How long does it take to see Mesa Verde?
 

Our family of four with two children aged 11 and 13 are thinking about including Mesa Verde as part of a trip to southern and eastern Utah this summer. We're thinking about staying for one night in Mesa Verde. But is one day or so sufficient to see the most important sites? Or do you really need two? I would appreciate any thoughts. Obviously, we won't be hiking miles into the back country to see obscure ruins, although we do enjoy hikes in the 3-6 mile range that aren't unduly punishing on both young legs and middle-aged knees.

FWIW, when we went with our kids who were 13 and 9 at the time, we stayed one night. We arrived around lunchtime and left fairly early the next morning. We felt we were able to see quite a lot in that time.

If you start early in the day you can get tickets to the tours of Cliff Palace, Balcony House, and Wetherill Mesa scheduled, and fit in Spruce Treehouse.

We arrived late afternoon, and walked the Far View mesa after eating.

Our tour day was cut short by heavy rain & lightning and the Wetherill tour cancelled.

I would have liked an additional day.

One night worked for us, but the road to Wetherill Mesa was closed when we visited so we did not have that tour option.

We arrived mid-afternoon and bought tour tickets for the last tour of Cliff Palace that evening and tickets for the first tour the next morning for Balcony House. We had time to tour Spruce Tree House and visit the museum before our tour of Cliff Palace.

We should have done Cliff House/Balcony House in reverse because according to the ranger, Balcony House is in the shade in the late afternoon and Cliff Palace gets the morning sun. It wasn't too bad the way we toured, but the ladder at Balcony house was hot by 9:15.

We love hiking, but by the time we finished touring Balcony House late morning, it was hot and we passed on the hiking.

We stayed at Far View Lodge and while one night was enough for me, it really is the best option (besides camping) for seeing the park in depth. We had the most basic room and it definitely could have used some renovation, but it was worth staying in the park rather than making the drive from Cortez or Durango.

Weather permitting, one day should be fine to see the important sights and get the feel of how it must have been to live vertically.

Thanks to you all for the replies thus far.

A full day would work if you were able to coordinate your tour times. That won't always happen.

If you are going to be at the park during season {Memorial Day through LAbor Day} be sure to take the extra time to drive Wetherill Mesa and see Long House, Step House and Badger House. It is very different than seeing Cliff Palace, Spruce Tree House and Balcony House.

It is a long drive to get to where these [another 45 minutes or so] sites are located, so only about 10% of park visitors ever go there.

The perspective in Long House is the same as the Ancient Puebloans saw - you get to walk into the dwellings and look out and see what they saw.

Cliff Palace, Spruce Tree house, you are standing outside and looking in. That is really nice too, but very different.

I would plan on a full day and at least another 1/2 day either before or after the full day.

Don't rush throught this amazing place. If you need any specific info, I live close to Mesa Verde and will be happy to answer.

Deb

Don't know if you were planning on going to Durango. My 13 year old has begged for 2 or 3 years to do a zipline somewhere. You ride the train to the zipline. It looks cool. We are doing it the end of May. We are planning on staying 2 days in MV.

I would also highly recommend the restaurant at Far View Lodge for dinner. We were very pleasantly surprised with how good it was when we visited three years ago and hope it hasn't changed.

If you go to restaurant at Far View Lodge, make sure to be there when they open - 5:30pm I think. They don't take reservations, and often a busload of folks will come in all at once.

I haven't eaten there, but had a friend that served there in summer/fall 2006 and said the food was really good.
Deb

We all had great meals at the Far View Lodge in August.

Far View Terrace serves Aramak institutional buffet food. Ok for that kind of food, and less expensive than the Lodge.

We also brought in picnic-type food from outside the park for lunch. We were almost the only ones in the Spruce Treehouse picnic area