Ultimate Travel Guide: Must See Places in North & South Dakota

Our family is working hard to visit each of the 50 states.  Our oldest just turned 16 so we’re trying to complete this by the time he’s 18 (or at least shortly after).  We decided to take a partial road trip to visit North and South Dakota, but we also checked off Minnesota, Iowa and Montana on this trip too.

Right now, we have visited 43 of the 50 states as a family. For this trip, we flew into Minnesota and did a huge loop to see these states.  It was a lot of driving, but we were able to see some incredible sights!

Where did we start?

Originally, we planned to take a few extra days and drive from Ohio.  However, we found an amazing deal on Southwest that we couldn’t pass up!  We booked our round-trip flights on points and had one free flight with our Companion Pass (just over 21k points for our family of 5).

Since we had the points available, I went ahead and just booked the flight.  The beauty of booking with Southwest is even if you have to cancel, you can do so up until 10 minutes before your flight.  I figured they wouldn’t stay this cheap for long so I might as well grab them!  And good thing I did because they just kept climbing.

Car Rental

Although our flights were cheap, it meant that we now had to rent a car.  We ended up using National Car Rental because our American Express Surpass credit card gives us elite status with this company.  We rented a mid-size vehicle, but when we picked up, we had a variety to choose from. 

Not only were we able to get an SUV, but the perk from this credit card allowed us to skip the rental car line and go straight to the pick-up area! Talk about a time saver! The car cost $692 for the week, which wasn’t terrible.

Where did we stop along the way?

When we travel, we like to hit as many states as possible in one trip, especially when they are close together!  We knocked out several states on our road trips through New England, Branson, Missouri, Wisconsin, Universal Studios, California and Gulf Shores.  This trip was no different!

Keep in mind that if you do this journey, it’s A LOT of driving!  Just know that there are airports you can use that will get you closer to sights like Mt. Rushmore and Custer State Park.  In our case, we were drawn in by those cheap flights, plus it gave us the ability to knock out a few other states along the way!

I recently started using Wanderlog to plan out my itineraries so you can see our entire North & South Dakota guide here, but I’ll focus on the highlights of our trip!

Here are our favorite stops we made on this 7-day trek:

Day 1: Minneapolis, MN to Sioux Falls, SD

We flew from Pittsburgh, PA to Minneapolis, MN.  We had a short layover in Chicago, but made it to Minneapolis, picked up our car and were on our way by about 10:30am.

Minnesota’s Largest Candy Store

This first chunk of driving was about 4 hours.  We love finding cool roadside stops and we came across Minnesota’s Largest Candy Store.  This place was insane and had way more than just candy, plus lots of photo ops with characters like Hulk and more.

If you’re nearby, I highly suggest stopping here!  It was a fun stop, and the kids loved picking out some unique treats!  My husband and I got an apple Danish and it was really good too.  Just know that they only accept cash.  There are ATMs all over, but since we weren’t planning to stop here, we wouldn’t have been prepared.

Iowa, South Dakota & Minnesota Marker

On our route to South Dakota, we drove through Iowa and even stopped on the Iowa, South Dakota and Minnesota Marker allowing us to stand in three states at once. We did this before on a trip from Ohio to Missouri. We stood in Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri on the Tri-State Marker. It’s nothing big, but it’s worth a quick stop!

Falls Park – Sioux Falls, SD

Next, we headed to Sioux Falls, which is South Dakota’s largest city.  We stopped at Falls Park where you can see the raging rapids of the Big Sioux River.  We were able to walk along the river and even climb on some of the rocks, which was a beautiful backdrop for photos!   

Then, we headed to our hotel for the night.  We stayed at the Hyatt Place in Sioux Falls, which was on Lake Lorraine.  It was such a pretty backdrop too.  We rented bikes from the hotel and rode around the lake on the paved paths, which was a great way to enjoy the sunset!

If you’re in the area, we had TC’s Referee for dinner and really enjoyed our meals!

Day 2: Sioux Falls, SD to Rapid City, SD

Our drive on day two was around 7 hours, but we had so many fun stops along the way!

Corn Palace – Mitchell, SD

Corn Palace was about an hour from Sioux Falls in Mitchell, SD.  The outside of the building is covered in murals made entirely of corn and other grains, with designs that change annually.  Inside, there are exhibits about the history of the Corn Palace and the importance of corn to the local economy.  Plus, entrance is free to this family-friendly stop!

