Last summer, we took a jam packed South Dakota road trip and experienced so much in just a few days! We drove from Denver, but you could fly into Rapid City and rent a car and easily do this South Dakota road trip itinerary. Western South Dakota completely surprised us and we would consider it a must visit for outdoor adventure lovers.
Where to Stay on your South Dakota Road Trip
Custer State Park
Since we road tripped, we camped at Custer State Park and got lucky scoring a campsite at Sylvan Lake Campground which was perfectly located near all of the major sites in the park. Custer State park is home to 10 different campgrounds, but they book up quickly. There is also Custer State Park Resort which has a lodge and cabins if you aren’t a fan of camping.
Custer
The town of Custer has many lodging options as well you can check out here.
Rapid City
Rapid City could be a good place to stay if you don’t mind a little driving. If you’re trying to minimize driving time for our itinerary, we would recommend staying in Custer night one and Rapid City night two.
Wall
Wall is a great place to stay near Badlands National Park. They have lodging options in town. Since we were car camping, we stayed right outside the entrance to Badlands National Park at Buffalo Gap Dispersed Camping site. This works well if you’re car camping or in an RV but there are no facilities here. The view is beautiful though!
Day by Day South Dakota Road Trip Itinerary
Day 1
Arrive in Custer State Park! Depending on where you’re coming from, you can start with any of these points of interest. Most points of interest are relatively close to each other at this park.
Since we were driving from Denver, it made sense for us to drive the Wildlife Loop as our first activity! We ended up doing this mid-afternoon, but you’ll see the most animals at dawn or dusk.
Keep an eye out for the begging Burros! They’ll poke their heads in your car looking for food. The Wildlife Loop takes about 45 minutes to drive the entire loop. We would consider it a must do on your South Dakota road trip itinerary!
We were pretty hungry after all of that driving, so we stopped for food and beers at Mount Rushmore Brewing Company in Custer. This is a full service brewery and restaurant with casual dining on the bottom floor and fine dining upstairs! We were impressed with the beer here and the theme was a great welcome to South Dakota.
After driving the Wildlife Loop, drive the stunning Needles Highway. This scenic drive shows off the unique spires that this park is known for! The Needles Highway takes about 45 minutes to drive and includes some small tunnels that are really fun to drive through. Our favorite was the Needles Eye Tunnel.
We were ready to stretch our legs again with a short sunset hike. The Cathedral Spires Trail is short with beautiful views. Go just before sunset for some gorgeous light! Even though it was July 4th weekend and this trail is one of the most popular in the park, we encountered almost no one else on this trail.
We caught sunset near the Needles Eye Tunnel and ended up seeing a mama mountain goat and her tiny baby which was the highlight of our trip!
Day 2
Don’t miss sunrise at Sylvan Lake! We hopped out of bed and drove to the lake that was right next to our campsite. This is a magical sunrise spot! The reflection on the water is absolutely stunning.
Next up, Black Elk Peak, the tallest peak in South Dakota and an unexpected bucket list hike! The Black Elk Peak trailhead is conveniently located right next to Sylvan Lake. The 7 mile moderate hike is absolutely worth it. The panoramic views from the top are incredible.
After your hike, grab a snack and head to Mount Rushmore! This iconic American landmark is only 40 minutes away from the trailhead and worth a stop. Parking is $10.
You should be pretty hungry at this point, so head to Harriet & Oak in Rapid City for the best coffee and breakfast. This spot was super cute and delicious. We also stopped at Firehouse Brewery for a drink before heading to Badlands National Park!
Since we started our day at sunrise, it was about 2 PM when we made it to Badlands National Park. With it being summer, sunset wasn’t until 8:30 AM and we felt like this gave us an adequate amount of time to explore the park.
In half a day, we were able to drive the Badlands scenic loop and stopped at every overlook.
Don’t be like us and make sure you know that Badlands has an open hike policy meaning you can hike off-trail. Unfortunately, we didn’t know this when we went! Otherwise, we probably would have spent much longer at the park exploring.
We did two established trails, the Notch Trail (1.5 miles) and Window Trail (0.25 mile) We would consider both of these a must! They’re short trails where you can get up close to the rock formations. The Notch Trail has an extra fun feature: a fun ladder! Be sure you’re physically capable of attempting the ladder as it can be difficult for unexperienced hikers.
It’s tough picking a sunset spot as sunset would be beautiful from many of the overlooks, but we went with Pinnacles Overlook. We wanted to see with the most popular sunset spot in the park for ourselves!
Day 3
You can car camp across from Badlands National Park at Buffalo Gap Dispersed Camping or stay in Wall or Rapid City if you want to explore Badlands NP longer. If you’re on a time crunch like we were, you could drive back to Rapid City or even get the full 2 hour drive over with from Badlands to your next location, Wind Cave National Park.
Whether you spend the morning at Badlands NP or not, today you’ll be exploring another national park, Wind Cave National Park! We didn’t spend too much time here, but you can see a lot if you take a tour.
We did the Natural Entrance tour, a 1 hour 15 minute tour that takes you up close to the unique boxwork formations with a knowledgeable and interesting tour guide.
You can also book tours in person on a first come, first serve basis on the day of the tour. We showed up at 8 AM and were able to secure a spot on the 8:45 AM tour.
When exploring caves, always be cognizant of White-Nose Syndrome, a fungus that harms bats and can be transferred from cave to cave by humans. If you’ve been in another cave recently, be sure to wash your shoes thoroughly.
We hope this information will help you see some of the iconic sites in South Dakota on this short South Dakota road trip itinerary!
As always, please remember to leave no trace when exploring the outdoors.
