Reviews of Cliff Palace (Tourist Attraction)

Brittany Shaver

Although our tour guide talked more about himself than the history of Cliff Palace, it was well worth the wait and additional fee! Getting up close to these amazing ancient homes is unforgettable. We brought our young children with us and they marveled at how some humans used to live. It would be fantastic if our society today had a fraction of the ingenuity and sense of community the cliff dwellers did.

momoeight mamabear

Mesa Verde National Park is great place to visit and national treasure. It is a beautiful park with some great hikes and awesome scenery. The extra charge to have a guided tour to Cliff Palace is well worth it. The hike is strenuous with steep grade and ladder climbing as well as some tight squeezes so I would not recommended it for people with knee, hip, cardiovascular, lung, balance, weight or fear issues. You do have the opportunity to rest a couple of times during the tour while the ranger gives you info.

John Halley

Incredible...Just stand there and contemplate what this place is, and what it means

Todd Zatorski

The $5 for the guided tour is well worth it. It is a bit of walking on steep terrain, but worth the trip.

Jerry Derwin

This place is unbelievable I intended on spending an hour and a half I ended up spending four hours. My wife and I loved it

Derek Bennett

By far the best dwelling in and around the park. Up close to these awesome structures leaves you with a much deeper appreciation for our native culture.

Christopher Cummins

Mesa Verde was not very busy. We were able to hike and explore to our hearts content. Call Joe one of the trails was closed due to Rock falls, but other than that everything was open. We did the tour of the balcony house and it was amazing.you have to crawl through a tunnel and there are several steep ladders that you have to climb. At the end you get to hang on the side of the cliff and go up steps that are carved into the side of the canyon. They don't really know a lot about the Anasazi, they just have guesses. But they are educated guesses.

TOM CLARK

Wow! Why did I wait so long to visit.

Hellshake Yano

Very cool. The tour of Cliff Palace was part of a tour I set up through Aramark, the park vendor. This is a Park Ranger guided tour and our guide was fun and knowledgeable.

chet wrench

Was worth the hike. Kids and I had a great time on our tour.

Paula Havard

I wish I would have known that you had to buy a tour to get into the dwellings. We were there by 10 am and told the next tour wasnt until 6 PM. So we only got close enough for a few pictures. A little let down but it was still kind of cool.

Will Roomes

Magical place, a true wonder. Knowledgeable and friendly guides

judy follett

Well worth the trip to see this.

Jennifer Vanalstine

Second time visiting. Just love this park

Eric Pitts

Well worth the trip. The hike is not easy, I would rate it as moderate to difficult depending on your fitness. The park rangers are knowledgable and honest with what they know/don't know. The views from the upper observation areas are fantastic, but nothing compares to making the trek down to the structures.

Jackson Hall

So awesome but lots of climbing

Russ Andler

Great place to look at the past

James Bowkett

Great adventure with baby & family. Not too hard for oldies, but long for baby to be in carrier.

Scott Douglass

Awesome. Our Ranger did a great job on the tour.

Joshua Bulloch

Pretty incredible place to visit. Of the 9 Natl Parks I've been to, I'd rank this spot a 4/9.

Jordan Lanham

Rain and snow made it hard for us to visit all the sites but it is definitely worth the trip. Plan to visit during the summer to get a tour of the ruins otherwise you'll only get to see them from an observation post far above.

Abram Pierce

Garrett, out park ranger tour guide kept everyone engaged, asked US questions, and maintained a steady rapport with everyone on the tour. Best five bucks I've ever spent.

Wayne Berlin

We just had a couple hours to drive through. Not much to see that way. Probably need to spend the day, take a hike, or probably take a tour to make it truly worthwhile.

Aprile Denny

I loved finally seeing this. Tour is brief but well done. You are not allowed to lean on or climb the structures and will be asked not to do so. But to view it up close in an experience that should not be missed (and let's be honest it's probably the reason you are in the area!). Enjoy :-)

Chris Seibert

700 yr tour was great.

sandra russell

Fabulous ranger led hike down and up to the Cliff Palace.

Ben Trentman

Loved this dwelling, it is more accessible than Balcony House and more interesting than Long House (in my opinion). My only complaint is the size of the tour...they allow about 50 and that's too many for one park ranger. And you'd be lucky to get Ranger Doug (Crisper), he did two of our tours and did a very nice job.

