Alert: Off-season Reduced Operating Hours for the Fort: From October 2024 to early March 2025, the fort will be open Friday through Sunday, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., weekly. During this time, park trails and grounds will still be accessible 7 days a week from 9:00 a.m. through 4:00 p.m., excepting holidays.
National Historic Site
Bent's Old Fort
Horse and Mule in the Plaza NPS Photo
Overview
In the 1840s the Arkansas River was the border between territory claimed by the United States and Mexico. Located along the river, Bent's Fort was an adobe trading post on the Santa Fe Trail, where traders, trappers, travelers, and the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes came together in peaceful terms for trade. Today, a reconstructed fort allows visitors to explore the front line of Westward Expansion.
Applications for fee waivers must be received two weeks prior to your anticipated trip.
Those organized, educational groups of children who are less than 16 years of age with less than 75 students and no more than 10 adult teachers and chaperones must call to schedule a field trip to the park at least two weeks in advance of their visit in order to enter the park free of charge without a fee waiver.
Map
Things To Do
Category
6 Results
Hiking along the Arkansas River
$
Description
Visitors can hike a 1.75 mile trail that winds its way through the cottonwood trees alongside the wetlands and the Arkansas River. Interpretive exhibit signs tell the story of the river ecosystem, Santa Fe Trail and Bent's Fort.
Park entry fee or annual pass required for all adult visitors.
Pet FriendlyTime:30-90 Minutes
Park Film at Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site
$
Description
View the 20-minute documentary film, "Traders, Tribes and Travelers" at the fort. Narrated by actor Peter Coyote, this film looks back at the traders, tribes and travelers that converged at this historic landmark site.
Park entry fee or annual pass required for all adult visitors.
Pet FriendlyTime:1-20 Minutes
Explore the Reconstructed Bent's Old Fort
$
Description
Bent's Old Fort is one of the finest tangible examples of Santa Fe Trail history. The immersive experience of being in the reconstructed fort allows visitors to "step back" in time and discover what the West was like in the 1830s and 1840s at this important trading post.
Park entry fee or annual pass required for all adult visitors.
Pet FriendlyTime:1-3 Hours
Self-Guided Tour
$
Description
Take a self-guided tour of the fort and discover the role the fort played in the borderlands between the United States and Mexico in the 1830s and 1840s.
Park entry fee or annual pass required for all adult visitors.
Pet FriendlyTime:1-120 Minutes
Walk to Bent's Fort
$
Description
All visitors must walk along the route of the Santa Fe Trail to reach the reconstructed fort. There is a paved pathway, 1,275 feet in length, from the parking lot to the fort that is hard-surfaced and wheelchair accessible.
Park entry fee or annual pass required for all adult visitors.
Pet FriendlyTime:3-15 Minutes
Become a Junior Ranger at Bent's Old Fort
$
Description
Upon your arrival at the fort, request a Junior Ranger booklet from a park ranger in the Native Trade Room. Explore the fort using the booklet, complete the pages for your age group and receive a Junior Ranger Badge.
While Junior Ranger booklets are free, a park entry fee or annual pass is required for all adult visitors..
Pet Friendly
More Images
Two animals are tied to a wooden frame in the interior of a large adobe structure.Bent's Old Fort with shortgrass prairie in foreground and blue sky and clouds aboveWooden boxes and buffalo furs are scattered around a plaza inside an adobe fortification.Bent's Old Fort with shortgrass prairie, tepee and wagon in foreground and blue sky & clouds abovebundles of glass trade beads tied together hang from a wooden rafterAn adobe fort with lights under a starry skyBent's Old Fort in background with wagon in front; fall yellow cottonwood leaves in foregroundA Conestoga wagon and a solar race car stand on a road with a large adobe fort in the backgroundA row of saddles are arrayed along a wooden beam near an adobe buildingA wooden counter is in the foreground of a trade room, with sales items on display in the background
