Balcony House - The Adventure Tour

Photo: Ken Lund from Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)

A stop on Mesa Verde Cliff Dwellings, a free self-guided tour.

Balcony House is open only on ranger-led tours, so you need a ticket from recreation.gov, usually booked days ahead. It is the park's most adventurous tour: a staircase down into the canyon, a 32-foot ladder, a tunnel about 18 inches wide that you crawl through on hands and knees, and more ladders and toeholds to climb out. Skip it if heights or tight spaces bother you.

The reward is a village of about 40 rooms perched on a high ledge, with a low wall along the drop-off and a balcony that gives the site its name. Its single narrow approach made it easy to control who came and went.

No ticket? Take the Soda Canyon Overlook trail, an easy hike of a little over a mile round trip that starts just up the road. From the overlook you can see Balcony House across the canyon.

The Cliff Palace Loop is one-way; drive past the Cliff Palace stop for now, because the tour ends there.

Getting here: From the museum, drive south to the junction and take the one-way Cliff Palace Loop about 3 miles to the Balcony House parking area.

Did you know?: The Balcony House tunnel is about 12 feet long and only about 18 inches wide, narrower than many airplane seats.

Photo op: From the Soda Canyon Overlook, zoom across the canyon to catch the ledge and its rooms.

Nearby: Vault toilets near the parking area; carry water, especially at this elevation.

More on Wikipedia: Cliff dwelling · Mesa Verde National Park

Balcony House - The Adventure Tour

Stops on this tour