Robert Turner

An excellent place to learn about the society that lived in the area prior to European settlement. If you are physically fit the area is much more interesting as access in most areas require some level of fitness (walk a mile, do 3 situps, I wouldn't recommend for 4 and under, over most 75 y/o).

Robbie White

Unbelievable beauty. Breathe taking.

Jeannette Clarke

Worth the time and money, family friendly hike! Take a picture on the 1st ladder, memorable!

David Vail

Cool history. Saw it long ago. May have changed.

Ben Travis

Breathtaking dwelling of the ancient Pueblo peoples. Make sure to reserve your tour in advance.

Aurora Parkinson

Terrifying to get to but worth it, how've ouf you have any health condition I would not advise goung on this hike. I'm some areas its very easy to lose footing

sam yoon

Cliff Palace is really no "palace" but the largest architectural city in Mesa Verde. It is certainly astounding piece is architectural and cultural history of aborigin population that occupied the area hundreds of years ago.

Karen Cade

I would have loved to have walked amongst the ruins but do it while you're young

Amber Clarke

Fantastic! Just wish we would have been able to go into the site.

nan kar

Love to see history ❤️ specially native history.

David Sherwood

The Cliff Palace tour was a high-light for me on the visit to Mesa Verde. There are a lot if steps and a few ladders but I always felt safe. The ranger gave an excellent tour and pointed out many new findings. I found the diversity of peoples as witnessed by the diversity of kivas to be quite interesting. Don't pass up a chance to take this tour!

lisa brown

Absolutely stunning!!! A must see if traveling in Colorado...

Debra Van Schepen

Went on twilight tour and saw the most amazing sunset on the way out of the park.

Fran Coloma

Amazing experience. The descent and ascent is quite an adventure, and the dwellings are stunning. A must-see if you are in the area. Requires ticket. You might want to bring lightweight gloves to protect your hands from the hot ladder. It’s not necessary, simply a “nice to have”. For goodness sake, bring sun screen and at least a liter of water. No eating on site to protect against vermin. Make sure you drive the Mesa Loop trail - phenomenal views into Cliff Palace from across the Mesa.

Sean McCambridge

There really are no words. I’ve heard some of the other dwellings are worth seeing, too. But this is the one I visited and wasn’t disappointed.

Marta Z

One of most exciting places in Colorado. Visitor Center Super modern and Rangers there are particularly very knowledgeable. Make sure you book Guided tour to inside these dwellings. Must see.

Heather Angel

It was the highlight of our trip to Colorado. It’s crazy how it is only 5 dollars a person to see something so amazing! Guides were also friendly and knowledgeable.

Kota The Bear

Fascinating and historically rich. It's a bit of a walk if you decide to do the tour and not just one of the overlooks but it's well laid out and not an issue if you are somewhat fit. The tour guides vary ours was a little snappy but it could have just been a bad day she was still informative and knew a lot about the site.

Chloe Jones

Did the tour today at cliff palace at 2pm. It was absolutely beautiful. Beginning of the tour, guide spent about 25 minutes telling us what we were going to do during the tour. That took forever. And at the end of the tour I felt I knew more about our tour guide and his personal life versus Cliff Palace and it's natives. He didn't really elaborate on facts and culture. He over talked and was very dramatic and consistently talked about his personal experiences. I understand his heart was probably in the right place but honestly my husband and I were bored and spent a majority of the time rolling our eyes. He talked about how he became a park ranger and even said that as a park ranger he could, " say want he wanted" on his tours. At the end he went into some emotional speech about going on journeys and how that related to the tour. It was weird and my husband and I and another couple couldn't get up those steps and ladders fast enough. The focus needs to be more on an informational standpoint. Views were great and besides the eh tour we enjoyed the history.

Gretchen Rowe

Mesa Verde in general is huge and beautiful. Cliff Palace does not disappoint. I believe it is the largest of the cliff dwellings on tour, and the guides do a good job of providing interesting information about it and allowing you to imagine what it was like to life in one of these dwellings. Even if you don't do a tour of Cliff Palace, there is a lookout where you can get a great view of it and take some good pictures with less walking. I didn't find any of the walking and stairs to be at all difficult, but if you are not in good shape at all, you may want to take your time with the walk. Always drink lots of water.

