The Ultimate South Dakota Road Trip 3 Day Itinerary

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A South Dakota road trip has been on my bucket list for years. When a friend of ours told us he grew up in Sturgis and could show us around from his point of view as a former local, we were more than thrilled to accept his offer. This South Dakota road trip itinerary features the southwestern portion of South Dakota. We had one long weekend to see as much as possible (and we definitely did). This road trip featured beautiful views, interesting history, and even a gun show! 🙂

We arrived in Rapid City at about 430 PM. We were picked up at the airport by our friend who joked that the cows in the runway had to be moved before the plane could land.  I realized what he meant by that when we pulled out of the airport. The airport looked like it had been built in the middle of a field.

The first stop was to the Cosmos Mystery Center. We had previously enjoyed a similar mystery center in California and wanted to see how this one compared. We drove down a long driveway and made our way inside the building to purchase tickets. While waiting for the next tour, we shopped in the gift shop.

The whole idea of the Cosmos Mystery Center is to see why the land here is special. Here, water can flow upwards, shorter people can be taller than those taller than them, and you can at a 45 degree angle without falling.

The tour took less than an hour and we were ready to head out around 630. No South Dakota road trip is perfect without a trip to Mount Rushmore. It was only 20 minutes down the road and I wanted to see the Evening Lighting Ceremony that started at 9PM.

As we drove towards Mt Rushmore, we got our first glimpse at the famous 4 presidents carved into the side of the mountain. I could feel my excitement intensifying as we pulled into the parking garage. After purchasing our tickets, I made my way through the flags framing the Presidents in the distance. I feel like the amazing carving is something everyone should see once. 

Since we had not eaten yet, we went for a quick bite in Carvers café while appreciating the view of the famous 4 presidents. Here, there are several food choices that are available and then you sit where ever you chose. This is where I had my first bison burger. 

Supposedly Thomas Jefferson introduced ice cream to the US. So, while we waited for the evening light ceremony to begin, we enjoyed the delicious ice cream and tried taking photos of me picking George Washington’s nose (classy, I know!). It took a while for the guys to understand what I meant…just look at how “great” they were! 🙂

The evening ceremony started with a 20 minute video of the Mount Rushmore Project and then the lights were turned on to light up the presidents’ faces to the tune of the “Star Spangled Banner.”

My favorite part was the ending of the ceremony when past and present military members were asked to stand up on stage. The crowd was given a chance to honor these brave men and women.

**Make sure to bookmark this page as I will be updating it to include a link to compare Mount Rushmore: Day & Night!

That night, we checked in to the Hotel Alex Johnson in Rapid City for our weekend stay. It is supposed to be haunted. There is a notebook kept at the front desk you can ask to read journaling spooky moments in the hotel. I asked the maintenance man if he was scared working in the basement of the hotel and he wasn’t. However, he did say he had one event he had trouble explaining what happened. Guess you will have to ask him when you stay there! 🙂

Click here to read some of the spooky stories from the journal and see more photos from our road trip and the hotel.

The Hotel Alex Johnson is within walking distance to everything in downtown Rapid City and we enjoyed staying here. Click here to look at prices for Hotel Alex Johnson.

We woke up early and ready to hit the road by 6AM. The goal was to see beat any crowds and hopefully see some wildlife.

Looking for a place where the buffalo roam? Custer State Park offers 71,000 acres to view from the 18 mile Wildlife Loop Road. Early in the morning, you may be lucky enough to see some of the 1300 bison that call the place home. Along the way, we enjoyed the wide, open plains and beauty of the land. It definitely reminded me of the song “Home on the Range” and I sang it in my head as we drove through the beautiful park.

Despite leaving early, we didn’t see a lot of wildlife. We were told about attention loving burros that will come up to the vehicle and bison roaming the land, but we saw neither. I think if we had drove down some of the side roads we may have seen them. We did see a multitude of prairie dogs. Those suckers are fun to watch!

Tip: There’s a new Visitor Center in Custer State Park that opened in 2016. Here, you will find information on all the park offerings.

Needles Highway was such a sight to see and was the highlight of the morning. The road, once thought impossible to build, had us oohing and aahing at the impressive granite spires as we drove along the national scenic byway.

Crazy Horse Memorial is where we found the world’s largest in progress mountain carving. Starting in 1948, the sculpture in the Black Hills began and will eventually be 563 feet high and 641 feet long.

*We decided we were going to save this carving for when its completed (but you can most definitely go now and then!).

I wanted to compare Mt Rushmore in the day versus the night so we stopped here again on our way north to Spearfish Canyon. The view is quite different in the morning because the sun shines on the carving.

I took the 0.6 mile Presidential trail that begins at the Grand View Terrace to see the variety of viewpoints of the presidents. 

Then, I visited the Sculptor’s Studio where people can see Gutzon Borglum’s original models of the presidents scaled on a 1:12 ratio. It’s pretty interesting to see all the plans and tools used.

We drove the 19 mile road on Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway to see the breathtaking rock walls, canyons, creeks, and waterfalls offered along the drive north. We stopped at Roughlock Falls State Nature Area. This is the perfect place for a picnic.

When I found out we were so close to this photo opportunity I knew I couldn’t miss it! Belle Fourche is where people can stand in the geographic center of the nation’s 50 states. To mark the location, there’s a 21 foot in diameter compass that represents the center of the nation. 

The town is small and the GPS didn’t give good directions to where the marker was. We just happened to pass by it on our right as we were coming into town, otherwise, we would have missed it.

Here’s where our friend used to live, so we got the grand tour with local information on past floods and happenings in the Sturgis area. This is where the famous Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is every year. 

