One of the most unique places in the country. Def a must see. We went first week of April and it was great. Not a ton of people. Hike is fairly easy. There is a trail that is off the main loop that looked difficult. You climb 2-3 sets of ladders to get to top. On main trail, there’s Multiple ladders you can climb to see inside the houses. You will have to wait if you wanna climb as people take pictures. Plan at least a half day to enjoy. Maybe more in summer. Remember leave no trace. One was blocked off due to damage done by visitors. Overall amazing experience to walk back in time and see how people lived.

This was a great experience. Pretty nature hike through the woods while also being able to see authentic Native American cave dwellings that you can go inside. Bring sneakers, lots of water, and snacks. Plan to be there a couple hours to enjoy the trails, cave dwellings and scenery. We walked the main loop then headed to the Alcove. It took us 2.5 hours round trip. Overall it was a great experience and I recommend.

Great historical site of the Pueblo Indians. Before you start, I recommend spending the $2 (cash) and getting the trail guide booklet sold in the gift shop or visitors center. It has great info - especially if you are not taking a tour by a ranger. When you're done, stop in the cafe for a bite. It was really good! Better than I expected. Overall, it was a very memorable experience!

Great experience. We went during slower hours (after 2) and didn't have to wait long at the ladders. Highly recommend. Give yourself about 2 hours to do main loop and 3 main cliff dwellings. You can make an entire day out of it, if you're prepared to hike more.

This is an awesome little gem in New Mexico. If you’re interested in historical places, you’ll love this beautiful place. There are ancestral Puebloan dwellings well preserved in the faces of the cliffs. They’ve setup a few of them for access to explore, which is a really cool experience. There are some really great hikes, and the best are the ones that take you through the entire dwelling areas and then to the Alcove House (which to get to the Alcove you’ll have to climb up 3 tall wooden ladders, and a few short ones). I highly recommend doing the Alcove House, but be warned, if you’re not good with heights, then you may want to view from the ground. Another great hike was the Falls Trail, which takes you to a beautiful waterfall. PLEASE BE RESPECTFUL OF THE AREA!! One of the dwellings was closed off from exploration thanks to vandalism, which is just so disgusting. Please don’t ruin the experience for others! If you’re ever in the area, check it out! Very beautiful and peaceful hikes, and a very unique place.

Breathtaking hike to view the homes of the Pueblo Indians. A must see when in the area. During the summer months after 9am, you must take a shuttle from White Rock up to Bandelier due to limited parking at the monument. It was nice to get to ride and view some of the dwellings on the way, however. you can climb inside some of the dwellings. The Alcove house is worth the hike, but be prepared for a climb in direct sun. I do not recommend if you are afraid of heights. Bring water and wear sunscreen during the summer/fall time as you are in the sun both ways hiking. There is some shade on the trail but not much. Very cute little gift shop and cafe onsite as well.

Really cool monument. One of the cooler things I saw while going around New Mexico. Pros: Old structures, artifacts, great information, and you can GET IN the old structures. Climb ladders, walk on trails, etc. to get up to these old places. One of them was like 150 feet up a cliff face! Cons: Not super easy to get around. I had a hard time finding my way to some of the more obscure places, partially because I had no service there. The main loop trail is easy enough to follow, but there are a lot of branching trails and places where I could have missed something cool. It was also very hot and the water fountains were not working. All that being said, the pros outweigh the cons, super cool

Such an underrated place! Amazing historical site and absolutely beautiful scenery! To think that people 1000 years ago live in these caves is simply unbelievable! And the creeks carved out these canyons! Amazing what time could do

An amazing place. We took a chance on stopping by on our way home from Colorado. Turned out to be a wise choice. Both Visitor Centers were interesting and the volunteers extremely helpful. The short bus ride was nice, got to pay attention to the scenery not the driving. The canyon views are beautiful. The village and cliff dwellings are viewed by a short hike and the additional hike to The Alcove House is worth it. The plant and wildlife are abundant. I hope they give this national treasure National Park status soon, consider it is one of the older monuments. BTW...the Park Cafe have excellent bison and elk burgers, excellent fare for after the hike.

