If you're in Cortez, definitely go and visit and taste their chocolates with a fun magic history…read moreshow. Thank you so much for accommodating & making this happen for me at such short notice. To experience this intimate fun magic and delicious chocolate & truffle generous tasting. Bryan and Joanne are so creative & talented with all they have personally done inside, with the memorabilia they have collected and incorporated into their act. It's great for all ages. Make reservations, you won't regret it. No pictures of the magic show, that would be telling

Dotty Wampus is definitely worth the visit! I am visiting from Minnesota and my cousin took me as a…read moretreat. It was a GREAT way to spend the afternoon. When I come back to Colorado I will make another visit. The attentiveness of the hosts Bryan and Joanne immediately made you feel welcome. They had water, sparkling water, the kettle was going for tea and the ambiance embraced you with warmth. Bryan's showmanship and personality brought life to the show. I appreciated Joanne's thoughtfulness. She made sure that those of us who needed a chair had one. Thank you!! And of course there are the MAGNIFICENT chocolates! They melt in your mouth and you can taste the flavors as they explode in their grandeur! It was magical.

This is a huge, beautiful, and modern visitor center. On one end you can glimpse their archival…read moresection that preserves the artifacts found here and the research work going on. The other end has a bookshop and a small museum that gives context to the history of the area. Since the national park is so large, I had to ask a ranger for clarification to see what areas of the park were open. Wetherill Mesa is currently closed due to construction. There's also free wifi (you can use it to download the NPS app and get more information during your visit) and clean bathrooms.

Nice visitor center right at the entrance to Mesa Verde National Parks. Was pleasantly surprised by…read morehow large their visitor center was. Plenty of exhibits and information on the park and the Ancestral Pueblo culture. Perfect starting point to lay some foundation before entering the park. Everyone we interacted with here was so nice and friendly, more than willing to share what they know about the park and the culture. Nice little bookstore. Not the largest I've seen but has a nice selection. Plenty of clean bathrooms. Should definitely be your first stop when visiting the national park.

Wow, Cliff Palace completely blew my mind. I was amazed at the dwellings we saw, how well preserved…read morethey were, and our guide gave us so much information throughout the tour. You need to book a tour in order to get close to the dwellings at Mesa Verde. Otherwise you can only see them from the overlooks. I would definitely recommend a tour as it's impossible to get a feel for the dwellings without actually being in them. We had a short walk down to Cliff Palace and there were a few ladders to climb, but overall the tour was not strenuous and my out of shape 50+ year old self didn't have any difficulty. I would recommend a morning tour to beat the heat. We also toured Balcony House, and if I had to choose just one, I'm not sure which one I would pick. Be sure to book early on the National Parks website and don't miss an up close tour of a dwelling when you visit Mesa Verde.

Seeing cliff palace was actually SUCH an amazing experience. It is the biggest of the cave…read moredwellings in Mesa Verde national park. We had a tour scheduled, but they had to cancel it due to public health concern. While it was a bummer to miss our tour, I was happy to know that the park is in good hands of people who are concerned for public health. Every ranger we talked to was amazing. It was still incredible to just see it from the viewpoints. It's awesome to see how people lived hundreds of years ago. I would highly recommend checking it out. The clouds were gorgeous the day we went and it was just really magical!

What a great tour historical and has some great ghost tours! I'd go again. Thank you!read more

What an outstanding way to learn the history of a city. The Cortez Ghost tour was fun, informative…read moreand filled with history / spooky tales of the city. This walking tour can be found by searching for things to do in Cortez. Our guide Helen, did a wonderful job keeping us all entertained. If you are looking for a group activity or something fun to do in the evening, this is a group walking tour that starts at 8PM and runs for 1.5 hours of light city hiking through the town of Cortez, check this out.

We booked this 700 year tour and then had to cancel our entire trip. The web site says that you can…read moreget a 100% refund if you cancel with in 72 hours. We canceled about 2 weeks before the tour date (4 people $468 billed) . I filled out their rediculous tour refund form that was asking why were were canceling and what other expenses we had to cancel all of which is non of their business, They refunded appx 1/2 of what we paid. I have been trying for weeks to reach someone through this organization with no luck. What a scam....they still owe us the rest of our money!

