This national Park was better than I expected. Dunes look very cool with mountains as backdrop. If you're going to hike the dunes you should wear a mask and eye glasses as the blowing sand is worse than you can imagine. There are also some nice mountain trails.

Great Sand Dunes National Park is one of few parks that doesn't require a timed entry pass this summer. My family went during the week around 10am when it was 60° and only had 1 car in front of us. It had rained the day before and early morning, so the sand was cool and some areas hard packed that made walking easy. Dogs are allowed on the dunes. My pups loved it, rolling and digging in the sand. Just be aware the sand can get extremely hot in hotter temps. Bring water for you and pups or stop at the Oasis before you get into the park. Definitely must do if you want to cross it off your national park list. 🥰

Nice visitor center with a great view of the dunes and an informative video of how it was created and other interesting facts. you can rent a board to slide down the dunes just before the visitor center at the oasis. “… midnight at the oasis send your camel to bed…” it’s a song - look it up 🤣

This park is great. Be ready for a hard workout if you opt to go to the top of the dunes. I think it's the hardest 1.15 miles I've ever done and I've done 10 half marathons and 2 full marathons!

Nice and well mantained visitor center. They have a room for amphitheatre where you can watch a move to learn more about the park and the area. They have a gift shop which has some good stuff. You can see the sunes behind the visitor center and it looks beautiful. They have plenty of parking.

Worth the visit. Make sure to rent sand boards from oasis near the park entry sign. It is absolute fun to play in the sand. There are showers to clean up after playing in sand. The only thing is that it is quite a walk from the parking to the dunes

Beautiful scenery with sand dunes against mountains. A must to experience for yourself. Hint, it's easier to walk in your bare feet than shoes. I'm from Florida, Js. :)

The path is rocky, but short. I was back there in the morning and it was just a perfect time to enjoy the falls. The rocks can be slick. Just pay attention.

The trail up to the river isn’t great, but the waterfall is impressive. You have to walk up the river to reach it, and it’s absolutely worth freezing your feet! We visited in August and the road up to the trail was recently paved.

Incredibly beautiful and surprisingly quick hike! To get to the actual falls, you have to walk through ankle deep rocky water. Keep in mind that even in the summer, the water is VERY cold. Since it was pretty accessible to at least the river's edge, the trail can get pretty crowded, but there are tons of lovely areas to sit and relax by the river if you decide to wait to wade to the falls.

Awesome short hike. Waterfalls are cool and water is cold. Don’t be afraid to get your feet wet and head to the back of the little canyon to see the bigger falls.

This place is absolutely beautiful!! There is about a mile hike back into the waterfall. I hiked it in sandals, so you could really do it and almost any kind of footwear.. I definitely recommend bringing some water! I highly suggest you do not drink the waterfall water.. definitely a cool little spot to pack a lunch and eat it back by the waterfall! The place is busy as it’s definitely a tourist place! They should have a visitor center where I can buy a magnet. I’ll definitely be returning.

Super easy hike! Go EARLY to avoid crowds, otherwise, you’ll be waiting in line to cross the river to get to the waterfall. Bring waterproof hiking boots, or water shoes to get to the waterfall a little easier. Great views of the Sand Dunes too!

Loved the falls. It has some interesting aprt to it where you have to go through the water to see the falls. Water was really cold in August and hike was nkt difficult to reach here. Have the water shoes ready to view the falls. It is before the Great Sandunes entrance and you don't have to pay to get here.

We LOVED our visit to the reptile park. This was one of our unplanned stops to our trip to Colorado and it was such a fun time! It’s very interactive we got to hold different reptiles, go in a tortoise area/feed them, hold a bird, feed the gators! You get super close to the gators as well and get to hold a smaller one. Really a great experience . Beware there are a lot of flies and it can smell, but literally you’re in a working farm and it’s kinda expected. Would definitely recommend!

The staff is AMAZING! This location is incredibly engaging and informative. A wonderful variety of flora and fauna are on display, you can tell how passionate the staff is and they are super helpful. We have visited many times over the years ans it just keeps getting better and better.

