The View Hotel Monument Valley

Wake up facing the Mittens

★★★★★📍 Monument Valley Tribal Park, Utah$$$

Location strategy: Monument Valley is about two hours from Page, which makes it a long but doable day trip; staying overnight turns it into something better, because the valley's finest light comes at sunrise and in the last hour of the day, exactly when day-trippers are driving. From The View you catch both, then take a Navajo-guided tour into the backcountry in the morning before the heat.

Room craft: the top-floor StarView rooms are the ones to target, with the cleanest balcony sightlines over the Mittens and the most open sky for stargazing; otherwise splurge on a rim cabin for the widest, most private view. Rooms are simply furnished with locally woven Navajo rugs and a traditional Navajo dye chart, a microfridge, a microwave and a coffee maker, which helps because dining options for miles around are few. The hotel advertises Wi-Fi in the lobby and conference room, so do not plan on streaming from your balcony. The on-site trading post sells contemporary and traditional American Indian art and is worth a look before you leave. Plan dinner at the hotel restaurant at sunset, and set an alarm for dawn — the Mittens light up from behind and then glow orange. Remember that the Navajo Nation observes daylight saving time while most of Arizona does not, so check tour times carefully, and note that alcohol is not sold on the Navajo Nation.

Practicals: inside the tribal park off US 163 on the Utah side of the border; the park's per-vehicle entry fee applies. Services nearby are limited, so arrive with fuel and supplies. Compared with the motels in Kayenta, roughly half an hour south, you pay more here but trade a highway view for the Mittens. Fit: photographers, couples and road-trippers who want the most cinematic night of a Grand Circle loop.