The biggest and most impressive pair of monoliths are The Mittens; one East and one West, each has a distinct thumb splintering off from its central bulk. More than a dozen other spires spread nearby, along with rock art panels and assorted minor Ancestral Puebloan ruins.
You can see the buttes for free, towering alongside US-163, but the four-mile detour to enter Monument Valley Tribal Park is rewarded with much closer views. A rough, unpaved road drops from behind the visitor centre and View hotel to run through Monument Valley itself. The seventeen-mile self-drive route makes a bumpy but bearable ride in an ordinary vehicle and takes something over an hour. However, the Navajo-led jeep or horseback tours into the backcountry are very much recommended; a ninety-minute jeep trip costs from around $50 per person if arranged on the spot, with plenty of longer and potentially much more expensive alternatives. As well as stopping at such movie locations as the Totem Pole, most tours call in at a Navajo hogan (eight-sided dwelling) to watch weavers at work.