Southeastern Utah

Experience the earth's beauty at its most elemental in this rocky-and-rugged desert corner of the Colorado Plateau. Beyond the few pine-clad mountains, there's little vegetation to hide the impressive handiwork of time, water and wind: the thousands of red-rock spans in Arches National Park, the sheer-walled river gorges from Canyonlands to Lake Powell, and the stunning buttes and mesas of Monument Valley. The town of Moab is the best base for adventure, with as much four-wheeling, white-knuckle rafting, outfitter-guided fun as you can handle. Or you can lose the crowd while looking for Ancestral Puebloan rock art and dwellings in miles of isolated and undeveloped lands.

Note that many regional restaurants and shops – and even some motels – close or have variable hours after the May to late-October high season.

Explore Southeastern Utah

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Planning Toolkit

  • Browse the various transportation options to make your trip that much easier when you arrive.

Top attractions

These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Southeastern Utah.

  • Park

    Goblin Valley State Park

    A Salvador Dalí–esque melted-rock fantasy, a valley of giant stone mushrooms, an otherworldly alien landscape or the results of a cosmological acid trip?…

  • Museum

    Dinosaur Museum

    Blanding's Dinosaur Museum is fascinating and highly ambitious; it's aim is to cover the complete history of the world’s dinosaurs. Mummified remains and…

  • National Park

    Canyonlands National Park

    Covering 527 sq miles, Canyonlands is Utah's largest and wildest park. Indeed, parts of it are as rugged as almost anywhere on the planet. Arches, bridges…

  • National Park

    Arches National Park

    One of the Southwest's most gorgeous parks, Arches boasts the world's greatest concentration of sandstone arches. Just 5 miles north of Moab on Hwy 191,…

  • Landmark

    Valley of the Gods

    Up and over, through and around: the 17-mile unpaved road (County Rd 242) that leads through Valley of the Gods is like a do-it-yourself roller coaster…

  • Area

    Island in the Sky

    You'll comprehend space in new ways atop the appropriately named Island in the Sky. This 6000ft-high flat-topped mesa drops precipitously on all sides,…

  • Archaeological Site

    Horseshoe Canyon

    Way far west of Island in the Sky, Horseshoe Canyon shelters one of the most impressive collections of millennia-old rock art in the Southwest. The…

  • Area

    The Maze

    A 30-sq-mile jumble of high-walled canyons, the Maze is a rare preserve of true wilderness for hardy backcountry veterans. The colorful canyons are rugged…

  • Park

    Bears Ears National Monument

    Designated as a National Monument in December 2016 as one of President Barack Obama's last acts, Bears Ears originally covered a large 1.35-million-acre…

  • Area

    The Needles

    Named for the spires of orange-and-white sandstone jutting skyward from the desert floor, the Needles District is so different from Island in the Sky that…

  • State Park

    Goosenecks State Park

    If you head north of Mexican Hat on Hwy 261, you'll come to a 4-mile paved road that turns west to Goosenecks. The attraction here is the mesmerizing view…

  • State Park

    Dead Horse Point State Park

    A tiny but stunning state park, Dead Horse Point has been the setting for numerous movies, including the opening scene from Mission Impossible II and the…

  • Park

    Rainbow Bridge National Monument

    Rainbow Bridge is the largest natural bridge in the world, at 290ft high and 275ft wide. A sacred Navajo site, it resembles the graceful arc of a rainbow…

  • Park

    Natural Bridges National Monument

    Forty miles west of Blanding via Hwy 95, this monument became Utah's first National Park Service land in 1908. The highlight is a dark-stained, white…

  • Park

    Canyon Rims Recreation Area

    The BLM Canyon Rims Recreation Area to the east of Canyonlands National Park has two interesting overlooks, undeveloped hiking and backcountry driving…

  • Park

    Hovenweep National Monument

    Meaning ‘deserted valley’ in Ute language, Hovenweep is a remote area of former Ancestral Puebloan settlements straddling the Colorado–Utah border that…

  • Park

    Grand Gulch Primitive Area

    Popular with backcountry hikers, this BLM-administered area also contains hundreds of Ancestral Puebloan sites, many of which have been vandalized by pot…

  • Museum

    Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum

    More a museum than a park, with ancient Native American artifacts and the best pottery collection in the Southwest. Informative displays provide a good…

  • Park

    Glen Canyon National Recreation Area

    Recreation area that encompasses Lake Powell, the country's second-largest artificial reservoir, in Utah and Arizona. Boating and water sports enthusiasts…

  • Historic Site

    Newspaper Rock State Historic Monument

    This tiny recreation area showcases a single large sandstone rock panel packed with more than 300 petroglyphs attributed to Ute and Ancestral Puebloan…

Top experiences

Whether it’s a guided tour of a historic landmark, private tasting of local delicacies, or an off-road adventure — explore the best experiences in Southeastern Utah.

  • Activities