Dignity of Earth and Sky

About an hour west of Corn Palace is a rest stop where you’ll find the Dignity of Earth and Sky. It’s a monument to Native American heritage.  This rest stop offers a small museum and a 50-foot tall, stainless-steel statue on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River.  If you need to stretch your legs, there are trails allowing you to get some exercise and take in the view.

Al’s Oasis

After our quick rest-stop, we were ready for lunch so we headed to Al’s Oasis.  This popular stop has a grocery store, small shops and restaurants.  We opted for their lunch buffet and salad bar, which was reasonably-priced and had pretty good food. Plus, it was quick, which is especially helpful with hangry kids!

1880 Town

After lunch, we continued driving west and stopped at the 1880 Town.  This open-air museum is a meticulously re-created frontier town, complete with authentic buildings, artifacts and even movie props from famous Westerns like “Dances with Wolves.”

We enjoyed strolling through the town, stopping to check out each of the buildings.  Our favorite was the saloon, where we grabbed some popcorn, peanuts and drinks, while enjoying the re-enactments and live music.

Keep in mind, as you head West into this old town, you also go back in time with the change from Central to Mountain Timezone! 

Badland’s National Park

As our family checks off states, we also like to visit National Parks.  You will find some incredible views from these parks as they are full of natural beauty! I highly recommend making a stop anytime you’re nearby!  Our first stop is always the Visitor’s Center.  You can grab maps, souvenirs and many even have small museums or displays to learn about the park. 

There are also stamp stations where you can stamp either a National Park passport book or even stamp just a blank sheet of paper, which is a fun way to remember your visit! A lot of times, they even have scrap paper to use if you either don’t have a book or forgot yours.

In addition, many parks offer Junior Ranger programs where the kids can earn a wooden badge upon completion.  This is free to do and the badges make really nice souvenirs!

The first stop we made was Panorama Point, which was super-cool!  The rock formations are so neat, and you can even walk on them!  It was the craziest thing driving through South Dakota. One minute, it was flat and green and out of nowhere these huge rock formations just seemed to pop up.

We did the scenic drive heading to Panorama Point, Homestead Overlook and Pinnacles Overlook.  We were able to snap some photos with the most incredible background at these stops!

Wall Drug

We then headed to Wall Drug, which is one of those quintessential roadside attractions when you’re making this drive.  Wall Drug started as a small-town pharmacy in 1931 and has grown into one of the most famous roadside attractions in the world.  It’s known for its free ice water, five-cent coffee, shops and restaurants.  We spent about 45 minutes exlploring before heading to our final stop for the evening, Rapid City, SD.

Rapid City, SD

After checking into our hotel, we had dinner at Millstone Family Restaurant, which had good food!  We hopped right next door and had a little fun playing mini-golf at Pirate’s Cove Adventure Golf.  This course reminded me of something you’d see in Myrtle Beach and everyone enjoyed this stop! 

Our hotel, Hampton Inn & Suites Rapid City, was right around the corner.  Our kids loved the pool and waterslide!  It was a perfect way to end our busy day!

Day 3: Journey through the Black Hills

The Black Hills of South Dakota are full of natural beauty, history and unique attractions.  We were able to see iconic landmarks, scenic byways and hidden gems along the way. 

Mount Rushmore

We started our morning early and headed to Mount Rushmore, which was about 40 minutes from Rapid City.  Since we arrived early, it was easy to park and the crowds were low.  When I planned our trip, I only allotted about 30 minutes to spend here, thinking we’d snap some photos and head out.  But we ended up staying close to two hours!

There are some trails to follow outside and a movie to watch that shows how the faces were created. It was really interesting, so I highly suggest planning to spend a little time here!

Custer State Park

From Mount Rushmore, we headed to Custer State Park.  There are faster ways to get from Mount Rushmore to Custer, but we wanted to enjoy the scenic view and stop along the way so we followed Iron Mountain Road.

Custer State park is a 71,000 acre park known for its abundant wildlife and stunning landscape.  There is a charge of $20/car to drive into the park, but the pass is good for 7 days, giving you more than enough time to explore.  We drove along the Wildlife Loop Road where we saw hundreds of bison as well as some pronghorn antelopes.

Mammoth Site – Hot Springs, SD

After exploring Custer State Park, we headed south to Hot Springs, SD to visit the Mammoth Site, which is a museum where over 60 mammoth skeletons have been discovered.  It’s an active dig site offering a glimpse into the prehistoric past when mammoths roamed the area.  This is a great stop for anyone, but especially for those into paleontology!