Amanda Pritchard

Amazing tour guide! Very knowledgeable and culturally versed. On the tour you get to actually get up close and personal to the cliff dwellings.

Trey Gerke

Such a fascinating experience. Would recommend to anyone who loves history.

Monte Aspelmeier

Great tour by park volunteers. Well preserved ruins.

Ray's Random

It was a cool drive, on a motorcycle. Neat views of the historic sites. A must see.

Lisa Cox

Amazing, it's hard to imagine the lives these people had.

Morghann Allison

Viewpoint was neat, need to buy tickets to get tour to go down to them.

Kathy Gagon

Enjoyed it. Awe inspiring.

Kurt Weber

Well preserved cliff dwellings. Lots of driving in the park, but we'll worth it.

United Africa

We had a great time here. I was just disappointed we were in a hurry so I didn't get to see everything.

Radovan Petrovic

Views are the best from here.

Margie Olivarez

Amazing I absolutely loved this tour.

Justin Sceili

Freaking mind blowing amazement!

Jarosław Ten

Best option to see in Mesa Verde, however hothing really special

Andrea Smith

Nice view, wish we had time to go down into it and explore a little!

Nora Alvarez

Arquelogical place nice views excellent service

Mark Johnson

Inspiring tour through the cliff palace was the highlight of this park...we the went for a very nice (2 mile) hike on the mesa as well that we enjoyed...very level with great canyon and cliff dwelling view

Kelly Pinter

Very interesting place to see

steve granato

We took the tour. Shoshana (sp?) was our guide, very knowledgeable and helpful. You get to go right up to the ruins.

ella durkee

Absolutely phenomal views and great access to overlooks! Amazing feat of human engineering and innovation!!

Richard Tatuaca

Well worth the $5.00! Descending into the ruins is easy. But climbing out is a bit of a workout lol!

Michael Jarrells

A beautiful example of Pueblo architecture.

Josh Green

Great easy hike for the entire family.

patty mcrory

It was wonderful to get down into the cliff dwelling, especially because you cannot comprehend the size until you stand at the base. The park ranger was well informed and made the visit really interesting.

Evan Gendreau

Astoundingly out of this world. Cliff Palace is the jewel of Mesa Verde National Park and the American national Park system at large. This perfectly preserved ancestral pueblo is a site to behold and easily rivals any wonder of the world in terms of beauty. If you’re lucky enough to find yourself at Mesa Verde don’t miss Cliff Palace

Rebecca Thorsen

Beautiful. You can get an excellent view from the viewing platform. This is the most popular tour but I recommend touring one of the smaller sites if your mobility allows it. You get a smaller group, talks targeted more towards adults and a better view/pictures since your not in a mob of 40 people. Gorgeous site but the tour is overrated.

Mariko Urabe

beautiful dwelling. 1hr Ranger Tour, 5usd per person

Aj Cross

This is a must see. The history and architecture is amazing.

Vic Pittman

Unbelievable....until you see it up close. Get off the couch and go !!!!

Cody Mitchell

This place was awesome! Well worth the fee and our tour guide was great!

Eve and Mark Jones

Stunningly beautiful! Be prepared to climb see ladders and squeeze into small spaces.

Brian Capron

Amazing archeological site. Beautiful environment. Highly recommend.

Richard Brunet

Great experience. Don't miss this.

Petar Stupar

What an amazing place.

Jeffrey Walker

Order your tickets before you get there else plan to wait until late afternoon or next day.

Anthony Nonte

Cliff palace is beautiful and moderate walk through trail. I highly recommend doing this tour!

Wisco Simple

If you want to go down to the cliff dwellings make sure you make your tour reservation in advance

Benjamin Springsteen

Really amazing site. Great guides as well. Be sure to check to make sure it is open and get tickets before the day of your trip.

Richard Grumm

Amazing. Do the tour. Best $5 you can spend.

Amy Higgins

Seeing the pictures of cliff dwellings growing up... and then finally being able to walk amongst old dwellings is truly magical.

Tony Farrar

Great views and amazing history

Anna Nemanich

Totally awesome. It is so cool to see up close.

