6 of the 7 Continents For The Budget Traveler: Mesa Verde, the Petra Jordan of the USA!

I don't recall exactly how I learned about The Cliff Palace and ruins of Mesa Verde, but I am sure that when I saw the photos sometime in 2020 I began to think... They look familiar? Turkey? Somewhere in the middle east maybe? Or maybe South America.... Naïve to say the least as Mesa Verde National Park is a mere 6 hour drive from where I live in Arizona. From there, I was ready to leave the next day! However, all things Covid.... This trip had to be postponed.

So I waited.... At random my brother called me and told me one of my favorite bands was going to be playing at The Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado in July of 2022. I always wanted to go to a show here and thought it would work out perfectly to blend it in with the Mesa Verde Trip. And fortunately the plan worked as Mesa Verde was to re-open the same week the show was taking place. The wheels were set in motion, and it became an incredible experience, even adding in a night in Pagosa Springs. Here's my go to advice for Mesa Verde, especially if you are coming from the south!

BOOK THE TICKETS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. At the time of writing it is 14 days in advance, set up your account as soon as you can, and buy the tickets at the on sale time. Some days you may have no issues whatsoever and be able to buy 20 tickets to all the old ruins, but other days I watched tickets be sold out in less than 10 minutes. For people flying in this is a real bummer, because you don't wanna buy last minute airfare only to find out the main thing you wanted to see is sold out. At the time of writing, I bought the tickets on recreation.gov, they didn't sell out immediately but definitely were sold out later in the day as it was the first week it re-opened.
Speaking of selling out, triage appropriately, thee are several ruins as you probably already know for me The Cliff Palace was number 1 priority, so I bought those first, then the Long House. The Balcony House tour looked great but was under construction at the time I went. So either have two computers or a friend help if you need, but it you have just one device, buy your first choice first.
Go to the first tour if possible, you will get really great crowd free photos, and something was just nice about being there first thing in the morning.

First glance from tour overlook
There was no real hard hiking involved, but definitely a few ladders to climb here and there, so be aware of that if you are elderly or have knee issues.

Inside the Cliff Palace!






Old ruins
I easily fit both tours and drove to see several other ruins. The furthest points are 30 to 60 minutes apart so you could do maybe even 3 tours in a day, but two felt really good, and not rushed between to see the many other ruins and beautiful scenery there.

Square Tower Overlook
The drive is fairly simple and I thought it would be boring but was one of the most beautiful drives I have ever experienced in my life... Seriously, you can just drive through Colorado never stopping and have an amazing trip for the beauty the state has. I also passed the good old 4 Corners Monument on the way there, totally touristy, but a nice quick stop for a photo op.
Cortez is a standard home base for exploring the parks, and I highly agree, I got a good budget hotel on the main road which was walking distance to plenty of delicious dinner options.
Now if you are going to Denver afterwards, I don't recommend back tracking to Cortez, this is where Pagosa Springs came in, it was an hour into Denver and a beautiful stop on the way. I left Mesa Verde around 4pm, starting at 9am, and had got to Pagosa in time to enjoy the springs and have a great dinner before heading to Denver.
Red Rocks Amphitheater! My only advice here... If you are ok with it... I hate to say this because I feel like a sinner the few times I've done it at concerts... Leave before the band starts the last song... The parking lot is a nightmare! 15 minutes to get there from my hotel in Denver, 1.5 hours to get out!

I would normally consider Mesa Verde a one and done trip, but since it is so close, I wouldn't be opposed to going back. But either way, as always I am so happy I finally made it there!