All You Need To Know About Visiting Aztec Ruins National Monument

I grew up with a history loving mother. We spent the majority of our traveling as a kid, visiting historical sites. I have been to hundreds of battlegrounds, monuments, statues, gravesites, historic villages, and ruins. So of course I developed quite a love for history myself. That is why when we were visiting Aztec, New Mexico it was a no brainer to visit Aztec Ruins National Monument.

I have been to some amazing ruins in my life, and while nothing can top Mesa Verde, Aztec Ruins National Monument is my second favorite ruins to visit. This incredible site is free, beautiful, interactive, and family friendly! It is the best thing to see in Aztec and is one of the reasons New Mexico is considered the “land of enchantment.”

General Information About Aztec Ruins National Monument:

Admission: FREE

Hours: Everyday 8am-6pm, closed Christmas, New Years, and Thanksgiving

Location: 725 Ruins Rd, Aztec, NM 87410

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Things You Will Want To Know Before You Go:

1. Along the trail there are numbers to give you information about different things you see. The trail guide is an audio that you can access from a QR code in the visitor center. The paper guide is $2 in the gift shop.
2. Pets are not allowed in the ruins or visitor center.
3. Tours are self-guided.
4. There is a parking lot.
5. There are bats in the ruins that still have the roof. No lights, no loud noises, and no flash around these animals. Also no touching!
6. There is a lot of dust while walking in the covered ruins. So if you don’t handle dust well, you may not want to go in those parts.

The Museum

There are 2 parts to Aztec Ruins National Monument (besides the gardens & trail by the picnic area). The first thing that you will do when you get the monument is the museum. It is a very, very small museum. So when I say museum I mean a handful of artifacts, a short movie, and a couple of shells you can touch.

My kids loved touching the shells, but really this was the only thing they were allowed to touch so with 3 toddlers it wasn’t that exciting of a museum for them. The majority of the artifacts in the museum of pots and jugs. There are some that still have the paint on them too, that are really pretty.

The movie is a short 15 minute overview of the ruins, the ancient inhabitants, and the discovery. This year, 2023, marks 100 years of the ruins being discovered. Happy 100^th birthday Aztec Ruins National Monument!

The Ruins

The second main thing to see while visiting Aztec Ruins National Monument are the ruins themselves. These ruins are amazing! I have seen so many ruins in my life, but besides Mesa Verde National Park, these are the best! What makes these ruins so special you might ask? Well let me tell you:

1. They reconstructed a Giant Kiva and it is INCREDIBLE! You walk into this giant round building thinking wow this is pretty big, until you walk down the stairs and realize it is way bigger on the inside than it looks on the outside! The pillars are so tall and the roof is made of some desert looking bark. It was the coolest place!
2. You are allowed to walk through the ruins. This isn’t just a place that you look at the ruins from a distance. You are allowed to walk through them! I mean if you can fit, those doors were perfect size for my toddlers. I would say you can walk through the majority of the ruins.
3. There is a section that is so well preserved that even the roof is still on and you can walk from room to room! Most ruins have collapsed roofs, but there is a giant section where the roofs are all still intact. The rooms are dark (with small electrical lights in some), and it really puts things in perspective of what it was like to live in them.
4. There are so many ruins! You pull up thinking this is going to be just a 2 second ordeal, but the ruins go on and on! It is so cool to see so much!
5. The trail is ½ a mile long, so you will get your exercise in while enjoying some amazing ruins!
6. At the beginning/end are a bunch of grinder stones. A couple of them will even have corn in them for you to give it a go and see what it was like to grind food for the Native Americans.

Will My Kids Like Aztec Ruins National Monument?

YES! I have 4 kids and they all LOVED it! They weren’t too into the museum, but they loved walking in and around the ruins! Actually as soon as we got to the end my 3 year old son asked if we could do it all over again!

The ruins are very interactive and you can walk through the majority of ruins themselves. They even got to grind corn with grinder stones in the end! My kids didn’t care to listen to the audio tour on the phone, but they did have a lot of questions about the ruins. It was fun to see them so interested in history! It made me pretty happy cause I am a huge history buff!

There are a couple struggles of visiting Aztec Ruins National Monument with little kids though. For one there is no climbing on the walls. My 2 year old really struggled with this rule, but if we want to preserve these ruins they stay off the walls. Also they need to stay on the trail.

If you are wanting to bring a stroller or hiking carrier to the park, I would think again. The trail in paved, but going through the ruins is not. You cannot bring a stroller through the ruins, not that it would fit anyway.

Also the doors are so low and so small that you will not be able to crawl through them with a hiking carrier on. I managed with a front baby carrier, but a back one would have been a struggle. I suggest a front carrier or just holding your really little ones.

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