Carolyn LeCroy

Ranger Jeff was the BEST! Very knowledgeable!

Justina Aguirre

This is a very unique experience. It was a beautiful view. Easy access to view if you're okay doing a little bit of walking.

Donald Mansmann

Wow. Fantastic ranger tour. Be sure to buy tickets in advance. We bought ours at the visitor center. Everything was sold out on our day of arrival. So we had to buy tickets for the next day.

Manuel Ortiz

Spectacular views of The park on your drive to see the Clift Dwellings. We really enjoyed our visit and the drive.

Marilyn Brustad

Was cool to climb down & up 4- 8 ft. Ladders. The Anicents built wonderful homes that last.

Cara Johnson

Our guide was phenomenal, David Nighteagle, gave an excellent talk on the site we visited and pointed our an architectural feature they will have to remove because erosion will eventually cause it to fail (fall) onto the site causing massive & irreparable damage. It's a 15 min climb down for the whole group, 30 min talk, & 15 min walk up. Don't expect a full 6o min in depth tour. Half of it is getting there & back. And it was worth every minute!

Shannon Fury

Fantastic dwelling site! The ranger guides are wonderful and to turn the tour into a story.

Helen Buchan

Amazing, beautiful and definitely challenging. Well worth it!

BG Rides

Put this place on your next trip. Totally worth seeing. Make sure you reserve a tour of the palace. It involves some climbing so keep that in mind. If climbing isn't for you, there's a great place to see the palace from.

Mike

An incredible historic place to visit. Absolutely stunning!

Keith Mackrell

We arrived at two in the afternoon and got the last two tickets for a 4pm tour. You can get fairly good views without a tour ticket but definitely worth the $5 cost of tour if you can get one!

Praveen Sethu

I would highly encourage to reach early and get a reservation on any of the tours. We made a self-guided tour and visited all the overlook points. We wished we could have been on the tour.

Jenni F

Everyone should take the time to visit the Cliff Palace. Amazing architecture that still stands after hundreds of years.

Wenpeng Xu

Prepare more time to participate the guided tour.

Jennifer Powell

Super cool part of the park. We arrived at the park at noon on an early May Saturday and hoped to get tour tickets but they were sold out. So we saw Cliff Palace from a number of different vantage points, which was impressive nonetheless.

Barb Schmetzer

Amazing doesn't describe it!

Jeff L

Pretty cool site to visit. Ladders and steps were very doable.

J K

Awesome! We saw this while visiting Mesa Verde National Park. Everything there is beautiful.

Weston Hood

If it’s your first time coming to Mesa verde - you’re going to want to tour this place if you have the option. Totally worth the wait and the small cost to check out the ruins. These buildings are awesome. You need to check them out up close, very surreal folks. You won’t be disappointed.

Terry Zahn

This was a "Bucket-List" trip. I waited decades to visit and it was worth the wait. The ruins were as amazing as I had hoped. The imagination runs wild as I stand in awe of the people who were responsible for building their own existence out of the cliffs and surroundings. I took many pictures of this spectacular site. I am humbled by the strength of mind that these people possessed. They were resourceful and friendly to the land. They were committed and creative in their survival. Viewing this small, but large, piece of ancient history gives me hope that we can figure out how to live and co-exist.

Rebecca Barnes-Mutini

I was a little disappointed that we couldn’t walk around inside the dwellings. We could hardly hear our tour guide as well. But all in all it was a good experience.

Megan Caille

Beautiful place and great tour!

Spencer Buchanan

Wonderful guided tour. Very introspective experience about pasts natives to the land. Rangers can answer hard questions and are worth discussing heavy topics and debunking old biases about native Americans.

James Davis

The history and knowledge you get here is awesome. Respect for the ancient Pueblos

Willy Pillars

This was a truly amazing experience. My wife and I really enjoyed the tour. It’s amazing that these people were capable of building these dwellings and prospering in such a rugged environment. It was like traveling back in time. The park rangers were very friendly and knowledgeable and I highly recommend this trip.

JOHN ALLEVI

Great experience, great for guides, wonderful cliff dwellings

Sydney Herron

Incredible to see this cliff dwelling and learn about how people lived in the past.

