2-day Great Sand Dunes National Park Itinerary for Less Crowds

Disclosure: This blog has affiliate links, and it’s how I can keep doing what I love. If you book something, I might make a commission with no added cost to you. Thanks for the support!

Traveling to Great Sand Dunes National Park? I’d love to help you plan an action-packed itinerary full of hiking and sand sledding!

During my 2-year road trip across the USA, I’ve visited 23 national parks. And the 2 days I spent in Great Sand Dunes were some of the most fun I’ve ever had in any American national park, because:

1. I was able to get away from the crowds
2. I sledded down the sand dunes an entire day

This Great Sand Dunes National Park itinerary has all my tips for enjoying the parts of the park most people miss – and they’re the best parts!

From driving to a little-known lot to see a whole other face of the dune field to knowing how to sled down the best dunes, this travel guide will leave you ready for an amazing trip.

I also paid $0 in accommodations, so I’ll be sharing where to sleep for free.

Great Sand Dunes National Park is located in southern Colorado, and it’s a picturesque landscape where you’d least expect it.

It’s such a random pile of sand where plains and mountains meet that it looks purposeful – like someone dumped it there and left!

But their SIZE is what blew me away.

They’re the tallest sand dunes in North America, and the gigantic mountains (fourteeners) around the dune field just make it even more impressive.

How did Great Sand Dunes National Park form?

Sand dunes are pretty rare, and Great Sand Dunes National Park formed because a bunch of factors came together to make it possible.

I love learning about the geology and nerdy stuff about national parks before getting to know them. It makes being there even more special. For the full picture, check out the animation about how these dunes formed or, even better, go to the Visitor Center when you’re there!

But to sum it up, the plains where the national park is now used to be a giant lake.

Over thousands of years, a lot of sand built up in that area, which got exposed once the lake dried up. Then, wind pushed a lot of that sand towards the mountains. But there was wind coming from the mountains too.

So, the sand got funneled into where they are now and wind from opposite directions made them grow vertically.

And that’s a very simple explanation of how Great Sand Dunes National Park formed!

How to Get to Great Sand Dunes National Park

You could fly straight to the national park, but I think driving from a larger city is a better idea.

You’ll make the most of your time and the whole trip in general if you visit as part of a road trip.

Denver is 3 hours and 45 minutes (246 miles) from Great Sand Dunes National Park. Two other cities nearby are Colorado Springs (164 miles away) and Albuquerque (233 miles).

My advice would be to fly to Denver first, rent a car, and enjoy the drive from there. That’s exactly what I did – I visited Great Sand Dunes National Park during my Colorado road trip, which started in Denver.

The airport closest to Great Sand Dunes National Park is in Alamosa, 32 miles (36 minutes) from the park. Any connecting flights to Alamosa take you through Denver.

Where to Stay near Great Sand Dunes National Park

Whether you’re staying at a hotel or camping, the area around the national park has LOTS of options.

Free Camping

The free camping near Great Sand Dunes National Park is some of the best I’ve experienced in the US.

I visited during my 2-year road trip across the USA, during which I rarely paid for lodging. Year 1 was all free camping in my SUV, while year 2 was a combination of car camping and staying in people’s mansions for free.

So, I’ve experienced a lot of campsites – from sites full of trash and homeless people to very well-cared-for sites with spectacular views. The one at Great Sand Dunes National Park is the latter.

The free campsite where I slept is 20 minutes south of the Great Sand Dunes Visitor Center in the Sacred White Shell Mountain BLM.

To get there, turn left onto Lake Como Road when driving away from the national park. As soon as you pass the helipad, you’ll start seeing big dirt lots where you can camp for free.

You might have to drive pretty far in to find one that’s available, and the sites become more sloped the farther you go on the road. So, the sooner you can find a site, the better!

You can also check the apps Campendium or iOverlander to see more free options and, best of all, read people’s reviews of the places before you go. I recommend finding 2 or 3 options just in case Plan A doesn’t work out.

I created a map of all the free car camping sites I found during my Colorado road trip, and you can access it here for FREE:

Or, for a great list of all the paid and free camping near Great Sand Dunes National Park, check out the park’s list on their website. There’s only 1 paid campground in the park, but there are bunches all around it!

Budget Hotels near Great Sand Dunes National Park

Traveling in the US is frustrating sometimes because it can be SO expensive, but there are some good budget hotels near Great Sand Dunes National Park.

These are the 2 highest rated budget hotels nearby:

📍Dunes Inn Alamosa

A beautiful, simple hotel with brick walls in the rooms that has AC. It also includes excellent breakfasts and is 37 minutes from Great Sand Dunes National Park, right in downtown Alamosa.

