🏛️ CulturalLong weekend · from Phoenix, AZ
Route 66 to the Navajo Nation — Winslow, Hubbell & Canyon de Chelly
A three-day journey northeast across the high desert of the Colorado Plateau, climbing from Phoenix into the vast red-rock country of the Navajo Nation and one of the most sacred and continuously inhabited landscapes in North America. The long, scenic drive is part of the experience — mountains, pine forest, and painted mesas unspool for hours. Day one lands in the Route 66 railroad town of Winslow, 'standin' on the corner' of Eagles fame, with the restored La Posada Hotel and the ancestral Hopi pueblos of Homolovi. Day two rolls east to the Hubbell Trading Post at Ganado, the oldest continuously operating trading post on the Navajo Nation, still trading rugs and silver as it has since 1878. Day three is the centerpiece: Canyon de Chelly, where thousand-foot sandstone walls shelter ancient cliff dwellings and Navajo families who still farm the canyon floor — explored by rim drive and the iconic Spider Rock overlook. To descend to the canyon floor, visitors must hire an authorized Navajo guide. Overnights in Chinle and Ganado.
Day 1 — Winslow: Standin' on the Corner, La Posada & HomoloviDay 2 — Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, GanadoDay 3 — Canyon de Chelly: the rim drive & Spider Rock
Day 1 — Winslow, AZ
Day 1 — Winslow, AZ
🚗 4 hr driving📍 4 stops
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Morning
🚗
Drive
Phoenix, AZ → Winslow, AZ
3 hr 50 min8:00 AM → 11:50 AM
Standin' on the Corner Park
★ 4.7Winslow's most beloved landmark exists entirely because of a single line in the Eagles' 1972 hit 'Take It Easy' — 'standin' on a corner in Winslow, Arizona.' A downtown Route 66 corner has been immortalized with a life-size bronze statue of a guitar-toting traveler, a trompe-l'oeil mural of a girl in a flatbed Ford, and a red flatbed truck parked at the curb. It is a joyful, kitschy shrine to American road-trip mythology, and the surrounding blocks of restored Mother Road storefronts, souvenir shops, and murals make an easy, fun stroll. A great, low-key stretch of the legs after the long high-desert drive north.
11:50 AM📍 See location
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Lunch
🍽️ Lunch12:50 PM
The Turquoise Room at La Posada
The Turquoise Room, inside the restored La Posada Hotel, is one of the finest restaurants in northern Arizona, serving refined Southwestern cuisine built on regional and Native ingredients — piki bread, Churro lamb, and its signature corn-and-black-bean 'Two Soups in One Bowl.' The elegant dining room, part of architect Mary Colter's 1930 Harvey House masterpiece, pairs white-tablecloth service with genuine Route 66 romance. It is a memorable midday or lunch stop; lighter and lower-cost options can be found among the cafes along Winslow's downtown corner.
2 options · tap to switch
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Afternoon
🚗
Drive
Winslow, AZ → Homolovi State Park
10 min1:50 PM → 2:00 PM
Homolovi State Park
★ 4.5Just north of Winslow, Homolovi State Park protects the ancestral pueblos of the Hopi people, who call the sites 'Homol'ovi' — 'place of the little hills.' Between roughly 1260 and 1400, thousands lived here in villages beside the Little Colorado River before migrating north to the Hopi mesas, where their descendants live today and still regard these ruins as sacred stops on their ancestors' journey. Short interpretive trails lead to the partially excavated Homolovi I and II pueblos, where masonry walls, kivas, and a scatter of painted potsherds lie open to the sky against a backdrop of painted-desert mesas. The park visitor center and its Hopi cultural exhibits provide essential context for the deeper Native landscape ahead. Please leave every artifact exactly where it lies.
2:00 PM📍 See location
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Evening
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La Posada Hotel, Winslow
Designed by architect Mary Colter in 1930 as the crown jewel of the Fred Harvey railroad hotels, La Posada is a magnificently restored Spanish colonial-style hacienda beside the still-active BNSF line — arguably the finest historic hotel in Arizona. Its gardens, tiled floors, hand-painted ceilings, and gallery of contemporary art make an overnight here a destination in itself, and the on-site Turquoise Room removes any need to drive for dinner. Rooms are named for the celebrities and dignitaries who once stepped off the Santa Fe Railway. Simpler chain motels line I-40 in Winslow for travelers wanting a budget alternative before the drive east.