Wind Cave National Park

Our final stop of the day was Wind Cave National Park, which was only about 15-20 minutes from the Mammoth Site.  Wind Cave is one of the longest and most complex caves in the world, known for its unique boxwork formations, a honeycomb-like structure rarely found in other caves. 

Unfortunately, the elevators are being serviced so we were unable to go into the actual cave; however, they recommend taking a tour at their sister cave, Jewel Cave.

We stayed in Custer for the night at the Holiday Inn Express Custer, which was a perfect place to end the day and a great starting point for the next day.

Day 4: From Jewel Cave to Deadwood, SD

Only about 15 minutes from our hotel was Jewel Cave National Monument.  It’s the third-longest cave in the world, with over 210 miles of mapped passages.  The best way to see these passages is to take one of their cave tours.  We opted to take the 1.5 hour Scenic Tour, which is one of the most popular tours.  We booked this in advance to ensure we had a spot, but plenty of people also walked up and purchased tickets right before the tour.

The tour is a moderate walk with some stairs and is guided by a ranger offering insights into the cave’s geology, history and ongoing exploration efforts.  We’ve done several cave tours and this one was pretty cool allowing us to see calcite crystals, stalactites and other intricate formations, including our favorite, “cave bacon.”  The tour ended up being closer to two hours than 1.5, which was a little longer than my kids wanted to spend, so just be prepared for that.

Crazy Horse Memorial

After our tour, our plan was to stop at the Crazy Horse Memorial, which is a monumental tribute to the Lakota warrior Crazy Horse and a celebration of Native American Culture.  This memorial is a work in progress and has been under construction since 1948.  We were able to stop just outside of the memorial and snap some pictures.  Since our cave tour put us a little behind schedule, we decided that these pictures would suffice.

Needles Highway

We followed the Needles Highway to take in some more scenic views, ultimately heading to Sylvan Lake.  This 14-mile stretch of road offers breathtaking views of towering granite spires, lush forests and serene meadows.  The road is named for the needle-like rock formation creating a dramatic landcape. 

We passed through narrow tunnels carved into the granite and crossed pigtail bridges, stopping at different viewpoints along the way.

Sylvan Lake

Sylvan Lake is referred to as the “Crown Jewel” of Custer State Park.  It’s a picturesque lake surrounded by granite formations and is a popular spot for swimming, kayaking, fishing, and in our case picnicking.  We packed a lunch and also grabbed a few additions in their store.  There were plenty of tables to enjoy our lunch.  Although we didn’t hike around this entire lake, the views were gorgeous! 

And if you’re a movie buff, National Treasure: Book of Secrets was filmed here!

Bear Country USA

After lunch, we headed back towards Rapid City and stopped at Bear Country USA.  This drive-thru wildlife park is home to a variety of North American wildlife, including black bears, big horn sheep, elk, bison, mountain lions and wolves.

We have these drive-thru zoos near us too, where you can feed the animals along the way.  This one is not like those.  The animals are in their natural habitats so it’s humans who need to stay in their cages (aka cars).  However, there is a Wildlife Walk after the drive-thru portion that allows you to get up close to smaller animals and the park’s famous bear cubs.

Deadwood, SD

After we left Bear Country, USA, we drove to our final stop of the night, Deadwood, SD.  This historic town was founded during the Black Hills Gold Rush of the late 1800’s and became notorious for it’s lawlessness, attracting outlaws, gamblers and fortune seekers.  Today, the entire town is a National Historic Landmark and it’s buildings and historic sites offer a glimpse into the Wild West.

Downtown is full of old saloons, casinos, shops and restaurants.  Plus, on most days, you can catch a reenactment of a Wild West shootout on Main Street.  Unfortunately, the day we went was a Sunday and the only day that this doesn’t take place.

We did enjoy checking out downtown and even stopping at the Deadwood Soda Saloon.  Our boys got to sit at the bar and order some specialty sodas.  The owner was the bartender and was such a nice guy.  It’s a cool little place to check out—especially with the kiddos.

Cadillac Jack’s Casino

We stayed at the Doubletree at Cadillac Jacks Casino and it was our kids’ favorite hotel.  There are a few hotels plus the casino and restaurants all connected in one building.  We spent some time in the pool and hot tub and then let the kids order dinner and hang out in the room while my husband and I had a date night!

