John Cletheroe's
USA and Canada Holiday Hints

Monticello, Utah

Location

The town of Monticello is located in southeastern Utah, about 53 miles south of Moab. It is at the junction of US191 and US666.

Description

Monticello is a pleasant small town with a good range of facilities such as motels, restaurants and shops. It is a good base for visiting the various places of interest in southeastern Utah, although Moab, being further north, is nearer Arches National Park, Dead Horse Point State Park and the Island In The Sky District of Canyonlands National Park.

Monticello is a smaller town than Moab or Blanding.

Motel rates tend to be considerably lower in Monticello or Blanding than in Moab.

We chose Monticello to stay in while visiting this region and felt that we'd made the right decision. However, the new Motel 6 in Moab is also a good option.

Monticello has a somewhat higher altitude than Moab or Blanding, making for normally slightly lower temperatures, which may make it more pleasant in the heat of summer. When we visited in June 1999 we woke one morning to see snow falling in Monticello, which turned to rain as we descended into Blanding. This cold weather was very abnormal - normally this entire area is extremely hot in summer.

The name Monticello means hill or small mountain in Italian. Whereas the name is often pronounced monty-chello (as with Thomas Jefferson's famous house in Virginia), a local guidebook said that the name of this town in Utah is pronounced monty-sello. However, "Mhsdawg20" emailed me to say:

John, I grew up in Monticello and it is not monty-cello but monta-cello.

In the Area

Utah

Home | States/Provinces | Subjects

As with all the other pages on this personal web site, all the information on this page is solely the opinion of the author, who has no connection whatsoever with any of the companies and organisations mentioned other than as an actual or potential customer.

About this personal web site JohnCletheroe

EMail me

Most recently modified 24-Mar-03