9-Nights Wonders of the American West

9 nights from: $6,595

Wonders Of The American West - Small Group
See the best of the American West on this 10-Day guided tour. Travel to Bryce Canyon National Park to explore its rock pillars and natural amphitheatres, then feast with your fellow travelers overlooking the park’s iconic orange rock formations. In Moab, see the ancient pueblo dwellings in Mesa Verde National Park, where the Ancestral Pueblo people once lived. Meet a Navajo guide in Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, where you will board ATVs, explore the valley and learn about the tribe’s history. Later, eat a traditional Navajo meal amid the valley’s beautiful buttes and mesas. Then go off the beaten path into backcountry with your Navajo Guide. Join a Local Expert at Grand Canyon National Park for a one-of-a-kind experience: allow the expert to guide you through the park while teaching you about how this national treasure was formed.


Dining Summary

• 4 Dinner with Wine (DW)
• 9 Breakfast (B)
• 1 Dinner (D)

• Choose between two carefully selected activities
• Grand Canyon National Park: Join your Local Expert, Canyon Tim, for an informative talk about the wonders of the Grand Canyon. With over seven years of experience in geology, you'll learn about the origins of the five-million-year-old canyon, its rock formation and its current impact. You'll also discover the local flora and fauna, and find out where you might be able to spot elk, mule deer, coyotes, grey foxes, bobcats and mountain lions.
• Grand Canyon: Join your Travel Director for a relaxed hike along the rim of the Grand Canyon from Mather Point to Yavapai Point. 1.4 miles (2.25 kilometers) roundtrip, this scenic hike will provide spectacular views of the canyon's unique geology. Alternatively, join a local expert at your hotel to learn all about the local flora and fauna of the Grand Canyon.

• Welcome Dinner in Las Vegas • Navajo cookout Highlight Dinner in Monument Valley • Dine-Around evening Moab • Rim-side Dinner at Bryce Canyon National Park • Celebration Dinner at Grand Canyon National Park
• Las Vegas:
• Grand Canyon National Park: Enjoy dinner at the Thunderbird Room with an incredible view overlooking the South Rim.
• Moab: Enjoy a Dine-Around evening as you choose from a hand-picked selection of mouthwatering restaurants.
• Bryce Canyon National Park: Enjoy entertainment by local musicians during a memorable dinner set against the park's beautiful surroundings.

• Grand Canyon: Join your Travel Director for a relaxed hike along the rim of the Grand Canyon from Mather Point to Yavapai Point. 1.4 miles (2.25 kilometers) roundtrip, this scenic hike will provide spectacular views of the canyon's unique geology. Alternatively, join a local expert at your hotel to learn all about the local flora and fauna of the Grand Canyon.

• Monument Valley: Dive into Mystery Valley with a local Navajo guide. Normally off-limits to the general public, discover Anasazi ruins and rock art, admire geological formations, and spot petroglyphs carved into the red rocks.
• Grand Canyon National Park: Join your Local Expert, Canyon Tim, for an informative talk about the wonders of the Grand Canyon. With over seven years of experience in geology, you'll learn about the origins of the five-million-year-old canyon, its rock formation and its current impact. You'll also discover the local flora and fauna, and find out where you might be able to spot elk, mule deer, coyotes, grey foxes, bobcats and mountain lions.
• Monument Valley: Embark on an exclusive Insight Experience into Mystery Valley’s relatively unknown haven of Anasazi Ruins and rock art. Explore this intriguing stretch of desert full of graceful geological formations, petroglyphs, scattered artefacts like broken pottery shards and breath-taking views of the spectacular buttes of neighbouring Monument Valley Tribal Park. A true hidden gem, your visit  accompanied by a local Diné (Navajo) guide is a unique opportunity for a guided tour among ancient Indigenous ruins.

• Grand Canyon: Trace the scenic South Rim of the Grand Canyon along Desert View Drive. See the historic Watchtower built by Mary Colter in the Puebloan style and track the Colorado River that leads you to the aptly named Painted Desert which extends towards Navajo and Hopi Indian lands. A MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience that supports the Grand Canyon Conservancy and the development of the Desert Viewpoint Intertribal Cultural Heritage Site, fulfilling the UN’s Global goals of reducing inequality and creating sustainable communities.
• Monument Valley: Deepen your knowledge and connection with the first nations of this land as we travel to Monument Valley by way of off-road vehicles to the cookout site. Here you’ll enjoy an authentically delicious barbecue dinner with members of the Navajo Nation, where traditional Navajo tacos and fry-bread will be served while you are immersed in traditional dance and songs of this great ancient culture. Your experience advances UN Global Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities.

• Cameron: Stop at the historic Trading Post, established in the early 1900s as a place where Native Americans traded wool and livestock.
• Grand Canyon National Park: Arrive at one of the seven natural wonders of the world and the second most visited national park in the United States, the Grand Canyon. Encompassing 278 miles (447 km) of the Colorado River and adjacent uplands, Grand Canyon is one of the most spectacular examples of erosion anywhere in the world and offers unmatched vistas along its rim.
• Monument Valley: Meet your Navajo Local Experts and board all-terrain vehicles with open sides for a private, off-the-beaten path
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Located in southwest Colorado, Mesa Verde is one of the best places to view the ancient cliff dwellings built by the Anasazi. They lived throughout the area from about AD 550-1300, when their dwellings were suddenly abandoned. Other popular sites are at Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, Canyon de Chelly in Arizona and Hovenweep National Monument on the Utah-Colorado border. Mesa Verde National Park Travel
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Mesa Verde is special because the cliff dwellings can be viewed at close range. Some tours even let visitors enter the structures.

As the name suggests, Mesa Verde is on a mesa; therefore, visitors must make a long but beautiful drive across the upland plateau to reach the ruins. There are great views of the distant San Juan Mountains from scenic pull-offs along the way. The Mesa Verde Research and Visitor Center sells tickets for the guided tours, and the Chapin Mesa Archaeological Museum offers an introduction to the Anasazi culture and its communities at Mesa Verde. Most of the park attractions are open mid-April to mid-October.

More than 600 cliff dwellings can be viewed in the park, but there are three standouts: Spruce Tree House, Cliff Palace and Balcony House. Spruce Tree House is tucked beneath a cliff just a short walk from the museum; however, rock falls and unstable pueblo architecture have forced park officials to restrict access to this ruin. Visitors can still view it from overlooks near the museum. Cliff Palace is the largest cliff dwelling in North America and can only be reached on a guided tour. A tour is also required to see Balcony House, perched in a cave high above the valley floor. The tour involves climbing up and down several ladders.

A visit to Mesa Verde could fill two days, but a half-day is enough time to make the drive across the plateau and see one or two of the ruins. There's a campground and a lodge in the park for those spending the night.

The park is open daily, and the entrance fee is US$15 per vehicle November-April, US$20 per vehicle May-October for a seven-day pass. Phone 970-529-4465. https://www.nps.gov/meve.