Approximately 1/2 mile from the entrance to the park, visitors will pass through the 2 lanes of entrance station kiosks where they will pay entrance fees, purchase park passes and request information. Visitors arriving outside station hours may pay their fee directly through www.recreation.gov. Park brochures can be found at the signboard on the right.

The entrance station kiosk is located approximately 1/2 from the entrance to the park and the visitor center. Our friendly rangers can provide you with a park map, information, Jr. Ranger Books and Badges and a passport stamp as well as collecting the entrance fee. Visitors arriving outside station hours may pay their fee directly through www.recreation.gov. Park brochures can be found at the signboard on the right.

Sun strikes a wooden arrowhead-shaped sign along a road.

Entrance Station

Entrance Station Kiosk

The Mesa Verde Museum is one of the oldest in the National Park Service. It was constructed between 1922 and 1925 of locally quarried sandstone – the same rock that the Ancestral Pueblo people used to construct their dwellings. Its Modified Pueblo Revival Architecture reflects the architecture of descendant communities and is well integrated into the natural landscape. It is surrounded by a mature pinyon and juniper woodland community located at the edge of Spruce Canyon. Just beyond the Museum is a deep canyon with the third largest cliff dwelling site, Spruce Tree House.

Located at milepost 20, the Mesa Verde Mesa Museum offers exhibits and cultural objects that provide insight into the Ancestral Pueblo lifeways. An orientation film is shown on the hour and half-hour, providing an excellent overview of the history at Mesa Verde. A museum store, water, restrooms, café, gift shop, and post office are all located nearby. Just behind the museum is a stunning view of Spruce Tree House, the third largest and best-preserved cliff dwelling in the park.

Stone-masonry building with covered entrance.Trees and plants surround it.

Chapin Mesa Archeological Museum Entrance

Mesa Verde Museum

The Chapin Mesa Archeological Museum is one of the oldest in the National Park Service. Constructed between 1922-25, it replaced a log cabin that had exhibited cultural objects since 1917.

The museum is built of Cliff House Sandstone, the same stone used by the Ancestral Pueblo people to construct nearby Spruce Tree House and other cliff dwellings, in an architectural style known as Modified Pueblo Revival, which was inspired by the architecture of Mesa Verde's descendant communities.

Winter Hours 2023

Thanksgiving Day (Closed)

Christmas Day (Closed)

New Year's Day (Closed)

Circular stamp with Mesa Verde National Park across the top and Mesa Verde, CO across the bottom

Mesa Verde National Park Passport Stamp

The Visitor & Research Center is a modern building built in a Pueblo style with locally quarried sandstone, large glass windows, and a shaded patio that wraps around the building to the east. A large sculpture of an Ancestral Pueblo climber welcomes visitors into the space where visitors can learn about the tribal communities that have shared and have close affiliation with this land. A long concrete walkway leads into the visitor center, which offers a bookstore, exhibits, and staffed information desk. Inside the Center, visitors can view the park’s state of the art research and curatorial facility for the park’s archives and museum collection of over three million objects.

Located at the park entrance, off Highway 160, this facility serves as the park’s primary facility for orienting visitors to opportunities within the park and surrounding area. Exhibits offer glimpses into the richness of Ancestral Pueblo culture and daily life.

View of glass-fronted building with covered walkway and tall sculpture in front.

Mesa Verde Visitor and Research Center

Park rangers, information, Junior Ranger books and badges, Mesa Verde Association bookstore, and park passport stamps are available during open hours.

Summer Hours

Circular stamp with Yucca House National Monument across the top and Cortez, CO across the bottom

Yucca House National Monument Stamp

For over 700 years, the Ancestral Pueblo people built thriving communities on the mesas and in the cliffs of Mesa Verde. Today, the park protects the rich cultural heritage of 26 Pueblos and Tribes and offers visitors a spectacular window into the past. This World Heritage Site and International Dark Sky Park is home to over a thousand species, including several that live nowhere else on earth.