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Mesa Verde National ParkFar View Sites Complex
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Mesa Verde National Park
Visiting Cliff Dwellings
 

There are a number of cliff dwellings that can be toured during your visit to Mesa Verde National Park. Most of these can only be visited by taking a ranger-guided tour.  Two are open seasonally on a self-guided basis. See the chart below for details.

 CLIFF DWELLING

GUIDED ONLY

SELF-GUIDED ONLY

 Cliff Palace

Early April
to
Early November

N/A

 Balcony House

Late April
to
Early October

N/A

 Spruce Tree House

Early November
to
Early March

Early March
to
Early November

 Long House

Memorial Day
to
Labor Day

N/A

 Step House

N/A

Memorial Day
to
Labor Day


Tickets for guided-tours must be purchased in person at the Far View Visitor Center.*   Both guided and self-guided tours are strenuous. For more information on these tours, or to see a park schedule, please use the links at right.

* After the Far View Visitor Center closes in October, Cliff Palace tour tickets must be purchased at the Chapin Mesa Archeological Museum.

Balcony House tour
Park Schedules
more information on park schedules
more...
Ranger-guided tour
Ranger-Guided Tours
more information on ranger-guided tours
more...
Distant view of Spruce Tree House
Self-Guided Tours
more information on self-guided tours
more...
View of mesas  

Did You Know?
The Ancestral Puebloans inhabited Mesa Verde for more than 700 years (550 A.D. to 1300 A.D.), but for the first six centuries, they primarily lived on the mesa tops. It was not until the final 75 to 100 years that they constructed and lived in the cliff dwellings for which Mesa Verde is known.

Last Updated: May 23, 2008 at 17:41 EST