700 Year Tour - Half Day Mesa Verde Cultural Tour
Recommended by 90% of travelers
Durango, USA
- 4 hours (approx.)
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
See the UNESCO World Heritage–listed sites of Mesa Verde National Park on a tour of the park's Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings. A guide provides insight into the history, architecture, and spiritual features of these ancient homes and how they were lived in hundreds of years ago. Please note, this tour starts inside the park; you must already be in the park after paying your own national park entrance fee.
- Enjoy a convenient way to get around Mesa Verde National Park
- Interpretive tour is led by a guide certified by the National Association for Interpretation
- Bottled water provided to stay hydrated in the dry climate
What's Included
- Transportation by air conditioned coach
- Driver
- National Association for Interpretation certified Interpretive Guide
- Local taxes
- National Park Entry Fee (paid to the national park service) for Vehicles $30.00
- Guide Gratuity (optional)
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
- National Park Entry Fee (paid to the national park service) for Motorcycles $25.00
- National Park Entry Fee: for Each Bicyclist and Individual on Non-Commercial Buses Fee: $15.00
- NOTE: For the National Park Fee, only credit cards will be accepted at this time.
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting point
- Far View Terrace Café / Gift Shop / Mesa MochaMile Marker, #15, Mesa Verde National Park, CO 81330, USA
Meet our tour bus outside Far View Terrace Cafe at Mile Marker 15, about 30-45 minutes driving distance from the NPS entrance station at the bottom of the hill.
End point
This activity ends back at the meeting point.Itinerary
1
Mesa Verde Tour Experience
4 hours • Admission Ticket Free
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Wheelchair accessible
- Stroller accessible
- Near public transportation
- Infants must sit on laps
- No heart problems or other serious medical conditions
- Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level
- Children must be accompanied by an adult
- ADA passengers are accommodated by a visit to Spruce Tree House and Chapin Mesa Museum
- Electric scooters will not fit inside the coach, push behind wheelchairs are accommodated.
- Dwellings are at 7,000 feet
- Dress code:casual with comfortable walking shoes
- Maximum Group Size: 40
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 40 travelers
Supplied by
Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Reviews
4.6
based on 109 reviews
Raylene_R, Oct 2025
If you have only one day in Mesa Verde, our tour covered so much in a half day. Our guide Alex, bus driver Leonard, and park ranger Caroline made the experience special. Not only were we able to take incredible photos, but were able to get up close and personal with the foundations of structures thousands of years old. With restrictions, we were able to walk within the ruins, and could feel what it may have been like to live within the ancient cliffs. We felt privileged to be there. My husband and I (in our 70s), were both able to climb the steep and narrow steps, as well as the sturdy wooden ladders, required to navigate the tour, without incidence.
Debra_L, Sep 2025
Excellent tour!! Everything about
the tour was great!!
Definitely recommend!
Very informative- I learned
so much about Mesa Verde
PATRICK_K, Sep 2025
Had a wonderful guide and bus driver who were very accommodating and knowledgeable. A very good way to see the highlights if the parks history.
Carrie_B, Sep 2025
Tour was much fun
Guide Holly was a hoot and so informative and Cheryl the driver was so friendly. The Cliff Palace tour st Mesa Verde was an unexpected highlight. Price was well worth it.
Charlie_Y, Sep 2025
Excellent tour of Cliff Palace loop. The highlight is the cliff palace visit. A little strenuous but my 79 yo wife made it. Truly an amazing experience.
Laura_m, Oct 2024
Cliff palace was the highlight of this tour! Great info and sites throughout. Our driver Irene was awesome, friendly & safe. Our tourguide seemed like she didn’t really want to be there.
Beth_R, Oct 2024
Alex, our tour guide, was amazing with her knowledge of the area! Leonard was a great driver!
I’d do it again!
Michelle_M, Oct 2024
I enjoyed the entire tour. Our guide Deb was very knowledgeable and genuinely interested in sharing all that she knows and told good stories. I really enjoyed our group size. We all had a nice time!
Patricia_B, Sep 2024
The whole tour was very informative and interesting.I did not care for the tour guides remark about the “Christian scheme”I thought everyone was supposed to be politically correct now.I would not refer to Native American beliefs as a “ scheme”
Amber_R, Sep 2024
Our tour guide was James and we had an awesome time on our Sunset Hells Revenge Tour. 10/10 recommend. Fun and engaging experience!
