Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde National Park

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.

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!

I took this tour back in 2008 and enjoyed it. They told your a story before hand and the walk through was easy and manageable. I also attended the night event that had in December with the trail lite up with lights. I also thought that was worth seeing.

This is the shortest of the three tours. Be prepared for metal steps, uneven sandstone steps and four sets of wooden ladders. It's rather mindboggling to see first hand how cliff dwelling was called home. If you keep your eyes open you'll discover there are many such dwellings but many are small and often consist only of a few stones after the other stones were carried out or perhaps recycled. It would be extremely interesting to have a peek in the day in the life these great people

Touted as the largest cliff dwelling in Mesa Verde, Cliff Palace is a real gem. Well worth the time to visit. You need to get a ticket for a tour to visit Cliff Palace, entry on your own isn't allowed. Tickets can be purchased for $5 per person at the Museum. Tours run from 9 AM to 4 PM on the half hour and are limited to 55 people. The trail is steep and has several ladders and steep stairways to access the ruin. Contact Mesa Verde for more accurate info.