Top Things to do in South Dakota
Top Hotels in South Dakota
- 1. Best Western Plus Rapid City Rushmore
- 2. Bavarian Inn, Black Hills
- 3. K Bar S Lodge
- 4. Hampton Inn & Suites Southwest/Sioux Falls
- 5. La Quinta Inn & Suites by Wyndham Sioux Falls
- 6. Deadwood Gulch Resort, Trademark Collection by Wyndham
- 7. Best Western Golden Spike Inn & Suites
- 8. Comfort Suites Conference Center Rapid City
- 9. La Quinta Inn & Suites by Wyndham Rapid City
- 10. Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, Rapid City, SD
What to do and see in South Dakota, United States: The Best Specialty Museums
South Dakota has good golf courses, skiing, snowmobiling, horseback riding, hiking, and biking among rolling prairies, pine forests, and granite mountain peaks like Mount Rushmore. Glacial lakes and Missouri River reservoir lakes provide great fishing, boating, canoeing, water skiing, and windsurfing. The whole family will enjoy this prairie land where grain growing begat roadside attractions like the Corn Palace in Mitchell. Everything made from corn, even the popcorn, tastes better here. Where buffalo roam, roadside diners serve up buffalo and luscious homemade fruit pies. Shop for good deals on cowboy boots on the same Black Hills and Badland Main Streets where cowboys and cowgirls outfit themselves. Be near the eroded buttes, spires, and prairie grasslands of Badlands National Park in Lead, Deadwood, Rapid City, Spearfish, Sturgis, Hill City, Custer, and other nearby towns. The whole family will enjoy watching for big game like bison, bighorn sheep, antelope, eagles, and hawks. Drive the one-hour Hwy 240 loop road, with a side-trip to Robert's Prairie Dog Town. Learn about the Oglala Sioux Tribe at the White River Visitor Center, which is near Wounded Knee. Tour the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site's Cold War nuclear silos, just outside the Park's boundaries. About 90 minutes west of Badlands National Park is Mount Rushmore. Lead, Deadwood, Rapid City, Spearfish, Sturgis, Hill City, Whitetail Springs, and Custer are also very near Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Custer State Park, Wind Cave National Park, and Jewel Cave National Monument. View Mount Rushmore from the aerial tramway in Keystone, which also houses the Borglum Historical Center celebrating the artist behind the sculpting of Rushmore. Take the kids to the Dinosaur Park in Rapid City. Attend Custer State Park’s Annual Buffalo Roundup and Arts Festival. Bedazzle the whole family with sparkling calcite crystals in 151-mile long Jewel Cave. Bison, pronghorn, and elk graze the grasslands of Wind Cave National Park. Central South Dakota has the state capitol, Pierre, in addition to numerous lakes along the Missouri River. Go fishing and boating in the rivers and lakes. Take the kids to the South Dakota Discovery Center and Aquarium in Pierre to see the state’s native fish. Drop by the Dacotah Prairie Museum along the James River in Aberdeen in the northeast to learn prairie history and natural history. Swing by Sioux Falls to see the USS South Dakota Battleship Memorial and special exhibits at the Old Courthouse Museum. Choose from among 10 golf courses in Sioux Falls.
Restaurants in South Dakota
1. Museum of Wildlife, Science, and Industry
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 3 reviews
2. National Music Museum
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 123 reviews
NOTE: The National Music Museum, Vermillion, South Dakota, is preparing for extensive architectural expansion and renovation and is now CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC. Reopening is slated for 2021. Stay tuned! "One of the largest and most important collections of historic instruments in the world." -- New York Times
Reviewed By 866TaylorB - Chicago, United States
My wife and I love to visit museums, wherever we can find them, in Chicago or New York or San Francisco or Denver...or Vermillion, South Dakota. The National Music Museum, founded in 1973 on the University of South Dakota campus, has more than 15,000 American, European and non-Western instruments from all cultures and historical periods in its vast collection. One of the world's most inclusive, it includes many of the earliest, best preserved and historically most important instruments known to survive. It is housed in the university's former library, which was built in 1910 with a grant from Andrew Carnegie's library building program, where over 1,000 representative instruments are exhibited in nine galleries. What can you see? The unmatched Salabue-Fiorini-De Wit-Hermann-Witten-Rawlins collection of 650 violin makers' labels. A 1781 grand piano by Louis Bas of Villeneuve-les-Avignon, France, the earliest French grand piano known to survive. A double chromatic harp, built in 1890 by Henry Greenway of Brooklyn, New York, one of two extant instruments of its type. A 1767 grand piano built by Manuel Antunes of Lisbon, the earliest signed and dated piano by a maker native to Portugal. A 1520 Neapolitan virginal keyboard. Three 17th century Fleming harpsichords. A group of 500 instruments made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by the C.G. Conn Company of Elkhart, Indiana, a resource unparalleled anywhere for historical research about a major American industry and the American band movement. Early Italian stringed instruments crafted by Andrea Guarneri and Antonio Stradivari. One of four Stradivari guitars to be seen in a museum setting and one of only two Stradivari mandolins known to survive. An English cittern dating from the late 16th century, the only one of its kind from the Renaissance known to survive. Also of interest are more recent American collections of saxophones, clarinets, brass instruments, guitars and harmonicas. In fact, the American musical instrument manufacturers archive is the largest of its kind. Scholars from around the world make frequent use of the National Music Museum's collections and facilities for research.
