Travel the High Road to Taos Scenic Byway through the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, passing adobe hamlets and terraced fields beneath big New Mexico skies.

Glance toward the storied village of Chimayó and its famed Santuario de Chimayó as commentary highlights Hispano weaving traditions, folk art chapels, and high-elevation light that has inspired artists for generations.

Discover Mesa Verde National Park, a living archaeology classroom. From overlooks, view the intricate masonry of Cliff Palace and other dwellings tucked into sandstone alcoves along the Mesa Top Loop.

Learn about Ancestral Puebloan lifeways, from kivas to farming on high plateaus. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Mesa Verde presents centuries of ingenuity and resilience set amid pinyon-juniper woodlands and sweeping canyon vistas.

Follow the Trail of the Ancients National Scenic Byway across mesas and sandstone escarpments that cradle the Southwest’s early civilizations. Vistas sweep over high desert, with distant spires and buttes tracing the horizon.

This corridor links stories of ancient migration, trade, and ceremony etched into rock and earth. Commentary connects visible geology with cultural footprints, deepening context as you traverse ancient homelands toward Moab’s spectacular canyon country.

Witness the world’s largest hot-air balloon event as the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta launches a kaleidoscope of color across desert skies. Enjoy preferred viewing from the Chaser’s Club patio along the field, with comfortable seating and private amenities.

Depending on the scheduled session, take in the spectacle of the Mass Ascension or watch special-shape balloons glow and lift. Photographers relish low-angle light, crisp mornings, and the scale of hundreds of balloons rising together.

Travel a scenic drive through Sedona’s Red Rock Country, where buttes, spires, and mesas glow in hues of ochre and vermilion. Continue beneath ponderosa pines through the dramatic Oak Creek Canyon, watching the cliffs narrow as you wind along the creek.

Learn how iron-rich sandstone paints the landscape and why Sedona draws artists and spiritual seekers. Carefully chosen viewpoints invite you to pause for photos and reflection amid one of Arizona’s most photogenic corridors.

At Grand Canyon National Park, join a guided talk with a local geologist and stroll sections of the South Rim. Hear how uplift, erosion, and the Colorado River carved this immense chasm and shaped the canyon’s multi-layered strata.

Absorb changing light across buttes and temples as your guide brings time scales to life. This experience deepens appreciation for the park beyond the view, pairing science with the canyon’s vast, contemplative silence.

Follow the Desert View Drive along the Grand Canyon’s eastern rim, stopping at overlooks that reveal the river’s course and the canyon’s shifting color palette. Gaze across far-reaching horizons that convey the canyon’s colossal scale.

At the historic Desert View Watchtower—inspired by ancestral Puebloan towers—admire stonework and interior Native motifs as you take in a sweeping Colorado River panorama. These viewpoints pair world-class scenery with cultural design heritage.

Make the short sandy approach to the Horseshoe Bend Lookout, where the Colorado River arcs in a near-perfect loop beneath sheer Navajo Sandstone walls. The path culminates at protective railings with ample room to walk to the rim and frame that iconic curve.

Learn how meanders form and spot subtle desert plants clinging to the slickrock. The contrast of rust-red cliffs and the river’s emerald Colorado River channel makes this a photographer’s favorite.

Board an open-air 4×4 tour guided by a member of the Navajo Nation to explore Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park. Towering buttes and mesas rise from desert floor as your guide shares stories interwoven with this sacred landscape.

Gather for a cookout prepared by Diné hosts, savoring regional flavors while hearing perspectives on tradition and contemporary life. This MAKE TRAVEL MATTER experience supports local livelihoods and preserves cultural interpretation by those who call this land home.

In Moab, enjoy a hosted Be My Guest experience at Spanish Valley Vineyard & Winery. Sample estate-grown wines cultivated in desert conditions, paired with small bites that lead into a relaxed, locally inspired dinner.

