MOAB · UTAH
Slickrock, big sky, two national parks.
Arches, Canyonlands, the Colorado River and the trails in between. Off-road days on Hell’s Revenge, whitewater on the river, sunrise at Delicate Arch, the darkest skies in Utah.
Only in Moab
Three things you can’t do anywhere else.
Plenty of places have national parks, off-road trails and rivers. Three of Moab’s stretch the genre. The slickrock you actually drive on, a Colorado stretch the river never quiets, and two parks the rest of the country drives across the state to see at sunrise.
On the slickrock
Driving Hell’s Revenge
Hell’s Revenge is petrified Navajo sandstone, ridged like a frozen wave field. Tyres grip it like nothing else on earth, which is why Moab built an entire off-road culture around it. You climb dunes that look impossible, peer off ledges that drop a hundred feet, and the rock keeps you stuck to it the whole way.
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On the river
Whitewater on the Colorado
The Colorado cuts through Moab on its way to the Grand Canyon, dropping through Cataract Canyon’s Class IV–V rapids on the way. The big-water stretches are reachable only by raft. Fisher Towers offers a gentler day; Cataract is the legendary one. The river carved every red wall you can see from town.
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In the parks
Sunrise at the Arches
Delicate Arch and Mesa Arch both face east. At first light the rock glows from inside, the sandstone goes through every shade of orange in twenty minutes, and the whole park empties of cars within the hour. Arches and Canyonlands sit shoulder-to-shoulder. No other corner of the country has two parks this close.
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If you only do one
The Moab day everyone books first.
Most travellers point themselves at this one before any other. The combination of slickrock, big views and adrenaline that put Moab on the map.
The classics
Moab’s Most Popular Tours
Hell’s Revenge, the Colorado, Arches and Canyonlands. The four things first-time visitors to Moab pick one of.
Plan your day
How long have you got?
Moab works as a short morning, a half-day stop, or the centre of a full Southwest trip. Pick the slot you actually have and start there.
By place
Pick a corner of Moab.
Each one is its own day. Arches for the arches. Canyonlands for the Mesa Arch sunrise. Hell’s Revenge for the slickrock. The Colorado for the rapids. Fisher Towers for the river road. Dead Horse Point for the long look down.
By activity
Or pick how you want to spend the day.
UTV on the slickrock. Jeep across the backcountry. Whitewater on the Colorado. Canyoneering off the rim. Mountain bike on the trails that started the sport. Helicopter over both parks. Stargazing once the sun drops.
The other park
A day in Canyonlands.
Bigger, quieter, and harder to read in a single visit than Arches. Mesa Arch at first light, the Needles district in the south, the Island in the Sky overlooks. If we had to pick three Canyonlands days, these are the ones we’d book.
Take the wheel
Drive it yourself.
Moab’s self-drive UTV scene is the reason a lot of people come back. Guide leads, you steer, and Hell’s Revenge or Fins N’ Things opens up in front of your hood. Our shortlist for the first time you grip a roll cage.
After the sun drops
Moab’s dark-sky shift.
Arches and Canyonlands are both certified International Dark Sky Parks. There’s no city glow for two hundred miles in any direction. Sunset off-road, astrophotography at the arches, the stars you forgot were up there. Three we’d keep on the itinerary.
When the parks are crowded
Beyond the parks.
Canyoneering off the rim. Mountain biking on the trails that started the sport. Cycling the river road. Paddleboarding the calm Colorado. The Moab days most first-time visitors never schedule.
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