Updated October 2026
BootsnAll Scorecard
5.2 / 10
Moab scores well on what you came for, public land you can walk, ride and camp on by yourself, and badly on getting around and value, because almost nothing works without a car and spring and fall hotel rates sit above $200.
- Value
- 4.5
- Just under the 5 anchor, because the government's own lodging benchmark runs $212 to $223 a night in spring and fall and Desert Bistro mains cost $42 to $55, while an $18 dorm at the Lazy Lizard and $20 campsites at Sand Flats keep the budget end alive.
- Getting around
- 2.5
- Near the 2 anchor, since one Salt Lake Express bus a day is the only scheduled transport, Arches runs no shuttle, and the Needles sit 75 miles away, so the half point is for a walkable downtown and an Arches entrance 5 miles north that a cyclist can reach.
- Crowds and timing
- 4.5
- Below the 5 anchor, with Arches entrance waits over an hour from March to October, 99°F (37°C) July highs, and Easter Jeep Safari filling town for nine days, though November and February are quiet and workable.
- Safety and hassle
- 7
- Little hassle and no scam culture, but short of the 8 anchor because the desert itself is the risk, with 99°F (37°C) July highs, monsoon flash floods in the washes, and a park that asks for 2 to 3 liters of water per person even on short hikes.
- Food and drink
- 5
- At the 5 anchor, good if you know where to go, from $7.50 burgers at Milt's (open since 1954) to $42 to $55 mains at Desert Bistro, in a town of 5,366 where most menus are priced for visitors and grocery-store beer stops at 5 percent.
- Indie fit
- 7.5
- Close to the 8 anchor, because BLM land, self-guided Fiery Furnace permits and first-come campsites let you meet the desert on your own terms, though Hummer safaris and packaged tours are the path the town sells hardest.
Editorial scores, 1 to 10, against the same written anchors for every city. Half points allowed. The overall is the plain average of the six.
Overview and Things to Consider
Moab is a town of 5,366 people at 4,026 feet on the south bank of the Colorado River, with Arches National Park 5 miles north and the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands 32 miles away. Main Street is also US 191, so trucks, rafting buses and lifted Jeeps share the same strip of motels, gear shops and brewpubs. Nobody comes for the town. You come for the 2,000-plus sandstone arches, the river, the slickrock, and the fact that most of the land around town is public and open.
You'll love Moab if you want to hike, ride, paddle or camp hard and eat a burger after. It's the one place in the Southwest where a mountain biker, a river guide and a family on spring break all have a full week of things to do. You'll hate it if you need a walkable town with culture between outings, if you don't drive, or if heat makes you miserable. July averages 99°F (37°C) and the town sees about 41 days a year at 100°F or more. Edward Abbey set much of Desert Solitaire here in 1968. Expect company.
The 2026 moment is a loosening. In 2026, Arches doesn't require timed-entry reservations, which it did in recent seasons, and the January fee overhaul that charges foreign visitors an extra $100 at Zion, Bryce Canyon and nine other parks left Arches and Canyonlands off the list. On October 1, SkyWest took over the town's subsidized air service with 50-seat jets to Salt Lake City and Denver. What didn't loosen is the entrance line, the parking lots and the price of a room in April.
The overrated part is the drive-through version of Arches. Lining up at 10 a.m., crawling the scenic drive and photographing Balanced Rock from the car is the worst way to spend a day here. Delicate Arch at dawn, the Fiery Furnace with a permit, or a Colorado River day on the River Road all beat it.
How Moab Got Here
Moab started as a river crossing. Between 1829 and the early 1850s the Old Spanish Trail forded the Colorado here, and in 1855 Latter-day Saint missionaries built the Elk Mountain Mission fort to trade with travelers, then abandoned it after attacks that September. The first settler who stayed was William Grandstaff, a mixed-race cowboy who ran cattle in the canyon now named for him from 1877 until settlers who arrived from northern Utah in 1878 drove him out in 1881. Residents named the town Moab in 1880 after the biblical land beyond the Jordan, and later attempts to rename it Vina or Uvadalia failed. When the railroad went through Thompson Springs instead in 1883, 38 miles north, and other river crossings opened downstream, Moab's trade with passing travelers dried up.
