Hopi Indian Reservation, Arizona

The Hopi Indian Reservation in Arizona is located just south of Winslow. It is also called Hopiland or even Hopi, and is completely surrounded by the local Navajo Reservation. It attracts a fair number of visitors who want to see the hidden culture and amazing traditions that this tribe is so famous for.

Stuck in the center of the Navajo territory, Arizona's Hopi or Hopiland Indian Reservation is an amazing mixture of green mesas and adobe buildings. Its many inhabitants are very happy to share their culture, traditions, legends and artistic talents with any tourists who care to pay a visit.

Hopi have inhabited the area for about one thousand years. This isolated area, with its completely flat mesas and harsh countryside, is the Hopi peoples' universal center. There they pursue their prehistoric traditions, and many facets of their pueblo civilization continue on. However, most of their culture is concealed from the tourists, and even though they are glad to present their intricate spiritual and communal dances during the year, most of them are not privy to strangers.

The mesas are the dwellings of two of the older and constantly occupied villages, Old Oraibi and Walpi. Though their age is visible, they keep the cultural face of the ancient Puebloan civilization alive. However, most homes are the same as any modern North American one, scattered in groups across the reservation. In fact, these are private, and the only real destinations on the reservation include a collection of stores and studios, selling varied arts and crafts – pottery, baskets, kachinas and jewelry. This is of course the major reason why so many tourists visit the Hopiland, but the chance to take a tour with a local native through Walpi is also a big treat.