Cliff Palace Tour

(One half mile north of the museum, turn onto the
Mesa Top Loop Roads at the three way stop intersection.)

Open from 8:00 A.M. to sunset, these six-mile drives take you past mesa top sites and overlooks. On the Cliff Palace loop you may visit one of two cliff dwellings by guided tour, Cliff Palace or Balcony House. These sites can only be reached by a one-hour ranger-guided tour. Tickets for tours are purchased only at the Far View Visitor Center. Rangers begin the Cliff Palace tour from the overlook at the end of the entrance trail. The Balcony House tour begins from the benches under the shade ramada located within the Balcony House parking lot.

To enter Cliff Palace on a guided tour, one must descend approximately 100 feet into the canyon on a steep trail that includes 120 uneven stone steps. Throughout the tour one will climb five eight foot ladders.

A trip into this dwelling is not recommended for people with cardiac or respiratory problems. Cliff Palace, like all of the cliff dwellings, is located at 7,000 feet of elevation and involves strenuous physical activity.