Really interesting to see all the gators and other reptiles in an environment like CO but definitely overpriced. It's $30 for adults and $15 for kids. My son really had a good time and held snakes, lizards, and a baby alligator. He fed tortoises and watched alligators being fed. But there wasn't a ton to do for $30, other than see many, many alligators and crocodiles. We would have liked to purchase t-shirts but they were also overpriced, with some being priced at $50. I would still go back and recommend people go. It's an interesting side attraction to the sand dunes and at least the money goes to housing animals that might be abandoned otherwise (as they do tend to home animals that people purchased as pets and could not longer care for).

I've driven past this for years, not understanding how important the work they undertake is. Colorado Gators Reptile is an amazing rescue organization, taking in all kinds of wonderful animals. Of course, the highlight are the reptiles; but it's truly so much more!! ❣️ Thank you, I had a wonderful time.

Lots of fun reptiles to see. They even have some cats that hang out! Took our 3 year old and he absolutely loved it. I hadn't been there in almost 30 years but it was just as I remember. The people there are super friendly and helpful also. Kinda pricy but worth it!

This was so much fun! There's a ton of reptiles. Staff are incredibly nice and helpful. We were told that 90% of the animals there are rescues and brought in by individuals who can no longer care for their pets. There's even a very large iguana that was left out and found in a park who's so friendly and loves head scratches 💕 it would be nice to see the ponds expanded as the Crocs seems to be in very close quarters with one another. The path around gets a bit confusing towards the end as there's several ways to cut through and it didn't seem the last bit was as clearly marked. But, backtracking a little didn't hurt at all and we saw a few reptiles that we missed the first time😊 And, you can hold a baby crocodile to show bravery 😉 Plenty of souvenirs to choose from and bottled water and pop as well. Overall, a great learning experience

So much fun! Definitely worth the money. So many encounters and even more animals to see! Tortoises to pet, an overly friendly emu who hugs(!), kitties, and got to hold a baby alligator. Very enjoyable and I can’t wait to come back!

We stayed in the cabins. Would be a nice change from sleeping on the ground camping, though our stay was in between hotels. The mattresses are a little hard after motel mattresses! One light, two outlets. Cute table and chairs set. There were four bunked twins in our cabin (two sets of two twin bunks). Great views!! Was able to rent a sand sled and sand surf board at the shop. The restaurant was really good. The bathrooms were a walk down a hill and had nice hot water. Remember to turn in your old style actual keys on check out.

Super happy with this campsite! Did last minute trip Labor Day weekend. Staff were friendly on the phone when I called ahead, saying it's first come first serve. Perfect camp site available for good price with fire ring and plenty of space for a car and tent without feeling squished. Spaced out from other campers but I still felt safe knowing other people would be around if there was an emergency. 5-10 min drive from the dunes and amazing view of the sunset on them. Restaurant was pretty good and super convenient. Store has anything you could need that you forgot at home, including lighters, sawdust bricks, and firewood. Highly recommend!

Absolute heaven after a day of trekking in Great Sand Dunes National Park. Campsites were beautifully scattered uphill from the dunes to allow for perfect stargazing. Showers were hot and clean. Clean restrooms too. Couldn't ask for a better camping experience. PLUS the service was amazing. Really great people working here. A wonderful experience.

Drove in late in the afternoon and there were plenty of tent sites available, most with shade. The sites and bathrooms were very clean. View was great. Less than 5 minutes to the Great Sand Dune National Park Visitor's Center. We went Labor Day weekend and the sled and board rentals didn't start until 8 am. Obviously more expensive than the campground in the park, but having a shower was worth it.

As a tent camper Positive: - good service at the store - plenty of tent sites, even when everywhere else was full, all with picnic tables and fire places (mostly stone circles) - close to the national park - showers available (3 in total, to share with also the RV spots and I assume also the cabins etc available) Improvements: - of all the tent spots, I think about 10% could actually be used to put your tent on. Majority is very skewed and has no proper horizontal-ish space. - in my opinion, for what I’ve seen the management of the tent section is lacking *a lot*. Read; parties until after midnight, lots of people hanging their garbage bags in the trees despite the possible wildlife, etc. Due to the noice we moved sites to the other side of the campground in the middle of the night (as the group did not want to lower their volume nor music at all). We then also spotted a group of coyotes walking around at the campground! All and all: I think this place has a lot of potential but it really needs some love and attention (and having the campers adhere to the rules the campground says they have).

