The Dyrt is here to help plan your best camping near Cortez. Aside from great camping spots, you'll find hiking and many more outdoor experiences. Thinking of traveling with kids? You're in luck—Cortez is surrounded by family-friendly activities. You're sure to find the perfect spot for your Colorado camping adventure.
Morefield Campground is four miles from the park entrance. The 267 campsites are situated within a high-elevation, grassy canyon filled with Gambel oak, native flowers, deer, and wild turkeys. Each site has a picnic table, gravel tent pad, and fire pit/BBQ grill. A camp store offers registration, food, and camp supplies. Firewood, gasoline, showers, a coin-operated laundromat, and a kennel are located nearby. The campground is managed by park concessioner Aramark and is open between spring and fall.
The Views RV Park& Campground welcomes you! Located near the heart of Southwest Colorado overlooking incredible vistas See all Four States from The Views, and experience breathtaking sunrises and sunsets Wander our 42 acres on the new trails We're located directly across the entrance to McPhee Reservoir for boating, fishing, paddle boarding and playing. Make The Views your base camp for hunting in the Fall or for your high mountain, desert and Mesa Verde adventures all season. Come see all that Southwest Colorado has to offer!
This KOA has been closed and is reopened as Rjourney, find them on the Dyrt
Mesa Verde National Park is less than 15 minutes away from this KOA near the four corners where Colorado, and New Mexico. Arizona and Utah meet.
The campground has heated swimming pool, basketball, and horseshoes. Also has a 1-mile walking trail around Denny Lake, fishing, and an enclosed dog park.
The pool is open Memorial Weekend through Labor Day Weekend.
Mancos is a great place to camp. Set in a beautiful ponderosa forest, the upper loop of the main campground and both yurts remain open through the winter. The park is centrally located to a wide variety of local attractions.
The park has two campgrounds – Main and West – on two sides of the reservoir with a total of 32 campsites. Along the northwest side of the reservoir, the west campground has nine campsites (primarily for tent campers) with toilets but no drinking water nearby.
Mancos also offers yurts for a unique and cozy camping experience.
Yurt reservations are required year round.
Mancos State Park provides a great overnight stop or a beautiful location for an extended stay. Winter is a fun time to camp at Mancos State Park.
Come and enjoy a fun-filled, quiet and beautiful time at Mancos State Park!
Join us at Ancient Cedars Mesa Verde RV Park–located across from the National Park entrance. We are the ideal, country-style, destination park located in the heart of Mesa Verde Country, close to a variety of acclaimed attractions in and around the Four Corners area. You’ll find we offer the most-friendly guest experience this side of the West, so bring the family and your favorite furry friends! Camp among our 1500-year old Cedar Trees. Our evening dark sky is primed for stargazing, and unforgettable shooting stars! Be sure to take part in our on-site activities such as miniature golf, swimming, hot tubbing as well as horse-back riding right next door! Our spacious RV camping grounds are equipped with a wide variety of pull-through sites with full hook-ups, water and 20/30/50 AMP electrical service. We offer Class-A and 5th Wheel ‘big rig friendly’ sections on the property that are more open with less tree coverage to allow for larger rigs and TV reception. Wooded sites are also available for all campers wanting shade. Our cozy deluxe log cabins measure approximately 10’x 12′. They comfortably sleep 4 to 5 people and include pillow top mattresses 1 queen bed and 2 bunk beds. Appliances in each cabin include TV, refrigerator, microwave, air conditioner, and heater. Each cabin offers a covered porch, covered picnic table and a free-standing grill. Primitive cabins located close to our adult hot tub and pool.
Dispersed camping along Forest Service Road 316
San Juan National Forest encompasses about 1.8 million acres in the southwestern corner of Colorado. From high-desert mesas to alpine peaks, these federal lands are managed for multiple uses and visitors are asked to respect each other and the natural resources. The San Juan National Forest Headquarters is located in Durango, Colorado, with district offices in Bayfield, Dolores and Pagosa Springs.
The great outdoors are just around the river bend when you book a stay at Dolores River RV Resort. We offer Colorado getaways that’s sure to satisfy the adventurer in you! Located off Railroad Avenue, our RV park and resort offers a peaceful getaway right along the north shore of Dolores River. Whether you want to rough it in a tent or covered wagon, or prefer to unwind in an RV, camper, or cabin, we have the lodging option you need.
