Mesa Verde National Park
We’ve compiled the best of the best in Mesa Verde National Park - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
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1. Balcony House
The stonework of this 40-room cliff dwelling is impressive, but you're likely to be even more awed by the skill it must have taken to reach this place. Perched in a sandstone cove 600 feet above the floor of Soda Canyon, Balcony House seems suspended in space. Even with modern passageways and trails, today's visitors must climb a 32-foot ladder and crawl through a narrow tunnel. Look for the intact balcony for which the house is named. The dwelling is accessible only on a ranger-led tour.
Cliff Palace/Balcony House Rd., Cliff Palace Loop, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, 81330, USASight Details
Rate Includes: $4, Closed early Oct.--late Apr. -
2. Cliff Palace
This was the first major Mesa Verde dwelling seen by cowboys Charlie Mason and Richard Wetherill in 1888. It is also the largest, containing about 150 rooms and 23 kivas on three levels. Getting there involves a steep downhill hike and three ladders. You may enter Balcony House or Cliff Palace by ranger-guided tour only so purchase tickets in advance. The 90-minute, small-group "twilight tours" at sunset present this archaeological treasure with dramatic sunset lighting. Tour tickets are only available in advance at the Visitor and Research Center, Morefield Ranger Station, Durango Welcome Center, and online at www.recreation.gov.
Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, 81330, USASight Details
Rate Includes: Regular tickets $3; twilight tours $20, Closed Oct./Nov.--late May; loop closes at sunset -
3. Petroglyph Point Trail
Scramble along a narrow canyon wall to reach the largest and best-known petroglyphs in Mesa Verde. If you pose for a photo just right, you can manage to block out the gigantic "don't touch" sign next to the rock art. A map—available at any ranger station—points out three dozen points of interest along the trail. However, the trail is not open while Spruce Tree House is closed; check with a ranger for more information. Moderate.
Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, 81330, USA -
4. Badger House Community
A self-guided walk along paved and gravel trails takes you through a group of four mesa-top dwellings. The community, which covers nearly 7 acres, dates back to the year 650, the Basketmaker Period, and includes a primitive, semisubterranean pit house and what's left of a multistory stone pueblo. Allow about 45 minutes to see the sites. The trail is 2.4 miles round-trip.
Wetherill Mesa Rd., 12 miles from Far View Center, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, 81330, USASight Details
Rate Includes: Free, Closed late Oct.--early May; road closes at 6 pm -
5. Cedar Tree Tower
A self-guided tour takes you to, but not through, a tower and kiva built between 1100 and 1300 and connected by a tunnel. The tower-and-kiva combinations in the park are thought to have been either religious structures or signal towers.
Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, 81330, USASight Details
Rate Includes: Free -
Recommended Fodor’s Video
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6. Chapin Mesa Archeological Museum
This is an excellent first stop for an introduction to Ancestral Pueblo culture, as well as the area's development into a national park. Exhibits showcase original textiles and other artifacts, and a theater plays an informative film every 30 minutes. Rangers are available to answer your questions. The shop focuses on educational materials, but you can also find park-themed souvenirs. The museum sits at the south end of the park entrance road and overlooks Spruce Tree House. Nearby, you'll find park headquarters, a gift shop, a post office, a snack bar, and bathrooms.
Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, 81330, USA970-529–4465-General information lineSight Details
Rate Includes: Free -
7. Chapin Mesa Picnic Area
Other AttractionThis is the nicest and largest picnic area in the park. It has about 40 tables under shade trees and a great view into Spruce Canyon, as well as flush toilets.
Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, 81330, USA -
8. Cliff Palace Picnic Area
At this picnic area, there are several wooden tables under shade trees, plus restrooms, but no running water. The area is wheelchair accessible, although the nearby Cliff Palace dwellings are not.
Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, 81330, USASight Details
Rate Includes: Not plowed in the winter. Closed after sunset, No credit cards -
9. Far View Sites Complex
This was probably one of the most densely populated areas in Mesa Verde, comprising as many as 50 villages in a ½-square-mile area at the top of Chapin Mesa. Most of the sites here were built between 900 and 1300. Begin the self-guided tour at the interpretive panels in the parking lot, then proceed down a ½-mile, level trail.
Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, 81330, USASight Details
Rate Includes: Free, In winter, access by parking at the gate and walking in -
10. Farming Terrace Trail
This 30-minute, ½-mile loop begins and ends on the spur road to Cedar Tree Tower, about 1 mile north of the Chapin Mesa area. It meanders through a series of check dams, which the Ancestral Pueblo built to create farming terraces. Easy.
Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, 81330, USA -
11. Knife Edge Trail
Perfect for a sunset stroll, this easy 2-mile (round-trip) walk around the north rim of the park leads to an overlook of the Montezuma Valley. If you stop at all the flora identification points that the trail pamphlet suggests, the hike takes about 1½ to 2 hours. The patches of asphalt you spot along the way are leftovers from old Knife Edge Road, built in 1914 as the main entryway into the park. Easy.
Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, 81330, USA -
12. Kodak House Overlook
Get an impressive view into the 60-room Kodak House and its several small kivas from here. The house, closed to the public, was named for a Swedish researcher who absentmindedly left his Kodak camera behind here in 1891.
Wetherill Mesa Rd., Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, 81330, USASight Details
Rate Includes: Closed late Oct.--May -
13. Long House
This Wetherill Mesa cliff dwelling is the second largest in Mesa Verde. It is believed that about 150 people lived in Long House, so named because of the size of its cliff alcove. The spring at the back of the cave is still active today. The in-depth, ranger-led tour begins a short distance from the parking lot and takes about 90 minutes. You hike about 2 miles, including two 15-foot ladders.
Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, 81330, USASight Details
Rate Includes: Tours $5, Closed mid-Oct.--mid-May -
14. Mesa Top Loop Road
This 6-mile drive skirts the scenic rim of Chapin Mesa and takes you to several overlooks and short, paved trails. You'll get great views of Sun Temple and Square Tower, as well as Cliff Palace, Sunset House, and several other cliff dwellings visible from the Sun Point Overlook.
Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, USA -
15. Mesa Verde Visitor and Research Center
The visitor center is the best place to go to sign up for tours, get the information you need to plan a successful trip, and buy tickets for the Cliff Palace, Balcony House, and Long House ranger-led tours. The sleek, energy-efficient research center is filled with more than 3 million artifacts and archives. The center features indoor and outdoor exhibits, a gift shop, picnic tables, and a museum. Find books, maps, and videos on the history of the park.
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16. Montezuma Valley Overlook Picnic Area
There is only one picnic table (and no services) here, but the view is excellent.
Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, 81330, USASight Details
Rate Includes: No credit cards -
17. Park Entrance Road
The main park road, also known as SH 10, leads you from the entrance off U.S. 160 into the park. As a break from the switchbacks, you can stop at a couple of pretty overlooks along the way, but hold out for Park Point, which, at the mesa's highest elevation (8,572 feet), gives you unobstructed, 360-degree views. Note that trailers and towed vehicles are not permitted beyond Morefield Campground.
Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, USA -
18. Pit Houses and Early Pueblo Villages
Three dwellings, built on top of each other from 700 to 950, at first look like a mass of jumbled walls, but an informational panel helps identify the dwellings—and the stories behind them are fascinating. The 325-foot trail from the walking area is paved, wheelchair accessible, and near a restroom.
Mesa Top Loop Rd., Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, 81330, USASight Details
Rate Includes: Free -
19. Prater Ridge Trail
This 7.8-mile round-trip loop, which starts and finishes at Morefield Campground, is the longest hike you can take inside the park. It provides fine views of Morefield Canyon to the south and the San Juan Mountains to the north. About halfway through the hike, you'll see a cut-off trail that you can take, which shortens the trip to 5 miles. Difficult.
Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, 81330, USA -
20. Soda Canyon Overlook
Get your best view of Balcony House here. You can also read interpretive panels about the site and the surrounding canyon geology.
Cliff Palace Loop Rd., Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, 81330, USASight Details
Rate Includes: Access in winter by walking the Cliff Palace Loop
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