Went here to grab sand sleds for our journeys on the dunes. Very nice staff, the woman we got our sleds from went over how to wax our boards before each ride which was helpful! Turned our boards in by 3:30 and talked with Susan for awhile, she was great! Nice spot and good prices. The restaurant was already closed for the season and we didn’t camp, but great experience renting overall!

The location is nice and you can see the dunes from the tent camping area. There is trash and dog feces everywhere and melted plastic in most of the fire pits. $30 for these tent sites is steeeep. The staff at the counter are disorganized and seem more interested in chatting to each other than helping customers. If it rains heavily too depending on which site your in you could get a nice stream coming through your site. The available water was very murky too. Just southwest of here is a nice campground with electric and water on each site and more level for tents and camper vans. There is free camping all over in the BLM areas too.

This has the potential to be an amazing campground, but it is not well maintained. The vault toilets were not cleaned/serviced, and the main bathrooms were locked. No water/showers available. Great location outside the Sand Dunes, and very quiet/spacious layout.

Nothing like it was 30 years ago. They should really update their website to reflect the fact that the lake is gone. Sad to see really. Camping is free but you need one of these :hunting license, fishing license or state Wildlife Area pass. All sites have electric hookups and a dump station. Other than no lake it's a peaceful cheap place to camp close to the sand dunes and other fun things to see and do.

Stayed for two nights a few days ago while visiting Great Sands. As John D noted, the host was not very friendly. After failing to successfully use the QR code to purchase a required DFW license to stay there, we stopped by the host trailer. He came to the window and shouted out at me that we needed to get a pass at Mosca Pit Stop or we couldn't even come into the park. Dutifully drove the 8 mi back to Mosca, purchased the required pass and came back to camp our first night. Next day after a day of touring Great Sand Dunes we came back into the park, drove past the host trailer and picked a site. The host then came racing up in his truck demanding to see whether we had our passes. Before we pulled those out, he threatened to fine us if we were in the park without one and said the sign at the entry is in 'plain English' saying that you are not allowed to enter the park unless you have the requisite pass. We then produced our passes and he sat on our picnic bench smoking a cigarette, recording our information in a small notebook, all the while throwing out a really hostile vibe. He eventually drove away and that evening we saw him race up after dark to several other campsites. The campsite itself is perfectly situated for a stay if you're exploring great sand dunes and get shot out of their campground. Nice shelters, nice tables, decent fire pits. The sites are rather exposed with no shade and if it gets windy, it can be a problem particularly if you were in a tent. The toilet block near us had an overflowing garbage can, and the inside was very dirty. Seemed way under toileted for the large number of campsites that were there. We were self-contained and didn't need to access so not sure if there was potable water for campers. FYI the QR code on the entry sign leads you to the DFW site for you to purchase a pass, but requires information such as your height and weight and ultimately asked for your social security number. Seemed a little bit odd. Gets five stars for location, one star for the host and facilities, hence a three.

We love camping here after visiting the sand dunes and Zapata falls. We've been here in May and February. Both times the bathrooms were closed and appear to be disconnected so don't count on them. It is free to stay here if you have a Colorado fishing, wildlife, hunting etc permit which I imagine keeps it from getting crowded with out of state people. The views are spectacular. We park facing the sand dunes and wake up to beautiful mountain views. Dogs are allowed on leash or actively hunting. We got to see the crane migration on this last trip. I wouldn't likely spend a whole day just here but it's a great free camping spot.

Great view and very accessible, I would definitely recommend it if you have younger kids. The plots are fairly close but you don't feel like you're in someone's space, would highly recommend if you have a camper, but the soft sand makes for pretty comfortable tent sleepers as well.

The pit toilets aren't maintained well so bring your own TP. Trash isn't taken out regularly. Quiet campground when we were here and not full over July 4 weekend.

Has gone drastically downhill since I was here 5 yrs ago, very sketchy drunk people staying here & the water & nice shower house are shut down.