We ate at FLYT Steakhouse and both really enjoyed our meals.  My husband had a steak and I had their Red, White and Blues salad, which was so good!  When you stay at a Hilton and are a Silver member or higher, you get a daily credit to use in the hotel.  Plus, you get a card with extra discounts as well.  The pizza the kids got for dinner was paid for with this credit as well as a portion of our dinner.

My husband and I then went to the casino for a bit.  I was gambling on penny slots and the waitresses were consistently bringing us drinks, which were free when gambling.  The service here was better than in Las Vegas!  Sometimes you have to be gambling for a while before a waitress comes around in Vegas!

Our kids also got a kick out of their room service robots.  We needed an extra pillow and blanket, so we were able to order these on the Hilton App.  Of course, my youngest (and my husband) had to go hunt it down and follow it to the room.

Day 5: Theodore Roosevelt National Park

The next day, we headed north towards Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota, but we made some stops along the way. 

Geographic Center of the Nation

We ended up stopping in Belle Fourche to visit the Geographic Center of the Nation Monument.  This wasn’t something we planned, we just saw it on the map and decided to stop.  It was pretty cool—it’s the exact center of the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii.

They also had a visitor’s center with some interesting exhibits.  We spent about 30 minutes before continuing our drive. 

Montana

We drove through Montana, stopping at the Wilbaux Café for lunch.  This is was just a small restaurant, but the food was so good.  If you’re in the area, I highly recommend making a stop! 

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

We crossed the border into North Dakota, our fifth new state on this trip, and headed to Medora, which is known as the gateway to Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  We didn’t spend much time in Medora—we just drove around it before heading into Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  I would have loved to see Medora the Musical, but the only day it wasn’t showing was on Mondays and that’s when we visited.

We focused on the South Unit of the National Park, driving along the 36-mile loop road.  We visited a few different viewpoints and snapped some pictures.  Our plan was to do the full loop; however, the road was closed part way through so we only did a portion of the road before turning around and heading to Dickinson, which is where we stayed for the night.

Badlands Dinosaur Museum

The kids were ready to go to the hotel and swim, but when we arrived, we found out that the pool was temporarily out of service.  Our older two hung out in the room while we took our youngest to the Badlands Dinosaur Museum.  This museum is a hidden gem, featuring several dinosaur fossils, including full skeletons and fossil replicas.  Our kiddo enjoyed checking out the exhibits.

West River Community Center

On our drive to the museum, we noticed a community center with a pool and a few water slides.  On Monday nights, they have a family swim from 5-7pm.  Since our hotel pool was out of service, we went back to the room, packed a bag for the pool and let the kids burn off some steam at the community center pool.  They all had a blast, and it was a perfect way to relax and enjoy our evening!

Day 5: Drive to Minnesota + Mall of America

The next day we spent most of the day driving, finishing out our loop through the five states and making our way back to Minnesota.  We got into town around 5pm and decided to head over to the Mall of America for a couple of hours.  This mall is one of the largest shopping malls in the world, with over 500 stores, plus there is an amusement park in the middle of it!

I remember watching The Mighty Ducks 2 movie when I was a kid, which had a scene where the team was rollerblading through the mall.  Ever since then, this mall has been on my bucket list!

We grabbed dinner, checked out some stores and watched the kids ride some rides.  Then, we headed back to our room for the night. 

Day 6: Valley Fair Amusement Park

The next morning, we went to Valley Fair Amusement Park.  With it being a Wednesday, we were able to ride all the rides with little to no wait!  We also spent some time at Soak City Water Park.  Valley Fair is a sister park of Cedar Point, which is our home park.  The rides at Cedar Point are definitely more thrilling, but we enjoyed getting to ride some different coasters.

One thing we really like about these parks, is that you can get a dining wristband that allows you to eat a meal every 90 minutes for about $45.  Our family of five gets two of these wristbands and have more than enough food for the day.  It’s a huge savings since one meal can easily be $15-20.  We were also able to find discount tickets to the park on TicketsatWork.com, which is another way to save money!

Final Thoughts

Although this trip was do-able, it would be nice to spend more time in places like Rapid City, which is full of attractions.  You could probably spend several days in the area and still have plenty to see.  If you don’t like long road trips, then definitely break this trip up and see these states/areas at different times because this was LOTS of driving!

We still had a good time and were able to see so many incredible places and five new states.  We’ve now seen all but seven U.S. states and all of them have their own charm.  We love seeing the landscape out west because it’s so different than what we’re used to in Ohio.  I encourage you to get out of your own state and see all the beauty in the rest of the country!

Have you been to the Dakotas?  What have been your favorite spots?