Monument Valley, UT

The dining room at the park's only hotel, also signed in Navajo as Hashke Neiniih, with floor-to-ceiling glass facing the Mittens. Food is straightforward Navajo and American plates; you come for the unobstructed butte view as much as the meal, especially at sunrise.

The dining room set in the hillside above historic Goulding's Lodge, mixing southwestern and Navajo dishes with classic steaks. Generous portions, Navajo art on the walls, and a valley view make it the reliable dinner option on the Utah side, about five minutes west of the park.

The cafe at the San Juan Inn perched above the river in Mexican Hat, serving Navajo tacos, fry bread, and big breakfast burritos. It's the locals' workhorse stop on the drive north, reliably open year-round when the seasonal spots are not.

A family-run cowboy steakhouse in Mexican Hat where steaks cook over an open fire on a swinging grill they call the Swingin' Steak. It's a genuine roadside character of a place, about half an hour north of the park, with no reservations and a porch-party feel.

The full-service cafe and bar inside the San Juan Inn on the cliffs above the river, serving breakfast through dinner with a Utah liquor license. It anchors the Mexican Hat dining strip and is a dependable sit-down meal when you want a drink with hearty Navajo and American cooking.

The cluster of Navajo-run vendor stalls near the tribal park entrance, where the move is a Navajo taco: fry bread piled with beans, ground beef, cheese and green chile. It is the most direct way to eat food made by the people whose land the valley is, and it has more character than the lodge dining rooms.

The only self-guided hike in the park, a roughly 4-mile sandy loop that circles West Mitten Butte and gets you down among the formations instead of looking from the rim. No guide or extra fee, just full sun and soft footing the whole way around.

Short rim walks along the canyon edge where the San Juan River loops far below. There's no maintained descent, but strolling the exposed overlook rim gives you the entrenched-meander view from several angles in a few easy minutes.

A backcountry zone south of the main valley full of arches, ruins, and petroglyphs, reachable only with a Navajo guide. It's the quieter, more intimate hiking experience for people who want to walk among ancestral Puebloan sites away from the tour-bus loop.

A Navajo-owned outfit running open-air jeep and horseback tours into parts of the valley closed to self-drivers. Guides share Diné history and take you to backcountry arches and overlooks, which is the way to see the monuments beyond the public loop.

The lodge's museum of Navajo trade goods and Hollywood-western history, with the old trading post Bull Pen and rooms of movie stills and call sheets. A good indoor hour learning how a trading-post owner brought John Ford's cameras to the valley.

Beyond the view, this stop is a small cluster of Navajo jewelry stands, fry-bread vendors, and a rider who poses horseback on the ledge. It's the social hub of the Valley Drive, a place to browse handmade silver and watch the classic photo get made.

After dark the park's certified-dark skies turn it into one of the better stargazing spots in the Southwest, with the buttes as silhouettes under the Milky Way. Several Navajo guides run night sky and astrophotography outings from the visitor center area.

The self-guided loop around West Mitten doubles as the most accessible way to experience the valley on foot and at golden hour. Walking it near sunset, with the formations going copper and the crowds thinning, is the closest thing to a free guided experience here.

The postcard view of Monument Valley, right behind the visitor center: West Mitten, East Mitten, and Merrick Butte lined up across the red desert floor. This is the overlook everyone pictures, and you can take it in without paying for a guide or driving the dirt loop.

A promontory partway around the Valley Drive loop, named for the director who shot his westerns here with John Wayne. Navajo vendors sell jewelry and fry bread, and a horse and rider often pose on the rock ledge for the most-photographed frame in the valley.

The dead-straight stretch of US-163 where Forrest finally stops running, with the buttes stacked up at the end of the road. It's a free roadside pull-off north of the park, and the long ribbon of highway running toward the monuments is the whole appeal.

A wide sombrero-shaped slab balanced on a slender pedestal that gives the nearby town its name. A short dirt spur off US-163 gets you to its base, and it's an easy add-on if you're driving up to the Mexican Hat eateries or Goosenecks.

The original 1920s trading post where Harry Goulding lived and later convinced John Ford to film here, now a small museum of Navajo trade goods and Hollywood memorabilia. The old Bull Pen showroom and the room full of movie call sheets and stills are the draw on a hot afternoon.

An overlook where the San Juan River coils back on itself in tight switchback meanders 1,000 feet below the rim. It's a quiet, primitive park north of the valley, best as a quick stop for the rare-to-see entrenched river canyon rather than a long visit.

The Navajo-run park itself: the visitor center, the rim overlooks, and the start of the 17-mile dirt Valley Drive past the named buttes and spires. This is the gateway, where you pay the tribal entrance fee and decide between self-driving the loop or hiring a Navajo guide.