Canyon de Chelly National Monument

Canyon de Chelly National Monument was established on 1 April 1931 and lies in north-eastern Arizona, within the boundaries of the Navajo Nation in the Four Corners region. It covers 83,840 acres and takes in the floors and rims of three major canyons — de Chelly, del Muerto and Monument — cut by streams rising in the Chuska Mountains immediately to the east. It preserves one of the longest continuously inhabited landscapes in North America, holding remains left by the peoples who lived there from the Ancestral Puebloans to the Navajo, who farm the canyon floor today. None of the land is federally owned. It is among the most visited national monuments in the country. It recorded 387,433 recreation visits in 2024.

Where it is

Canyon de Chelly National Monument is a national monument near Chinle, in Apache County. It is one of the national monuments in this database, and appears in the statewide ranking of Arizona attractions.

How this ranking was reached

The score combines the published visitor count with public interest and tourism significance, which is what earns it high confidence. The weighting is explained in full on the methodology page, and every axis is broken out under Facts and sources at the foot of this page.

Mentioned in

• Arizona has three national parks, and one of them takes 77 per cent of the visits — Grand Canyon recorded 4,919,163 visits in 2024 against 1,505,623 for Saguaro and Petrified Forest combined — more than three times the other two together.
• The county with the most attractions publishes no visitor numbers at all — Maricopa County holds 162 of Arizona's attractions, more than any other, and not one of them carries an official visitor count.

Sources

• Visitation: National Park Service Visitor Use Statistics(opens in a new tab)
• Public interest: Wikimedia pageviews (en.wikipedia, human traffic), 2024
• Coordinates and designations: Wikidata(opens in a new tab)
• County: U.S. Census geography via FCC Area API, resolved from coordinates
• Official site: https://www.nps.gov/cach/index.htm(opens in a new tab)

Record last verified 2026-08-12.