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Reasons to Visit Cortez, Colorado
01-31-2020Author :Chelsea Barron in Education
On the way to Oklahoma from Moab last spring, my family and I decided to take a quick detour and check out Cortez, Colorado. This definitely wasn’t in our original plans. In fact, this little town wasn’t even on our radar at all—however, a friend mentioned it and something told us it was a place we should visit.
Boy, were we right.
Cortez is an absolutely beautiful place with breathtaking mountainous views, and we adored our stay there. It may not be the most talked-about town, but it is worth seeing and we recommend it to anyone headed to (or through) the area.
Below are some suggestions of things to do, restaurants to try, and places to stay while RVing in Cortez.
First, you will need a place to park your RV. The area has a few different options, including some boondocking locations. That said, we have a couple of favorites we know you’ll enjoy, and we highly recommend choosing one of them.
We love this park! The staff is friendly and helpful, the prices are low, and the location is amazing. We appreciate the shade offered by the many trees throughout the park, and the bathhouses are spotless, something many campgrounds cannot claim.
The park is a self-proclaimed “adult oriented” park, so if you travel with kids, be sure to keep that in mind.
Want a family-oriented park instead? This KOA is another great option in the area, and it definitely caters to those with kids.
The swimming pool is a great place for adults and kids alike to cool off after a long day of exploring, and the staff are happy to help with anything you might need. Once again, there is plenty of shade and the bathhouses are lovely.
There are a number of great places to grab Mexican food in Cortez. Since we love Mexican food, this was a major bonus for us. Additionally, we found a couple of cute places to grab a cup of coffee and get some work done.
If you’re unsure of where to go for lunch or need to know where to get a cup o’ joe, we recommend the options below.
We visited Tequila’s on our first night in Cortez, and we were glad we did, as we ended up visiting a second time before our trip was over. The food here was fabulous! Additionally, we really liked the staff and the comfortable, welcoming ambiance in the place.
This is a restaurant we can confidently recommend to anyone heading to the area.
Anyone who knows my family knows one of our favorite things to do while traveling is try new coffee shops. We find them in big cities and small towns all over the country, and have developed a taste for high quality coffee beverages.
We visited a few different coffee shops in the Cortez area, and Bean Tree was definitely our favorite. The eclectic decor, friendly and upbeat staff, and the Wi-Fi were all wonderful. The coffee was also quite good and well worth visiting for.
We already mentioned the beautiful views in Cortez. However, these views are far from the only awesome things to see in this area. We saw a couple of the sites mentioned below, and can’t wait to get back to see the rest!
In our opinion, this park was the star of the show. It was actually the reason we ended up visiting Cortez, and it didn’t disappoint.
Not only is the park filled to the brim with natural beauty and amazing trails to explore, it also houses a huge collection of ancient ruins. Some of these ruins are built right into the sides of cliffs! A fascinating sight to be sure.
If you visit this park, be sure to go early enough in the day to take a guided tour. This allows you to get up close and personal with the ruins, and the knowledgeable guide can help you understand how people once lived in these structures.
Additionally, you will of course want to make sure any young visitors pick up a Junior Ranger book. We really enjoyed the program here, and found it helped guide us on our adventure.
Want to see more ancient cliff dwellings? If so, Hovenweep National Monument is the place for you.
This NPS-run monument is not as close to Cortez as Mesa Verde National Park. In fact, it’s a good hour outside of the city and in the middle of nowhere, meaning you will want a full tank of gas. However, it is well worth the drive if the ancient history of this area interests you in the slightest.
In total, the site houses and protects six prehistoric villages. Visitors are allowed to view and explore these villages as they imagine what it might have been like to live in one of these unique and fascinating homes in 1200 A.D.
Canyons of the Ancients National Monument
If you’re wanting to stay a bit closer to home, there is also the option of visiting Canyons of the Ancients National Monument. This monument is run by the Bureau of Land Management, meaning there are tons of free boondocking locations nearby.
The site includes about 176,000 acres of land containing villages of ancient cultures. You’ll also find an interesting and well-laid-out museum here, helping to expand upon what you’ll see while exploring the monument.
Crow Canyon Archaeological Center
An awesome way to expand upon lessons about the ancient Pueblo people, Crow Canyon Archeological Center is another wonderful option. A one-hour tour is offered, giving visitors the opportunity to learn about the research done at the center at no charge.
The short tour is a great introduction. That said, there are longer tours and hands-on programs available to those who are fascinated by the work done at the center and want to learn more. These programs are fabulous, and perfect for those who want to take a deep dive into the subject of archeology and ancient peoples.
Blog Author Details
Chelsea has the amazing opportunity to take part in full-time RV living and traveling with her tiny tribe. She homeschools her five-year-old son as they travel, and takes full advantage of their unique situation by using the entire world as her son rsquo;s classroom. A group of total Disney fanatics, Chelsea and her family often find themselves in the Orlando area in order to visit the Disney parks, but they have also visited over 25 of the 50 states with plans to see many more along the way. No matter where her travels take her, Chelsea enjoys riding bikes, gazing at beautiful sunsets, finding new coffee shops, Irish dancing, and sitting around a campfire with her family. Check out her blog Wonder Wherever We Wander.