Greg Griffin

Not bad view, but you have to get tickets at the entrance to the park and the hike is difficult for physically impaired

Gerald Williamson

Magnificent Pueblo cliff dwellings with great tour guide. With the closing of the "normal" access, not quite as immersive. If you can choose only Cliff Palace or Balcony House, I'd suggest the Balcony House tour.

Austin Legend

It was so beautiful I wish I would live there then

Tom Williams

Historical, great tour at twilight.

Robert Kramer

Another site to see in Mesa Verde National park. Sign up for the guided tours, only $5. Kosmo

Kevin Wheeler - BikePackTravel

Well worth the $5 cost of the tour

James Latham

This is the only tour open in early spring - any of these ranger ruin tours are a must for any travel to Mesa Verde. Tickets sell out early - buy these as soon as you get to the park or on line before you arrive - so very worth it.( in one of this pics below you will see how the natives who lived there 800 years ago - hand mortored the stones - keep in mind theses guys had no beasts of burden - all built by hand - amazing! )

steven parsley

This is a must see. Very large. Families need to not take really young kids. Not because they cant make the trip, but they end up being a distraction. Wait until they are older to appreciate it rather than being a prop for your Instagram vacations. I would say 7 and up. The tour guide was really good. This one is not very strenuous as touted, but there are some ledges and steep ladders that could be overwhelming for the faint at heart.

bruce mastorovich

Guide was knowledgeable and fun there were some tight places but overall the place was amazing

Missy Kelly

Beautiful. Would have liked to hear more history.

Tanya Towne

An amazing place to explore the history of the first people to live in this country!

Jerilyn Toro

Dogs cannot go on the tour. The metal stairs down were to hard for our dog to get to see it from above.

Crista Rubner

Very educational and spectacular views to be seen. This place is amazing.

Michael Briggs

Wow, what a great place to visit. We took the tour and really enjoyed the Rangers talk. Well worth the money and time.

Ben Love

Low HOA fees. But seriously, awesome place. A must see.

Wesley Stanley

Mesa Verde has a lot to offer including the Cliff dwellings. Plan extra time to take in all of the views.

Linette/Ronnie Steele

Second time visiting Mesa Verde but 1st time taking a guided tour. It was only 5 dollars per person and it was worth every penny! The climb down and back up was better than working out at the gym. My 9 year old son absoulety loved it. Our family will return and do more tours in the future.

James Ortiz

What a spectacular adventure! Taking the tour was one of the best things we've ever done!

kendra salazar

You will be filled with the joy and adventures of those before us. Take the early morning tour. It is very peaceful.

steven bercot

Absolutely beautiful lovely place I absolutely suggest taking this tour

Orion Photo

Fantastic ancient site shows a part of native America that you don't see in Hollywood. Amazing cultural experience.

Jeffrey Spencer

Fantastic close up views. Mostly a hike and a talk.

Heather Herrera

Of all the tours this was the families favorite one. The views are amazing and the guide was great

Fudan Ren

Can't go down! What a pity

google user

A must see!! Make sure that you give yourself plenty of time to visit all the sites.

Mike Porter

Excellent thing to see before you die. Get tickets to go to it, had no idea they were needed so we only saw from across the valley.

Jamie Steeno

This is Cliff Palace. Looking at the archaeology of this area is amazing. Take time to take this tour the next time you plan your visit.

Louise Martin

Great tour with ranger. Well preserved and also easy to view from overlook area for people who don't do the tour. Wonderful!!

maija nikurs

Highly recommend, unique experience into Native American history of this area, very worth investing a day, more if you can!

Janell Duncan

When you get hear you hear how bad the walk/hike/climb is to get to the Cliff Palace and back. It really wasnt that bad to be honest maybe it was because we had an early in the day tour. We had Ranger Jan who led the tour and she was full of information as archaeology is her passion. I wouldn't recommend young children going on this trip as the ones in our tour group were not interested in the place. They became bored and it interrupted the tour and some wanted to climb and explore the place. Cant say I blame them for that one as I agree it would have been a cool place to explore.

Seth Greene

One of the major draws to the Mesa Verde National Park.

Jose Pablo Tassara

If you're able to walk and climb. Go to this fantastic site. Well worth the trip.

teresa Gallardo

So much history. Great tour lots of climbing and stairs. Worth it.