VACATION DETAILS

Insight Vacations

Enchanting Canyonlands - Small Group
Travel through the American Southwest on a Small Group journey that links Sedona’s red-rock country, the Grand Canyon’s vast layers and Monument Valley’s buttes with time alongside Diné (Navajo) hosts on Navajo Nation land. From Horseshoe Bend in Glen Canyon to Zion’s sandstone walls and Bryce Canyon’s hoodoo amphitheatres, following rivers and high plateaus shaped over time. You’ll meet Local Expert “Canyon Tim”, share Navajo tea in a family hogan, and end a day in Monument Valley with a Navajo cookout and dinner.

Dining Summary

• 3 Dinner (D)
• 6 Breakfast (B)
• 1 Lunch (L)

Authentic Dining

• Scottsdale: Enjoy dinner in Scottsdale, a relaxed first chance to get to know your small group and Travel Director. Settle in over a shared meal and ease into the journey ahead before the desert landscapes begin to unfold. 
• Springdale: Join your small group for dinner this evening and raise a glass together, toasting a week of Southwest icons. 

Top Rated Highlights

• Sedona: Experience the essence of the great American road trip, as you travel through the Red Rock Scenic Byway. Along your journey you will be immersed in the stunning, natural peaks and rock formations of the Red Country, that look as though they could have been shaped by the countless artists they have inspired.  
• Sedona: With its red stone formations that create a haunting skyline found nowhere else in the world. This is where Arizona keeps the Old West. And this is where a New West has evolved, as a haven for creatives, a center of spiritual health and enlightenment, and an epic playground for outdoor enthusiasts.  
• Monument Valley: Stop at the famous “Forrest Gump” backdrop on U.S. 163, where the straight highway lines up with Monument Valley’s buttes.
• Monument Valley: Visit Goosenecks State Park for a rim-top viewpoint over the San Juan River as it loops through deep, entrenched bends carved into the rock. You’ll look down on one of the Southwest’s most striking river meanders, with wide-open desert views stretching beyond the canyon. 
• Zion National Park: Beneath soaring Navajo Sandstone cliffs, Zion Canyon follows the Virgin River through hanging gardens and cottonwoods. Look out for the Court of the Patriarchs and the Great White Throne as the canyon walls rise above the valley floor.
• Monument Valley: Walk out to the Horseshoe Bend overlook above the Colorado River, where the water curves in a near-perfect horseshoe around a sandstone fin. You’ll reach the rim viewpoint on foot, with time for photos and a clear sense of the scale carved into the desert landscape.
• Bryce Canyon National Park: Visit Bryce Canyon and look out over a series of natural amphitheatres carved into the Paunsaugunt Plateau, packed with the park’s hoodoo rock spires. Take in the views from the rim and see the scale of the formations from above. 

Insight Experiences

• Grand Canyon National Park: Meet Local Expert “Canyon Tim” at the South Rim, taking in viewpoints reserved for smaller numbers and away from the busiest lookouts. Tim helps you read the canyon through its rock layers and living landscape, sharing what to look for along the rim as the scale of the place opens up in front of you.
• Monument Valley: Join Baya at Shash Diné EcoRetreat in her family’s traditional hogan for Navajo tea. Hear the history of the Diné (Navajo) people and learn about cultural practices that continue today, shared in the traditional setting of a family hogan.

Make Travel Matter

• Monument Valley: Travel into Monument Valley by off-road vehicles to a cookout site for a barbecue dinner hosted by members of the Navajo Nation. You’ll enjoy Navajo tacos and fry bread, then spend the evening with your hosts as they share traditional songs and dances. Your visit directly supports United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities.

Insight Choice

• Monument Valley: Discover Mystery Valley with a local Diné (Navajo) guide, exploring a quieter corner of the desert framed by Monument Valley’s buttes. Walk among Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) ruins and rock art, with petroglyph panels, weathered stone formations and traces of daily life such as pottery shards scattered across the sand.
• Monument Valley: Wake to Monument Valley at first light, starting by the Mitten Buttes before following the 17-mile loop road. Stop at key viewpoints across mesas and sandstone spires as the sun lifts, bringing the valley’s landmark formations into sharp focus. 

Choice Highlights

• Choose between two carefully selected activities
• Monument Valley: Discover Mystery Valley with a local Diné (Navajo) guide, exploring a quieter corner of the desert framed by Monument Valley’s buttes. Walk among Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) ruins and rock art, with petroglyph panels, weathered stone formations and traces of daily life such as pottery shards scattered across the sand.
• Monument Valley: Wake to Monument Valley at first light, starting by the Mitten Buttes before following the 17-mile loop road. Stop at key viewpoints across mesas and sandstone spires as the sun lifts, bringing the valley’s landmark formations into sharp focus.