Uranium made the modern town. In 1952 geologist Charlie Steen found a rich deposit south of town, his Uranium Reduction Company mill became the Atlas mill, and Moab grew nearly 500 percent into the self-styled Uranium Capital of the World. The boom ended with the Cold War. Mines closed, the Atlas mill shut in 1984, and by the early 1980s houses stood empty. What replaced it had been building slowly. John Ford shot Wagon Master here in 1949, the Jeep Safari grew into a nine-day Easter event, and the Slickrock Trail turned a sandstone plateau into a mountain-biking pilgrimage. The mill left a 16-million-ton tailings pile beside the river, and the federal government is still hauling it away.
Getting There and Around
Canyonlands Regional Airport (CNY), 11 miles from the Arches entrance, got a reset on October 1, 2026, when SkyWest replaced Contour Airlines under a four-year federal Essential Air Service contract running to September 2030. It flies 12 round trips a week on 50-seat jets, as Delta Connection to Salt Lake City and United Express to Denver, so bags check through on a normal ticket. The Salt Lake flight leaves SLC at 3:40 p.m. and lands at 4:50 p.m., runs October to Thanksgiving, pauses for winter and returns in March. Denver flights started October 7. Book your ride into town before you land.
Most people still fly somewhere bigger and drive. Grand Junction (GJT) in Colorado is 109 miles from the Arches entrance, and Salt Lake City (SLC) is 230 miles. Without a car, the Salt Lake Express bus leaves SLC airport once a day at 4:00 p.m., takes 5 hours 5 minutes and costs from $65 one way, dropping you at 817 S Main. Amtrak's California Zephyr stops at Green River, 45 miles from the park entrance, and at Grand Junction, and Greyhound serves both towns. From either one you need a pre-booked van or taxi to reach Moab.
Entry is standard US entry. British, Australian and most EU passport holders need an approved ESTA under the Visa Waiver Program, which costs $40.27 in 2026 and lasts two years or until the passport expires. Canadians don't need a visa, but Ottawa warns that anyone staying in the US longer than 30 days must be registered with the US government, which you can check on your I-94 record.
Once you're here, plan on a car. Arches runs no shuttle, and the park's own advice assumes you're driving the scenic drive, 18 miles from the entrance to Devils Garden, 40 to 45 minutes each way without traffic. Canyonlands is 32 miles from town at Island in the Sky, and the Needles district is another trip entirely, 40 miles south on US 191 and 35 miles west on Utah 211. Downtown is walkable on a small grid around Main and Center Street, a bike gets you to the Arches entrance 5 miles north, and Chile Pepper Bikes will deliver rentals to trailheads. Drive the River Road, Utah 128, with care, because it runs narrow with blind corners and no shoulders along the Colorado.
What's Changed Since 2016
October 2026: Moab's air service flipped again. Contour Airlines, which had flown Moab's subsidized routes since 2024, flew its last Denver and Phoenix flights on September 30, 2026. SkyWest came back the next day with 50-seat regional jets, larger than Contour's 30-seaters, and restored a Salt Lake City route with Delta connections. The Phoenix link is gone, which matters if you were planning a Moab-to-Arizona loop by air.
2026 season: Arches dropped timed entry. After seasons of booking an entry window in advance, visitors can now enter at any time during operating hours. Reservations are still required for Devils Garden Campground from March through October and for both kinds of Fiery Furnace hike. The park didn't drop the crowds, though, and its March 2026 conditions page still warns of waits over 60 minutes at the entrance from March to October and temporary entry delays when parking fills.
January 1, 2026: The Interior Department split park pricing by residency. The America the Beautiful annual pass now costs $80 for US residents and $250 for nonresidents, nonresidents aged 16 and up pay a $100 per-person surcharge at 11 parks including Zion, Bryce Canyon and Grand Canyon, and fee-free days now apply only to US residents. Arches and Canyonlands aren't on the surcharge list, so foreign visitors still pay $30 per vehicle here. The park's own $55 annual pass for Arches, Canyonlands and two nearby monuments is sold to US residents only.