📍The Gratitude Homestay

This hotel has serious cabin vibes and has a sauna, hot tub and outdoor fireplace. It’s close to Alamosa, 37 minutes away from Great Sand Dunes.

And if you’d like to browse more hotels and rentals near Great Sand Dunes National Park, check out the map below!

Great Sand Dunes National Park MAP

Here’s a custom Google Map of my Great Sand Dunes National Park itinerary with all the hikes, viewpoints, and lodging options in this post.

This interactive map is perfect for visualizing your trip to Great Sand Dunes. Whether you’re hiking to the tallest dune in North America or navigating to your free campsite under Blanca Peak, it’s all pinned and ready.

👉 Open the full map in Google Maps or see it embedded below. Tap the icon on the top left of the map to see the whole menu.

Great Sand Dunes National Park Itinerary

Know Before you Go

• Get the America the Beautiful Pass, which grants you access to all of America’s national parks for a whole year for just $80. Just buy it at any park entrance.
• You can rent a sand sled at the Great Sand Dunes Oasis. It costs $20 and you have to pay with a credit card to make a deposit in case you lose or damage the sled. They return the deposit once you return the sled with no issues. The sled also comes with wax that you have to put on the bottom before each ride!
• Don’t sled in the Sand Pit area! The dunes here are very steep and end in hard, packed dirt, so you can hurt yourself. Only sled in the main area right off of the main parking lot.

Day 1: Escaping the Crowds to America’s Tallest Dune

Like all my national park itineraries, day 1 begins with the Visitor Center and continues with LOTS of hiking!

I love learning about the park and my wife always needs to stamp her national parks passport, so we’ve made it a tradition. First stop – the Visitor Center.

Make sure you watch the park film! It’s awesome.

After the Visitor Center, you have two options:

1. Do the short drive to Great Sand Dunes parking for your first experience of the dunes (this is the main area).
2. Drive to the Sand Pit to a less crowded, steeper part of the dune field.

The main area looks like something out of a fantasy. The dunes rise straight out of the ground and the creek flows in front of the dune field like an oasis in the middle of the desert.

But all over the place – people.

That’s where I turned around and decided to go to the Sand Pit area. A Park Ranger had advised us to go there if we wanted less crowds.

Having done that, it was absolutely the right decision and I 100% recommend it!

Not only that – and I actually didn’t know this when I did the hike – the hike to the tallest dune in North America, called Hidden Dune, actually starts at the Sand Pit. I was SO close but had no idea!

Hiking the Sand Pit in Great Sand Dunes

To get there, drive around the dunes to the “Point of No Return,” which is as far you can go without 4WD. Then, find the path a little past the parking lot and walk towards the dunes.

In a few minutes, you’ll get to the river and have to cross it (I had to take off my shoes to do it). After that, the dunes are right in front of you.

The dunes at the Sand Pit are really steep right off the get-go. They’re quite the challenge to get up, and they’re even more impressive.

But hang in there! The easiest path is along the ridges, and once you get to the top of that first really steep section, you’re pretty much done! The rest of the hiking will have steep sections, but nothing like that first part.

I hiked straight up the steep part of the dune and it was SO much fun! If you’re up for the challenge, I definitely recommend it.

The Sand Pit was my first experience of Great Sand Dunes National Park, and it was perfect. Standing on top, I was in awe of all the textures, lines and shapes. Being on top of such gigantic dunes is just something else – it moves you deep down.

And the lack of crowds made it SO much better! We saw 2 other people the entire afternoon.

But little did I know, I was a few dunes away from Hidden Dune.

How to Get to Hidden Dune from the Sand Pit

There are no trails, which makes hiking in Great Sand Dunes National Park an absolute adventure!

So how would you even get to Hidden Dune?

First, I recommend you download an offline Google Map of the area.

Second, look up these coordinates: great s. That’s exactly where you’ll find Hidden Dune.

Third, get on top of that first steep section.

Finally, follow the maps towards the coordinates by understanding the general direction of Hidden Dune. Then, follow the dunes’ ridges to go that way. You may have to do a bunch of loops to stay on the ridges, but it’ll be easier in the long run.

If you go straight towards Hidden Dune, you might have to go down and then waaay up some really steep dunes.

It can be a long adventure (upwards of 4 hours), so give yourself a good bit of time.

And if you see any storms on the horizon, turn back immediately!

After a (hopefully) successful hike to Hidden Dune, you’re one of the few people who have been there! Because of how remote it is, VERY few people do this hike.

Head over to your hotel or campground and prepare for an even better day in the sand tomorrow.

Day 2: Hiking, Sledding and Searching for a Hidden Waterfall

This day of the Great Sand Dunes National Park is all about sledding down the dunes. It’s the most fun I’ve ever had in any national park!

