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!

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.

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.

I did the 700 year tour. Make sure you allow enough time because after you enter the park, there is…read morestill quite a drive to the center where the tour takes off. There are a couple of primitive restrooms along the tour, but there is a real bathroom at the center. There's also food and drinks at the center. It was a pretty big coach and we had both a driver and a tour guide. There was plenty of bottled water they gave us along the way. Our guide was very knowledgeable. We stopped at a few different places where she spoke and we were able to take pictures. On a tour like that, you do sometimes end up waiting for people who dawdle, so you need some patience. One of the main stops was the Cliff Dwellings which includes a tour where you have to be able to do steps and climb ladders. A few people sat out. I'd suggest maybe looking up a YouTube video of that tour to make sure it's something you really want to do if it's questionable for you. We didn't stop at all the places in the park, but our guide did tell us places we may want to go on our own. If I had it to do over, I would've probably gotten a two day pass and come back. The center was closed when we got back, so there was no restroom or places to get refreshments until you left the park.

We took the 700 years - half day tour. It departs from the Far View Terrace. It was EXCELLENT! Our…read moreguide, Mark, was very well informed. He made his presentations, both on the bus and at the various sites (like the pit houses) very informative and easy to listen to. Marylin at the desk was very helpful and considerate. We were there on a day when they were having some computer difficulties, but It was their first day for the 2025 season. They made sure that we arrived in time for the park ranger - led tour of the Cliff Palace. One word of advice/caution. You need to be relative physically fit to tour Cliff Palace. The exploration is a one way only route. Once you start on the descent, you are COMMITED. There is NO turning back. You will descend steep and uneven stairs with no hand rails and climb back up via 3 period type ladders. If you're not up for this, don't go down to the Palace. Obviously, this is not the fault of the tour. In fact, you can see the Palace and other structures from the view point platform. Mark used a laser pointer to high light some of the features. A few of us on this tour, including me (I have bad knees), let discretion be the better part of valor and went back to the bus. Mark was prepared for this. He made a nice presentation on the history and features of the park and engaged in pleasant and informative conversation while we waited for the others to return. Then we continued onto the rest of the tour. Remember, you are high up in the mountains. The Cliff Palace's elevation is about 7,000 feet. The Far View Terrace is up about 8.500 feet. The air is thinner than what you might be used to. As long as you are prepared for these minor physical challenges, you will have a GREAT time! We cannot recommend taking this tour highly enough! You will learn a lot and have a very pleasant time. -- Jeff S.

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.

We signed up for the 700 year tour with the expectation of a tour guide to provide us hours of…read moreinformation throughout the park. Unfortunately, first our guide was late; then we were to meet her at another parking lot; when we found her the bus driver sent her home for an unknown reason. A while later, another bus driver joined us. We ended up with 2 bus drivers taking us on the tour, which they were not qualified to lead or prepared for. We would have just done the guided tour of the Cliff House by itself and drove ourselves around the park. We called and emailed Aramark to request some refund of the $150 we spent for the 2 of us for the tour - asking for just a partial refund. After several weeks - we still have not even received an email letting us know they received our complaint or to find out what happened. Don't go on the tour!

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.

This. Is a cultural treasure. That. Must be protected. Many, many pictographs, &; petroglyphs …read more Have been destroyed Being scratched out or used for target practice. I've heard of people trying to take out the whole panel . For sale on the black market. Usually this ends in failure. They say some people don't know the difference between right & wrong. I think many people don't care anymore.

My son just spent 3 wks here as part of the summer High School Field School and he came back…read morebrimming with things to tell us that he'd learned and seen. I'd already assumed he was busy and content while there because even though he had his phone with him, I hardly heard from him in that time. His session was a good variety of about 17 kids, pretty evenly split between boys and girls, from all around the US. I believe they learned a lot from nice instructors/guides and had fun, too. From a parent point of view, I thought the communication from Crow Canyon was terrific- not incessant but informative, clear, and timely. We were hopeful that it would be a good experience for our son, and neither of us was disappointed in the least- we are so glad he went!

I had a great experience during the relatively short shuttle service between trail heads. I…read moreinitially chose High Up because they were willing to be a little flexible on my pickup time, if availability allowed. My driver was friendly & knowledgeable. He even gave me additional suggestions where to hike and climb. I would certainly use their service again.

I can't say enough about the professional, punctual, and courteous service I received from High Up…read moreTours + Transportation. The driver was personable and clearly knowledgeable about the area. I am pleased to recommend this service to others visiting southwest Colorado!