December 2025: The cleanup of the old Atlas uranium mill passed 16.2 million tons of tailings shipped to a disposal cell near Crescent Junction, beating the original estimate for the whole pile, with about a million tons of sub-pile and off-pile material left. The Department of Energy expects to finish in 2029, and a bipartisan bill would hand the riverside site to Grand County once it's safe, where locals have floated trails, river access, event space and transit facilities.
What the Usual Advice Gets Wrong
"You need a timed-entry reservation to get into Arches." Not in 2026. The park dropped timed entry for the season, so you can drive in whenever it's open, which is 24 hours a day. The catch moved to the gate. From March to October the line can run over an hour and entry gets delayed when lots fill. The park's own advice is to enter before 8 a.m. or after 3 p.m.
"Canyonlands is next door, so do it the same afternoon as Arches." Island in the Sky is 32 miles from town and pairs fine with a morning in Arches. The Needles is a different trip, roughly 75 miles away by US 191 and Utah 211, the only paved road in or out of that district, and no road inside the park links the districts. Treat each Canyonlands district as its own day.
"Foreign visitors now pay $100 extra at every big national park." Only at 11 parks, and Arches and Canyonlands aren't among them. A UK or Australian couple pays $30 per car here, same as Americans. If your loop also takes in Zion, Bryce Canyon or Grand Canyon, though, the $250 nonresident annual pass covers the surcharge for the whole car and pays for itself on the second of those parks.
"Slickrock is where you learn to mountain bike in Moab." Slickrock is the famous one, a 10.5-mile ride on sandpaper-textured Navajo sandstone with steep climbs, and its 2.3-mile practice loop is about as hard as the main trail. Chile Pepper Bikes sends first-timers to Mud Springs, a newer and smoother trail system 10 to 15 minutes south of town, and then to the trails at Dead Horse Point State Park, which add mileage and canyon views without the ledges.
"Summer is peak season, so it's the most expensive time to book." Spring and fall cost more. The federal per diem lodging rate for Moab, which tracks what hotels charge, sits at $212 a night from March to June and $223 in September and October, against $165 in July and August and $113 from November to February. Summer is cheaper because 99°F (37°C) highs make midday hiking a bad idea.
Ideas to Consider for Your Visit
Have you thought about skipping the scenic drive and doing the Fiery Furnace instead? It's a maze of sandstone fins in the middle of Arches where you pick a route between walls and lose the crowds within minutes. You can go two ways. A ranger-led hike costs $16. A self-guided permit costs $10, has to be reserved on Recreation.gov 2 to 7 days out for groups of up to six, and comes with a required video and orientation at the visitor center the day before or the day of. Nobody under 5 can go on either. If you've scrambled through a slot canyon before, the permit is the better day, because you set the pace.
Drive the River Road. Utah 128 leaves US 191 just north of town and follows the south bank of the Colorado through a narrow red gorge that forms the southern edge of Arches. The Grandstaff Canyon trailhead, with its trail to Morning Glory Arch, comes first. Farther up, the gorge opens into Castle Valley and Professor Valley, where John Ford shot Wagon Master and Rio Grande, and the dark red spires of the Fisher Towers rise at the east end. To see the gorge from the water, Moab Adventure Center runs a full-day Colorado River trip with a barbecue lunch for $155 per adult and $130 for kids 5 to 12. The trip covers about 14 miles of river past Castle Valley and the Fisher Towers.
Try Corona Arch, out on Potash Road (Utah 279) west of town. It's a 3-mile round trip on BLM land and a National Recreation Trail since May 2018, moderately strenuous, with cables and a ladder on a couple of exposed sections. There's no entrance fee and no line at a gate, and you sign a trail register by the railroad tracks on the way up. Go early in summer, because the slickrock bakes.
