Guide to Great Sand Dunes National Park
Great Sand Dunes National Park is one of the least talked-about, most underrated National Parks in America. I lived in Colorado for five years, & somehow never heard about it. One of the beauties of social media platforms like Instagram is that is propels some of these little-known places into super-stardom. And I have no doubt that will happen one day to Great Sand Dunes National Park! In the meantime, let me give you a behind-the-scenes tour in this guide to Great Sand Dunes National Park…
The author at iconic Great Sand Dunes National Park, in southern Colorado.
Quick Announcement!!
Before we talk about the Great Sand Dunes….I want to take a quick moment to say that my friend & I just wrote a book! We’ve been working on it since last fall, & it’s a kid’s travel activity book, called: “Would You Rather? Open Road Edition.” So whether you’re headed to one of our National Parks this summer, or taking the family on a road trip: look for it on Amazon!
With 100+ conversation-starting questions for the whole family to answer, plus gorgeous vintage-travel coloring pages: it will keep your family busy for hours!
Our book was designed for the whole family, & meant to be taken on the road!
Map of Great Sand Dunes
Great Sand Dunes Visitor Center
Zapata Ranch
Great Sand Dunes Lodge
Zapata Falls
How to Get to Great Sand Dunes
From Denver to Great Sand Dunes National Park: 240 miles, approx. 4-hour drive. Take I-25 South for approx. 158 miles (depending where you start in Denver). Take Exit 50 in Walsenburg for U.S. 160 West. Stay on 160 West for approx. 60 miles. Turn right onto CO-150 North. In 19.4 miles, reach Great Sand Dunes National Park.
From Colorado Springs to Great Sand Dunes: 169 miles, approx. 3-hour drive. Take I-25 South for approx. 90 miles. Take Exit 50 in Walsenburg for U.S. 160 West. Stay on 160 West for approx. 60 miles. Turn right onto CO-150 North. In 19.4 miles, reach Great Sand Dunes National Park.
From Albuquerque, NM to Great Sand Dunes National Park: 237 miles, approx. 4-hour drive. Take I-25 North towards Santa Fe, NM for approx. 60 miles. Exit on US Highway 285 North for approx. 136 miles, towards Alamosa. In Alamosa, turn right onto U.S. 160 East for 14.5 miles. Turn left onto CO-150 North. In 19.4 miles, reach National Park.
Welcome to Great Sand Dunes!
Fast Facts About Great Sand Dunes:
- Entrance Fee: $15 per vehicle, valid for 7 days.
- Visitor Center Address: 11999 State Highway 150, Mosca, CO 81146
- Hours: Great Sand Dunes National Park is open 24 hours per day, 7 days per week year-round. If you arrive when a ranger is not at the station, you can simply enter the park on your own (including for star-gazing at night). Visitor’s Center open 8:30-5:00PM Memorial Day thru Labor Day weekend; 9-4:30PM the rest of the year.
- Weather: Elevation at Great Sand Dunes is 8,200 feet (2,470 meters). Nighttime year-round is chilly! Bring layers. Daytime temps in the summer can reach the 80’s, but feel hotter due to the sun’s reflection on the sand. The rest of the year, expect cool & variable weather. It was VERY WINDY when we visited in October, & we got some major sand exfoliation: so be prepared with bandanas, hats, and/or sunglasses to protect your face from the wind.
- Best Places to Stay Inside Park: There’s only one hotel located right at Great Sand Dunes National Park: Great Sand Dunes Lodge. Their accommodations include traditional hotel rooms, RV campers, & most unique: Geo Domes! Very glamping-chic. The lodge shuts down around mid-October.
You also have the option to camp directly in the park, about a mile from the dunes, close to the Visitor’s Center.
- Best Places to Stay in Alamosa: If you want to stay in a town with more services, look for rooms in Alamosa. They’ve got a wide range of comfortable, budget hotels. It’s about a 40-minute drive from Alamosa to Great Sand Dunes National Park. Your best bet for clean, comfortable, & highly-rated rooms in Alamosa are 1) Comfort Inn Alamosa, 2) Holiday Inn Express Suites, & 3) Fairfield Inn & Suites Alamosa, which is a Marriott property.
Photos of Great Sand Dunes National Park
View from the Great Sand Dunes National Park Visitor’s Center, located a hop, skip, & a sand-board away from the dunes.