Whether you’re an experienced hiker heading to San Juan National Forest or a national park fanatic about to cross Mesa Verde National Park off your list, Dolores River RV Resort is here for you. Learn more about our lodging options and amenities below, or reserve your spot online today!
Echo Basin Cabin And Rv Resort. Located in Mancos, Colorado. It is perfectly situated in the foothills of the San Juan Mountains of Southwest Colorado. Specializing in Colorado destination weddings, reunions, and family vacations, Echo Basin Resort has had the honor of hosting numerous events each summer season for over two decades.
The Views RV Park& Campground welcomes you! Located near the heart of Southwest Colorado overlooking incredible vistas See all Four States from The Views, and experience breathtaking sunrises and sunsets Wander our 42 acres on the new trails We're located directly across the entrance to McPhee Reservoir for boating, fishing, paddle boarding and playing. Make The Views your base camp for hunting in the Fall or for your high mountain, desert and Mesa Verde adventures all season. Come see all that Southwest Colorado has to offer!
This KOA has been closed and is reopened as Rjourney, find them on the Dyrt
Mesa Verde National Park is less than 15 minutes away from this KOA near the four corners where Colorado, and New Mexico. Arizona and Utah meet.
The campground has heated swimming pool, basketball, and horseshoes. Also has a 1-mile walking trail around Denny Lake, fishing, and an enclosed dog park.
The pool is open Memorial Weekend through Labor Day Weekend.
Mancos is a great place to camp. Set in a beautiful ponderosa forest, the upper loop of the main campground and both yurts remain open through the winter. The park is centrally located to a wide variety of local attractions.
The park has two campgrounds – Main and West – on two sides of the reservoir with a total of 32 campsites. Along the northwest side of the reservoir, the west campground has nine campsites (primarily for tent campers) with toilets but no drinking water nearby.
Mancos also offers yurts for a unique and cozy camping experience.
Yurt reservations are required year round.
Mancos State Park provides a great overnight stop or a beautiful location for an extended stay. Winter is a fun time to camp at Mancos State Park.
Come and enjoy a fun-filled, quiet and beautiful time at Mancos State Park!
Join us at Ancient Cedars Mesa Verde RV Park–located across from the National Park entrance. We are the ideal, country-style, destination park located in the heart of Mesa Verde Country, close to a variety of acclaimed attractions in and around the Four Corners area. You’ll find we offer the most-friendly guest experience this side of the West, so bring the family and your favorite furry friends! Camp among our 1500-year old Cedar Trees. Our evening dark sky is primed for stargazing, and unforgettable shooting stars! Be sure to take part in our on-site activities such as miniature golf, swimming, hot tubbing as well as horse-back riding right next door! Our spacious RV camping grounds are equipped with a wide variety of pull-through sites with full hook-ups, water and 20/30/50 AMP electrical service. We offer Class-A and 5th Wheel ‘big rig friendly’ sections on the property that are more open with less tree coverage to allow for larger rigs and TV reception. Wooded sites are also available for all campers wanting shade. Our cozy deluxe log cabins measure approximately 10’x 12′. They comfortably sleep 4 to 5 people and include pillow top mattresses 1 queen bed and 2 bunk beds. Appliances in each cabin include TV, refrigerator, microwave, air conditioner, and heater. Each cabin offers a covered porch, covered picnic table and a free-standing grill. Primitive cabins located close to our adult hot tub and pool.
Ranger
Morefield Campground, located just inside Mesa Verde National Park, offers a convenient and scenic basecamp for exploring the park’s incredible ancient cliff dwellings and stunning landscapes. The campground is spacious and well-organized, with over 250 sites that accommodate tents, RVs, and trailers. The setting is peaceful, with sweeping views of mesas and easy access to trails like the Point Lookout Trail.
Amenities are a highlight here, including flush toilets, showers, a well-stocked camp store, and even a fuel station. It’s an excellent choice for families or those who appreciate a few comforts while camping.
However, campers should be prepared for sudden and severe weather. The high desert location can bring intense storms with strong winds. During our stay, our tent nearly flew away despite being staked down securely, so it’s worth bringing extra gear like sandbags or heavy-duty stakes to keep your setup anchored.
Overall, Morefield Campground is an excellent choice for exploring Mesa Verde, combining convenient amenities with a beautiful natural setting. Just keep an eye on the weather and pack accordingly to ensure a comfortable stay.
