South Dakota Vacations Travel Guide

General Information

Baby Equipment Rentals - companies in South Dakota that rent baby gear and equipment including car seats, strollers, cribs and more

South Dakota Office of Tourism - visitors information with maps, places to eat, accommodations, activities, what to see, calendar of events and more.

Zoos

Bear Country U.S.A
13820 South Highway 16
Rapid City, South Dakota 57701
Phone: (605) 343-2290
Enjoy a leisurely three-mile drive through this spectacular and unique wildlife park nestled on 250 acres of Black Hills beauty. Bear Country U.S.A. features the world's largest private collection of North American Black Bear. You will also encounter wolves, mountain lions, elk, buffalo, deer, bighorn and dall sheep, Rocky Mountain goats and much more… all roaming free in their natural habitat.  In addition to the drive-through portion of your Bear Country adventure; your admission includes the walk-through Wildlife Center where our young and smaller animals frolic in their outdoor exhibits. This area is designed for our guests to get a closer look at the playful antics of our young bear cubs, wolf pups, and other park offspring.

Great Plains Zoo and Delbridge Museum
805 S Kiwanis Ave
Sioux Falls, South Dakota 57104
Phone: (605) 367-7003

Bramble Park Zoo
Highway 20
Watertown, South Dakota 57201
Phone: (605) 882-6269
Over 350 mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians representing 150 varieties from around the world along with those native to South Dakota.

National Parks

Jewel Cave National Monument
Custer, South Dakota
Phone: (605) 673-2288
Jewel Cave is recognized as the third longest cave in the world. Airflow within its passages indicates a vast area yet to be explored. Cave tours provide opportunities for viewing this pristine cave system and its wide variety of speleothems including stalactites, stalagmites, draperies, frostwork, flowstone, boxwork and hydromagnesite balloons. The cave is an important hibernaculum for several species of bats.

Wild Cave National Park
Hot Springs, South Dakota
Phone: (605) 745-4600
One of the world's longest and most complex caves and 28,295 acres of mixed-grass prairie, ponderosa pine forest, and associated wildlife are the main features of the park. The cave is well known for its outstanding display of boxwork, an unusual cave formation composed of thin calcite fins resembling honeycombs. The park's mixed grass prairie is one of the few remaining and is home to native wildlife such as bison, elk, pronghorn, mule deer, coyotes, and prairie dogs.

Badlands National Park
Interior, South Dakota
Phone: (605) 433-5361
Located in southwestern South Dakota, Badlands National Park consists of acres of sharply eroded buttes, pinnacles and spires blended with the largest, protected mixed grass prairie in the United States. The Badlands Wilderness Area covers 64,000 acres and is the site of the reintroduction of the black-footed ferret, the most endangered land mammal in North America.  The park contains the world's richest Oligocene epoch fossil beds, dating 23 to 35 million years old. The evolution of mammal species such as the horse, sheep, rhinoceros and pig can be studied in the Badlands formations.

Mount Rushmore National Memorial
Keystone, South Dakota
Phone: (605) 574-3171
Mount Rushmore memorializes the birth, growth, preservation and development of the United States of America. Between 1927 and 1941, Gutzon Borglum and 400 workers sculpted the 60-foot busts of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln to represent the first 150 years of American history. Visitors to the memorial come primarily to view the granite sculpture itself, but also of interest is the Sculptor's Studio built under the direction of the artist, Gutzon Borglum, in 1939. Unique plaster models and tools related to the sculpting process are displayed there.

Museums

Crazy Horse Memorial
Located in the beautiful Black Hills of western South Dakota on highway 16/385.  Just 17 miles from our nation's shrine of democracy -- Mt. Rushmore.
Crazy Horse, South Dakota 57730
Phone: (605) 673-4681

The Mammoth Site
1800 Highway 18 Truck Route
Hot Springs, South Dakota 57747
Phone: (605) 745-6017
The Mammoth Site offers the museum visitor a 30 minute guided tour plus a 10 minute video. Tour information features the Mammoth Site and Ice Age geology, paleontology, and paleoecology. Today, visitors to the museum observe first-hand a scientific excavation.

Soukup and Thomas International Balloon and Airship Museum
700 North Main Street
Mitchell, South Dakota, 57301
Phone: (605) 996-2311
A magnificent collection of lithographs, oils, original artwork photographs, music boxes, jewelry, historic balloon baskets, clothing, plates, crystal, aeronautical navigation and radio communications equipment, books, periodicals, related memorabilia, and historically important airworthy balloon systems and sophisticated recovery vehicles includes the largest broadside (woodcut billboard) collection known to exist in the world, chronicling the aviation history of the great balloonist Charles Green. The balloon and airship pin collection includes more than 2,000 items.

