Page sits on a sandstone mesa above Glen Canyon Dam, right on the Utah border in northern Arizona. It is the base camp for some of the most dramatic desert scenery in the American Southwest: Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, Lake Powell, and the Vermilion Cliffs are all within easy reach.
The town itself started in the late 1950s as a construction camp for the workers building the dam. When construction finished, many left, but Page survived and eventually found a second life as a tourism hub. The scenery around it is extraordinary enough that visitors keep coming, and the town has grown steadily to serve them.
Antelope Canyon draws hundreds of thousands of visitors a year, and with good reason — the slot canyon's narrow passageways and shafts of light pouring onto the sculpted sandstone walls are unlike anything else in the world. Horseshoe Bend, just a mile from town, is a short walk from the car park to one of the most photographed views in the country: the Colorado River curling in an almost perfect circle 1,000 feet below. Both are worth the crowds.
Lake Powell stretches north into Utah, offering boating, houseboating, kayaking, and the chance to explore canyons accessible only by water.