Ranger
Madden Peak dispersed camping is a fantastic option for those seeking a peaceful and scenic camping experience near Mesa Verde National Park, Cortez, and Durango. This area is big rig accessible, with relatively flat camping spots, though the access roads can be bumpy at times . Campfires are allowed, making it a cozy spot for evenings under the stars.
The location offers stunning views of the La Plata Mountains and the surrounding wilderness, providing a serene backdrop for your stay. For outdoor enthusiasts, nearby hiking options include the Madden Peak Trail, which spans 4.5 miles and can be extended to summit Parrot Peak and Gibbs Peak. It's an ideal choice for campers who enjoy combining relaxation with outdoor adventure.
Scout
We stayed for 3 nights due to the convenience of Mesa Verde NP. The GPS coordinate on Google were spot on. The driveway was a little rough and can get very pitted with wet weather. We have a 38 foot 5th wheel that had plenty of clearance. We stayed in site 9. They do recommend 30ft and under but we got lucky there was an available site.
TravelerWhile kind of on the pricier side for campgrounds I really enjoyed my 2 nights there in early Oct 24. Easy access to get on the road to the cliff dwellings early in the day, flush bathrooms, tons of sites, trails nearby, a little center with a store, cafe, gas, and most importantly showers.
They let you pick your site which is nice so I got a site with a flat spot for my rooftop tent, but some sites are definately more geared to tent camping, but there are tons of site options.
Would stay again.
Traveler
Great location, close to Durango and right across from the hot springs. Convenient gas station and grocery store less than 5 minutes away, but if you're buying a lot of groceries, I’d recommend going somewhere closer to Durango as the store across the highway is a bit pricey. Excellent access to streams for anglers
Scout
River views in the morning are so pretty. Roads a bit rocky comin in, we didnt have any problems in our subaru crosstreck but could be tough if the geound gets muddy.
ScoutTwo nights here. Boondocks go, no water needed, but great location, restrooms nearby. Very peaceful.
Scout
Camped at site #11. Beautiful sunset view. We drove a 4WD truck with truck bed camper with no problem. Never took it out of 2WD.
Traveler
Reasonable prices & open during the winter.
The lake is beautiful and a great trail network around the camp, good for trail running.
Traveler
Clean, hot showers and large laundry room.
One of the more beautiful RV sites, sitting along the silverton & Durango tourist train.
However given we don’t even plug in, $78 including tax is too expensive for us.
Traveler17 spots all pretty spaced out, filled up around 5pm on Sunday October 12 (but this could be due to the Indigenous Peoples day being tomorrow).
The surrounding landscape is beautiful.
We didn’t find the road too bad in our Ram Promaster, but we have a pretty high clearance.
Scout
Beautiful place! It's pretty easy to get into, there are more secluded places up the hill a ways but it gets kinda rough. You can hear the highway, but it's not much. Just ambient background noise. I got a spot with shade all day, so that was awesome. There was one night an inconsiderate person parked his company truck and camper as close to me as was possible with wide open space all over and ran his generator. Luckily he was gone the next day.
Scout
We thought it would be great to check out Tico Time last weekend, but our experience was disappointing. We had reservations for Friday and Saturday night, but when we arrived, there was no one to help us find our campsite. After driving around aimlessly, we finally found our spot.
However, the place gave off a rundown, homeless camp vibe with old camp trailers, a hippie bus, and even a car on blocks, and another trailer had two motorcycles in various stages of being dismantled.
The zip line was a letdown, and there wasn't much shade due to the lack of trees. We wished we could have gone to the river to cool off. After just one night, we decided to move on and found a better spot further up the road in the mountains north of Durango.
Guide
Newer RV park, so everything is in great shape, and the wifi is super fast, 76 mb download, and 65 upload. The only downside is that every site does not have a picnic table, but there are two gas grills at the office/club house for everyone's use. Extremely nice small town. We will definitely stay here if in the area.
Traveler
Very well maintained campground. Stayed in tent. Bathroom and shower new and very clean. Excellent views.
Legend
The site is literally right off of hwy 160. If your gps tries to send you through residential areas or on county roads don’t listen to it.
There are quite a few available spots and most are pretty big. Roads can be a bit rough the farther back you go but it’s got large easy to access spots close to the front. It’s pretty busy but still plenty of room for everyone to have their own space.
Phone and internet connection is excellent!
ScoutWe planned to use this location as central to Mesa Verde and Durango. However we lucked out in finding the perfect stop in Mancos. The park is very clean, well run and walkable to town. We had some truck issues and they were great in letting us stay a few extra hours while we changed out our batteries. PS loved Moondog and Fenceline for food in town.
