What to Do

There is just a ton of things to do in the Moab area and you will want to take several days if that is an option for you.

For us, the leading attraction on Day 1 was Arches National Park.  Located only a few minutes from downtown Moab, you can easily spend an entire day driving through the park.  There are many places to pull over and enjoy the vistas and for us, to take short hikes to amazing arches.  Most of the hikes take from 10 minutes to 30 minutes and give you up close and personal views of extremely different arches.  Our favorite hike was the Devils Garden located at the end of the road near the campground.  Hike as far as the Landscape arch at least.  This will be your longest hike but it's mostly flat and easy.  Bring water.  The other hike that is very cool is to see Delicate Arch.  You have 2 choices.  A longer hike that brings you right up to Delicate Arch, or a shorter hike that brings you to an overlook where you can see the arch across a canyon.

For Day 2, take a ride to Canyonlands National Park.  This is a sort of smaller scale Grand Canyon with deep canyons cut by the Colorado and Green Rivers.  As with Arches, there are lots of places to stop and enjoy the vistas, but again, to see the park, you really should take some short hikes.  Our favorites were the Grand View Pont Overlook.  You can stroll part way or walk all the way to the point, which is well worth the easy level hike along the rim.  Two others short hikes are the Mesa Arch where you look thru the arch into the canyon up close and Upheaval Dome which is a unique geological formation.

Day 3 can be spent at Dead Horse Point State Park.  This is much smaller in area than Canyonlands but absolutely beautiful.  There is a hike you can take from the ranger station to the Point and it is worth it.  Or you can simply drive to the point and take in the view.

If you have some more time and want to take a relatively short car drive up the Colorado River, then head your car to Highway 128 which follows the river north.  Castle Creek Winery is located at Milepost 14.  It is a great place to stop, taste some Utah wine and maybe grab lunch along the banks of the mighty Colorado River.