Mesa Verde: 700 Years Tour and Cliff Palace — what 53 reviews say
It does not go to Four Corners Monument. Nothing on the platform does. The marker is a self-drive stop costing US$8 per person at the gate, with no advance ticket of any kind — that argument in full is on do you need tickets.
What the reviews are about
Guides, almost entirely. Ten quotes and nine of them name a person or praise one, which is the pattern across all eight products on this site and the reason I read the sentences rather than the score.
“Don’t remember our overall guides name but he was an extremely knowledgeable 82 year old Ranger. The guide that took me down to the Palace was Frank and he did a great job too!”
“The tour was excellent, our guide was very knowledgeable and we learned so much. I would highly recommend this tour. The information she gave was helpful and informative. We were able to see Cliff Palace even though there were no openings on the .gov website. Don’t miss it!”
“We thought Alex, the guide, and Leonard, the driver, were very knowledgeable. We had a great time. We appreciated the supplied water.”
Where the reviews and the listing pull apart
Two places, and the second one matters more than the first.
Nobody mentions the fee that decides whether this is the cheap one. This product’s whole position is price: US$136.74 against US$140.61 for the half-day next to it. But the half-day includes the Mesa Verde entrance pass and this one does not, and at US$15 a head the gap flips. Ten people wrote a review and the arithmetic appears in none of them, which is what you would expect — nobody writes a review about a fee they paid at a booth. The comparison is done properly on the cost page.
Two reviewers describe physical effort that the listing frames as a guided hike. If you are weighing this up for someone with a knee, a hip or a fear of ladders, these two sentences are worth more than the star rating:
“Fascinating preservation of artifacts and, more importantly, culture. Guides are well prepared for questions of all genres and Rangers are specifically focused on all things Cliff House. There is a level of physicality and sure-footedness needed for this particular site but it is a must see! Mesa Verde NP, with some kind of guided tour(s), over several days (and BIG star nights) will leave you with a thirst for more cultural immersion.”
“I thought the tour was perfect for both me/-grandma/ my kids and grandchildren. A bit of climbing and exercise for all of us and respite on the bus listening to a very fun and informed tour guide who likes her job—enthusiastic.”
“Very enjoyable and informative, we were so happy we took the tour. We learned so Much more than if we went on our own. The cliff palace is a must, makes the whole day Complete. Thank you Mark for making everyone so comfortable.”
The most useful sentence in the set
Vonda’s, above: “We were able to see Cliff Palace even though there were no openings on the .gov website.” Ranger-guided cliff dwelling tours at Mesa Verde are ticketed separately by the National Park Service, released exactly 14 days ahead at 8:00am MDT on recreation.gov, and they sell out daily. One reviewer says a booked tour got her in when the government site had nothing. I cannot tell you how the operator’s allocation works, because nobody publishes that, and I am not going to guess at it. I can tell you that a Cliff Palace ticket is the part of a Mesa Verde day most likely to be gone by the time you try, which is the strongest argument on this page for booking anything at all.
What works
- Ranger-guided Cliff Palace, which is the part that sells out on recreation.gov
- Four hours, so it fits a day that also includes the 49-mile drive to the marker
- Reviewers consistently name their guide and the ranger, across all ten quotes
- Water supplied, per one reviewer — useful in a July that runs into the 90s °F
Worth knowing
- The park entrance fee is excluded: the operator lists US$30 per vehicle, US$15 per person
- Cancellation closes three days out, not the platform’s usual 24 hours
- Two reviewers describe climbing and “sure-footedness” — this is not a bus-window tour
- 53 reviews is a reasonable base, but the ten I can quote are all five-star and cannot be where the 4.8 comes from
Compare it against the half-day tour with the entrance fee added back on, not against the sticker. US$136.74 plus US$15 a head is already above the US$140.61 that includes entry, and that is before anyone in your car pays twice. The full working is on what it costs.
The widget above carries the platform’s standard “free cancellation up to 24 hours” line. That is not this product: cancellation on this tour closes three days ahead. Read the window on the product page before the price.
The other two Mesa Verde tours
Sees all four statesPark entry includedMancos: Mesa Verde National Park Half-Day Tour
Best rated herePark entry + lunch includedDurango: Mesa Verde National Park, Cliff Palace Tour with Lunch
Quotes are verbatim from the product’s own page, read on 13 August 2026, with first names and star ratings as published. Spelling and punctuation are the reviewers’. Ratings and review counts move; check the live figure before you book.
All eight tours, ordered by distance from the marker, are on the tours page. Every review page is indexed on the reviews hub.
Frequently asked questions
Does the Mesa Verde 700 Years Tour go to Four Corners Monument?
No. It runs inside Mesa Verde National Park, about 49 road miles from the marker, and no tour on the platform visits the monument. Four Corners is a self-drive stop costing US$8 per person at the gate.
Is the park entrance fee included?
No, and this is the one thing to know before booking it. The operator lists the excluded fee itself: US$30 per private vehicle or US$15 per person. The Mesa Verde half-day tour at US$140.61 includes the entry pass, so compare the two with the fee added back on.
Is it rated well?
4.8 from 53 reviews. The ten quotes I can read are all five-star and consistently praise the guide and the ranger, so the 4.8 is being pulled down by reviews I cannot see. Fifty-three is a reasonable base by the standards of this site, where one product rests on five.
How physical is it?
More than the listing suggests. One reviewer writes that there is “a level of physicality and sure-footedness needed for this particular site” and another describes “a bit of climbing and exercise for all of us”. Cliff Palace is reached on foot.