Visit Balcony House on Chapin Mesa at Mesa Verde while exploring Trail of the Ancients
On Chapin Mesa the Park's Archaeological Museum is open 365 days a year and houses a full range of artifacts uncovered in and near Mesa Verde.
The museum tracks the history of the Ancestral Pueblo People through artifacts and exhibits that reconstruct their daily life. Take a short walk from the museum to Spruce Tree House in the canyon below. Here explorers young and old may climb down into a reconstructed Kiva. Spruce Tree House is open year-round, with self guided tours in the summer, and ranger led tours in the winter. A bookstore is also located at the Museum.
On Chapin Mesa there are two loop drives. Open from 8:00 am. to sunset, Mesa Top Road takes you past mesa-top dwellings and overlooks to cliff dwellings in the canyon below. Cliff Palace Road takes you to the meeting points for tours of Cliff Palace and Balcony House. Ranger-led tours of both of these dwellings require tickets that must be purchased at the Visitor Center.
Cliff Palace is the largest cliff dwelling, and is reached after a 15 minute hike. The ranger-guided tour takes approximately one hour. Balcony House is located high in a cliff, and requires climbing ladders and squeezing through a small tunnel. Both of these sites are open spring to fall, depending on weather conditions.
