Moab / Canyonlands or Monument Valley? -

Hi, I want to hit the canyons in the upcoming weeks, but can t make up my mind if I should go to the Arches / Canyonlands area or to Monument Valley. I only have a couple of days and can t explore everything (or should I try?). I ve already been to Grand, Bryce and Zion

Monument Valley is a very scenic place and there are a couple of sweeping vistas that are world famous. However, it is a surprisingly small area and the number of activities that you can do there are somewhat limited. There are some guided horse and jeep tours (all or half day) and a short driving loop that you can do on your own. That is about it. You can get a good sense of the place in a few hours doing the driving tour, but it is hard to imagine spending more than one day and a couple of nights there tops. There is quite a bit to see and do around Moab. Like Monument Valley, Arches is small, but very impressive. Canyonlands is huge and you could spend weeks exploring it (although most of it is largely undeveloped and involves hiking and 4WDing). Hovenweep and Natural Bridges monuments are relatively nearby too. If you are into hiking, mountain biking, 4WD, rock climbing, rafting or photography, you could easily spend a week or two at Moab exploring the surrounding area.Since you don t really need a lot of time to experience MV, you probably could drive down there and back from Moab in a single day (it is only about a 2.5 hour drive one way). If you left early, you could probably even fit a short visit to Hovenweep National Monument (prehistoric ruins) on the way there or back. Note that MV looks best at sunrise or sunset. As sunset is pretty early this time of year, you could probably stay for sunset and still get back to Moab at a decent hour that evening.But if you don t want to do all that driving and want to focus your time on just one spot or the other, than the Moab area definitely has more to see and do over a period of several days.Lastly, note that your lodging, eating and fuel/supply options around Monument Valley are very limited. There is a new lodge ran by the reservation at MV and the nearby famous Goulding s Trading Post and Lodge. Beyond that, there is not much in the way of facilities except for the very limited services and businesses in the very small nearby towns of Mexican Hat, UT and Kayenta, AZ (both about 30 minutes away from MV).