Eat like the river guides do. Milt's Stop & Eat has been at 400 East and Millcreek Drive since 1954, on the way to the Slickrock trailhead, with $7.50 hamburgers, $12.50 bison cheeseburgers and milkshakes, open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. The Moab Brewery at 686 S Main has poured beer and served food since 1996, and on weekends you either get there early or wait. For one big dinner, Desert Bistro on 100 West does bison empanadas with house mole for $27 and a gorgonzola and piñon crusted beef tenderloin for $55. Look for bottles from Spanish Valley Vineyards on local wine lists, or buy them at the state liquor store, since Utah grocery stores can't sell wine.
Stay out for the sky at Dead Horse Point State Park, a $20-per-car International Dark Sky Park on the way to Island in the Sky. Come for sunset over the canyon walls, walk part of the rim trails, and know the park closes to day visitors at 10 p.m. Campers in its campgrounds and yurts get the sky after that, and so does anyone on a ranger-led program. The state calls its trails primitive and marks them with cairns and lines of rocks, so don't move or stack stones.
Have you thought about a day trip to the Needles? It's about 75 miles each way, south on US 191 and west on Utah 211, the only paved road into that corner of Canyonlands. You get Tower Ruin, Chesler Park, the Joint Trail, Elephant Hill and the Confluence Overlook, with a fraction of the Arches traffic, and rangers give evening campground programs in spring and fall. Fill your bottles at the visitor center, which has water year-round.
The Part Most Guides Miss
The uranium story is right there on the drive to Arches, and most visitors never notice it. The flat ground beside the Colorado on the north edge of town is the old Atlas mill site, where the Department of Energy has been loading tailings onto trains for Crescent Junction since 2009. Spend an hour at the Moab Museum at 118 E Center Street first, with its rooms on geology, paleontology, mining and anthropology, and the town makes more sense. Moab is a mining town that turned into a playground for people who'd never heard of Charlie Steen.
Where to Base Yourself
Downtown, along Main and Center Street. The pick if you don't want to drive to dinner. Milt's, the brewery, Desert Bistro and the bike shops on Main are all walking distance, the Salt Lake Express stops at 817 S Main, and the Lazy Lizard Hostel at 1213 S Hwy 191 has $18 dorm beds and private rooms from $44. The catch is that Main Street is US 191, so front-facing rooms hear trucks, and the Arches entrance is still a 5-mile drive.
North of town by the Arches turnoff. The strip around 1515 and 1551 North Highway 191, with chains like the Holiday Inn Express and the Aarchway Inn, which has bike storage and a guest shuttle. It suits anyone planning a 7 a.m. Arches start or a fast run to the airport. The catch is that it's a highway strip with no neighborhood, and anything good to eat means getting back in the car.
Sand Flats and the campgrounds. If you have a tent or a van, Sand Flats Recreation Area above town puts you at the Slickrock trailhead. Campsites cost $20 a night first-come, first-served, plus $10 for a 7-day vehicle pass, and national park passes don't count. Inside Arches, Devils Garden Campground costs $25 a night but takes reservations only from March through October, when it's often full, and goes first-come in winter. The catch at Sand Flats is that there's no drinking water, so you haul it in.
Realities to Be Aware Of
Budget roughly $70 to $110 a day per person if you camp at $20 to $25 a night, cook, split a $30 park pass and ride your own bike, and that's before a rental car or gas. Mid-range runs $250 to $350 a day for two, built on the $165 to $223 that spring, summer and fall hotels charge and a meals benchmark of about $86 a day per person. Comfortable, with a better room, a rafting day at $155 a head and a Desert Bistro dinner, is $500 a day and up for two. Winter cuts the room bill nearly in half.
The desert is the danger, and it's specific. The park asks for 2 to 3 liters of water per person on frontcountry hikes and 4 or more in the backcountry, and says to avoid hiking between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. in summer. Water is only available at the visitor center and Devils Garden Campground. Summer monsoons bring flash floods to washes and slot canyons, unpaved park roads can need 4WD or turn impassable after storms, and winter brings occasional snow and ice. If you feel dizzy, weak or start sweating hard, stop, find shade and drink, because those are the park's listed signs of heat exhaustion.
