Itinerary for a two-week trip to Colorado Utah Arizona and New Mexico
 

Help with putting together an itinerary for Colorado Utah Arizona New Mexico. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated for a two week trip. No children, 2 female travelers

When is this trip -- month makes a HUGE difference. Two weeks is not very long for that much territory so one would have to be pretty focused on which areas to visit so we definitely need to know what season you are talking about.

Huge area for only two week travel time. What are your travel plans?

4 states in 2 weeks is a lot to cover and both Arizona and Utah have a ton of major parks both national and state as well as some owned by the Indian tribes. That is about 3.5 days per state.
I'd lose two of those states based on your interests, and since "what I like may be what you hate" will leave it up to you to pick which ones to keep or drop.
Specific interests would help also, for instance do you want to raft the Colorado in Arizona, or visit art galleries in Santa Fe?

thank you all for your responses and we have changed our itinerary as many places are closed due to Covid. We will be flying into Phoenix, shortstop in Scottsdale, on to Tucson, El Paso, Albuquerque, Chaco Canyon, Santa Fe area I then fly home from Albuquerque. Any help with the above Arias would be greatly appreciated, thanks so much.

thank you all for your responses and we have changed our itinerary as many places are closed due to Covid. We will be flying into Phoenix, shortstop in Scottsdale, on to Tucson, El Paso, Albuquerque, Chaco Canyon, Santa Fe area I then fly home from Albuquerque. Any help with the above Arias would be greatly appreciated, thanks so much.Albuquerque. Any help with the above Arias would be greatly appreciated, thanks so much.

We have done several trips to that area. If you want to hit all four states, it is usually easiest and most cost effective to fly into either Albuquerque or Las Vegas and do a loop and since it is a loop you could do it in either direction.

One loop might look like, ABQ to Mesa Verde to Moab, UT for Arches and Canyonlands to Page AZ for Antelope Canyon to Grand Canyon south rim Petrified Forest/Painted desert to Inscription Rock/elMorro to Accoma Pueblo to Santa Fe to Albuquerque.

aonther might be, LAS to Zion to Bryce to Capitol Reef to Moab, to Page to Grand Canyon south rim to Hoover Dam to Valley of Fire to Vegas.

Get a big paper map and highlight that places you want to see, then look at airfare and car rental costs and choose a city to fly into. Then check lodging availability along the route when you can go and decide what direction to head to first.

The distances are far, but the scenery along the way is great. Check trip reports here for specifics on places to stay and other places to see.

I missed your second post. Chaco Canyon is truly wort a visit, but there is no lodging there. The closest we have found is in Bloomfield, NM there is a decent Best Western there about. Half hour north of the access road which is unpaved for ten or so miles, not bad if it has been recently graded, dangerous if there is rain.

You might like Bandelier NM about an hour from Santa Fe.

. . . and note that most rental car contracts prohibit driving on unpaved roads.

It looks like you re limiting yourself to Arizona and New Mexico, which makes sense. From Santa Fe I would do a day trip to Taos which has interesting museums. I'm partial to the Fechin house:

https://flic.kr/p/oZzvoE

If you are driving to Albuquerque, be sure to stop and visit Acoma Pueblo (aka "Sky City") if it is open. It is currently closed due to COVID but is worth the visit. That is why several people have asked WHEN your trip is. I'd drop El Paso, visited there several times including an overnight stay and just did not find it that interesting.

Indeed, a fascinating place.

AZ and NM
 

Not sure if you have taken your trip yet but I live in NM and we also go to AZ frequently. In Tucson our favorite place is the Western section of Saguaro National Park and the Sonoran Desert Museum. https://www.desertmuseum.org
You will want to go on West Gates Pass road and N. Kinney Road to get there. The drive is spectacular with hundreds of Saguaros in a mountainous setting. The museum is a botanical park and zoo, all outdoors, really interesting and beautiful. In the late fall through early spring they have a fabulous outdoor raptor flight experience.
In Scottsdale, we loved the Frank Lloyd Wright Taliesin West. Fantastic architecture and grounds. We took a guided tour that required reservation.
Albuquerque: Go up the Sandia Crest Tram. When you get to the top you can eat in the new restaurant or have a drink. I recommend going in the evening for sunset. Old Town is also a lot of fun, shops and restaurants all in the adobe buildings.
Santa Fe: One of my favorite cities. Haven't been to Meow Wolf but it gets rave reviews. Highlights in the plaza area are the plaza itself with shops, restaurants, art galleries, St. Francis Basilica, and the Loretto church with the spiral staircase. Bandelier National Monument is wonderful, the high road to Taos and drive outside of Taos to the Rio Grande Gorge bridge, see the earth ship homes along that same road.

Wow, I can't believe you're coming to Arizona and not checking out Sedona or the Grand Canyon! I'd swap them for Tucson and El Paso anytime. And by the way, the other poster is correct - the drive to Chaco Canyon takes a long time on a dirt washboard road, and unless you make camping reservations, you're 90 minutes from a place to stay. I've camped there for 2 nights and not seen all of it.

When is this trip? This is very important for visiting desert areas.
Skip El Paso. What is your interest there? From Tucson to Albuquerque, take a short cut off of I-10 at Deming, NM to Hatch( the famous chiles!) on a local road Ft.26 to I-25. A time saver.
Highlights for Tucson are Sabino Canyon, Mission San Xavier, Desert Museum, Pima Air Museum, Mount Lemmon Highway.
Rather than Chaco Canyon, Canyon de Chelly( pronounced Shay) on Navajo lands so must go down to bottom on a Navajo tour or with your own Navajo guide,