The best things to do in Petrified Forest National Park reveal different chapters of the park's story—from a prehistoric forest and ancient Pueblo communities to Route 66 travelers crossing Arizona. Give yourself time to leave the car because many of the park's most memorable experiences are found along its short trails.

Explore the Painted Desert Overlooks

Begin at the northern end of Petrified Forest National Park, where overlooks such as Tiponi Point, Tawa Point, Pintado Point, Nizhoni Point, and Lacey Point reveal enormous expanses of red, pink, lavender, gray, and white badlands. Changing sunlight can dramatically alter the appearance of these layered formations.

Visit Painted Desert Inn National Historic Landmark

This Pueblo Revival landmark overlooks the Painted Desert and tells several layers of park history. The building began as a roadside inn and was substantially rebuilt by Civilian Conservation Corps crews during the 1930s. Inside, visitors can learn about Route 66, the CCC, and Hopi culture while seeing artwork associated with Hopi artist Fred Kabotie. The tour script describes Kabotie's murals and the inn's evolution into one of the park's most historically significant buildings.

See the Historic Route 66 Alignment

Petrified Forest National Park is the only U.S. national park containing a section of historic Route 66. At the Route 66 stop, a rusted Studebaker marks the landscape near the former highway alignment. It's a memorable place to consider the generations of Dust Bowl migrants, vacationers, truckers, and road trippers who crossed northern Arizona.

Walk Puerco Pueblo

Follow a short paved trail through the remains of an Ancestral Puebloan community. At its height, the pueblo contained more than 100 rooms around a central plaza, with residents farming corn, beans, and squash in the Puerco River floodplain. Petroglyphs nearby add another layer to the experience.

View Newspaper Rock

Newspaper Rock contains hundreds of petroglyphs created over many centuries. Look for spirals, geometric forms, animals, and other designs from the overlook. The tour identifies more than 650 petroglyphs at the site and notes that the rock art spans more than a thousand years.

Drive the Blue Mesa Loop Road

Blue Mesa is one of the most visually dramatic places in Petrified Forest National Park. The three-mile side road descends into blue, gray, lavender, red, and purple badlands created from ancient sediment and volcanic material. If time permits, walk the roughly one-mile Blue Mesa Trail for an even closer look.

Stop at Agate Bridge

This enormous petrified log stretches across a small gully like a stone bridge. Because the fossilized tree is harder than the surrounding rock, erosion removed the material underneath while leaving the log suspended. Concrete supports installed in the early 20th century now help preserve it.

Walk the Crystal Forest Loop

Crystal Forest is one of the best places to get close to petrified wood. The paved loop passes logs containing colorful quartz, jasper, agate, and crystal formations. It is also an important conservation site: early gem hunters once blasted logs apart while searching for valuable crystals.

Explore Rainbow Forest Museum and Giant Logs

Finish near the southern entrance at Rainbow Forest Museum. Exhibits introduce the prehistoric animals and plants of the Late Triassic, while the nearby Giant Logs Trail leads past enormous petrified trees, including the famous Old Faithful log.