Our visit to this site was truly accidental. I saw a sign on the side of the road and veered off to see what it was. The dunes were terribly out of the way, but what a great payoff.
My 9-year-old son thought they were great. He ran and played for more than an hour, burning off some of that pent-up energy accumulated from an elongated car ride. I enjoyed the scenery -- a storm cloud was rumbling across the adjacent mountain range, providing a beautiful dark blue backdrop for the sand-colored dunes. Breathtaking!
We also picked up a few rocks (a.k.a. souvenirs), which may have been a no-no, but there were some interesting specimens.
All in all, it was a great vacation stop. Even though there were lots of people at the dunes, the place is so large that we felt as though we were alone at the site.
Go and see this magnificent place. It's an unexpected beauty in the middle of an already beautiful state.

We went to Great Sand Dunes last summer and stayed at the nearby town in a Best Western hotel and you then travel 40mins to see the Dunes, There is a small motel at the dunes and it looked fine definately would have stayed there. The dunes are one of those places where you should arrive late in the afternoon watch the sum set + moon rise, then get an early start to climb the dunes in the morning. There are alot of mosquitos as you walk through the last 100 yds to the dunes so put some repellant on.
when you walk up the dunes it is very hard work - and it is very disconcenting when you get to the top of one dune to find you have to go to go up!

This is a very cool place...especially for kids. There is a little creek you must cross to get to the dunes. Be aware you must take off your shoes before crossing the creek or you'll end up walking around in wet shoes all day. Climbing the dunes can be quite fun but if you aren't in very good shape, like me, you probably won't be able to go too far. Once you get back to the parking lot there is a place to wash off your feet but be careful you don't hit the wrong button or you'll get a shower instead, like me. It is also a good idea to bring an extra pair of shoes due to the fact that you will probably fill yours with sand. We went in May & the weather was perfect & the sand was not that hot but in the summer the sand gets very hot, around 140 degrees. There are some trails in the area between the dunes & the mountains that I would love to explore but we did not have time the day we went. The visitors center is nice & they have a 20 min video that shows every half hour that explains much of the park the the cool phenomena that can be witnessed in the creek. There isn't a whole lot of parking so it is best to get there earlier in the day to beat the crowd.

Well it was quiet when we went in May 2007. The weather was dry, windy but not very warm. This is a park you need to explore on foot, don't come expecting a scenic drive with various overlooks so if you aren't very able bodied you won't appreciate it anywhere near as much. To get to the dunes from the main car park you may need to remove your shoes and wade across the shallow creek, great fun! The dunes are fantastic and look really strange against the ice-capped mountains. It was a really interesting journey across the flat valley to get to the dunes, we found ourselves driving along a long quiet dirt road section of county road 6N. One tip, take water and put plenty of lotion on before heading off!