Mesa Verde National Park 4.3 (reviews)

There are 20 UNESCO heritage sites within the USA, and Mesa Verde National Park is one of them!  This incredible location in Colorado has over 5,000 protected archeological sites, which include 600 cliff dwellings.

Can you imagine living in these carved out homes? It will certainly give kids a great insight into how people used to live for over 700 years, starting at AD 600 to AD 1300. (They might realize they don't have it so bad now!)

These cliff dwellings are some of the best preserved in the entire continent of North America.  After living on the mesa top for almost 600 years the Ancestral Puebloans began to build beneath the overhanging cliffs.

These amazing structures range in size. There are one room storage unites, and there are entire villages of more than 150 rooms! Pretty incredible!

The mesa tops turns into use for farming, while for over a century they repaired and remodelled the alcoves they lived in.

By the late 1270's the Ancestral Puebloans began to migrate south, and 30 years later Mesa Verde was no longer occupied.

Which is great for us now, because you get to enjoy these amazing sites with the family!

There's even a palace!

Kids will have a great time, because Mesa Verde National Park has Junior Ranger Program where kids aged 4 - 12 can actually become a Junior Ranger - pretty cool! The visitor center and museum have the activity booklets, so pick one up so they can earn the badge!

A fascinating and historical day out for the kids where they can learn AND have a great time!