Utah rules catch drivers out. Since December 30, 2018 the legal blood alcohol limit for driving is 0.05 percent, and Utah was the first state to set it there, which matters on a trip where you drive everywhere. Grocery and convenience stores sell beer up to 5 percent alcohol by volume, and anything stronger, plus wine and liquor, comes from the state-run liquor store. Tipping follows standard US practice and dress is casual everywhere. Moab hosts its own LGBT Pride festival, along with a folk festival every November.
Crowds follow a calendar. Arches is busiest March through October, peaking on spring-break weeks and Easter, when the Red Rock 4-Wheelers' Easter Jeep Safari fills town for the nine days through Easter Sunday. The Moab Music Festival, founded in 1992 by a group of New York musicians, takes over September. The best gaps are midweek in late October and November, before the cold. Book rooms for Easter and September weeks months out.
What things cost in Moab
Prices checked October 2026. Each links to where we read it.
| Item | Price | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Hostel dorm bed | $18 a night, 3.75 percent less in cash | Lazy Lizard Hostel, Oct 2026 |
| Campsite in Arches (Devils Garden) | $25 a night for up to 10 campers | National Park Service, Oct 2026 |
| Mid-range hotel benchmark | $113 (Nov-Feb) to $223 (Sep-Oct) a night | GSA FY2027 per diem rates, Oct 2026 |
| Burger at Milt's Stop & Eat | $7.50 hamburger to $12.50 bison cheeseburger | Milt's Stop & Eat menu, Oct 2026 |
| Dinner main at Desert Bistro | $42-55 | Desert Bistro menu, 2026 |
| Arches or Canyonlands entry | $30 per private vehicle; $15 on foot or bike | National Park Service, Oct 2026 |
| Dead Horse Point State Park entry | $20 per vehicle, up to 8 people | Utah State Parks, Oct 2026 |
| Full-day Colorado River rafting trip | $155 adults, $130 ages 5-12 | Moab Adventure Center, Oct 2026 |
| Mountain bike rental | $77-97 a day ($127-157 for an e-bike) | Chile Pepper Bikes, Oct 2026 |
Prices are in US dollars before Utah sales and lodging taxes.
If Moab Is Part of a Longer Trip
Moab sits on the hinge between Utah and Colorado, which makes it a natural middle stop. Salt Lake City is 230 miles away, and the Salt Lake Express makes it a 5-hour bus ride for anyone not driving. East, Interstate 70 runs through Grand Junction toward Denver and the Rockies, and in August 2021 the Rocky Mountaineer launched Rockies to the Red Rocks, a cruise-style luxury train between Denver and Moab, so check its current season if that appeals. Amtrak's California Zephyr stops at Green River and Grand Junction if you can arrange the van ride to town. For the rest of the state's parks, BootsnAll's Utah guide is the place to start.
The classic loop runs Moab, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon and Zion, then south to the Grand Canyon in Arizona or west to Las Vegas. For nonresidents the fee math changes along the way. Moab's parks charge the regular $30, but Bryce, Zion and Grand Canyon each add $100 per person, so a couple driving the loop should buy the $250 nonresident pass before Bryce, not after. Starting in Denver and ending in Las Vegas avoids backtracking, and if the Southwest is one leg of a longer trip, AirTreks can build the open-jaw so you fly into one city and out of the other.
Sequencing matters more than distance. Do Moab first in spring, before the heat builds farther south, or last in fall, when October still averages 74°F (23°C) here. If you're coming from Colorado, take the River Road from I-70 at Cisco, 46 miles, most of it along the Colorado gorge, instead of the faster run down US 191 from Interstate 70 at Crescent Junction. You pass Castle Valley and the Fisher Towers on the way in, which is a better first hour in Moab than the motel strip.
Yearly Things to Consider
Moab's seasons run on heat. Spring and fall are the reason people come, with April at 72°F (22°C) and October at 74°F (23°C), and they're also when Arches is busiest and rooms cost $212 to $223 a night. June through August brings 94°F to 99°F (34°C to 37°C) highs and the cheapest summer rooms, about $165 in July and August, and real hiking happens at dawn or after 5 p.m. Late summer adds monsoon storms and the flash floods that come with them, so the river is the best place to spend a July afternoon.
