Canyon country, done right.
Moab-based. Locally guided. Built around a simple idea: your day in the desert is worth more than a seat on a crowded van.
Sand & Stars Touring is a small private tour outfit based in Moab, Utah. We run permitted tours of Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, Dead Horse Point State Park, and the BLM backcountry that stitches them together.
We started for the reason most small tour companies start: we kept watching people spend a week planning a trip to the desert, then burn the best day of it stuck in a line at the park entrance, missing half the things that would have stopped them in their tracks.
Everything we do is aimed at the opposite of that. Private by default. Just your group, one vehicle. Local guides who actually live here and know the light, the weather, the crowd patterns. Itineraries shaped on the day, not scripts read off a clipboard.
We're a real small business. Permits, insurance, the whole stack. Not a clearinghouse sending you to strangers. When you book with us, you're booking us. The owner still drives. The guides you meet are the guides whose names we know.
Four things we don't compromise on
Private group, always
You'll never share a vehicle with strangers. Every tour is yours. Your pace, your stops, your schedule.
Real local guides
Our guides live in Moab year-round. Not weekenders, not gig-hoppers. They know the park calendar inside out.
Honest, transparent pricing
Per-person rates that shrink as groups grow. Park entry fees included. What you see is what you pay.
Weather-smart routing
We shape the day around what the desert is doing. Heat, wind, monsoon, low-angle light. That flexibility is the whole point.
Fully permitted. Professionally run.
We operate under Commercial Use Authorizations from the National Park Service for Arches and Canyonlands, a permit from Utah State Parks for Dead Horse Point, and Special Recreation Permits from the Bureau of Land Management for the surrounding canyon country.
Our guides carry current Wilderness First Aid, our vehicles are inspected and insured for commercial passenger service, and we follow Leave No Trace practices on every tour. None of this is a marketing line. It's how a legitimate tour company has to operate.
You shouldn't have to ask whether the company driving you into the desert is permitted and insured. With us, the answer is yes, on paper, every time.
We guide the full Mighty 5 & Grand Circle.
Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce, Zion. Plus Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Lake Powell, and the country in between. Our Bespoke tier designs the whole arc end to end, lodging, logistics, and guides handled.
One call. One itinerary. We handle the rest.
See Bespoke Expeditions →Come see canyon country with us
Pick a tour, pick a date, we'll handle the rest.
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