3. Motion Unlimited Museum
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 19 reviews
Motion Unlimited Museum and Antique/Classic Car Lot. Same Location Since 1973. 6180 South Highway 79, Rapid City, South Dakota Come visit our genuine Old Car Lot, With Nearly 100 Vehicles For Sale. Come Inside to See Our Beautiful Museum 17,000 sq. feet of cars, trucks, motorcycles, toys, pedal cars, memorabilia, oil & gas signs, and much more. All beautifully displayed. Hours: 9am-5pm- Monday-Friday Saturday: 9am-4pm Closed On Sundays, and Some Holidays.
Reviewed By Drew4Kristin - Buhler, United States
The price was great the cars where cool. And the old lady there was really awesome and very nice. They had alot of cool things not just cars. There were a lot of cool stuff for sale including cars I would definitely recommend a quick stop just to take a look.
4. Cramer-Kenyon Home
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 6 reviews
Reviewed By 316tricia - Yankton, United States
This is a beautifully kept grand older home, one of the first in this city. They have tours in the summer and open house during the Christmas season. It takes at least an hour to tour but you'll probably want to spend more time as there is so much to see & learn.
5. The Guns of History Gallery
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 6 reviews
Weapons and Memorabilia dealing with the Battles of the Upper Plains Indian Wars. You will see such names as Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, Gall, Two Moons and men from Custer's 7th Calvary. Battlefield guns from Little Big Horn, Rosebud and Wounded Knee to name a few. Not your ordinary gun museum, every piece has a history and we bring them all to light. If you like Guns OR History this museum is one you don't want to miss.
6. The Journey Museum and Learning Center
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 379 reviews
Open all year long! Your Black Hills Journey starts here. The Journey Museum and Learning Center brings together four major prehistoric and historic collections to tell the complete story of the Western Great Plains - from the perspective of the Lakotas and the pioneers who shaped its past to the scientists who now study it. Providing special programs and interactive learning experiences for all ages is our mission.
Reviewed By CarolA247 - Amarillo, United States
This is an amazing museum in the downtown area. It is hardly advertised or signed toward. It is so worth spending an hour in even at $12 per person. The museum is very clean, social distanced and masks required. It was not crowded even on a Saturday and the restrooms were good. You make your way from gallery to gallery through South Dakota history. They have some very good Lakota, Sioux and other local tribal displays that we really enjoyed including a beautiful hide painting and calendar paintings. They have many, many period artifacts, furnishing, clothing, etc. in each area and the tepees were amazing to me. They looked like the real thing. The signage is just enough and not overwhelming.
7. Museum of Geology
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 351 reviews
We are a natural history museum featuring an excellent displays of South Dakota fossils, minerals from around the world and South Dakota Minerals.
Reviewed By jimmydoe
free to public, parking is difficult... has excellent display of minerals, gems and gold, also fossils from western south dakota....is very disproportionately large for a small museum in a small state. a replica of Sue, the T.rex fossil that was found in the area is on display, as are other dinosaur bones... a place for both kids and adults
8. South Dakota Air and Space Museum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 904 reviews
Aircraft that have been flown throughout the eras are on display at South Dakota's premiere free aviation museum! The museum has two major static display venues: First, a outdoor air park filled with WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Cold War, and present day aircraft lets you get close to & touch history. This includes the currently flown B-1B Lancer. Secondly, four historical hangars showcase military history & technology,space tech & EROS, SD aviation, and EAFB local military history in a fresh and immersive walk-through. Mid-May through Mid-September bus tours of nearby Ellsworth AFB and the Minuteman II missile training silo are offered at a nominal fee. You will be able to go inside the silo and on base for a 50 minute guided tour of the only MMII silo open to the public. Make sure you bring your ID or Passport (Non-US) to enjoy the tour!
Reviewed By 107drewg - Rapid City, United States
In a city no larger than Rapid City, the museum at Ellsworth AFB far exceeds expectations if you are interested in military aviation history. Bombers, B-1 and B-29, among others are on display as is General Eisenhower's personal transport from WWII. The indoor portion of the museum is also well prepared and includes a B-1 cockpit.
9. Black Hills Mining Museum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 143 reviews
The Mining Museum is currently open Monday through Saturday, 9am to 5pm. Walk through time with the "miners" in timbered passages of a simulated underground gold mine, constructed by over 130 Homestake miners. View historic mining artifacts and local history exhibits. Pan your own gold and visit the gift shop. We will be closing for the season after October 17th, 2020
Reviewed By image-a-nation - Brooklyn, United States
My pals and I stayed up the road from here and checked out the museum on our way out of town. The museum has some neat artifacts and a tour led by a man with deep knowledge on the history of the mine and the area, and just enough dad jokes to keep it entertaining! It was about an hour long and well worth it.
10. Pioneer Auto Museum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 250 reviews
Established in 1954, and known as “The Big Variety Show,” the Pioneer Auto Show and Prairie Town in Murdo, South Dakota, provides families a trip through the history of 20th century America with its more than 250 classic cars, motorcycles, tractors and bicycles.Prairie Town continues the adventure; offering visitors a rendezvous with the past via self-guided tours through early renditions of a Midwestern, turn of the century town, complete with depot, bank, and school.
Reviewed By bill51449 - Cloverdale, United States
A huge collection of old cars and antiques. This place is worth the trip or as a stop to stretch the legs as you are travelling through.