The counterintuitive pick is winter. December and January highs hover around 44°F (7°C), nights drop to the low 20s°F (around -6°C), and snow is light, about 5 inches in December and less in other months. In return there's no entrance line, Devils Garden goes first-come, first-served, the visitor center stays open every day but December 25, and lodging falls to the $113 benchmark. Arches in winter, the park says, is a peaceful time without the crowds and scorching heat. Late February and November are the sweet spots, mild enough to hike at midday and still quiet.
Moab month by month
| Month | Temp | Rainfall | Season | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44°F (6°C) | 0.65 in | Low | Cold nights near 21°F, empty trails, cheapest rooms, icy slickrock some mornings. |
| February | 52°F (11°C) | 0.66 in | Low | Warming fast and still quiet, lodging near its $113 low. |
| March | 65°F (18°C) | 0.70 in | Shoulder | Busy season starts, spring breaks fill town, Devils Garden goes reservation-only. |
| April | 72°F (22°C) | 0.77 in | High | Best hiking weather. Easter Jeep Safari's nine days pack every room. |
| May | 83°F (28°C) | 0.82 in | High | Warm, long days, peak river season starting, lodging near $212. |
| June | 94°F (34°C) | 0.35 in | Shoulder | Driest month, heat arrives, hike at dawn, raft in the afternoon. |
| July | 99°F (37°C) | 0.92 in | Shoulder | Hottest month, monsoon storms and flash floods, rooms drop to about $165. |
| August | 96°F (36°C) | 0.88 in | Shoulder | Hot with afternoon storms, unpaved roads can wash out. |
| September | 88°F (31°C) | 0.89 in | High | Crowds return for the Moab Music Festival, rates near $223. |
| October | 74°F (23°C) | 1.03 in | High | Wettest month but mild, cottonwoods turning gold. |
| November | 57°F (14°C) | 0.70 in | Shoulder | Quiet after mid-month, Moab Folk Festival, SLC flights pause after Thanksgiving. |
| December | 44°F (7°C) | 0.76 in | Low | Snowiest month at about 5 inches, visitor center closed December 25 only. |
Ideas for Itineraries
3 Days in Moab
Day one, enter Arches before 8 a.m. and hike to Delicate Arch from the Wolfe Ranch trailhead, 13 miles in, then drive back to the Windows Section before the lots fill. Afternoon at the pool or on the River Road, dinner at the brewery. Day two, Island in the Sky in Canyonlands, then cross to Dead Horse Point for sunset and stay for the stars until the 10 p.m. close. Day three, the Fiery Furnace if you got a permit, or Corona Arch on Potash Road in the cool of the morning, then a Milt's burger before the drive out.
5 Days in Moab
Take the three-day plan and add two days that leave the parks. Spend day four on the river with a full-day Colorado River trip from Moab Adventure Center, or rent a bike and ride Mud Springs if you're new, or the Dead Horse Point trails for more mileage. On day five drive the River Road to Grandstaff Canyon and Morning Glory Arch in the morning and on through Castle Valley, or, if you want the backroads, rent a Jeep from one of the shops on Highway 191 and pick a trail rated easy before you try anything harder. Close with dinner at Desert Bistro.
1 Week in Moab
With a week, give the Needles its own day, 75 miles south and west, for Chesler Park and the Joint Trail, and spend a second day deep in Arches, from Devils Garden at the end of the 18-mile scenic drive. Ride Slickrock once if your skills are there, or watch riders work the steep pitches from the Sand Flats side. Drive north to the Mill Canyon dinosaur tracks, and spend an hour at the Moab Museum to understand the uranium years. A week also gives you a rest day for the heat, which matters from June on.
2 Weeks or More in Moab
Two weeks lets Moab become a base instead of a stop. Camp at Sand Flats for a few nights, then move into a downtown room for the rest. Mornings belong to trails and afternoons to the river. Book a Westwater Canyon whitewater trip with NAVTEC, or rent canoes from Tex's Riverways, which has outfitted Colorado and Green River trips since 1958. Catch an evening ranger program at the Needles campground in spring or fall, spend a weekend in Grand Junction across the Colorado line, and give the Fiery Furnace a second go once you know the desert better.
