Far View Lodge

Far View Lodge is the only accommodation located inside Mesa Verde National Park, perched at 8,100 feet on the mesa top with sweeping views across the Montezuma Valley and into four states on clear days. Staying here means you're inside the park at sunrise and sunset — when the light on the canyon walls is at its most extraordinary — long after day visitors have left.

Rooms are simple but comfortable, with no TV (intentionally) and large windows framing the views. The Far View Terrace restaurant serves Southwestern cuisine with that remarkable panorama as the backdrop, and the Metate Room fine dining restaurant is one of the better meals in this part of Colorado.

The lodge is managed under a National Park Service concessionaire agreement and dates to the 1960s — it's not luxurious, but its position is utterly irreplaceable. The archaeological sites are a five-minute drive from your door.

Far View is the right choice for anyone serious about Mesa Verde — particularly if you want to catch the cliff dwellings in early morning or late afternoon light without racing back from Cortez. It books out months in advance in peak season.