Manitou Cliff Dwellings

The Manitou Cliff Dwellings are a preserve of relocated stones, not an original settlement: in the early 1900s Virginia McClurg and Harold Ashenhurst’s Colorado Cliff Dwellers Association collected stones from some twenty-five mesa-top dwellings on farmland near Dolores, Colorado, shipped them by rail to Colorado Springs and rebuilt several structures in a canyon in Manitou Springs renamed Cliff Canyon; the preserve opened in 1907. Visitors can walk around and through the rooms (but not into the kiva). A three-story pueblo building in the Taos style, built around the turn of the century, was later expanded into museums of pottery and artifacts and a gift shop. Leashed pets may go everywhere, including the ruins and the museums. The dwellings are not wheelchair or scooter accessible; a ramp from the parking lot gives a view of the whole front. Parking is free, with limited room for buses, RVs and trailers in a lower lot about 200 yards away.

The site is open year-round, weather permitting: 9 am to 5 pm from April through October, 9 am to 4:30 pm in March, 9 am to 4 pm in November and 10 am to 4 pm from December to February, and the park stays open 30 minutes after the last admission. It closes on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. Admission is $12.75 plus tax for adults 12 and over, $8 for children 4 to 11, $10 for seniors 60 and over and free for children 3 and under; groups of ten or more pay less.

Hours and admission from the site’s Season Hours & Cost page, the history from its history page and the visiting rules from its FAQ, all read 10 October 2026. Its pages carry no date (the rates line reads “for the year [year]”); the Manitou Springs Chamber of Commerce lists the Cliff Dwellings with the same phone, the second source that it is operating. The site’s footer gives the address as 10 Cliff Rd and its FAQ as 10 Cliff Dwellings Road; the FAQ places it in Manitou Springs, five miles west of Colorado Springs on US 24.