Last Updated: May 2, 2026
Canyon de Chelly (pronounced “Canyon de Shay”) has been on our list for as long as either of us can remember. It appears regularly in Arizona Highways magazine — those sweeping red-walled canyon shots that make you stop turning pages — and it has the kind of remote, sacred quality that most famous national parks have long since traded away for visitor centers and shuttle buses. Our first attempt to visit was in 2020, but COVID shut the National Monument down entirely. When we finally made it in late 2022, driving down from Dolores, Colorado — about a three-hour drive — it exceeded every expectation we’d built up over the years.
[Read more…] about Canyon de Chelly National Monument: Arizona’s Most Underrated Wonder