Your host shares how elevation, diurnal swings, and mineral-rich soils shape each vintage. Conversation flows beneath a red-rock backdrop, revealing how ingenuity and terroir intersect in this unlikely wine landscape.

Enter a world of stone at Arches National Park, home to thousands of natural spans and sculptural fins. Pause at viewpoints to admire Delicate Arch and Balanced Rock, where light and shadow sharpen the park’s dramatic forms.

Learn how time, wind, and water hollowed alcoves into arches within Entrada Sandstone. The park’s silence and stark lines heighten every frame, revealing wind- and water-sculpted fins in an ever-changing play of desert light.

Stand atop the high mesa of Island in the Sky where the land drops away into a labyrinth of canyons. Take in the vastness from Grand View Point and the confluence vistas near the Green River Overlook.

Interpretation reveals how the Colorado and Green Rivers sculpted this uplift into terraces, buttes, and soaring walls. The sense of space and silence offers time to absorb the Southwest’s raw, elemental power.

Taos Pueblo opens a window onto a millennium of living culture. Explore the multi-storied adobe complex with a tribal resident guide who shares perspectives on community, tradition, and daily life.

Designated both UNESCO World Heritage Site and National Historic Landmark, the pueblo preserves lifeways without modern utilities inside its walls. The setting—framed by the river and Taos Mountain—adds powerful sense of place to this meaningful encounter.

Visit the historic Cameron Trading Post, established in 1916 near the Little Colorado River Gorge. Step inside the stone building to see curated displays of Navajo and Hopi arts—from handwoven rugs to silver and turquoise jewelry.

Learn how trading posts served as cultural bridges and lifelines across the high desert. Architecture, craft traditions, and regional stories combine to illuminate a century of exchange on the Navajo Nation.

Take to the skies on an optional flightseeing over the Grand Canyon, tracing chasms and temples from a breathtaking vantage. Aerial views reveal the canyon’s hidden side canyons and the river’s gleam far below.

This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour. Routes and aircraft vary by conditions; weather and daylight determine operations. Expect expansive perspectives from South Rim to North Rim that ground-based viewpoints can’t match.

Spend an evening at the Red Heritage Native American Performing Arts Theater in Page. Enjoy dinner while dancers in vibrant regalia perform powwow dancing, with live drum rhythms and traditional flute.

This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour. As a Native-owned enterprise, it supports cultural continuity and community livelihoods, aligning with MAKE TRAVEL MATTER goals by amplifying authentic voices and artistic expression.

Join an optional excursion along the famed Million Dollar Highway between the Victorian towns of Ouray and Silverton. Sheer cliffs, high passes, and tight curves reveal the rugged heart of the San Juan Mountains.

This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour. Commentary touches on mining booms, avalanches, and alpine ecosystems as you navigate one of Colorado’s most dramatic mountain roads.

Step back in time aboard the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, a coal-fired steam train that clings to cliff edges above the Animas River. Windows frame forests, waterfalls, and deep canyon walls.

This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour, subject to seasonal schedules and availability. The rhythmic steam and historic rolling stock turn a scenic journey into living Colorado rail heritage.

Explore the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, where paintings capture New Mexico’s distilled forms and light. Skeletons, flowers, and desert horizons reveal how the artist translated the Southwest into modernist icons.

This visit is at additional cost and bookable on tour. Galleries near the historic plaza trace O’Keeffe’s evolution from New York abstraction to southwestern light and the Ghost Ranch landscapes that defined her vision.

• 4 Dinner (D)
• 10 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

Settle into the Sonoran mood as you meet your Tour Director and traveling companions at a hosted Welcome Dinner in Scottsdale. Share first tastes of the Southwest as cacti silhouettes and desert-modern architecture frame the evening.

Hear a concise preview of the journey’s national parks, Indigenous cultural encounters, and scenic byways while enjoying regional flavors. This convivial kick-off blends practical orientation with the sun-warmed ambiance of the Sonoran Desert, setting a relaxed, friendly tone for the days ahead.