas closed to private cars.
Top tip
Stay overnight in or near the park to see sunrise behind the Mittens.
Need to know
- It's run by the Navajo Nation, not the US National Park Service, so passes don't apply.
- The Valley Drive is unpaved; low-clearance cars should take it slowly.
- Alcohol is banned on Navajo Nation land.
Plan this trip
- Rough cost
- £750 to £2,000 per person, including flights from the UK
- Time needed
- A day
- Best time to go
- March to May and September to November
- Fly into
- LAS airport
Entry is cheap; guided tours and nearby lodges cost more.
Make it happen
Why it’s on my list
Not done yet. If you’ve done it and have tips, tell me about it.
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