I will be staying in Sedona and would like to visit Canyon de Chelly, or other Indian monuments. How long a drive is it from Sedona to the canyon? Can I do a half day tour and not need to spend the night? If not, any suggestions of places closer to Sedona to see the indian ruins? What about Monument Valley? thank you.

Monument Valley is spectacular in terms of landscape (however no remarkable Indian ruins).

What you can do: Drive to Monument Valley and then proceed to Mesa Verde. Stay overnight, visit Mesa Verde next morning and drive back in the afternoon.

Driving time Sedona/Mesa Verde is about 5 hours. To Canyon de Chelly is would be the same, but Mesa Verde is easier to combine with Monument Valley.

Tuzigoot Pueblo and Montezuma’s Castle are both much closer to Sedona than Canyon de Chelly, however Canyon de Chelly is very interesting in that you must hire a native American guide to take you through the canyon and it's a much more personal look at the canyon and Navajo life. We were just there a couple of weeks ago and reserved a tour with Ben Teller of Antelope House Tours - I would recommend them as Ben lives in the canyon, so it's a very interesting tour.

Canyon de Chelly is a must see in my book. Why not stay over one night either in Chinle or maybe Mexican Hat and you can then see Monument Valley easily as well. Do not try to rush Canyon de Chelly - it is a really serene spot and well worth the journey.

http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/tt/68ca9/#TL

We were thinking about going to AZ this year, and I read that the highway you take to get to Canyon de Chelly has some scary driving. Is that true? Is it hairpin turns and things like that?

we are going in 2 weeks, will report back after are trip. we will be coming from the petrified forest so not sure which way you would be planning to come from.
i hadn't heard about scary drive to get there.

While in the SE UT area drive the Moki Dugway. Its an interesting drive as is the Valley of the Gods. If you are traveling south the road pulls off to the left at the bottom of the Dugway.. We have driven both several times.

http://www.midwestroads.com/otherstates/mokidugway/

http://www.amwest-travel.com/awt_valleyofgods.html

Redrock,
great photos of the Dugway, thanks for posting them.

We were a little leery as we made the approach a couple of years ago. But once starting down it, I shifted to low gear and it was a piece of cake.

We were in AZ two years ago and I agree that Canyon de Chelly is a must see - we thought it was one of the best spots of our trip, which also included Sedona and the Grand Canyon. We left the Grand Canyon around noon and were in Chinle in a few hours. Definitely don't rush it - the Holiday Inn in Chinle is great, and we were able to reserve our tour right there. I think it's quite easy to do from anywhere. The driving was absolutely fine, two lane road but very little traffic and absolutely beautiful. I would highly suggest that you spend at least one night in Chinle. From there we drove south to the Petrified Forest and again, the drive was easy and quite pretty.

joeyi, we were planning to approach Canyon de Chelly from the north. Have a great time on your trip!

Canyon de Chelly was the highlight of our trip this summer. I can't remember how long it took us, exactly, from Sedona but you could Mapquest it to see. It is a long drive, though, and you might want to stop in Flagstaff along the way to visit the Lowell Observatory. You'll want to stay overnight in Chinle. The road isn't bad, you just have to watch for animals on it, as you are driving through Resevation land and there aren't fences to keep them in. Watch your speed and be alert. There are some ruins closer to Sedona if you don't have time to make the drive, but CDC is just fantastic and well worth the trip, IMO.

We visited Canyon de Chelly Labor Day weekend. We stayed at Thuderbird Lodge and it was enjoyable. We booked Adam Teller, Antelope Tours and had a great personal tour of the canyon. It was definitely well worth it. We were based in Flagstaff and the drive to/from Flag on the interstate was easy.

extiger, did you do the tour with Adam Teller on Sunday? That's the day we did the tour with his dad, Ben. I couldn't believe the absolutely perfect weather we had that day; so nice and cool.

And bms153, we stayed at La Posada Lodge in Winslow when we visited Canyon de Chelly and I would highly recommend an overnight there. It's an easy two hour drive to the canyon from there. The hotel is a renovated railroad hotel and restaurant is fabulous.

Just a couple of notes: 1) The Park is on Navajo land and you have to take a Native American tour to see the Canyon bottom. There are great views from both canyon rim drives but the tours are best. 2) It is pronounced Canyon de Shay. 3) There is one trail to the Canyon bottom that you can take without a tour (White House) but the tours do a better job and provide much more info. 3) be sure to have lots of film/digital storage and batteries.