Monument Valley, UT

The tiny community of Monument Valley sits in San Juan County in the far southeastern corner of Utah, set within the Navajo Nation along the Arizona border. The population is small—essentially a handful of homes and lodges clustered near the historic Goulding's trading post area—and the local character is defined entirely by the surrounding red-sandstone landscape. The area is best known as the gateway to Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, whose iconic buttes and mesas lie just across the state line in Arizona, and it sits roughly 150 miles north of Flagstaff, the nearest sizable city, with the small service town of Kayenta, Arizona, only about 25 miles to the south.

The defining attraction is the tribal park itself, where a roughly 17-mile loop road winds past the Mittens, Merrick Butte, and other named formations, and where guided tours led by Navajo operators offer access to restricted areas as well as deeper cultural context. Just north of the community, US-163 climbs to the famous Forrest Gump Point, the curve in the highway where the road frames the monuments in a single, widely photographed view that has appeared in countless road-trip galleries and films.

A short drive north along US-163 brings visitors to the tiny village of Mexican Hat, Utah, named for the sombrero-shaped rock that rises above town and serving as a launching point for rafting and kayaking trips on the San Juan River. Just past Mexican Hat, Goosenecks State Park looks down on a series of dramatic, entrenched meanders of the San Juan, where the river has carved a serpentine course through layered rock far below the rim—an unusual geological scene visible from an overlook a short walk from the parking area.

Further north, Valley of the Gods offers a quieter counterpart to Monument Valley: a roughly 17-mile dirt-and-gravel loop managed by the Bureau of Land Management, passing isolated sandstone pillars and mesas, with primitive camping beneath exceptionally dark skies. For prospective short-term-rental owners, Monument Valley's appeal is the combination of an internationally recognized backdrop, year-round scenic drive access, and a remote dark-sky setting that draws photographers, road-trippers, and cultural tourists who often have very few lodging options in the immediate area.