GuideThe only reason I give this place a 3 is because of the close proximity to Mesa Verde NP. This stay is only for high clearance vehicles and small RV's. Deep drain ditches between service road and sites. All sites are extremely uneven. Also the road and sites have sharp crushed shale stone. I have a 35 foot 5th RV and was way too big for this place. But by the grace of God I managed to back into site 12. How the use planks to shore up the ditches so I could get in without bottoming out. I will not return.
Guide
Hovenweep is a national monument with small but modern quiet campgrounds. The dark skies for amazing stars are spectacular. While they do not have showers, their bathrooms were clean and convenient to the loop of campsites. It was quiet and the rangers were friendly and warm. The Hovenweep monument archeological treasures are well worth scheduling a few hours to hike and visit. There are several ancient structures on the site (a small canyon) and the hikes are short and sooooo worth doing.
Scout
Junction Creek campground is a lovely place to stay. The price is good, the hosts are just soo friendly and helpful. The site was even swept clean of pine needles as the toilets are very fresh.
The whole experience was very good with well spaced sites and flat ground all between the trees.
There is great walking and mountain biking right from camp too! Enjoy!
ScoutGoing east from Durango, you make a right turn on silver hills road. You will see the blm sign. Gravel road, fire pits. We stayed in a camper van at one of the first spots and had 5g internet with AT&T. Can hear highway noise
Ranger
Monday evening, third week of September site 25. Quiet. Well spaced sites. Sloped towards lake. At least this site and 26 would be difficult to find level spot for tent and requires lots of rocks or blocks to level rv. Note west side of lake campsites are 6 miles from US160. Deer came out around 6 pm. Bear area, none seen. Nice stopping place.
Scout
From the time we pulled into the campground, full of grass with huge trees, we felt at home. We had a warm greeting and received a welcome gift with yummy treats and fresh eggs. We were led to our spot that backed up to a creek. There was a fire pit, fire wood, bbq, table and chair swing at the camp spot. Also included are free laundry facilities, movies on a big screen (popcorn included) and we were lucky enough to have a band play one day and a solo guitarist another. Scott goes out of his way to make you comfortable. It was raining when we were watching the band play, he brought us an umbrella to use, very thoughtful. We would recommend this place to everyone, dog friendly, kid friendly, with a play area for both. There are nice tent camping spots as well.
Traveler
Got here on a Sunday night at 9pm and site 7 was open. Perfect spot if you're visiting Mesa Verde.
ScoutThis is a National Forests campground, and many of the sites have electricity, but nothing else. The sites are reasonably graded gravel sites. Some are pull-thru while others are back-in.
ScoutSite was very unlevel front to back. Had to put 6" under rear class A. Sewer connection to deep in concrete for connected to screw in.
Traveler
Made a Rez 5 months ago and didn’t see the fine print cancellation policy stating 14 days out no refund. I had to make new plans due to unforeseen circumstances and called to find out that 13 days out is too bad for me. Not any concessions or credits for future stays, nada zilch. So for a slow time of year they just print money hoping no sees their fine print. I’m a business man and I’ve always seen rules as an opportunity to make someone’s day not motivation to make negative reviews. Maybe I’m old school but there was zero expense on their part and 5 months of cash holding for them. I guess their business is doing so well that they send people the other direction when looking for a place to stay
Camping near Cortez, Colorado, offers a mix of stunning landscapes and unique experiences. Whether you're looking for a cozy spot to pitch a tent or a place to park your RV, there are plenty of options to explore.
Camping near Cortez, Colorado, offers a variety of experiences, from stunning views to family-friendly activities. Whether you're in a tent or an RV, there's something for everyone to enjoy.
Frequently Asked Questions
What camping is available near Cortez, CO?
According to TheDyrt.com, Cortez, CO offers a wide range of camping options, with 141 campgrounds and RV parks near Cortez, CO and 47 free dispersed camping spots.
Which is the most popular campground near Cortez, CO?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular campground near Cortez, CO is Morefield Campground — Mesa Verde National Park with a 4.3-star rating from 89 reviews.
Where can I find free dispersed camping near Cortez, CO?
According to TheDyrt.com, there are 47 free dispersed camping spots near Cortez, CO.
What parks are near Cortez, CO?
According to TheDyrt.com, there are 14 parks near Cortez, CO that allow camping, notably Mesa Verde National Park and San Juan National Forest.