View of Great Sand Dunes National Park.
It’s windy at the dunes ~ bring a scarf & sunglasses!
Cross a creek to get to the dunes…it’s better to leave your shoes behind.
GWTW Tip!
GWTW Tip: Bring a sand board, card board, a plastic disc or ANYTHING you can think of so that you & your kids can slide down the dunes! There’s NO RENTAL of sand boards within the park. The closest place to purchase or rent gear is in Alamosa, which is a 40-minute drive.
So BE PREPARED when you enter the dunes!
Sand Board
Plastic Disc
Youth Sand Sled
Things to Do at Great Sand Dunes
- Go Sand-Boarding! The sand dunes here are the tallest in North America. So bring a sand board (your snowboard won’t work here), cardboard, or even a plastic disc to whisk you down the dunes! You’ll get a workout climbing back up for your next run. Sand-boarding is something you can only do a few places in the world on dunes this big ~ so don’t miss this opportunity!
Lone sand-boarder on the dunes. Bring a board ~ they don’t rent them at the park!
- Hike to High Dune or Zapapta Falls: High Dune is the one of the tallest in the park. So if you’re intrepid, adventurous, & in good shape: give this a try. From the parking lot, it should take you about an hour to reach. If you really want a sand challenge, try hiking Star Dune ~ the tallest dune in the park, at 755 feet. This is a six-mile hike, so plan to spend at least five hours & start early. Bring lots of water! If it’s too hot or you prefer shade, hike to Zapata Falls, which are located just a few miles outside the park (look for the sign off Hwy 150). You’ll walk a half-mile thru cool water (prepare to get wet) or balance on a log bridge, to see the hidden Zapata Falls.
Walking the dunes is much harder than it looks…& great exercise!
- Go Horseback Riding or Ride a Fat Bike: Fat bike tires work here where regular tires will not. So if you’re an avid biker, give fat bike tires a try. Or if improving horsemanship skills is on your bucket list, I’d recommend visiting Zapata Ranch (just a few miles from the park). Zapata Ranch is a working cattle & bison ranch, & they’re the only operators licensed to give horseback tours in the dunes. My friend & I stayed here (they don’t offer lodging anymore, as of 2024), in a lovely room with views of the dunes, & the people we met absolutely RAVED about horseback riding through the dunes.
Learn how to wrangle with the best of them.
Photo courtesy of Ranchlands & Zapata Ranch. - Go Star-Gazing! Finding great places to star-gaze is getting harder, as there are so few places without humans & lights. Great Sand Dunes is one of the BEST places I’ve ever found for “seeing stars!” My friend & I took a bottle of wine out to the hot tub at Zapata, & enjoyed the finest night of star-gazing I’ve had all year. NOWHERE comes close to how bright the stars looked here.
Since Zapata no longer offers lodging, Great Sand Dunes Lodge is your best bet for amazing star-gazing.
Great Sand Dunes at Night…
Visiting the Great Sand Dunes at night is an other-worldly experience. And it’s a great reason to stay inside the park, rather than all the way out in Alamosa. Because the park is open 24 hours, you can simply come & go any time. And if it’s a moonless night (like when we went), you’ll be able to see what feels like millions & trillions of stars!
It’s absolutely breathtaking.
On the other hand, if you visit during a full moon, you’ll be able to walk the dunes without a flashlight because it will be so bright.
At night on the dunes, you may be able to see or hear: camel crickets, kangaroo rats, toads, salamanders, coyotes, bobcats, and owls. While walking back from the hot tub at Zapata Ranch, we heard a pack of coyotes howling after catching some prey: it sounded like a veritable feeding frenzy. It was both terrifying & electrifying.
One more reason to stay inside the park…
Goodbye, Great Sand Dunes…
Have you been to Great Sand Dunes National Park? Where did you stay? How about sand-boarding…did you give that a try?! Let me know in the comments below!
xoxo Noelia
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Lovely blog! I am loving it!! Will come back again. I am bookmarking your feeds also
Awesome! Thanks so much : ) xoxo Noelia
Very interesting topic, thanks for posting.
You’re welcome, Carlotta ~ glad you enjoyed! xoxo Noelia
Loved the blog, all the posts, attracting and telling the truth! The pictures are making it double. Love you!
Thank you! Your evening safaris sound awesome! xoxo ~Noelia