On the way to Oklahoma from Moab last spring, my family and I decided to take a quick detour and check out Cortez, Colorado. This definitely wasn’t in our original plans. In fact, this little town wasn’t even on our radar at all—however, a friend mentioned it and something told us it was a place we should visit.
Boy, were we right.
Cortez is an absolutely beautiful place with breathtaking mountainous views, and we adored our stay there. It may not be the most talked-about town, but it is worth seeing and we recommend it to anyone headed to (or through) the area.
Below are some suggestions of things to do, restaurants to try, and places to stay while RVing in Cortez.
First, you will need a place to park your RV. The area has a few different options, including some boondocking locations. That said, we have a couple of favorites we know you’ll enjoy, and we highly recommend choosing one of them.
We love this park! The staff is friendly and helpful, the prices are low, and the location is amazing. We appreciate the shade offered by the many trees throughout the park, and the bathhouses are spotless, something many campgrounds cannot claim.
The park is a self-proclaimed “adult oriented” park, so if you travel with kids, be sure to keep that in mind.
Want a family-oriented park instead? This KOA is another great option in the area, and it definitely caters to those with kids.
The swimming pool is a great place for adults and kids alike to cool off after a long day of exploring, and the staff are happy to help with anything you might need. Once again, there is plenty of shade and the bathhouses are lovely.
There are a number of great places to grab Mexican food in Cortez. Since we love Mexican food, this was a major bonus for us. Additionally, we found a couple of cute places to grab a cup of coffee and get some work done.
If you’re unsure of where to go for lunch or need to know where to get a cup o’ joe, we recommend the options below.
We visited Tequila’s on our first night in Cortez, and we were glad we did, as we ended up visiting a second time before our trip was over. The food here was fabulous! Additionally, we really liked the staff and the comfortable, welcoming ambiance in the place.
This is a restaurant we can confidently recommend to anyone heading to the area.
Anyone who knows my family knows one of our favorite things to do while traveling is try new coffee shops. We find them in big cities and small towns all over the country, and have developed a taste for high quality coffee beverages.
We visited a few different coffee shops in the Cortez area, and Bean Tree was definitely our favorite. The eclectic decor, friendly and upbeat staff, and the Wi-Fi were all wonderful. The coffee was also quite good and well worth visiting for.
We already mentioned the beautiful views in Cortez. However, these views are far from the only awesome things to see in this area. We saw a couple of the sites mentioned below, and can’t wait to get back to see the rest!
In our opinion, this park was the star of the show. It was actually the reason we ended up visiting Cortez, and it didn’t disappoint.
Not only is the park filled to the brim with natural beauty and amazing trails to explore, it also houses a huge collection of ancient ruins. Some of these ruins are built right into the sides of cliffs! A fascinating sight to be sure.
If you visit this park, be sure to go early enough in the day to take a guided tour. This allows you to get up close and personal with the ruins, and the knowledgeable guide can help you understand how people once lived in these structures.
Additionally, you will of course want to make sure any young visitors pick up a Junior Ranger book. We really enjoyed the program here, and found it helped guide us on our adventure.
Want to see more ancient cliff dwellings? If so, Hovenweep National Monument is the place for you.
This NPS-run monument is not as close to Cortez as Mesa Verde National Park. In fact, it’s a good hour outside of the city and in the middle of nowhere, meaning you will want a full tank of gas. However, it is well worth the drive if the ancient history of this area interests you in the slightest.
In total, the site houses and protects six prehistoric villages. Visitors are allowed to view and explore these villages as they imagine what it might have been like to live in one of these unique and fascinating homes in 1200 A.D.
Canyons of the Ancients National Monument
If you’re wanting to stay a bit closer to home, there is also the option of visiting Canyons of the Ancients National Monument. This monument is run by the Bureau of Land Management, meaning there are tons of free boondocking locations nearby.
The site includes about 176,000 acres of land containing villages of ancient cultures. You’ll also find an interesting and well-laid-out museum here, helping to expand upon what you’ll see while exploring the monument.
Crow Canyon Archaeological Center
An awesome way to expand upon lessons about the ancient Pueblo people, Crow Canyon Archeological Center is another wonderful option. A one-hour tour is offered, giving visitors the opportunity to learn about the research done at the center at no charge.
The short tour is a great introduction. That said, there are longer tours and hands-on programs available to those who are fascinated by the work done at the center and want to learn more. These programs are fabulous, and perfect for those who want to take a deep dive into the subject of archeology and ancient peoples.
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Author : Chelsea Barron
Chelsea has the amazing opportunity to take part in full-time RV living and traveling with her tiny tribe. She homeschools her five-year-old son as they travel, and takes full advantage of their unique situation by using the entire world as her son’s classroom. A group of total Disney fanatics, Chelsea and her family often find themselves in the Orlando area in order to visit the Disney parks, but they have also visited over 25 of the 50 states with plans to see many more along the way. No matter where her travels take her, Chelsea enjoys riding bikes, gazing at beautiful sunsets, finding new coffee shops, Irish dancing, and sitting around a campfire with her family. Check out her blog Wonder Wherever We Wander.
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