Moab Tourism Center

The Moab Tourism Center on Main Street is the practical first stop for any family arriving in Moab without a fully detailed plan — and even families with a plan benefit from checking in here. The center is staffed by knowledgeable locals who can provide genuinely useful guidance about what activities are appropriate for specific ages and fitness levels, current trail conditions, and how to make the most of your time in this adventure-saturated destination.

For families, the center's value is primarily informational: free maps of Arches and Canyonlands, trail guides for Bureau of Land Management lands, current road conditions for dirt tracks, and staff recommendations for family-appropriate experiences that match your kids' ages and abilities. This kind of on-the-ground local knowledge is difficult to replicate with online research, especially when conditions change rapidly in the desert.

Junior Ranger program materials for the national parks in the area may be available here — a great way to get kids engaged with the landscape they're about to explore. Completing Junior Ranger booklets and getting a badge is a proven way to turn a hiking trip into a meaningful accomplishment for kids.

The center is air-conditioned, stroller-accessible, and has clean restrooms — useful amenities in themselves on a Moab summer day. It's also free, which is increasingly rare in a town where almost every experience carries a ticket price.

Spend 20–30 minutes here at the start of your trip and you'll leave with a clearer, better-organized plan that avoids the expensive mistakes of booking the wrong tours or showing up at the wrong trailhead without the right gear.