Travel the High Road to Taos Scenic Byway, winding through high desert plateaus toward the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The route reveals adobe villages, terraced fields, and forested ridgelines where light paints the peaks in rose and gold.

Absorb the cultural tapestry of Hispano and Pueblo traditions—mission churches, local weaving heritage, and time-worn plazas—set amid piñon and juniper. This contemplative drive balances big-sky vistas with intimate glimpses of Northern New Mexico’s living history.

Explore Sedona’s sculpted landscape of red-rock buttes, where formations like Cathedral Rock and Bell Rock glow with shifting light. Wander the artists’ enclave at your own pace, framed by juniper-dotted hills and high desert skies that make this small town feel like a natural gallery.

Continue along the Oak Creek Canyon corridor through the Coconino National Forest. Sheer sandstone walls, ponderosa pines, and sweeping switchbacks create a classic American scenic drive, with ample opportunities to pause for photos and take in the canyon’s changing colors.

Experience the Grand Canyon South Rim along the storied Desert View Drive, where viewpoints reveal the Colorado River gorge threading through a labyrinth of buttes and temples. From Desert View Watchtower, designed by Mary Colter, admire vast horizons and the canyon’s layered palette.

Join a Local Specialist for a geology-focused talk that brings the Colorado Plateau’s ancient strata to life. Learn how water, wind, and time sculpted this natural wonder, as the science behind the scenery deepens the awe these chasms and cliffs inspire.

Walk the gentle desert path to the Horseshoe Bend Lookout, where the Colorado River carves a sweeping, horseshoe-shaped meander beneath sheer Navajo Sandstone walls. From the rim, the river’s emerald ribbon and rust-red cliffs create a striking, cinematic panorama.

Feel the desert breeze and pause for photos and reflection above this dramatic curve in Glen Canyon. The interplay of light and shadow across the sculpted rock reveals eons of erosion and the delicate textures that define the Colorado Plateau.

Journey through Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park by open-air 4×4 with a Navajo guide, tracing iconic silhouettes like the Mitten Buttes and John Ford Point. Hear place-based stories that illuminate the relationship between land, sky, and the Diné way of life.

Share a flavorful Diné cookout set among buttes and mesas—often featuring fry bread and Navajo tacos—while your hosts recount cultural traditions and songs. This MAKE TRAVEL MATTER experience supports community livelihoods and preserves Indigenous knowledge through respectful, locally led engagement.

Join a convivial Be My Guest evening at Spanish Valley Vineyard & Winery, nestled amid Moab’s red rock amphitheater. Taste estate-grown wines with paired bites before a relaxed, three-course dinner showcasing regional produce and desert-inspired flavors.

Learn how sandy soils, radiant sun, and cool desert nights shape the wines’ character. Your host shares Moab’s emerging wine story while the surrounding red rock scenery steals the show at golden hour—a serene setting for conversation and clinking glasses.

Explore Arches National Park, home to more than 2,000 stone spans shaped by frost, wind, and time. See emblematic sights such as Delicate Arch, the Windows Section, and Balanced Rock, each framing shifting desert light and wide-open horizons.

Discover how Entrada and Navajo Sandstone formed fins, then thinned into gravity-defying arches. With every viewpoint, the geology lesson becomes art—textures, shadows, and sky composing a landscape that feels both ancient and ever in motion.

Stand atop Island in the Sky, a mesa rising roughly 1,000 feet above a maze of canyons carved by the Colorado and Green rivers. Take in sweeping vistas from Grand View Point and the Green River Overlook, where cliffs, buttes, and spires stretch to the horizon.

Trace the story of uplift and erosion in the striated rock layers, each band a chapter of desert time. The scale and silence invite contemplation as you scan for distant needles, slickrock benches, and winding river corridors.

Delve into Mesa Verde National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, to view remarkable Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings. Travel the Mesa Top and Cliff Palace loops to gaze across alcoves where multi-room villages, kivas, and granaries grip the canyon walls.

Learn how communities thrived here from the 6th to the 13th centuries, building in sandstone blocks and timber sheltered by overhangs. From the Cliff Palace viewpoints, appreciate both ingenious design and the fragile desert ecosystem that sustained life on these mesas.

Walk within Taos Pueblo on a guided visit led by a resident specialist. See multi-storied adobe homes clustered around the Rio Pueblo, blue-painted doors, horno ovens, and the Pueblo’s timeless plaza—an enduring cultural center of the community.

Recognized as both a UNESCO World Heritage Site and National Historic Landmark, Taos Pueblo has been continuously inhabited for centuries. Hear about governance, traditions, and daily life in a living community that preserves its heritage without modern utilities inside the Pueblo walls.

