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Travel guide
Moab, Arches and Canyonlands
4 days · 8 things to do
Best time to go: March to May and September to October
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Welcome
Moab, Arches and Canyonlands, in a few days
A small Utah town on the banks of the Colorado, framed by two national parks: Arches, with its more than 2,000 red sandstone arches, and Canyonlands, with its mesas towering over 600-metre gorges. In between, you walk beneath Delicate Arch at sunset, mountain bike across the smooth slickrock and raft down the river at the foot of cliffs seen in countless westerns.
- Day by day
- D1 Day 1 2 things
- D2 Day 2 1 thing
- D3 Day 3 3 things
- D4 Day 4 2 things
- Worth sorting before you go
- Words that help
- The practical page
- Packing checklist
The trip
Day by day
Map of the sights (numbers follow the suggested order). It prints with the base map.
D1
Day 1
2 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · Delicate Arch · 2 to 3 hThe lone 16-metre arch on Utah's licence plates, perched on the edge of a slickrock amphitheatre facing the La Sal Mountains, reached by a shadeless 4.8 km round trip from Wolfe Ranch.
- Afternoon · Fiery Furnace · 2 to 3 hA maze of tightly packed red sandstone fins with no marked trail, explored by scrambling and squeezing through narrow passages to hidden arches, with access limited by permit.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Hyatt Place Moab ↗ · All places to stay by budget →€190 a night
D2
Day 2
1 thing to do · at your own pace
- All day · Devils Garden · 1 to 5 hThe area at the end of the Arches park road, where a trail links eight arches between sandstone fins, including Landscape Arch, one of the longest natural arches in the world.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Hyatt Place Moab ↗€190 a night
D3
Day 3
3 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · The Windows · about 1 h 30The central section of Arches, where North and South Window, Turret Arch and the twin spans of Double Arch can all be seen in an hour of easy walking.
- Afternoon · Fisher Towers free · about 3 hDark, knobbly sandstone towers along Route 128, the tallest, Titan, rising about 270 metres, with a 7 km round-trip trail winding at their feet to a viewpoint over Professor Valley.
- Late afternoon · Dead Horse Point · about 1 h 30A state park on a narrow promontory 600 metres above a horseshoe bend of the Colorado, with red cliffs, turquoise potash ponds and some of the darkest night skies around.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Hyatt Place Moab ↗€190 a night
D4
Day 4
2 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · Mesa Arch · about 45 minA sandstone arch on the very edge of the cliff at Island in the Sky, whose underside glows bright orange at sunrise above the White Rim, reached by a short loop.
- Afternoon · Grand View Point · about 1 h 30The southern tip of Island in the Sky, above the confluence of the Colorado and the Green River, with three tiers of canyon landscape seen from a rim trail.
Before you go
Worth sorting before you go
📶 eSIM data
Online the moment you land, no roaming bill.
Get one · Holafly
Online the moment you land, no roaming bill.
Get one · Holafly
🛡️ Travel insurance
Health, luggage, cancellation.
Cover it · Ekta
Health, luggage, cancellation.
Cover it · Ekta
💳 Fee-free card
Pay at the real rate, with no exchange markup.
Open one · Revolut
Pay at the real rate, with no exchange markup.
Open one · Revolut
🚐 Airport transfer
A private car at a fixed price from the moment you land.
Book it · GetTransfer
A private car at a fixed price from the moment you land.
Book it · GetTransfer
Some links are partner links: we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.
Good to know
Flavours & local habits
🍽️ Worth tasting
- Burgers and barbecue: brisket and ribs cooked low and slow, done differently in every state.
- Clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl: the classic lunch on the San Francisco waterfront.
- Mexican food: tacos from a truck in Los Angeles, a Mission burrito in San Francisco.
- Pancakes and weekend brunch: a national habit, generous to the point of excess.
- Craft beer, and California wine from Napa and Sonoma.
⚠️ Best avoided
- Tipping is not optional: add 15 to 20% in restaurants and bars.
- Prices on menus and in shops exclude sales tax, which is added at the till.
- Do not plan more than four or five hours of driving a day: the distances are larger than they look on the map.
- Never travel without health insurance. A night in hospital can cost thousands of dollars.
- In summer, do not hike down into the Grand Canyon in the heat of the day: the climb back out is where people get into trouble.
Getting by
Words that help
🗣️ English is the main language here, so there is nothing to learn by heart.
The essentials
The practical page
CurrencyUS dollar (USD, $)
BudgetAbout €160 a day, mid-range
Best seasonMarch to May and September to October
PlugA/B · 120V
Tap waterSafe to drink
Tipping15 to 20%, expected
Emergency911
EntryUK, Australian and most EU passports need an ESTA, applied for online before departure, for stays of up to 90 days; a few EU countries sit outside the Visa Waiver Program and need a full visa. Canadians need neither, only a passport. Anyone who has been to Cuba since January 2021 cannot use an ESTA and must apply for a visa.
HealthNo vaccination required. Keep tetanus, diphtheria and polio up to date; hepatitis A is worth considering if you eat well off the tourist trail. In the desert parks, the heat is the real risk.
Scan to open this guide online, always up to date.
https://offwegooo.com/en/guides/moab
Don't forget
Packing checklist
Have a good trip.
Guide made on offwegooo.com · Photos via Pexels · Details are indicative, check before you leave.