Start your explorations in Albuquerque‘s Old Town Plaza, the city’s original 18th-century town square, where narrow adobe-lined lanes are filled with turquoise jewelry stalls, galleries and shops built into some of the city’s oldest surviving buildings. Anchoring the plaza is San Felipe de Neri Church, a working parish built in 1793 and one of the city’s most photographed landmarks. Grab a green chile cheeseburger for lunch at the Dog House Drive-In, a Route 66 institution recognizable by its rooftop neon hot dog sign. As afternoon turns to evening, ride the Sandia Peak Aerial Tramway — one of the longest aerial trams in the world — up more than 3,000 meters for sunset views stretching across the Rio Grande Valley. Enjoy dinner with a view at TEN 3, the mountaintop restaurant near the tram’s summit, before heading to Historic Nob Hill for an evening stroll among some of the best-preserved neon signage left on the original Route 66 alignment. Save some energy for tomorrow — the drive to Gallup, New Mexico, is the first real stretch of open road on this trip.

Gallup has called itself the “Indian Capital of the World” since the early 20th century, and a walk down its Route 66 corridor makes the case. Richardson Trading Co. has been a Gallup fixture since 1913 and it’s easy to see why travelers linger here. From Navajo rugs and silverwork to Zuni pottery and Hopi basketry, no two pieces are alike and every purchase directly supports the artists and communities behind each creation. A few blocks over, Gallup Trading Co. carries a similar range of handmade jewelry, with a focus on high-end, old-style pieces set with rare stones. And for a more casual browse, there’s the Gallup Flea Market, one of the largest Native American markets in the USA with more than 500 vendors selling jewelry and pottery alongside food stalls, antiques and household goods — all at flea market prices. Time your visit right, and you’ll catch the Gallup Summer Indian Dances & Art Market, held Tuesday through Thursday evenings from June-August, or the Gallup Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial, a 10-day gathering in late July and early August that’s drawn tribal dancers and artists from across the Southwest since 1922. End the day at the El Rancho Hotel, built in 1937 to house film crews shooting Western films in the surrounding red rock. Its lobby is still lined with signed photos from stars who stayed there, and the onsite restaurant serves up New Mexican comfort food like steak and cheddar enchiladas and green chile stew. Rest up well tonight — tomorrow brings a packed itinerary, starting with the breathtaking landscapes of Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert.

Petrified Forest National Park deserves more than a drive-by — budget at least two to three hours to do the 45-kilometer park road justice. Start at the Painted Desert Visitor Center on the north end, where the badlands unfold in bands of red, orange and gray, best seen from the Painted Desert Rim Trail. Continue south to Blue Mesa, where a short, paved loop drops you into blue-gray hills studded with fossilized wood, then to Newspaper Rock, an overlook onto sandstone covered in centuries-old petroglyphs. Save Crystal Forest for last — the park’s densest concentration of fossilized logs, their cross-sections gleaming with quartz and amethyst crystals formed over 200 million years as silica replaced the original wood. Take the park’s south entrance along Route 66 west through Holbrook, worth a quick stop at the Wigwam Motel’s teepee-shaped rooms. From there, continue on for an hour and a half into Winslow, Arizona, a small town known for its brush with music history. The town landmark is Standin’ on the Corner Park, a small roadside plaza built around the Eagles’ 1972 hit “Take it Easy.” Snap a picture alongside the bronze statue, mural and vintage flatbed Ford resting by the curb. With the rest of the afternoon free, explore the rest of Winslow’s compact downtown — including the Old Trails Museum, before settling in for the night at La Posada, one of the last great railway hotels of its kind still operating.

With a short, easy drive behind you, arrive at the South Rim with the afternoon still ahead — time enough to claim a spot at Hopi Point or Mather Point as the canyon walls deepen into orange and purple at sunset. Settle in for the night at a glamping site just outside the park — Under Canvas Grand Canyon is a solid option — where a canvas tent and a campfire dinner make for a memorable first evening at the rim. Rise before dawn the next morning for an equally dramatic sunrise from the rim, when the light is softest and the crowds haven’t arrived yet. Spend the rest of day five seeing the canyon from a new angle on a helicopter flight over the rim, followed by a guided rim walk that covers the canyon’s geology and human history in more depth than a solo visit allows. As evening falls, return to your luxe tent for another campfire dinner and a night beneath some of the darkest skies in the country; the Grand Canyon has held International Dark Sky Park status since 2019. The next morning, decide how the trip ends: drive about four hours south to Phoenix for a quieter finish of spa days and Sonoran Desert scenery, or four and a half to five hours west to Las Vegas, Nevada, for a louder one, with shows, casinos and around-the-clock energy on the Strip. Both airports make for an easy flight home, or a launchpad for a few more days of vacation.