Performance Car Museum
43rd & Phillips
Sioux Falls, South Dakota 57105
Phone: (605)338-4884
At the Performance Car Museum, you will see some of the rarest of the Muscle Cars. Shelbys, Big Block Chevys, Mopars, and even some of the modern day exotic muscle cars, such as a Ferrari Testarossa, are on display. You will also see celebrity cars formerly owned by Clint Eastwood, Burt Reynolds, Lee Marvin, John Wayne, and Steve McQueen’s motorcycle. You can even see the Monster Truck from the Beverly Hillbillies movie.

Theme Parks, Amusement Parks & Water Parks

President's Slide
P.O. Box 112
Keystone, South Dakota 57751
Phone: (605) 666-4478
Two Alpine Slide tracks offers 2,000 feet of sensational family fun. Riders control the speed of their individual sleds and small children may ride with adults. You can take a slow and easy ride down through the beautiful terrain, or go at a faster pace for action-packed excitement on the dips and high-banked turns. Other attractions are a beautiful chair lift ride through the fragrant Ponderosa pines; a unique view of Mt. Rushmore across the valley; beautiful park-like summit area; ultimate place in the Black Hills to eat - food grilled to order outdoors while you enjoy the view of Mt. Rushmore.

Black Hills Maze & Amusements
P.O. Box 1509
Rapid City, SD 57709
Phone: 605-343-5439
Located 3 miles south of Rapid City on Highway 16 on the Road to Mount Rushmore, the Black Hills Maze offers great family fun. The Maze is a life-size labyrinth of 1.2 miles of walkways, bridges and towers.  Along with the maze there's bankshot basketball (miniature golf, basketball and billiards in one); batting cages, climbing wall, swinging ride for kids, and a water balloon launch game.

WaTiki Indoor Waterpark Resort
1314 North Elk Vale Road
Rapid City, SD 57701
Phone: 866-928-4543
The largest indoor water park resort in the Dakotas with 30,000 sq. ft. of waterpark, arcade and concessions. There are 6 slides, an area for smaller children, palm tree alley, lazy river and a 300 gallon dumping bucket. Adjoined by premier hotels, La Quinta Inn & Suites and Fairfield Inn & Suites, WaTiki Indoor Waterpark Resort offers over 250 rooms and suites with many amenities.

If you know of a Theme Park, Amusement Park or Water Park in South Dakota, let us know and we will add it here.

Family Activities

If you know of a family activity in South Dakota, let us know and we will add it here.

Summer - Family Vacation Hot Spots (Beaches, Lakes, etc.)

Angostura Reservoir - Boating, fishing, picnicking, swimming and camping.  Angostura Recreational Area is located on the northeast side of the lake. Located near the Black Hills National Forest17 miles northwest of Oelrichs off U.S. 18 / 385.

Belle Fourche Reservoir - Scenic area that has picnicking and swimming.  Located in western South Dakota 9 miles east of Belle Fourche off U.S. 212.

Lake Sharp (Missouri River) / Big Bend Dam - Boating, swimming, fishing and camping.  There are many recreational areas along this section of the Missouri River.  Located from Pierre along South Dakota State Routes 34 and 50 to Chamberlain.

Lake Oahe - Boating, swimming, fishing, picnicking and other recreational activities in the southeastern side of the lake.  The northern portion of the lake goes into North Dakota, the middle of the lake is located just north of Mobridge, and Lake Oahe then stretches north of Pierre.

Zoos, Museums, National Parks, listed above.

Winter - Family Vacation Hot Spots (Ski Resorts, etc.)

Deer Mountain Ski Area
HWY 85 S
3 Miles from Lead, South Dakota
Phone: (888) 410-3337
South Dakota’s largest ski area with wonderful view and great family skiing, snowboarding and tubing.  Deer Mountain has always had the best beginner hill in the Black Hills. A wide-open bowl for beginning skiers and boarders at a fun, non-intimidating pitch makes the perfect place for beginners to discover the incomparable feeling of floating on snow. Deer Mountain has the only night skiing in the Black Hills. Night lighting extends to the top of the well-groomed mountain.  A total of forty-five trails at Deer Mountain roll down from the 6,850 feet summit and converge at the two-story base lodge with a cafeteria and lounge.  The ski school has programs for skiers of all levels. Classes are offered by the group or individually. Snowboard lessons are available on an individual basis. Deer Mountain offers ten miles of cross-country trails with loops for skiers ranging from novice to experienced. Traditional cross-country skiers will enjoy the trails because they’re groomed and patrolled.

Terry Peak Ski Area
20 miles from Interstate 90
Lead, South Dakota 57754
Phone: (605) 584-2165 / (605) 342-7609
Located on 400 acres in the Black Hills of South Dakota, Terry Peak is 7,100 feet in elevation with a vertical drop of 1,100 feet. Five chairlifts serve the facility with miles of groomed trails for all ability levels.

Zoos, Museums, National Parks and Summer vacation hot spots listed above.

Helpful websites and services

If you know of a website or company that is helpful to families traveling to South Dakota, let us know and we will add it here.

Travel Specials & Vacation Packages