Monument Valley vehicle tours will take you into the most breathtaking scenery that the area has to offer.
We are still in the construction phase on this page, but we have added some information on our services, we are collecting photos and more information from our guides.
Entered: May 16, 2023
Description and Itinerary
Tour time length is approximate on all tours listed.
Departs early in the morning, our guide will take you to the best photo opts that make sand dunes show their true form, with backdrops highlighted by the sunrise. As the valley starts to wake up we leisurely make our way though the “Back-Country” and see if we can catch the rest of Monument Valley in the early light.
- Departure Time depends on the solstice. During the year the sunrise time changes, our booking system does the best it can do, but sometimes it make errors, so once in a great while we may have to contact you change your tour time manually.
- Early in the morning for the Sunrise Tour, we depart from the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park Visitor Center parking lot before the sun rises.
- – During the Sunrise Tour, our guide will take you off the route at the Totem Pole overlook to see the dunes and Totem Pole spire up close. Then leisurely resume tour on the 2.5 Hour route
- For stops and points of interest, please read the “2.5 Hour Extended Tour” itinerary below.
1.5 Hour Standard Tour of Monument Valley
This tour is the shortest tour of Monument Valley. You will see some of the scenery portrayed on movies, magazines, ads, and other forms of media depicting the “Wild West”. Many have taken this option when they are; strapped for time on their trip of the west, cannot use their vehicle, such as; a rented car, low profile vehicle, or an RV that is restricted for use in Monument Valley, or simply want to see Monument Valley, but will save the best for a later time.
- We have you step aboard the vehicle and depart from the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park Visitor Center parking lot. And make our way to the first stop Mitten View Point.
- The Mitten View Point – One of the most picturesque areas taken by people that have been to Monument Valley.
- Along the way you will see the large monolithic formations; Elephant Butte and the Camel Butte.
- We then stop at John Ford’s Point. With the Three Sister’s spires towering overhead, it has been made famous by the director of many western films and was also the base camp for those films.
- After John Ford’s, we head over to the Totem Pole and Yei’bi’chei’ overlook. These spires seem fragile but have been standing for thousands of years. Ask our guide what Yei’bi’chei’ means.
- Next stop, Artist’s Point. Now renamed Navajo Veteran’s Point, overlooks the north side of Monument Valley, the visitor center can also be seen from there in the distant. It once was a place for painters to setup their easels and paint the landscape by hand.
- Last is the North Window. It naturally frames many of the Northern monuments between the two large Elephant and Cly buttes.
- We then make our way back to our departure point a the Visitor Center.
2.5 Hour Extended Tour of Monument Valley
Includes the Standard tour routes and the “Back-Country”. This is the complete tour of Monument Valley. This option features stops at; a traditional Navajo home now used for demonstration of Navajo arts and crafts, sandstone arches, and vantage points you cannot see on the standard tour.
The Back-County: This is an area in Monument Valley that is literally in the back, south of, the entire valley. This area is restricted to private traffic and is only accessible by the residents and certified permitted tour companies. This area, coincidentally contains all of the natural arches in the area; The Big Hogan, The Moccasin, Sun’s Eye, Ear of the Wind arches and Anasazi glyphs. This area is not maintained and can be; sandy, muddy, and rough. Though our guides are seasoned, very knowledgeable, and our vehicles 4×4, but in rare instances the area may decide to get our vehicles stuck, help takes time, you may have to be patient and make best of the situation by exploring a little more.
- To get to the “Back-County” area, we use the first half of the Standard tour route, then after we have completed the “Back-Country”, we go back to the Standard tour route to complete the tour.
- The first two stops; Mitten View Point and John Ford’s Point are visited before we head into the “Back-Country”.
- Starting the “Back-Country”, you will pause at the Chieftain’s head and the Sleeping Dragon formations for photos and some exploration if you are interested.
- Next we stop at the Yazzie’s residents’ a traditional Navajo home called a Hogan [hoːɣan]. There they display traditional arts and crafts, demonstrate how Navajo used to fabricate rugs, ladies with long hair may also have their hair made into a Navajo styled bun if available.
- We then head to the arches. After negotiating a very sandy area in the road we arrive to the first two arches; The Big Hogan and The Moccasin Arch. There you may enter the Big Hogan Arch and look up into it’s giant dome formation.
- The Sun’s Eye is another arch perched high up in the cliff, it looks down at the valley floor. Also located below the eye, Anasazi glyphs of extinct animals that have been carved into the wall more than a thousand years ago.
- Last stop in the Back-Country, The Ear of The Wind Arch. Tipped on it’s side, the valley has been listening to the wind for thousands of years.
- We then head back to the Standard Tour route to conclude the Extended Tour of Monument Valley starting from The Totem Pole and Yei’bi’chei’ overlook and ending at the North Window, before heading back to the visitor center.
3 Hour Sunset Tour of Monument Valley
Late in the afternoon we will start off down into Monument Valley to complete the day. As the valley starts to empty of tourists, and the sun starts to make it’s way into the west, we will take you to areas where the setting sunlight changes the sandstone vistas. Shadows grow between the cliffs and stretch along the ground, our guide will make use of the last light of the day to record or take in the sights with your own eyes.
- As with the sunrise tours, the solstice plays a part in when we depart for tour during the year. Our departure times change so we may come back to the Monument Valley Visitor Center before it gets too dark.
- For stops and points of interest, please read the “2.5 Hour Extended Tour” itinerary above.
The Valley

A
Loading Ideas

B
Loading Pictures
The Road
The valley roads are seldomly maintained during the busy season, roads may be difficult to navigate with low profile vehicles, due the park’s regulations; RVs, UTVs, and ATVs are not allowed on the Monument Valley roads.