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Mesa Verde National Park

Photo: Tobi 87 / CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

🏜️ Canyons & deserts

Mesa Verde National Park

Cortez, CO · Four Corners, Southwest Colorado

About

Mesa Verde preserves the cliff dwellings of the Ancestral Puebloans, who tucked entire stone villages into sandstone alcoves above the canyons of southwest Colorado some 800 years ago. The centerpiece is Cliff Palace, the largest cliff dwelling in North America, with roughly 150 rooms and 23 kivas reached on a ranger-led tour by ladder and footpath. Spring and fall bring the best weather and ticketed access near Cortez.

Highlights

Cliff Palace, the largest cliff dwelling in North America, with about 150 rooms and 23 kivasRanger-guided tours into Balcony House and other alcove villages by ladder and tunnelA UNESCO World Heritage Site protecting more than 600 cliff dwellingsMesa Top Loop drive past pit houses tracing 700 years of Ancestral Puebloan lifeSweeping high-mesa views over the Four Corners country

Getting there

Mesa Verde National Park, CO 81330

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The United States National Parks63 places

The United States National Parks

All 63 of America's national parks in one place: the geysers and canyons, glaciers and giant sequoias, coral reefs and live volcanoes the country set aside for everyone. From the Grand Canyon to the Everglades to the wilds of Alaska, this is the complete collection, each one worth building a whole trip around.