Day 2 — Ganado, AZ
Day 2 — Ganado, AZ
🚗 2 hr 10 min driving📍 4 stops
🌅
Morning
🚗
Drive
Winslow, AZ → Hubbell Trading Post, Ganado
1 hr 30 min8:00 AM → 9:30 AM
Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site
★ 4.6Established by John Lorenzo Hubbell in 1878, the Hubbell Trading Post at Ganado is the oldest continuously operating trading post on the Navajo Nation — and it still trades. The worn wooden floors, the 'bullpen' counter, shelves stocked with goods, and the rug room heaped with handwoven Navajo textiles all function today much as they did more than a century ago, run by the National Park Service in partnership with local weavers and silversmiths. Hubbell was a trusted friend to the Navajo (Diné) as they rebuilt after their forced exile, and his home, filled with Native art and Southwestern paintings, is preserved on a ranger-led tour. On many days a Navajo weaver demonstrates at a loom in the visitor center. It is a living, working window into the enduring relationship between traders and the Diné.
9:30 AM📍 See location
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Lunch
🍽️ Lunch10:30 AM
Ganado / Sage Memorial area dining
Dining is limited in this remote stretch of the Navajo Nation, so plan a simple midday meal near Ganado, where a local diner and the community around Sage Memorial offer basic, hearty fare — Navajo tacos on fry bread, mutton stew, and green-chile dishes are regional staples worth seeking out. Many travelers carry a picnic from Winslow for flexibility on this less-serviced day. Note that the Navajo Nation is dry, so no alcohol is served or permitted anywhere on tribal land.
2 options · tap to switch
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Afternoon
Continue at Hubbell Rug Room & Weaving Heritage
★ 4.6Use the afternoon to explore a different side of Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site — there's more to discover beyond the morning highlights.
12:00 PM📍 See location
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Evening
🚗
Drive
Ganado, AZ → Chinle, AZ
40 min5:00 PM → 5:40 PM
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Chinle lodging near Canyon de Chelly
Chinle is the gateway town to Canyon de Chelly and the practical overnight base for the final day, with a handful of hotels including the historic Thunderbird Lodge, which sits right at the canyon mouth on the site of an 1896 trading post and offers a cafeteria of Navajo and American fare. Book early, as options are limited and fill quickly in the warmer months. Staying in Chinle puts the canyon's rim drives and the visitor center minutes away for a first-light start, and it is the place to arrange an authorized Navajo guide for the next day's canyon-floor access. Remember that the Navajo Nation observes Daylight Saving Time, unlike the rest of Arizona.
Day 3 — Canyon de Chelly, AZ
Day 3 — Canyon de Chelly, AZ
🚗 5 hr 20 min driving📍 3 stops
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Morning
🚗
Drive
Chinle, AZ → Canyon de Chelly Visitor Center
5 min8:00 AM → 8:05 AM
Canyon de Chelly White House Overlook
★ 4.7Canyon de Chelly (pronounced 'de-SHAY') has been continuously inhabited for nearly 5,000 years, longer than almost anywhere else on the continent, and its sheer sandstone walls shelter the cliff dwellings of the Ancestral Puebloans alongside the farms and hogans of Navajo families who still live and graze sheep on the canyon floor. From the South Rim Drive, the White House Overlook gazes down onto the canyon's most famous ruin — a multi-room Ancestral Puebloan dwelling tucked into a soaring alcove of streaked red rock about 550 feet below. The White House Trail is the only route visitors may walk into the canyon without a Navajo guide, a 2.5-mile round-trip switchback descent to the ruin. Begin early to beat the heat and the crowds; carry ample water for the climb back out.
8:05 AM📍 See location
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Lunch
Thunderbird Lodge Cafeteria
★ 4.3The cafeteria at the historic Thunderbird Lodge, at the mouth of the canyon, is the most reliable meal near Canyon de Chelly, serving Navajo and American dishes — Navajo tacos, mutton stew, roast turkey, and fry bread — in a room hung with historic photographs on the site of an old trading post. It is convenient, unpretentious, and a fitting place to refuel between the rim drives. As everywhere on the Navajo Nation, no alcohol is served; a packed picnic is a good backup given the area's limited options.
9:05 AM📍 See location
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Afternoon
Spider Rock Overlook & the South Rim Drive
★ 4.9The South Rim Drive's grand finale is Spider Rock, a breathtaking 750-foot twin sandstone spire rising sheer from the canyon floor at the junction of Canyon de Chelly and Monument Canyon. In Navajo tradition it is the home of Spider Woman (Na'ashjé'íí Asdzáá), who taught the Diné the art of weaving — a sacred presence at the heart of the canyon. The overlook, and the string of viewpoints along the drive, deliver some of the most sublime scenery in the Southwest, especially in the warm slanting light of late afternoon. For access to the canyon floor and its many hidden ruins and rock-art panels, visitors must hire an authorized Navajo guide, arranged through the visitor center or local outfitters — the deepest and most rewarding way to experience this living cultural landscape before the long drive back to Phoenix.
12:00 PM📍 See location
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Evening
🚗
Drive
Chinle, AZ → Phoenix, AZ
5 hr 15 min5:00 PM → 10:15 PM
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