Rent Cars from Local Owners in Chinle

About Chinle Car Rentals

Chinle is the gateway community to Canyon de Chelly National Monument — one of the longest-continuously-inhabited landscapes in North America, sacred to the Navajo (Diné) people for centuries, and one of the most spectacular sandstone canyon systems in the Southwest. The 26-mile canyon's sheer cliffs range from 30 to over 1,000 feet, dotted with Ancestral Puebloan ruins (Spider Rock, Antelope House, the iconic White House Ruin) and modern Navajo homes and farms still in the canyon. With ItWhip, locals deliver to your stay at Thunderbird Lodge (the only hotel inside Canyon de Chelly, Navajo Nation-operated), Holiday Inn Chinle, or one of the Navajo-owned Airbnbs. Phoenix Sky Harbor (PHX) is over 5 hours south — most guests fly into PHX or Albuquerque (ABQ, 4 hrs east) and drive up. SUVs and AWD are strongly recommended — paved Rim Drives are accessible to any vehicle, but the dirt roads in the canyon (where authorized) and back-country routes around the reservation reward clearance and traction. Important visitor notes: To enter the canyon floor (where most ruins are) you MUST go with an authorized Navajo guide — no self-guided canyon hiking is permitted, except the famously closed White House Ruins Trail. Canyon de Chelly Tours (100% Diné-owned, NPS + Navajo Parks certified) and Thunderbird Lodge's Pinzgauer army-truck tours are the two main options. The Visitor Center is open year-round 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM. Driving tip: AZ-191 to Chinle is remote — gas up at Window Rock, Ganado, or Many Farms before you cross long stretches with no services. Cell service is spotty.

• •SUVs and AWD critical for reservation back-country and weather variability
• •Locals know every canyon overlook and the best tour operators
• •Easy hub for Monument Valley, Hubbell Trading Post, Four Corners
• •Gas up before you go — services are sparse on the rez