SuZq, Aug 2024
This was a fabulous experience. We sort of had an idea what to expect but this was sooooo much more. We were fortunate to only have 6 people on our tour so we were able to interact with our tour guide and ask any questions that came to mind. Our driver (Tom) was great and our guide had a PhD in archeology so she gave a lot of insight into the Puebloans who inhabited the ruins, why they built them, what their lives were like while there and why they left. The tour included a hike to the Cliff Palace, not the largest ruin by far, but an excellent representation of the Peoples dwellings. That part of the tour was given by a Ranger and she wasn’t as conversed in the lifestyle as our tour guide. This tour only adds to individual hikes to some of the ruins because you learn so much more. I only wish we’d had the time to take other offered tours of the ruins.
Steven_P, Oct 2023
Our guide “Holley” was super good at telling the story of the ancient people who lived in the cliffs and about their daily lives. I would recommend taking this tour.
Lisa_R, Sep 2023
We booked a 1pm tour in late August. We were so fortunate to have only 5 people on this tour as the earlier morning tour was quite packed. We had a small air-conditioned bus with a cooler of iced water. Jonathan "the mustache" was our guide. He was very good. His knowledge about every aspect from plant life to the history and native culture was impressive. We made lots of stops at various Kivas and dwelling sites and of course the amazing Cliff Palace where we had to climb some slightly precarious paths and ladders to reach. Not bad but just a heads up. (You don't have to climb if you're unable or nervous about it .The tour will still be very interesting as you get views of Cliff Palace from various stops for photo ops. Also skirts and dresses may not be the best idea).
You think 4 hrs is a long tour but it went by so fast with all the sites and interesting information.
Louis our bus driver gets a shout out also.
P.S. Please tip well as they work hard to make your trip a great one.
Julie_T, Aug 2023
The bus tour, the guide, care for Passengers, the stories, the sights, actual experience going up and down the cliff palace......it was 100% worth it. If we had not taken this tour, we would have pissed out on so much. We recommend it to everyone!
Lisa_E, Aug 2023
Our tour guide Ghan was the very best!!!!
She was so knowledgeable and very friendly
You could tell she loved her job ❤️
Maura_M, Aug 2023
Jonathan was a very knowledgeable guide. Sheryl was a wonderful driver and we learned a lot. Not crowded at all! Definitely worth the drive
Roger_G, Jul 2023
Take this tour! Great story telling by our guide Jonathan. Nothing compares to going down into Cliff Palace
David_N, Jul 2023
"Alex" was the tour director AND one of the most knowledgeable persons I have encountered during a tour. Clearly, she enjoys being an interpreter of Pueblo structures and way of life and communicating that enthusiasm to tout guests. One of the most refreshing aspects of her presentation was for her to clearly delineate what is "known" and that which is speculation. I left her tour wanting more information about Pueblo life and the relation ships between the many centers of Pueblo life in the Southwest.
Adolfo_P, Jul 2023
Our Tour guide Jonathan shared a wealth of history, also the use of native trees, seeds and plants. Up-close tour with the Park Ranger.
Larry_D, Jun 2023
Cliff palace. Seeing it for the first time was breathtaking. Would recommend to friends. Our guide was excellent
Jeffrey_P, Sep 2022
Very knowledgeable guide!
Beautiful park. Great day trip! The drive up to the meeting point is a little hairy but worth it!
Laura_J, Sep 2022
Excellent and knowledgeable guide. Length of tour appropriate. Site well maintained. Eating options could be more varied.
GloriaV, Aug 2022
Had a wonderful time, the guide was very knowledgeable and friendly. The bus driver was great and watched to make sure everyone was staying hydrated.
Ray_T, Aug 2022
Views and history of Mesa Verde were amazing and spectacular. Would certainly recommend this to friends or anyone else traveling to southwest Colorado.
Jeff_B, Jul 2022
Took my family to see the cliffs like my father took me. Was a great tour. The guide was very knowledgeable
George_G, Jul 2022
Great trip- friendly and accomodating staff.
The tour was very informative, educational, and comprehensive. It was well worth the fee.
RICHARD_E, Jun 2022
Breathtaking views! A must-do! I was on the fence about going, figured it would be boring absolutely not would go again tomorrow
Logan_B, May 2022
Overall a good tour, but I have to say I was disappointed as the tour advertised entry into a house as included and we only got to look at the houses from across the canyon. Our tour guide was knowledgeable but I wouldn’t pay this much for the tour unless you get to go into one of the houses.
Ricardo_S, May 2022
The tour was fine but it was advertised as being able to go into the dwellings and they were closed. The museum was also closed. All this said the tour was very informative
Gloria_W, Sep 2021
The cliff dwellings were amazing and our tour guide was very interesting and informative. Views are breathtaking.
From $101.00
per personup to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)
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