Canyonlands National Park or Arches National Monument?

The two national parks are close to each other. But, I have only one day to stay in Moab. Which one is better for visiting?

I would recommend Arches over Canyonlands if you had to choose only one. While the canyons in Canyonlands are nice to look at, natural arches are much more rare than canyons are and Arches has one of the highest concentrations in the world with over 2,000 arches in the park boundaries including the second longest arch in the world, Landscape Arch.

Many of the arches are short hikes from the road with Devil’s Garden and the Windows Section having from of the better arches. There is also Delicate Arch, also a short hike, which is the Park’s official icon and a well known image that many people have seen without knowing its name.