We're thinking of taking our 11 year old twins to Moab this summer - early summer (late May - early June).

Any recs for lodging? Right now we're looking at staying at Red Cliff Lodge, Under Canvas (but probably a no go due to no a/c) or Moab Springs Ranch....among others possibly. Would be really nice to have a restuarant, food/drinks and entertainment on location or at least closeby.

Is 3 nights good for a first time trip there with kids?

Obviously we'll do some hiking and see lots of the standard sights...but any recs for non-hiking or lesser known hikes, excursions, etc?

I know it'll be hot - but hopefully not too bad compared to heart of summer.

Any other tips, tricks, recs, etc.?

Edit to add...we'll be driving there and back from Ridgway, Co if that helps with anything.

Moab has some of the darkest skies on earth.

In my opinion, staying in town at a hotel is doing yourself a disservice.

I've rented a yurt at Deadhorse Point State Park before and that was a really pleasant stay and the stargazing was mind blowing. And pretty cheap. It's a bit of a hike to get back into town, but you're 5 minutes from the front gate of Canyonlands (Island in the sky district).

I usually stay in town but the hotels you're looking atalong the river are nice. And you're out of the main city lights so you'll get some dark skies.

Arches is cool. I'd suggest doing Delicate Arch either first thing in the morning or timing it so you come down as the sun sets. I'm not sure if they are doing timed entry again this year so look into that before you go.

We like the Needles area of Canyonlands. We used Navtec Expeditions to get us to Chesler Park which is my favorite area of the park. If you have time, get over to Goblin Valley State Park and Little Wild Horse Canyon. Speaking of yurts, there are some out there. Book way in advance, though. You'll need to bring your own gear to sleep in. I'd also suggest taking the kids canyoneering out there (near Hanksville). It's mostly in the shade, except for the hike in and out of the canyon. We use Desert Highlights as our guide. Going out with them next month, actually.

I've never been in the summer but I bet rafting is fun.

A sunset horseback ride at Hauer Ranch is pretty cool. Fisher Towers isn't too far from there and it's worth a stop/hike. (Look up Ancient Art Rock Climb if you're the adventure type…we did that last spring. Well, I didn't quite summit but got close. Still fun.)

North of town are some dinosaur tracks for the kids. And a dinosaur "park" which my son liked.

That is all that I can think of for now. I'll post more as I remember things.

We did a similar trip in late May last year and stayed and two separate Under Canvas locations along the way. There is no way we wouldn't do it again, just perfect night time experience. Was actually very cool at night, borderline starting the fire. The stars at night are amazing. There was one point that my 6 year old was on my lap and we saw a shooting star that felt like it was 10 ft above our head, we both still talk about how amazing that was.

Just be ready, because late may/early june can be VERY hot. I would be wary of lodgings without AC just for that reason. River rafting excursions are a good way to cool off, but I would not expect much flow this year given the light snowpack so far this year

We were there a few years ago in the first half of june and it was around 105-108F during the day. We did a lot of hiking in the very early morning and very late afternoon/early evening and napped in the AC midday. We went into the park at night and took a pizza out with us for dinner. We hiked to some of the shorter trail arches at night and took long exposure night sky photos of the stars.

Check out https://www.paddlemoab.com/canyoneering

We did the Medieval Chamber which had 2 rappels and a nice hike. Guides were excellent