Looking at a family vacation there this summer, and looking for recommendations on lodging and must sees.

Planning on hitting the parks and doing a rafting and/or ATV trip.

I've stayed at Red Cliffs Lodge about 14 miles outside of Moab on the Colorado River several times and really enjoyed it. On the hiking end you have Arches NP and Canyonlands NP in both the Island in the Sky district and the Needles district. There are a number of outfitters that handle raft trips and will take you on backcountry trips into the Needles district and the Maze district of Canyonlands. I can dig up the names of two that we've used if you're interested. It's really a great area. Also plenty of four wheel drive and mountain biking opportunities if you're interested .

There is so much federal land out there, you can throw your tent up just about anywhere and be fine.

When I went, we spent the first night outside of Moab, two nights in the Needles District of Canyonlands NP, one night near Dark Canyon, and two nights in Capitol Reef NP.

Capitol Reef was really awesome! It is a little ways away from Moab, but was certainly worth the trip. Depending on when you get there, you may even get to pick some fruit from the trees of an old mormon village.

The outdoor activities are endless in the area. Before we went I used their tourist website (http://www.discovermoab.com/) and got a ton of info and outdoor activities. We were only hiking so we didn't utilize any guides or services.

Definitely hit up the two national parks, Arches and Canyonlands. If I was a kid, I'd really enjoy floating the river or mountain biking in the area.

Pictures of the trip

I used to live in Moab--know the owner and the manager out a Red Cliffs very well. We always stay out at Red Cliffs when we go to visit because it's definitely the nicest place in town--actually stayed there this past fall when I ran the Moab Half.

If you're looking for stuff to do, places to stay/eat, I can definitely help you out. By the way, if you can ride a mountain bike at all, you won't be able to beat the views of the landscape that you can get by riding a bike.

Either way, I'm sure you'll love it there--it's a fantastic place to live and visit as well.

don't ignore the La Sal mountains either. one day you can be in the canyonlands and the next day enjoying mountain lakes and streams with 10,000 foot peaks.

+1 for La Sal mountains!

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places to stay/eat

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Recommended campgrounds?

Restaurants?

for camping, i'd just stay in a national forest or on BLM land. Then you aren't constrained to being in a campground and you don't have to pay. BLM land is amazing, I wish we had some in Texas.

dead horse point state park is another good place to check out/camp

You can pretty much camp anywhere. I honestly don't think there's a bad place to camp there. During the summer, camping along 128 which is the scenic highway that runs along the Colorado and the canyon is a pretty fun place to camp. You can do some swimming in the river because it's definitely hot.

For food, here are some places to go:

1. Moab Brewery - Pretty decent bar food, good micro brews.
2. Eddie McStiffs - Good pizza, good beer as well.
3. The Sunset Grill - It's farily expensive, but you can't beat the view and the food is really good.
4. The Branding Iron - More like a country bar with good home-cooked bar food. The burgers are great.
5. La Hacienda - It actually has pretty good Mexican Food.
6. Red Cliffs Lodge - It's about 12 miles outside of town, but has really good food.

If I think of more, I'll add them to this list.

I live in salt lake, and ride in Moab fairly often. I second what throwout has said.

Like Moab....pretty sweet, esp. if your X-sports type. Good Home breweries also.
But, for my money...nothing beat Monumnet Valley just short from there.