Best Tent Camping near Mesa Verde National Park

Located less than 1 mile from Mesa Verde National Park entrance, this campground has wonderful owners who understand the meaning of hospitality! The sites are maintained daily and there are nice little touches throughout the campground, like potted plants at the pedestal of each site and site lights that can be turned off if one wishes (protect the dark sky). 

There's a playground, pool and adults only spa, the office store has the little things one might have forgotten, there's a separate tent area, a well outfitted laundry room and clean showers. They also conveniently offer propane for sale. 

The gravel site I was in was fairly level and had full hook ups. Free wi fi available. Not much privacy between spaces, but not sandwiched in like some "resorts". A little road noise and if the wind blew from a certain direction the leach field/pond scent would waft by, but overall a nice place to stay.

Very surprised with the actual size of Mesa Verde National Park. The facilities are maintained very well and are kept extremely clean. The showers they are amazing. Especially after tent camping for a week!

Be prepared to sign up for tours - under $10 per person, which is very reasonable - to see some of the cliff sites up close.T he museum and rangers were great. Be sure to buy your tickets in advance as there is a limited number of tours each day and they fill up. You can only purchase tickets up to 2 days in advance and it has to be in person. The tours are so worth the effort!

This campground inside Mesa Verde National Park is run by Aramark, a major hospitality company, which has its pros and cons. First, it’s more expensive than most national park campgrounds at $36 per night, even for dry tent sites. We were able to get half price with our America the Beautiful senior pass, which also got us into the park for free. Otherwise entry would have been $30 this time of year. (The camping discount didn’t seem to be available online, only upon registration.) There’s a camp store that sells souvenirs and beer. There are endless showers that are free with your camp registration, sanitized after every use. There are paid laundry machines. There are also many dumpsters and drinking water faucets. Toilets with running water are pretty clean, but there was no soap dispenser in the men’s room on the tent loop. We had no trouble getting a walk-up tent site. Some sites have shade trees and tent spots. All have picnic tables and fire rings, although a burn ban is in effect. The combination of Covid and the burn ban led to closure of many trails, the museum, and the visitors center. The beautiful native dwellings and some incredible geological overlooks are less than half an hour’s drive to the south. Also check out Mesa Verde Voices podcast. Very informative.