So captivating to take a glimpse into how the Pueblo natives lived. Definitely gives you perspective how intelligent they are, and their way of life and how functional their way of lives were. You have to look hard but you can see a lot of petroglyphs up high. I wish I could of rent one of these caves for the night. I will say from the parking lot I feel like I'm watched from something on top of the right Ridge.

I loved this place. I got my fill of adventure. I saw amazing pueblos, snakes, bears and I climbed up to some incredible views. If you plan to visit, I would recommend bringing extra water or Gatorade and a few hours to enjoy yourself. I would set aside at the very least 4 to 5 hours. The trail is short, but there are other trails on the loop to explore and I don't recommend missing them.

Holy cow this place is amazing. I’ve been to Yosemite, Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon and tons of other national parks. This beats them all, per one hike. Granted it was a perfect October day, but the fact that it’s so interactive makes this a must year round. I can’t believe how few people were there. The hike is a perfect loop where you get everything in, but I definitely recommend taking the short jot out to the Alcove house, because that was my favorite part. The ladders kept going up and up. The fact that there were ladders without safety bars all over made it feel so much more freeing and authentic.

I took a weekend drive to see the cliff dwelling. It was a journey and end up taking this adventure with a couple about my parent's age named Jackie and Paul. There were sweet. They encouraged me to go up and down this 140 ft rise to see a dwelling up there. Oh my goodness gracious I was terrified but it was all worth it. I'm glad I went. Jackie and Paul made the day sweeter and more fun. There are some good views on the way.

One of the coolest and most engaging national monuments I've been to! The Pueblo Loop Trail is a must-do for any first-time visitor. Spent around 3 hours here. Went in early Oct, visitors from 9am-3pm were required to take a free shuttle from the White Rock Visitor Center to the Bandelier Visitor Center due to limited parking. It was a ~25min ride. We were greeted by a park ranger who gave us a group briefing of the park. The Visitor Center was a complex of multiple buildings, including a museum, theater room, restaurant, and gift shop. The gift shop had a large selection of high-quality goods and even had Pueblo pottery from native craftspeople. The Pueblo Loop Trail is the most popular. You're able to walk alongside the cliff dwellings and even climb wooden ladders 🪜 into a few of them! There are some steep, winding steps and (optional) ladders without railings in those portions of the trail that people with limited mobility may find difficult. Still, the ladder climbing makes for a very novel experience. The final portion of the trail is to the Alcove house, which is an alcove 140 ft up in the cliff face. The ascent/descent involves four long wooden ladders and steep stone steps. It takes some time/waiting since there is only a single ladder for people going up and coming down. The view from the top is nice, but the journey itself was probably the main experience. It was incredible to walk through all this imagining how multiple generations of people used to live in and at the base of these cliffs. Leave no trace!

Very nice monument. The hikes are easy and not too long so my 11 year-old son really enjoyed it. Very interesting pueblo people houses carved into the rock. We went to this monument when the balloon festival occurred, so it was not crowded at all (since everyone was at Albuquerque for the Balloon Fiesta).

We combined the main loop and alcove house trails Beautiful Hike & lots of Pueblo houses to explore and those steep ladders in the alcove house trail is a unique and fun experience. Definitely read about it at the visitor center before attempting it, especially if you re not comfortable with heights

Very cool place to visit. Did the main loop trail which allows you to go in some of the dwellings. Alcove house is closed due to snow and ice currently. Would like to go back.

Such a beautiful place to go to. Very interesting. Can take your car there only on certain times. Its better to park your car in white rocks visitor center and take the bus to bandelier..

Majestic and awe inspiring. We camped at the Juniper site, hiked the Frey trail to the ruins... It was around 5:30pm and we had the whole monument to ourselves besides a couple other folks.

Bandelier is a hidden gem in northern New Mexico in Los Alamos! If you arrive before 8 you can drive in. The shuttle is also very easy and convenient. Plan to spend at least four hours exploring. The on site cafe is delicious, but you can also bring stuff for a picnic! It is a magical, beautiful place!

