I'm trying to find a source for a two-week driving tour of the Four Corners region. We're coming and going from Albuquerque. We're most interested in nature, then history, then not much else. We've got the guidebooks -- pretty overwhelming in recommendations. Any help?

My main recommendation would be to make sure you hit Mesa Verde and, preferably, spend a night there.

I suspect you'll hear from others who can give you much more detailed suggestions. Might help some to know who exactly "we" is, a couple, a family with kids and if so what ages?

Try this website: grandcircle.org
Hope it helps.
We loved Mesa Verde and Canyon De Chelly on a trip we took a few years ago. Have a great time.

With two weeks to spend, you can certainly have a very broad radius around the Four Corners, with plenty to see in all four states. With that in mind, I'd suggest getting some good maps of the area and then starting some serious google research!

Canyon de Chelly, Monument Valley, Moab area, Chaco Canyon, Acoma Pueblo, Santa Fe area.

My travel book is "Southwest USA, the Rough Guide." It's loaded with history and very easy to follow.

I just returned from there about a month ago--It is quite an intriguing area--it's surprisingly strange to me to see a population that is largely native american--the navajo nation is huge compared to most US reservations--If you are going during the tourist season--you can meet adn talk to artists at various stops in canyon de chelly , which i found interesting--adn i got soem great things for a decent price--i enjoyed stoping in gallup, a town that historically had been a contact point for white and native am. I drove from Monument valley east across NW new mexico thru kit carson nat. for.--it is spectacular and nearly empty--by the time i got to taos, after being in teh four corners for a number of days, I noticed how noisy cities are --there is a famous trading post NW of gallup that i always get to when it's closed.

enjoy.....

monument valley a must. i'd drive up to montecello utah and see part of canyonlands possibly some time in durango, black canyon of the gunnison may be starting to get a little far away. telluride, silverton mesa verde canyon de chelly.

Hi Van Ness,

My sister & I did a road trip of this area a couple of years ago, so i hope my itinerary is of some help. What a beautiful part of the country! What I do recommend is that when you get to the Wal-Mart in Gallup, buy a styrofoam cooler and stock up on food & drinks. Without it, we would have been SOL.

day 1: arrived ABQ. Toured Acoma. Beautiful pottery!

day 2: El Mapais & E Morro parks.

day 3: Petrified Forest & Painted Desert National Park

day 4: full day canyon tour of Canyon de Chelley

day 5: north rim drive canyon de chelley to 4 corners monument (cheesy but we had time). then to monument valley for sunset tour.

day 6: drive to mesa verde. drove around mesa verde, short hikes. late PM tour of Cliff House

day 7: full day mesa verde. AM tour of Balcony House. drive to Durango, short visit to Aztec Ruins Nat'l Hist. Park.

day 8: Full Day Chaco Culture Nat. Hist. Park. WOW.

day 9: drive to Santa Fe. full day. recommend Georgia O'Keefe Museum & the Folk Art Museum.

day 10: ABQ, fly home.

Hope this gives you an idea of what you can see. If you have any specific questions, feel free to post.
Tina

We also flew into ABQ a couple of years ago and did a nine day trip. We drove from ABQ to the Painted Desert, Petrified Forest, a short stop in Winslow Arizona (Eagle's song "Take it Easy" made it famous), and Sedona. That was the first day but since you have more time you could do the Acoma Pueblo, El Mapais etc. and take two days to get to Sedona. We spent two nights in Sedona and then went to the Grand Canyon for one night and parts of two days. From there we drove to Monument Valley and had a private guided tour and spent the night at Gouldings Lodge, the only place to stay there. From there we went to Four Corners and Mesa Verde, Durango, Taos and Santa Fe over the rest of the week. You would have more time and could consider Canyon de Chilley or Chaco Canyon which from what I have read would deserve a couple of days for whichever one of the two you found would fit best into your plan.
The amount of variety in scenery on this trip was amazing and constantly changing drastically. We were a little bit rushed by trying to cover so much but you could do it in a little more relaxed manner.

Hi,
I'm heading back to the Four Corners for the third time in 18 months. I love it there! Monument Valley and the Painted Desert/Petrified Forest are a must (and they're all drive-through sights.) I got fascinated by the area's archaeology and I'd put Chaco Canyon at the top of that list (not easy to get to but a WOW) with Canyon de Chelly and Mesa Verde just behind it. De Chelly is both astoundingly beautiful and loaded with history but only accessible with a Navajo guide. Mesa Verde is great but gets a lot of traffic. Some less known sights worth a look are Wupatki (outside Flagstaff) and El Morro NM. Have a great time!

Is there one convenient place to be based in the area? We would be there around 5 days.

Lindy -- since you added onto an old thread...maybe you could be a bit more specific as to where you want to go and what you want to do and see. I live in the area and would be happy to help you plan if I had a bit more to work with as to your specific wants as opposed to what was written on this thread.

Debi