Monument Valley

Rank in Arizona: #8of 727 ranked
Overall score: Score 72.0 out of 100medium confidence
Category: Natural Landmark

Monument Valley is a region of the Colorado Plateau characterised by a cluster of sandstone buttes, the largest rising 1,000 feet above the valley floor. The best-known formations stand in north-eastern Arizona, along the Utah state line. The valley lies within the reservation of the Navajo Nation and is considered sacred by the Navajo, whose name for it, Tsé Biiʼ Ndzisgaii, means "valley of the rocks". It has appeared in film since the 1930s, and the director John Ford used it for a number of his Westerns; the critic Keith Phipps wrote that its five square miles have defined what decades of moviegoers think of when they imagine the American West.

Where it is

Monument Valley is a natural landmark near Monument Valley, in Navajo County. It is one of the natural landmarks in this database, and appears in the statewide ranking of Arizona attractions.

How this ranking was reached

No official visitor count is published for Monument Valley, so its score rests on public interest and tourism significance, and is capped below the level a measured attraction can reach. That is why the medium confidence above is not higher. 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.

Note on the data: No official visitor count is published for this attraction.

Sources

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

Record last verified 2026-08-12.

More photographs

King of Hearts, CC BY-SA 4.0 · licence(opens in a new tab) · source(opens in a new tab)
Dschwen, CC BY 2.5 · licence(opens in a new tab) · source(opens in a new tab)

Nearby attractions

0.7 miles away
John Wayne's Point
John Wayne's Point, a Monument Valley overlook named for the actor, lies near Lookout Point but faces east-southeast rather than its direction.
Natural Landmark
0.8 miles away
Merrick Butte
A butte in Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, south of the Mitten Buttes and named for the miner Jack Merrick.
Natural Landmark
1.0 miles away
West and East Mitten Buttes
Two buttes in Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, rising above 6,100 feet and named for their resemblance to a pair of mittens.
Natural Landmark
1.5 miles away
Mitchell Mesa
A 6,586-foot summit in Navajo County, named after a miner who died working the area alongside a partner named Merrick.
Natural Landmark
2.0 miles away
Elephant Butte
A 5,981-foot Monument Valley butte, appearing as the largest formation visible north-east of John Ford's Point.
Natural Landmark
2.1 miles away
John Ford Point
A Monument Valley overlook featured in several Western films, more developed than most of the park despite its rough dirt-road access.
Natural Landmark