Sources
What this guide is built on. Every page below was read for this guide; prices and rules were checked in October 2026.
- Plan Your Visit, Arches National Park, National Park Service (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
- Fees & Passes, Arches National Park, National Park Service (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
- Current Conditions, Arches National Park, National Park Service (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
- Operating Hours & Seasons, Arches National Park, National Park Service (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
- Directions and Transportation, Arches National Park, National Park Service (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
- Fiery Furnace Permits, National Park Service (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
- Safety, Arches National Park, National Park Service (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
- Fees & Passes, Canyonlands National Park, National Park Service (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
- Island in the Sky, National Park Service (accessed Oct 4, 2026)
- The Needles, National Park Service (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
- Nonresident Fees, National Park Service (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
- Dead Horse Point State Park, Utah State Parks (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
- Park Fees, Dead Horse Point State Park, Utah State Parks (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
- Sand Flats Recreation Area, Bureau of Land Management (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
- Corona Arch Trail, Bureau of Land Management (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
- Moab, Utah, Wikipedia (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
- Moab, Wikivoyage (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
- SkyWest selected for Moab air service beginning Oct. 1, The Times-Independent (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
- Salt Lake City flights are back in Moab: here's what travelers should know, The Times-Independent (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
- UMTRA cleanup surpasses 16-million-ton milestone as land transfer bill advances, The Times-Independent (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
- Salt Lake City to Moab Shuttle & Bus, Salt Lake Express (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
- FY 2027 per diem rates for Moab, Utah, US General Services Administration (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
- Visa Waiver Program, Wikipedia (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
- Travel advice and advisories for the United States, Government of Canada (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
- Alcohol laws of Utah, Wikipedia (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
- Beginner Mountain Bike Trails in Moab, Chile Pepper Bikes (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
- Slickrock Trail, Wikipedia (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
- Prices, Lazy Lizard Hostel (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
- Milt's Classic Menu, Milt's Stop & Eat (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
- Our Menu, Desert Bistro (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
- Full-Day Moab Rafting Adventure with BBQ Lunch, Moab Adventure Center (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
- Mountain Bike Rentals in Moab, Utah, Chile Pepper Bikes (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
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- Jeep Safari, Wikipedia (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
Moab Travel FAQ
Not for the main sights. The scenic drives in Arches and Island in the Sky are paved, and so are the roads to Dead Horse Point and the Needles. You need 4WD or high clearance for Arches' unpaved roads, which can turn impassable after summer storms, and for much of the backcountry around town. Shops like Cliffhanger and Slickrock Jeep Rentals on Highway 191 rent Jeeps if you want the backroads, and the Red Rock 4-Wheelers rate local trails from easy to difficult.
Try Mill Canyon, on a dirt road off US 191 about 13 miles north of town near mile marker 141, passable in a normal car. A half-mile nature trail passes Morrison Formation dinosaur fossils and petrified wood in place. It makes a good stop on the way to or from the airport, which is on the same stretch of US 191.
Yes, with a few limits. The Fiery Furnace doesn't allow children under 5 on either the ranger hike or a permit. The full-day Colorado River trip takes kids from 5 at $130, and Chile Pepper rents 24-inch kids' mountain bikes from $37 a day. Plan the hikes for early morning, because heat hits small bodies first, and remember that kids under 16 get into Arches and Canyonlands free when they arrive on foot or by bike.
Only until 10 p.m. on a day pass. Dead Horse Point is an International Dark Sky Park, but day-use fees cover you only to closing, and the park asks stargazers to go elsewhere after that. If you want the late-night sky from the point, book one of its campsites or yurts, or join a ranger-led night program.
The Moab Museum at 118 E Center Street covers geology, paleontology, mining, history and anthropology. The Arches visitor center has exhibits and is open daily. The Colorado River is the best answer to heat, and a float on the Fisher Towers stretch keeps you wet and moving. Rain in Moab means flash floods, so stay out of washes and slot canyons when storms are forecast.