Not fully understanding the way to see Mesa Verde, we booked onto the 700 years tour. The website…read moreinsinuates that this is a great way to get to see the cliff dwellings up close and learn about the history of the place. We knew, going into it, that the cliff palace was closed for road developments. We were excited to see and learn all about the history of the area but it quickly became apparent that the 4 LONG hours on the tour would be driving around the (publicly accessible) Mesa Top road and stopping at places deemed photo worthy. The information we gleaned from the tour guide was no more substantive than the information available on the boards at each site. In fact, the boards had more detail. There was a definite tone to some of the nuggets of information shared by our tour guide, and an eye roll at using BCE and CE for dates (as is common nowadays in the world), which didn't really conceal the guide's opinion that this was "political correctness gone mad!" It isn't, it's an inclusive, globally forward way to talk about dates that isn't Christian-centric. Also, was quite disgusted when they described the accessible ramp to one of the overlooks as the "handicapped ramp", it wouldn't have killed them to say "easier access route". When it came to Spruce House, a cliff dwelling you can self guide around, we had 45 minutes to explore. But, with covid, access to it was closed, and the other trails options would have taken far longer than 45 minutes. So, knowing this in advance (along with cliff palace being closed) why did we spend 45 minutes there? In fact, why did we pay full price for a tour that knowingly had a big part of it closed? Why did we do spruce house and miss coyote village, and the sun temple (both of which were open and allowed walking around)? So you may be asking "Why did we do this tour at all?" Because we, incorrectly, thought you had to book a tour to see anything at MV. This isn't the case. And, in this particular case, skip the $80 price tag per person, and drive the loop yourself. If you can read the information boards, you'll glean lots more about the evolution of the MV culture over the 700 years. Avoid, avoid, avoid. Book early with the NPS for their ranger tours.

The balcony house tour took my breath away. The views were absolutely stunning, and our tour guide,…read moreAllie, was incredibly knowledgeable about both the history and the geology of the site. She was also incredibly respectful of the fact that this was someone's home and is someone's great, great, great grandma's home. Walking down to the site, you get to enjoy gorgeous canyon views, and the clouds were so pretty the day we toured this site. The houses themselves are incredible. It's so fun to see the craftsmanship and how people built things at this time. This site is called balcony house because they had a public square that they built little balconies around for people to sit on and be able to see what was going on. Super interesting to learn about. This tour does include a climb up a 32 foot ladder. If you're scared of heights, this could be challenging. I had a moment on it for sure but made it up. Just don't look down. There is also a tunnel that you have to crawl through. The way up is the way the puebloans got in and out of this site. It's a little treacherous, but they have chains and grips to hold on to to help yourself up. If you're up for the ladders and tunnels, I would totally recommend this amazing tour of this amazing house!

One of the big highlights of visiting Mesa Verde National Park are the tours of the cliff dwellings…read moreof the Ancestral Pueblo people, built around 800 years ago and still wonderfully preserved. Balcony House is one of the four locations you can book a guided tour for, and it was such an incredible experience. Our guide, Ray, is one of the NP rangers and gave us such a wonderfully informative and interesting tour of this cliff dwelling. Easily the highlight of our trip to the park. Definitely a more involved tour, though. It does involve climbing up multiple ladders and crawling through a small tunnel during the tour. And let me tell you, that wooden ladder can get hot in the sun. So if either of those things makes you nervous, I might reconsider doing this tour. The tours can be booked up to 14 days in advance for $8/person, and they do go quickly. So 100% plan ahead if this is a tour you're interested in. They do require you to have your ticket at the start of the tour, and there is no internet at the site. So make sure you've downloaded them in advance. We booked both Balcony House and the Cliff Palace tours. And while both were magnificent and culturally enriching, Balcony House was my clear winner between the two. If you only have the chance to book one tour, Balcony House is the one.

For those of you who don't travel to southern CO often should check out Mesa Verde National Park…read more The location and methods of building by the Native Americans is incredible. This is a seasonal destination so try to come in the summer when the tours are running so you can walk and climb amongst some of the areas.

