700 Year Tour - Half Day Mesa Verde Cultural Tour in Durango booking from $93.00

700 Year Tour - Half Day Mesa Verde Cultural Tour

Overview

Experience all this UNESCO World Heritage site has to offer on this 4 hour small group tour. It provides you with an overall historical view of the Ancestral Puebloans architectural, horticultural, cultural, and religious dimensions of their lives in the Southwest. The interpretive tour guides are all National Association for Interpretation certified. Choose from one of two departure times when you book.

City: Durango

Thu 17 Jul

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Starting at $93.00

Make a reservation

Thu 17 Jul

Starting at $93.00

Make a reservation

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What's Included

National Association for Interpretation certified Interpretive Guide

Driver

Local taxes

Transportation by air conditioned coach

Additional Info

Wheelchair accessible
Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
Public transportation options are available nearby
Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
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

What To Expect

Mesa Verde Tour Experience

The tour starts at either 8am or 1:30pm from Far View Terrace, Mile Marker 15, 45 minutes inside Mesa Verde National Park where you will board a comfortable and air conditioned coach. Experience a chronological journey starting with a pithouse village (A.D. 600), the development of pueblos and underground ceremonial rooms called kivas (A.D. 900-1100), to the Classic Pueblo era of cliff dwellings dated from the 13th century. Take amazing photos of Fewkes Canyon Overlooks at Oak Tree House and Fire Temple with a walk around stop at Sun Temple. Learn about the 700 years of Ancestral Puebloan history from our experienced NAI certified Interpretive Guides all while we do the driving and parking.

Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Traveler Photos

Reviews (95)

PzTravel

Jul 2013

When visiting Mesa Verde National Perk during June 2013 we decided to take the Aarmark operated 700 Years Tour. When planning our trip we signed up for this tour for several reasons: 1. We had a very limited time in the park (1/2 day) and by taking the guided tour we felt we would be able to see the sights without battling the crowds for parking spots at each sight. 2. We have always liked guided tours of cultural sights since in the past we have received more out of the tour than if we visited the sights alone without any background or other information. 3. We were spending the night at the Far View Lodge so we were already at the tour starting point and would not have to drive. 4. Before visiting the only negative was tour cost. For four of us the tour cost~$160, a bit steep, bit if the tour was good might be worth the cost. With these reasons for taking the tour in mind, below are some notes, comments and tips based on the actual tour experience. Having just completed visits to Grand Canyon, Zion, Hoover Dam and other more popular sights there was a curious lack of people in Mesa Verde. From the restaurants to the gift shops to the parking lots, there just was not that many people touring, so parking at each sight was not an issue. In fact other than the main cliff dwelling sights most lots were empty. You should not have trouble finding a parking spot! The cultural and natural history explained on the tour was ok, but not outstanding. Our guide explained more than we would have figured out on our own, but after the tour we did not feel as if we had learned a lot more than we know before we started. At most sights there were placards explaining most of what the guide explained, so all in all the guided aspect of the tour was ok, but not great. The tour was 4 hours long, but as with all larger group tours, a good percentage of the time was spent getting on and off the bus and moving around. If you did want to visit the sights on the tour on your own, you could do it in a fraction of the time of the tour. One advantage for the tour was that we were staying at The Far View Lodge. Accessing the tour was easy-easy -easy. If had signed up for the tour, but were staying outside the park, you would have to get up pretty early to get drive into the park in time to get the tour. For us this would have made the tour much less attractive. As mentioned the tour cost us a total of $160, which after the tour seems like too much money for what you get. The tour does also include a National Park led tour of Cliff Palace, but this tour can be purchased for $3/person from the National Park Service. As mentioned we felt like the tour was over priced. Some people especially those with less mobility or people who don't like to drive, it might be worth it, but we felt a bit short changed at the end. In conclusion, we felt the tour provided just ok information and provided no real improvement in access than if you drive to the sights yourself and at a pretty high cost. For us the value for your money was just not there and next time we would tour on our own, but for some it might be worth it. You will have to decide if it is worth the cost or not. Happy Travels!

ZIPPY87ME

Nov 2011

If you are visiting Mesa Verde you must tour the Cliff Palace, Balcony House and Long House, each tour available for $3 and guided by a park ranger. The various web sites, including the official government site warn of possible limited availability of the tour tickets, which you must buy in person for the three major sites in order to tour them. If you are planning your trip to visit Mesa Verde, you feel forced to at least consider the bus tours offered by Aramark, who also operates the lodge so you are insured the chance to visit at least one of the sites offered. We elected to book the 700 Year Tour, specifically so we could make sure we saw Cliff Palace during our two day stay at the park. The price for the tour is $45 for an adult. This gets you a bus ride on a school bus, not a comfortable motor coach as advertised, a park ranger narrated tour and several bottles of water, which you need to take advantage of due to dehydration and elevation sickness. The park ranger’s insight to the area was very informative and the bus driver was very friendly, however when weighing the difference of $3 Cliff Palace tour and the $45 bus tour, much of what the ranger tells you on the bus could be obtained from pamphlets available at the book store for much less. The tour includes many stops at the free sites along the park loop. Our ranger was an anthropologist and specifically wanted to work at Mesa Verde because it is not a natural park, but one that focuses on culture and the people that lived there. We really enjoyed our ranger and were very disappointed when we reached the real reason for the tour, which was the visit to Cliff Palace to find we were being dumped off to join others who had opted to only buy the $3 ticket. Of the 90 or so people who take the Cliff Palace tour, about 45 were from our bus tour. We had presumed that for the extra cost we would have been given a more private tour, hopefully only our group of fellow bus travelers, but unfortunately not. Luckily, the day before we headed up to Mesa Verde Park, we stopped at the Colorado Visitor Center in Cortez, which in addition to the park also sells tickets to the various Mesa Verde sites, up to one day in advance of your visit and including the day of your visit. The visitor center opens at everyday 8 am until 5 pm, except for holidays, some days they are open until 6 pm. Much to our surprise, in the middle of August, tickets to all the sites were very available. We actually picked the tour times we wanted to do the other major sites based upon recommendation of the agent at the visitor center. Some tours have larger gaps between them based upon when the rangers take breaks, so you can get a view and chance to take pictures without anyone at the site from the previous tour. Unfortunately, we could have booked the Cliff Palace tour at the visitor center and saved $168 for the four of us compared to the tour we booked on-line. When we discussed how we thought the tickets would be harder to get, we were told that most of the local school systems in the area were back in session in early to mid August, which could have explained the ticket availability. At each site you will be given a prepared speech from the ranger on the hazards of the site and the tight spaces, tunnels and ladders you will need to traverse during your tour. If you are at all in reasonable shape and don’t fall apart when faced with 30 foot ladder climb at a very shallow angle, you should be fine. My wife is claustrophobic and afraid of heights and she really enjoyed all three tours. The trick is to not over think it and to keep hydrated. Remember the park is warm-hot in the summer and the elevation is 7,000 – 8,000 feet above sea level. Most visitors to the site are not accustom to how this elevation impacts your body regardless of your physical shape. The rangers indicated that over 10 people had been taken out of the park by ambulance during the first two weeks in August, simply do to dehydration issues. If you are traveling in mid to late August you should consider skipping the bus tour and buy your tickets at the visitor center. Make sure to sign the guest book at the visitor’s center and you may get a free Colorado baseball cap. Regardless the volunteers are really nice and helpful.

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700 Year Tour - Half Day Mesa Verde Cultural Tour

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