Since we were close, we decided to drive by Bear Butte. This is sacred ground for the Plains Indians. The area was established as a state park in 1961 and many religious ceremonies are held here throughout the year. Bear Butte is a place of meditation, prayer, and peace to the people who come to visit. You may see prayer cloths and tobacco bundles tied to branches of the trees but I’ve heard it is unkind to take pictures of them.

Since we were ready to get to Deadwood (and grab a bite to eat!), we just drove by. We did see some bison in the field here.

This little town right before Deadwood may not be on visit list, but I advise stopping here. There’s a huge mine here in the town of Lead that you just HAVE to see. Before the Homestake Mine closed in 2002, it was the deepest, largest, and most productive gold mine in the Western Hemisphere. This is one of the mines that made those greedy men looking for gold even hungrier for it!

More recently, the mine has been used for experiments in which this 100,000-gallon cylindrical tank was used in the below picture. You can watch a video explaining more with a great article from USA Today by clicking here: “Secrets of the Universe may lie in an old gold mine in South Dakota.”

Wanting to replay the Wild Wild West? Visit Main Street in Historic Deadwood! Once, a mining camp during the gold rush in the late 1800s, the entire town has been designated as a National Historic Landmark. This is where we watched a re-enactment of a Wild Bill shootout at the Old Style Saloon No. 10. We arrived just in time to join the crowd lined along the street. When the gun fight began, everyone drew their attention to the actors. There was even an interactive portion the kids participated in. 

While we waited for the trial, we stopped at a nearby restaurant for quick bite to eat. When the actors were in the street again continuing their skit, we made our way where the trial was to be held. It was interesting to see this played out. I was even asked to join them onstage as a witness!  

Deadwood is full of history. I learned a lot about the town’s outlaws, such as Wild Bill Hickok.

Tip: Deadwood has a brand new visitor center that opened in 2017 and there are many casinos to play a hand of cards if you feel the desire.

We began another day bright and early. First, we walked a couple blocks over to Hardees for a quick to go breakfast for our drive to the Badlands. It was nice to have a so many restaurants so close to our hotel. We really think the Hotel Alex Johnson is a great place to stay in Rapid City.

While walking down the sidewalk, we took notice of the many life sized bronze statues of our nation’s past presidents. Since it was early in the morning, we had the street pretty much to ourselves so it was the perfect time to take a stroll and find our favorite president standing on the street corner. Rapid City is known as the most patriotic city in the United States and has been given the nickname “City of Presidents.”

Tip: Stop by the visitor center for a free “City of Presidents” book or click here to find an interactive walking guide of the City of Presidents.

As we drove down the highway, we noticed the many popular “Wall Drug Store” signs offering free ice water. On the Wall drug store exit there was an 80 foot dinosaur! Not a real one. This one greets visitors to the town of Wall! We stopped for the photo op and decided to stop back on the way back towards Rapid City.

A South Dakota road trip is not complete without the 31 mile drive along Badlands Loop Scenic Byway to see panoramic views of the 244,000 acre Badlands National Park. This park boasts a variety of landscapes from spires, canyons, gorges, pinnacles, and buttes in multiple colors based on the various rock types.

Can you imagine what the early settler thought as they arrived to the Badlands from the prairie?

I could have spent days on the trails here as the views were amazing. The rock formations and colors were beautiful. Click here to look at our photo gallery of the Badlands.

We stopped at the Prairie Homestead to see the sod house that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This is a good place to learn about the history of the early settlers; how they used to live, money given to them by the government.

There were many prairie dogs poking their heads up here.

Just down the road from the Badlands and next to the interstate 90 is a museum with information about the United States’ missile program. We learned a lot and left with many what if questions. It’s amazing how close we come to an all right missile crisis. 

Once a classified nuclear missile site, the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site is now a national park! Check out the self- guided tour of missile silo Delta-09 and other exhibits from the missile program from the Cold War. We listened to an audio tour of the site to learn more information. Here is the number to call: 605-301-3006 (Click here for more info.)

 If planning ahead, you can be one of 6 lucky people scheduled for a ranger led tour of the Launch Control Facility Delta-01.

Next, we headed towards the Wall Drug Store. Once just a pharmacy that greeted people with free water, it now entices customers with nickel coffee, delicious donuts, and a bunch of history. In fact, the town has been named the #1 roadside attraction in America!

We stopped here for lunch.

We finished the day by driving around the Rapid City and exploring the town. There are a few overlooks that gave quite a view of the city (and some dinosaurs!).

We found Art Alley right behind our hotel (Hotel Alex Johnson) on the alley between 6th and 7th Streets. It is full of bright colors and freedom of expression. Make sure to take a stroll down this street and marvel at the artwork.

One of the longest and most complex cave systems in the world is under a prairie in western South Dakota. The maze-like passageways and rock formations carved by water make up the Wind Cave and is a sacred place for the Native Americans. 

While at Wind Cave, chose one of the guided tours. There are easy trails that are on well-maintained paths (may take 1 hour), or strenuous hikes of the beaten path.

If time allows, enjoy the 1279 acre park that features the third longest cave in the world, the Jewel Cave with 180 miles of mapped passageways. If you are able to climb the 700 stairs and have an hour and a half to spare, take the Scenic Tour of Jewel Cave to see its amazing rock formations and illuminated caverns.

I also would have went down the side roads at Custer State Park in search of the Bison. I feel I just didn’t spend enough time in that beautiful state park.

The Rapid City area is such a beautiful area of the country and makes for a great road trip because there’s so much to see in such a close area. It’s a perfect family road trip because of the family friendly fun in Deadwood and Rapid City. There’s plenty of hiking trails throughout all of the southwestern state. I highly encourage you to take a South Dakota road trip!

What questions do you have about this itinerary? Let me know in the comments & don’t forget to share with your friends!