Although the ranger at the welcome centre wasn’t too welcoming everything else about this place is outstanding. Download the guide with a qr code for detailed explanation as you you follow the trails. The trail itself is often shaded by trees, the cliff houses accessible but I fear in tourist season this may be crowded! Stop at the cafe, great food!

There is so much to do and explore. There are several trails for every level of walker or hiker. $25 for a vehicle pass that is good for a week, so many opportunities to go explore. There is camping there as well. Beautiful drive there and back. Looking forward to our next trip there.

I’ve always want to see cave dwellings and finally got to check it out. Pretty quick drive from Albuquerque. We got on a bus at the visitor center in town and they take you up to the park. We had a National park card so got in for free. Short walk and you can see the dwellings. Really cool place. You can climb a few ladders and go inside. Just a really interesting place and I would recommend to anyone interested in history

Easy trail to see the cliff dwellings and other ruins. The trail starts right behind the visitors center which has water bottle fill Station, bathrooms, Cafe, museum, and picnic tables. Seems like it might be tough to see everything well if it's crowded, luckily we went on a quiet day. Beautiful drive to get out there too.

The cliff dwellings were remarkable to see. Do not bring pets. It does cost to get in. Bring lots of water and a hat, especially in the summer heat. Don't forget to stop off at the park store for great souvenirs.

So cool. So fun. IDK if I would like it if I were a kid. Be aware where you're walking because there is a lot of biodiversity. I almost walked into a pair of rattle snakes. I had a blast, though. The trails are well laid out. I really appreciate the gift shop selling so much pueblo pottery.

The parking was a bit stressful since they didn’t let us get in but we made it and we are glad that we waited for more than an hour to get in. Just beautiful place and it was fun to climb up to the cave. We almost had passed the best spot, Alcove house trail, but the ranger guy told us that it was the best part of trail when we were turning to go back to the parking lot. I am so glad that he told us. It was the best for sure.

To let tourist know before 3pm going to the shuttle at the first stop is mandatory, however after 3pm you can go in your own car. There is a visitors center, a Cafe to eat/drink at, a gift shop there and bathrooms. There is a long hike to get to see the actual monument fron the natives. So if you are not good for walking I do not recommend it. After you hike the first stop is some small hole crawl spaces to climb into by ladder and its about 5 feet tall and wide. For thw first stop there was 3 small holes to climb into but the third one was recently vandalized so they closed it off. Small shaded trees along trail but not many so make sure to bring hat/umbrella/sunglasses/water/good walking shoes/ wear sunscreen.

Great hike and good bit of history. This is a very beautiful and fantastic stop. Can be done in an hour or spend more time and really explore.

Awesome spot with cool history and adventure for all ages. Our kiddos 2-6 all had lots of fun and got to log a good walk. Pretty awesome bit of history. Beautiful old park building and lovely setting.

Beautiful place to busy. We went after 6:00pm to avoid the crowds and having to coordinate with the park shuttle. Beautiful canyon views on a beautiful loop trail.

It looked beautiful we arrived a bit late and were unable to make the hike up to see the dwellings in person which was unfortunate. However it was a beautiful drive up there and the grounds looked well maintained and great at sunset.

Loved this monument. Beautiful mountains and woods and great history. There are some steep ladders and heights so be aware of you are nervous of heights. I would not say some parts of this are child friendly, but some areas are. Paved paths for most of it. Great views. The area has petroglyphs and ladders into some of the dwellings.

Excellent experience for all ages and abilities to learn about and explore these ancient cliff dwellings. For those who are able, you can climb the ladders and do longer hikes. During the summer and early fall season you must take a shuttle from.the White Rock Visitor Center to enter the park. We did experience over crowded busses and long wait times due to lack of transportation staff. Be sure to allow an extra few hours if you take the shuttle. Bring binoculars to the site to see some of the dwellings in detail.

Site tour of Frijoles Canyon is incredibly interesting and very accessible (paved, with section of steps). The narrated audio is worth it to add to the self-guided map. Would love to hike in the backcountry here someday, but the loop trail at the visitors center is very worthwhile.