Canyonlands is enormous and rugged, but the good news is that you don’t have to hike miles of slickrock to enjoy some of the best stops to make in Canyonlands. The Island in the Sky district (the most accessible section near Moab) is packed with overlooks and short, easy walks that give you sweeping views of canyons, mesas, and rivers.
For a full itinerary that connects all these stops, my Spend a Week in Moab: The Perfect 7-Day Itinerary breaks everything down day by day.
Distance from Car: A few steps
Difficulty: Easy
Best Time: Morning
The first overlook is right across the road from the visitor center. It’s a great place to start your day and get oriented. From here, you’ll see the Shafer Basin with the La Sal Mountains rising in the distance—a preview of the landscapes ahead.
Trail Length: 0.7 miles round trip
Difficulty: Medium
Elevation Gain: About 100 ft
Estimated Time: 30 minutes
Best Time: Sunrise
This is the most famous stop in Canyonlands, and for good reason. The short trail is very doable, and at sunrise the underside of the arch glows bright orange as the sun rises over the canyons. When I went, it was rainy, so the glow wasn’t there—but the moody sky made the scene dramatic in its own way. Even if you can’t do longer trails, Mesa Arch is non-negotiable.
If Mesa Arch is on your list, check out my Top 3 Arches in Moab You Can’t Miss for more iconic viewpoints nearby.
Trail Length: 0.2 miles round trip
Difficulty: Easy
Estimated Time: 10 minutes
Best Time: Afternoon for golden light
One of the easiest and most rewarding stops in the park. From here, the Green River snakes through the desert, carving dramatic canyons. On a clear day, you can see White Rim Road and the Orange Cliffs stretching into the distance. When I visited, the rain softened the view, but it gave the landscape a moody, almost painted look.
Trail Length: 0.25 miles paved to the main viewpoint (optional 2-mile rim walk if you’re up for it)
Difficulty: Easy
Estimated Time: 20 minutes for the viewpoint
Best Time: Sunset
If you only do one stop in Canyonlands, make it this one. The paved path to the main overlook is easy and accessible, and the view is breathtaking: Monument Basin, the Colorado River Canyon, the Needles, and spires that look like stone skyscrapers. At sunset, the entire basin glows.
Trail Length: 0.1 miles round trip
Difficulty: Easy
Estimated Time: 5 minutes
This one is practically right off the road, but the view is massive. You’ll look out over layers of cliffs plunging into Buck Canyon, a quick stop that packs in a big “wow” factor.
Fee: $20 per vehicle (not covered by the National Park Pass)
Trail Length: 0.5 miles round trip to the overlook
Difficulty: Easy
Estimated Time: 30 minutes
Best Time: Late afternoon or sunset
Just 15 minutes from Canyonlands’ entrance, Dead Horse Point offers one of the most dramatic views in Utah. The Colorado River makes a giant U-turn 2,000 feet below, and you can see for miles across glowing cliffs. If you don’t want to hike, the overlook itself is all you need.
Canyonlands may be vast, but you don’t have to trek miles of rugged trail to experience its grandeur. With easy stops like Mesa Arch, Green River Overlook, and Grand View Point, you’ll still get the unforgettable canyon views that make this park so special. Add Dead Horse Point for a bonus finale, and you’ll leave with memories (and photos) that rival any big hike.
Even if hiking isn’t on your agenda, Canyonlands is proof that sometimes the best views are just a few steps from the car. To pair this route with another dramatic overlook, my Dead Horse Point State Park: A Complete Guide shows you exactly how to plan a visit.
Sky Ranch Lodge, Sedona. Booked it for the location, stayed for the sunsets.
This is not a five-star resort with ten restaurants and a spa menu the length of a novel. It’s a family-owned boutique hotel on Airport Mesa that knows exactly what it’s good at: red rock views from basically everywhere and one of the best sunset spots in town, private, with maybe four other couples instead of a crowd.
We booked a Premier Rim Room and I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Watched the sunset from our own patio one night and it’s still one of my favorite moments of the whole trip.
