Top 5 Photo Spots in Arizona

Hey Guys!

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Hope you guys are having a good day today 🙂 Scott and I are super excited with all the Arizona content we have for you, so be prepared for lots of southwest vibes 🙂 Today we are going to be talking about our top 5 photo spots near Page, Arizona! Never heard of Page before? Here’s a little gist for you, Page is a city in Coconino County, Arizona, near the Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell. Lots and lots of tourists come here for guided tours of Antelope Canyon, that’s the main attraction. The reason why we decided to road trip here, was because of all the locations that were within a few hours drive away i.e. Monument Valley, the Grand Canyon, and Bryce Canyon (didn’t get to go during this trip unfortunately.) So without further adieu, here are our top 5 photo spots while checking out Page, AZ!

A favorite for many, Horseshoe Bend has become a popular spot to photograph because of Instagram. With the Colorado river flowing through it taking a photo here is destined for greatness. Sunrise or sunset is when it looks the most beautiful (in our opinion.) For us, we set out to capture the sunset and got gorgeous shots during golden hour. Since this place is SO popular and very close to Page, be prepared for lots and lots of tourists at this spot. There is a dirt road parking lot that is usually always full, so prepare to wait for a spot. After you park, you will go on a mini hike over a decently sized hill and a long downhill section, where you will finally see where everyone is stopped looking over the edge at Horseshoe Bend. Make sure to bring a wide lens with you in order to capture everything this spot has to offer, but don’t forget a longer telephoto lens to create some cool compositions with the canyon below.

Only a 2 hour car ride from Page, Monument Valley is a great place to spend some of the day driving along the 17 mile access road to view the majestic monuments on this Navajo Nation Reservation. This spot is another highly sought after location for taking pictures for the gram because of its popularity on social media, BUT you wouldn’t get that thought while visiting, because there aren’t a lot of people actually there with you. Our plan on the day we visited Monument Valley, was to get some footage of the sun rising over the monuments, so we got there super early to ensure we would make it on time. To our surprise, it was pretty empty everywhere we stopped at. To see all the monuments, you have to drive down a very bumpy dirt road to each landmark, it was super fun and felt like you were on a field trip from when you were little. If you’re looking for a photo spot to spend 2 hours or less at, this is the place to go to.

Not too far from Page is Vermillion Cliffs, probably a 45 min drive. Here, you will find the best location for “empty road pics” a classic among travel bloggers 😉 There are lots of photo ops at this location, which include the wave, and white pocket, but permits are needed to gain entrance. It can take months to gain these permits so do research online before heading out there so you wont waste your precious time! We didn’t plan on checking out those spots, but had a great time to the south of the cliffs taking pictures of the empty roads with some gorgeous backdrops behind us 🙂 Its a great place to check out and in somewhat seems to be somewhat overlooked by tourists and photographers while visiting the Page area.

Lake Powell is located right next to the town of Page and is super accessible to reach! Although we didn’t take pictures inside Lake Powell, we found the best spot for taking photos of the Lake was above it on a lookout. We did have the chance to go inside the actual park and check it out during our trip. The lake is known for it’s boat tours, which we really wanted to do, but didn’t end up having the time. Lake Powell is a nice spot to capture the sunset or sunrise. For us, we chose to capture the sunrise one morning and we had an awesome view and almost no other people around us that morning.

The main attraction to Page AZ that I had talked about earlier, Antelope Canyon, is one of the most popular photo opportunities for tourists. We had planned on paying for a tour but were too late with registering online, that everything was booked for the following day. That being said, if you want to go to on an Antelope Canyon tour, you MUST book way in advance! But for us, this was a blessing in disguise. Waterhole Canyon is a short 15 minute drive from town, that takes you on a downhill hike into a gorgeous slot canyon, much like antelope canyon. The only difference between the more famous canyon and this one is that you aren’t surrounded by people all trying to take the same shot. We had seen this spot while driving to Horseshoe Bend on our first day in Page and thought, “Hey we should check that out” turns out it would be the highlight of our trip. A permit is needed to go on the hike but there is a little call box that has the address and info on how to obtain it. Another 20 minutes back into town and you will find a trailer selling these permits. Once you have your permit, be prepared for a full on adventure! Going down into the canyon is super fun because its a straight down rock climb maneuvering down the rocks. Once at the bottom, you will have miles and miles of beautiful red canyon to take photos of. Just like in the antelope canyon, the time of day really matters for the lighting on the canyon walls. Mid day is suppose to be the best because of all the light making its way in. The take away here is if you want to pay a bunch of money to share a small area with people all fighting for the same picture (which is absolutely stunning, we must say) then you can suck it up and do that tour. But if you want to spend $12 on a permit to be engulfed in a giant valley all to yourself taking as much time as you want, then this is the place for you! Again this was our favorite photo spot from the trip so you decide what fits best with you!

Thanks for checking out this blog post, we hope it helps you! If you have any questions please feel try to reach out in the comments or send us a message! We would love to help! We hope you guys have an awesome rest of your week and we look forward to talking more with you on our Az trip!