A wonderful and beautiful park!…read more Mesa Verde means 'green table'. This national park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with the best-preserved Ancestral Puebloan ancestral sites in the United States (nps) - it celebrates people. The snowy peaks in the background is San Juan Mountain. We visit multiple Mesa Top Sites, (900-1100, nps). MTS means top archeological sites within this park. We first stop at the Far View Terrace Cafe for bathroom break and also pick up our lady guide; then driving up north, stopping at the PitHouse, ending the tour at the information & research center in early afternoon about 2pm, that includes an hour lunch at Far View Terrace Cafe, with a wonderful view. Two other cafes are the Spruce Tree Terrace Cafe, and the Knife Edge Cafe. The Cliff Palace is impressive. But the tour didn't take us there - only viewed it from afar. I actually bought a mug that changes with heat and a pretty conch bangle from the gift shop. The information center is cool; the museum is ok.

If you're interested in the ancient cliff dwellers, definitely take this tour! This is a tour led…read moreby the local Ute Tribe & is only accessible with their guides. It's amazing!! The dwellings are on the back side of Mesa Verde. After this tour in September of 2011, it made my first trip to Mesa Verde seem more like going to Disneyland. This is the real deal - wild, undeveloped, & rugged. There's a lot of hiking, & a REALLY tall ladder climb to see Eagle's Nest ruin that is optional, but I suggest fighting through whatever fear of heights you may have to see this ruin!! I have a pretty healthy fear of heights & I'm so glad I was able to fight through it to see Eagle's Nest. It is beautiful & still has paint & plaster visible in the kiva. Smaller ladders are necessary to see any of the cliff dwellings, but they are short & easy. If you only have time for Mesa Verde or Ute Tribal Park, go to Ute for a more realistic adventure! Make your reservations in advance!

The location of this hotel is hard to beat! It is right inside Mesa Verde national park. The drive…read morefrom town is about 40 minutes, so it's nice to be able to avoid that while spending time in the park. Check in was easy, and the girl working was nice. We opted for the deluxe view room since it was only like $10 more a night, and we were super glad we did!! The views were truly stunning. Our bed was comfy. They don't have TVs in the room and the wifi was tough to connect too and pretty spotty once you were connected. You're very immersed in nature!! They have a restaurant onsite and a lounge/bar area as well. They have a game room but people were using the space to work, so we opted to play at this darling picnic table we found outside. There was a horse that was wondering around the property. I would stay here again if I was going to the park, but I wouldn't plan on spending much time in the room.

Came for happy hour and met the brewer for Mancos Brewery…read more The beer was great, as was the brewer sharing his history and stories! Wonderful views and simple all American menu. Why two stars? Way understaffed they need another two servers, the poor waitress was so overwhelmed feel bad for her. So happy we are before we came, can't imagine the wait. FWIW the bartender was great

One of the most underrated national parks! Rich in history, this park offers an incredible glimpse…read moreinto the past. Seeing the ancient cliff dwellings in person is an unforgettable experience they're remarkably well preserved and stand as a testament to the people who lived here centuries ago. We visited over Memorial Day weekend, and the weather couldn't have been better. The drive to the park is beautiful, with stunning scenic views along the way that make the journey just as enjoyable as the destination. If you want to tour the cliff dwellings, be sure to make a reservation in advance, as they can fill up quickly. The visitor center is modern, informative, and very well maintained. We also hiked the Petroglyph Point Trail, and the surrounding rock formations and views made it a memorable experience. Overall, this is a fascinating national park that's often overlooked but absolutely worth visiting. We'd love to come back again someday it's definitely a must-visit!

All National Parks are amazing, but it's rare to find one that has such a a fascinating…read moreanthropological history as well as incredible views and landscapes. We visited in Late June, and although it was warm, the heat was very bearable. Definitely recommend registering for a tour (don't wait - they fill up quickly!) while planning your visit so you can get a better understanding of and a close up look at the cliff dwellings. Also, be aware that some of the tours are strenuous so read the descriptions before making your choices. I knew what they were before heading to Mesa Verde, but experiencing it first hand and getting to walk on in the ancient dwellings really made it come alive for me. The scenic drive was incredible as well. So many beautiful vistas and historical stops along the drive. We were here for one full day and saw quite a bit - Cliff Palace, Balcony House (Both guided tours - check the website before booking since you need to account for travel time in between), and scenic drive with stops along the way. Loved it here!