✨ Six acres of botanical gardens to wander morning and evening
✨ Pool + hot tub that hit exactly right after a day of hiking
✨ On-site food truck for easy breakfasts and lazy room service nights
✨ Complimentary shuttle so you’re not fighting Sedona parking
✨ Robes, slippers, and a staff that felt genuinely happy to help
Two stays in and I’d book it again without a second thought. This is where to stay in Sedona if you want it to actually feel like Sedona.
Thank you to @skyranchlodge for having us, link in bio for the full review 🌵
Four hours on a train through a canyon you can’t reach by car — such a fun experience! We picked the indoor seats with unlimited access to the open-air viewing car, which honestly felt like the only right call. You’re not stuck in an assigned seat the whole time we bounced between the two, snacks in hand, chasing the best light.
The scenery is the whole point. Red rock cliffs, the Verde River, a 734-foot tunnel, historic trestle bridges views most people visiting Sedona never see, because you literally can’t drive to them.
The charcuterie box that comes with your ticket is shockingly filling ✨ so skip lunch at the Copper Spike Café beforehand, save your appetite for dinner back in Sedona.
Four hours with no stops did start to feel long by the end, but the trade-off for scenery like this? Worth it.
Would I ride it again? Yes. Would I buy lunch first again? No.
Link in bio for the full review cost breakdown, what to pack, and exactly how early to arrive 🚂
I ate chilaquiles while a Cessna taxied past the window, and that’s just a normal Tuesday breakfast in Sedona.
@mesa_grill_sedona sits right beside the Sedona Airport Scenic Lookout, so along with your food you get red rock views stretching in every direction and a front-row seat to tiny planes lifting off. Chef Mercer Mohr runs the kitchen, serving up Southwestern comfort food from breakfast through dinner, chilaquiles, elevated diner classics, burgers, steaks, seafood, all of it.
The view is what pulls people in the door, but the food actually holds its own. Good enough that this place stays packed with locals, not just tourists passing through on their way to the lookout. It also picked up the 2025 Tripadvisor Travelers’ Choice and OpenTable Diners’ Choice awards, so it’s not just me saying it.
Indoor seating if you want the AC, a pet-friendly patio if your dog’s along for the trip. Either way, get there before plane-spotting turns into a wait for a table.
Link in bio for the full Sedona breakfast roundup ✈️🌵
Confession: my newsletter is where the good stuff lives. Not the polished, edited-for-the-grid stuff, the “here’s the hole-in-the-wall I almost skipped” stuff, the packing lists I actually use, the “don’t book this hotel” warnings before you waste your money on them.
The newsletter is basically me texting you before a trip instead of after one. Sign up and you’ll be the first to know where I’m headed next, plus a few things I’ll never post here.
Link in bio if you want in. ✈️
Yes, it’s only July. Start planning anyway. Fall books faster than people expect, and a few of these destinations are worth getting ahead of. Here are five places worth putting on your radar right now.
Ireland: Cooler temps, moody skies, dramatic coastline fall was made for it. Tourist crowds drop, the green stays, and the whole country feels a little more like itself.
Great Smoky Mountains, TN/NC: Fall foliage in the Smokies is the real thing. The color peaks mid-October and the views from the ridgelines are hard to argue with. It’s also one of the most visited national parks in the country, so going on a weekday makes a real difference.
New York City: Fall is NYC at its best comfortable temps, the energy of the city shifting into a new season, and every neighborhood doing something worth showing up for. It’s also just a great walking city when it’s not brutally hot.
Japan: Fall foliage season is as good as spring cherry blossoms and somehow less talked about. The colors are dramatic, the temples and gardens are stunning, and it’s worth planning around peak dates by region.
Mystic, Connecticut: Small, walkable, genuinely charming Mystic in fall feels like exactly what a New England autumn is supposed to look like. Easy to pair with a broader New England road trip if you want to extend it.
Full guides linked in bio 🍂
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