Moab is the outdoor adventure capital of the American Southwest — a small desert town in a canyon of the Colorado River, surrounded by some of the most spectacular red rock landscapes on earth. Arches National Park is five miles away, containing more than 2,000 natural sandstone arches. Canyonlands National Park is thirty miles distant, a vast plateau of canyon and mesa where the Colorado and Green rivers converge. Between and beyond them stretch hundreds of square miles of desert managed by the Bureau of Land Management, largely empty and open to anyone willing to walk.
Mountain biking, river rafting, hiking, and four-wheel driving are the main activities, and Moab caters to all of them with gear shops, outfitters, and restaurants along N. Main Street. The Slickrock Trail is one of the most famous mountain bike rides in the world. Dead Horse Point State Park, 32 miles north, offers a 2,000-foot drop to the Colorado River from a narrow mesa with the kind of view that makes a significant impression even on seasoned canyon travellers.
The town itself is small and functional — a strip of hotels, gear shops, cafes, and outfitters. The scenery begins where the town ends. Be warned: summer is brutally hot and very crowded. Spring (March–May) and autumn (September–October) are the best times to visit.