Window Rock

Window Rock is just west of the New Mexico state line and is more easily reached by road from New Mexico than from Arizona. NM SR 264 leads from Gallup on Interstate highway 40 (following historic Route 66) to the town. The southwestern approach to the town is via US highway 191 from I-40.

It's a small town; just walk, bike or drive.

• Navajo Nation Museum, Library, & Visitor's Center

  phone: +1 928-871-7941
  address: Hwy 264 & Postal Loop Road.,
  The modern Navajo Nation Museum is dedicated to preserving and interpreting the rich and unique culture of the Navajo Nation. Native displays, a book and gift shop, snack bar, auditorium, outdoor amphitheater, information kiosk, library, and on-site traditional Navajo hogan complete the center.

• Navajo Nation Zoo and Botanical Park

  phone: +1-928-871-6574
  The only zoo in the U.S. owned by a Native American tribe, the Navajo Zoo focuses on animals native to the reservation and the Southwest.

See the Navajo Nation article for a discussion of Navajo rugs and other distinctive arts and crafts of the region. Navajo Arts and Crafts Enterprises is headquartered in Window Rock (SR 264 just east of the center of town) and may be worth a visit, not so much for buying goods as for learning about other places in the region for buying them.

Try out the local frybread stands, most near the downtown fleamarket.

• Cociana De Dominguez

  phone: +1 928-810-3777

• Mikasa 2Chinese and other Asian cuisines.

Alcoholic beverages are prohibited within Navajo Nation. If you simply must have a beer, Gallup, New Mexico is only a few miles away, but bar-hopping there may expose you to some hostility, owing to problems with alcoholism in Navajo Nation.

• Quality Inn Navajo Nation Capital

  phone: +1 928 871-4108
  address: 48 W. Highway 264

• Navajoland Inn & Suites

  phone: +1-928-871-5690
  address: 392 W. Hwy. 264, Saint Michaels

• Window Rock is a good base camp from which to visit some of the Navajo Nation trading posts and look for Navajo rugs and other folk art. Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, near Ganado, is a unit of the United States National Park System, but is also a working post with a good collection of rugs and jewelry. Posts at Crystal (picturesque setting, quite different from the desert you might be expecting), Two Grey Hills (a particularly noted rug-weaving region), and Wide Ruin are also close.
• Other nearby national parks and monuments include Canyon de Chelly National Monument to the north and Petrified Forest National Park to the southwest along I-40.