Here’s a video of a bunch of the sledding I did:

@ericylala

Tips for sledding in Great Sand Dunes National Park. We shared a sled between 3 of us for $20 and it was one of the funnest things we’ve ever done! #sledding #greatsanddunesnationalpark #greatsanddunes #nationalpark #tips

♬ original sound – Eric & Lala

My original plan was to hike to High Dune and then to Star Dune with a sled on my back. We would maybe sled while we hiked.

As it turns out, the High Dune and Star Dune loop is extremely long and difficult.

So, I got to High Dune and we were like, “Yeah, we’re not going all the way over there (to Star Dune).”

Hiking to High Dune

High Dune is one of the tallest points in Great Sand Dunes National Park, and it’s the tallest point you can see from the main parking lot.

To hike there, you’ll have to walk through Medano Creek and start walking over some small dunes. They gradually get taller and steeper and, once again, there is no set trail.

So, follow the ridges of the dunes and use your offline map to navigate towards these coordinates: 37.74908, -105.532775. It can take 1-2 hours to get to the top of High Dune.

Sand Sledding in Great Sand Dunes

You may be wondering, when does the sledding begin?

And here are all my recommendations:

1. Don’t bother sledding on the small dunes right at the beginning. The sand here is packed harder and the sledding isn’t as smooth. There’s also a TON of people sledding here. It just isn’t worth it.
2. Hike all the way up to High Dune (the highest part of the hike) and start sledding there. One side of High Dune is super steep, but it has one side that’s perfect for your first sledding experience. Get some practice on this gentle slope.
3. Once you’re ready, go ALL IN. Head over to the steep side of High Dune and sled down. You may or may not fall off, but don’t worry if you do – I fell EVERY TIME I tried sledding down High Dune and it doesn’t really hurt. You just get sand everywhere.
4. After practicing on High Dune, you’re ready for anything. Start hiking down and sled down any slope you’d like to try! Spend hours doing it and you’ll hike even more than before because you’ll want to hike back up to do every ride multiple times.
5. The best sledding route I found was right across from High Dune. It’s ridiculously long and people rarely walk there, making it a smooth, long ride down (and a long hike back up!).

Sand Sledding Tips

It took me a while to learn how not to fall off of my sled, but I got it down! Here’s how to ensure smooth, long rides in Great Sand Dunes National Park:

• The sleds have rubber pads on them where you’re supposed to sit. Sit on the front of the seating pad, so that you’re almost on the wood.
• Lay down so that your lower back is actually what’s on the pad.
• Push off and down the dune, and do a crunch to gain some speed. The higher you sit, the faster you’ll go, but it’s really hard to stay on when you’re sitting up. So, find a balance between height and stability.
• Spread your arms wide to gain more stability. You don’t even have to touch the ground. But if you start turning, you can use your arms like a rudder to get back in the right direction.
• Find the smoothest sand you can find! Smooth sand makes for a smooth ride, whereas really wavy sand or sand that’s been stepped on will give you a headache!
• Heavily wax the bottom of your sled before each ride (the wax comes with the sled).
• Like I said before, don’t even bother with the small dunes at the edge of the dune field. Find the taller, smoother sand further in for better rides and less people.

Keep these tips in mind and you won’t fall off your sled as much!

But also keep in mind that you most likely will fall anyway, eat sand and get it all over your body! As terrible as that sounds, it was SO worth it.

Finishing the Day at Zapata Falls

After an incredible day, you probably have sand in your ears, on your scalp and in your boots. What better way to get it all off than at Zapata Falls?

Zapata Falls is not part of Great Sand Dunes National Park. It’s a small park 22 minutes south.

You can park in the lot at the Zapata Falls Trailhead and follow the short trail to the river.

The best part was actually finding the falls. We walked through the most frigid water my feet had ever touched, and it takes a while to find Zapata Falls. As it turns out, they’re pretty deep in a narrow canyon.

They aren’t very big, but getting to them was a fun adventure that ended with a crazy polar plunge.

The funny part?

It was so cold that I couldn’t get much of the sand off my body, which wasn’t great news because I was sleeping in my car that night. I had to wait to get to Durango the next day to get a proper shower.

And just like that, this 2-day Great Sand Dunes National Park itinerary comes to an end! I have such wonderful memories of this park, and I hope you can make it there and have just as good a time!

Frequently Asked Questions

Where to Next after Great Sand Dunes?

If you’re doing a Colorado road trip and you just came from Denver, you’re about to enter the most scenic area in the USA.

From Great Sand Dunes National Park, drive to Durango, which is an awesome town in the western Rockies. That’s where the million-dollar highway begins, a scenic drive through the most impressive mountains and beautiful towns.

The million-dollar highway ends with Telluride, an amazing ski town that I love visiting in the summer.

I’ve done the trip from Durango to Telluride 3 times now and have loved it every time!