Follow the Trail of the Ancients National Scenic Byway, tracing a landscape that connects ancestral homelands across slickrock plateaus and sagebrush basins. The drive threads through timeworn sandstone, where silence and space reveal the deeper rhythms of the Four Corners region.

Context from your Travel Director highlights the legacy of the Ancestral Puebloan world—architecture, agriculture, and artistry shaped by water and stone. Travel respectfully, taking only photographs and memories from this culturally significant tapestry of the American Southwest.

Lift off for an optional flightseeing tour over the South Rim and Colorado River. Aerial perspectives reveal buttes, temples, and side canyons etched into the Kaibab uplift, as the canyon’s sheer scale unfolds beneath your window.

Marvel at soaring vistas where light rakes across ancient strata and hidden tributaries. This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour, offering a dramatic complement to the viewpoints visited on land.

Attend an optional evening experience at Red Heritage, a Navajo-owned theater presenting powwow dancing, hoop artistry, live drum, and flute—paired with a hearty dinner. The performance highlights living traditions rather than museum pieces.

Engage with stories that celebrate resilience and creativity across Native cultures. This MAKE TRAVEL MATTER experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour, supporting Indigenous-led arts while offering a vibrant, community-rooted night out.

• 3 Dinner (D)
• 9 Breakfast (B)
• 1 Lunch (L)

• Deluxe coach travel
• Selected hotel dinners plus a locally hosted meal
• Standard regional accommodation

• Grand Canyon National Park: One of the seven natural wonders of the world and the second most visited national park in the United States. Explore the Visitor Center and get familiar with the history of the Grand Canyon, grab a coffee at a local cafe and take a walk along the Rim Trail. Keep your camera on-hand as you explore some of the 278 miles of the Colorado River and adjacent canyonlands at one of the most spectacular examples of erosion anywhere in the world with unmatched vistas along its rim.
• Oak Creek Canyon: Drive through Coconino National Forest on one of the most scenic drives in the U.S., offering a picture perfect view of the surrounding red-rock and Ponderosa Pine forest between Sedona and Flagstaff, Arizona.
• Grand Canyon National Park: The great outdoors is your classroom today when you meet geologist Canyon Tim for an enlightening talk about the Grand Canyon at the South Rim . Having over 30 years of geological experience, Tim’s fascinating talk reveals how this natural marvel was formed millions of years ago and how the different layers that make up the Colorado Plateau are still visible today.
• Glen Canyon Dam: Enjoy a walk to the rim of Glen Canyon where you will get the chance to visit Horseshoe Bend.
• Monument Valley: Board a 4×4 vehicle and navigate the iconic red valley landscape guided by a member of the Navajo Nation and Local Specialist.
• Arches National Park: Nature’s creations spring to life at Arches National Park, home to the greatest concentration of natural arches in the world. Some 2,000 natural sandstone arches can be found within the boundaries of the national park. On your visit, unlock all the science and history of how these 6,000 natural sandstone arches were formed by rain and wind. Take in the sights of Delicate Arch and Balanced Rock while admiring the ever-changing landscapes as you traverse the park. 
• Canyonlands National Park: There’s no better spot to witness the power of the Colorado River carving through rocky red landscapes than at Canyonlands National Park. Take in the views from the Green River Overlook, and be inspired by the vast expanse of high desert canyons at Grand Viewpoint.    
• Mesa Verde National Park: There’s no better place to learn about the ancient cliff dwellings of the Ancestral Puebloan people than at Mesa Verde National Park. View the carvings in the sandstone of the canyon walls at the several hundred of these dwellings – astounded by the history presented before you. This UNESCO-listed park also features thousands of well-known preserved archaeological sites. Take in the sites of this protected area as you ride along the Mesa Top Loop and Cliff Palace Loop, where you can see the magnificent Cliff Palace.
• Taos: Visit Taos Pueblo, a UNESCO World’s Heritage Center as well as a National Historic Landmark and one the oldest continuously inhabited communities in the country. Best known for is iconic, multi-storied adobe buildings, built roughly 1,000 years ago. About 150 Puebloans live within the pueblo full time. The Taos Tribal Council, which owns the pueblo, does not allow any modern convenience inside the pueblo, such as running water or electricity.

Trafalgar

Gather in Scottsdale to meet your Travel Director over a warm Southwestern welcome dinner. In the soft Sonoran Desert evening air near Gainey Ranch, share first toasts and connect with fellow travellers as your host outlines the journey’s highlights and offers local insights for making the most of your time in the Southwest.

Savor regional flavors—roasted chiles, mesquite-kissed meats, and citrus—paired with Arizona wines. Expect practical guidance, from desert-sun etiquette to the city’s art scene, so you can start your adventure with confidence and a taste of Scottsdale’s convivial spirit.