Mesa verde national park visitor's guide

​Summertime temps range from the mid- to upper 80s, so bring plenty of water (you’ll be driving at between 7,000 and 8,400 feet) and stay hydrated. With cool mornings and 65- to 75-degree

temperatures, early fall delivers prime camping conditions. Frigid mountain air sweeps through MVNP in winter, shutting down the park tours. When the most popular sites reopen for tours in

April, temperatures are still chilly (with highs in the low 50s), before jumping into the 70s in May. ​There’s limited to no cell phone service inside the park. ​WHERE TO STAY AND EAT The

closest hotel is the moderately priced Far View Lodge, in the heart of the park, 15 miles from the entrance and perched atop a mesa, 8,250 feet above sea level. Its 150 rooms sport private

balconies perfect for sunset and wildlife viewing (elk, coyotes, mule deer). Reserve wheelchair-accessible rooms when you book. Metate, the hotel’s signature restaurant (it serves only

dinner), offers contemporary American plates, including pan-seared rainbow trout. ​Far View Terrace, just a short walk from the hotel, serves coffee and snacks at the Mesa Mocha Espresso

Bar, as well as cafeteria-style breakfast and lunch (think omelets and sandwiches). Both the hotel and terrace are open from April to late October. In Chapin Mesa, the Spruce Tree Terrace

Café serves basic concession food and stays open through December, then reopens in spring. ​Four miles beyond the park entrance, in a picturesque canyon of native Gambel oaks, you can sleep

under some of the darkest skies you’ll experience in a national park at the 267-site Morefield Campground (open April through October). Amenities include picnic tables, firepits and 15

electrical hookups for RVs. There’s also a full-service village with a gift shop, grocery store, showers and all-you-can-eat pancakes at the Knife Edge Café. Outside the park, in nearby

Cortez, the affordable Retro Inn, open year-round, offers brightly colored, accessible rooms and complimentary breakfast. Spruce Tree House in Chapin Mesa. Wayne Eastep/Getty Images ​THINGS

TO DO ​SEE THE BIGGEST CLIFF DWELLINGS. These ancient marvels are the park’s main draw. You can explore a handful of them, but only on ranger-led tours (the one exception: the self-guided

Step House tour in Wetherill Mesa), most running from mid-April to late October. Tickets cost $8 to $25 per dwelling and can be purchased up to 14 days in advance. While the tours are not

wheelchair-friendly or suited for those with physical limitations, anyone can view the dwellings from good vantage points.  ​The park’s absolute must-see is Cliff Palace in Chapin Mesa, near

the start of the 6-mile Cliff Palace Loop Road. This rock, mortar and timber-constructed village, built in the 13th century, is jaw-dropping, with its 150 rooms, 23 circular kivas used for

ceremonial gatherings, intricate ventilation system, and remarkable “dry stack” masonry. “Their walls are within 2 degrees of square, but we didn’t find any builder’s squares,” says park

ranger David Nighteagle. “It’s a testimony to how well they [Ancestral Puebloans] could lay stone.” At its peak, the alcove settlement, which Nighteagle likens to “walking in downtown

Manhattan and seeing all of these big buildings,” could have housed upwards of 150 people. Touring it involves climbing uneven steps and ladders, but those with physical limitations can get

a good view of the site, and a terrific postcard shot, from Sun Temple on Mesa Top Loop Road. ​Just shy of 2 miles farther down Cliff Palace Road is Balcony House, with 38 well-preserved

rooms as well as kivas and plazas. Another 13th-century masterpiece, it’s considered the park’s most adventurous tour due to its tight passageways, 32-foot entrance ladder, jagged stone

steps, and 60-foot ascent up an open cliff face. It’s for thrill seekers and the physically fit, but the easy Soda Canyon Overlook Trail (1.2 miles round trip) affords an alternate view.

​Square Tower House, on Mesa Top Loop Road in Chapin Mesa, the park’s tallest dwelling, stands 26 feet high. Inhabited during the mid-1200s, the three-story structure features intact wooden

beams and an original clay kiva roof. If the strenuous mile-long hike to tour the house deters you, get a bird’s-eye view of the dwelling from the overlook here, which provides one of the

best vistas in all of MVNP. ​Due to rockfall, Spruce Tree House in Chapin Mesa, the park’s best-preserved dwelling, has been closed since 2015. But snag a stellar aerial view of the park’s

third-largest cliff dwelling from the wheelchair-friendly porch at the Chapin Mesa Archeological Museum (currently closed for renovations), located less than a mile before the start of the

two loop roads. Tucked beneath a sandstone archway, the dwelling was constructed between 1211 and 1278 A.D. When ranchers discovered it in 1888, they climbed down a large Douglas spruce tree

(now called a Douglas fir) to enter it, thus the name. ​In Wetherill Mesa, tour Long House, the park’s second-largest dwelling, highlighted by a dance plaza and multiple seep springs that

provided the Ancestral Puebloans with water. From the beginning of the paved, 5-mile Long House Loop Trail near the mesa parking lot, walk 1.5 miles to the Long House trailhead. From there,

it’s an arduous 2.25-mile hike (round trip) to the dwelling.