Mesa Verde National Park, colorado
Attractions Guide

Mesa Verde National Park is the largest archaeological preserve in the USA, containing a high concentration of very old and impressive Native American structures and sites.

The following attractions are listed in order along a recommended route through the park. The drive through the park is quite scenic with countless viewpoints and ruins to stop at along the way, however the most impressive sights within the park are listed here.

Several famous sites within the park (listed in order by popularity) including the Cliff Palace, Balcony House, and Long House can only be properly appreciated up-close with a ranger-led tour. In order to secure your spot, you'll need to pre-book these popular tours ahead of time online and pick-up your tickets in person 2 hours before your tour begins.

Pick-up and in-person ticketing locations include the park's Visitor Center and a couple other places within Mesa Verde, as well as the Welcome Center in the town of Durango. If you have't pre-booked tickets, a limited amount are available to book on the day of at the main Visitor Center, but be sure to arrive very early before the park even opens, as long lines are common and few tickets are often available.

First you'll encounter the Montezuma Valley Overlook, followed by the Park Point Overlook and Geologic Overlook, all of which are easily accessible and provide amazing views.

Now drive around to the main section of the park, where the first stop you'll encounter are the incredible ruins of the Coyote Village and Far View House. In order to admire these ruins you can take a 0.9 mile (1.4 km) round-trip walk, which also includes several other structures such as the Far View Tower and Far View Reservoir.

Continue to the Visitor Center where you can browse artifacts found from the area at the Chapin Mesa Archaeological Museum. From the Visitor Center you can also take the short 0.6 mile (1 km) round-trip walk to see the Spruce Tree House.

Alternatively from the Visitor Center you can hike through a beautiful canyon that offers views of ancient petroglyphs as well as the Spruce Tree House, via the 2.6 mile (4.2 km) round-trip Petroglyph Point Trail.

Next you can drive along Mesa Top Loop Road, which hosts countless viewpoints and ruins. Among the most impressive are the Square Tower House, which can be viewed with a very short walk along the canyon from the parking area, as well as the Sun Point View, from which you can see many different cliff dwellings hidden amongst the canyon's cliffs, including the Cliff Palace. From the Sun Point View and the nearby Oak Tree House viewpoint, you can admire several more cliff dwellings including the Sunset House, Fire Temple, New Fire House, Oak Tree House, and more.

Further along the Mesa Top Loop is the Sun Temple, which is one of the largest ruined structures set atop the cliffs in the park, which you can also walk along the perimeter of.

Not far from the Mesa Top Loop is the Mesa Top Ruins Road loop, which hosts two of Mesa Verde's most iconic ruins, the most famous being the Cliff Palace. This massive cliff dwelling is the largest on the continent and contains about 150 rooms which houses a small village. The Cliff Palace is best seen as a pre-booked ranger led tour allowing you to venture inside of the ruins and see them up-close.

Further along the loop road from the Cliff Palace you can stop to hike the 1.3 mile (2.1 km) round-trip Soda Springs Canyon Overlook Trail to enjoy distant views overlooking the Balcony House. Similarly to the Cliff Palace, you'll need to pre-book a ranger-led tour if you wish to see the amazing Balcony House up-close.

Consider driving down Wetherhill Mesa Road to the most remote and westerly section of the park, which is actually quite far from the park's main attractions. Here you'll find the stunning Long House cliff dwelling, which can only be visited via a pre-booked ranger led tour.

Nearby the Long House you can walk the 0.9 miles (1.4 km) round-trip to see the Step House ruins up-close. This section of the park hosts other smaller ruins and viewpoints as well, however you might consider skipping it if you have limited time to visit Mesa Verde, especially if you can't tour the Long House.

After enjoying Mesa Verde you might like to visit the popular Four Corners Monument, where four US states meet at one point. It's not much more than a small park/monument built around an imaginary point in the ground and there is not much to see, however the site remains a popular tourist destination.

Another extremely impressive site in the Mesa Verde area is Aztec Ruins National Monument, which features the ruins of a vast Puebloan (not Aztec) structure built between the 11th and 13th centuries, along with several smaller structures nearby that you can explore amongst. Be sure to also see the monument's Visitor Center if you have time, which will help you understand what the original structure would have looked like.

Aztec Ruins National Monument is located in a remote part of New Mexico near the town of Farmington, located approximately 1.3 hours by car from the Mesa Verde Vistor Center. Note that Aztec Ruins N.M. is only located about 40 minutes away from the town of Durango, Colorado.