Best location to stay while site seeing

Good Day all. My Husband and I are planning a 5 day trip end of Sept or early Oct. We plan on flying into Rapid City (unless there is another suggestion). We are retired. We plan on renting a car and we want to see Devils Tower, Spearfish Canyon Byway, Wind and Jewels Caves, Badands , Crazy Horse and anything else that can. We love to drive so distance is not a problem. But we would like to know what city is would be the most central to our plans. We are from Texas so if you could let us know what would be the best car to rent...if you have ever seen Texans drive in a little snow you would know why! Thanks!

Best location to stay while site seeing

We stayed in Hill City (Comfort Inn or Holiday Inn recommended). It%26#39;s very central. Has nice shops and the most popular, Alpine Inn (great steak dinner).

Best location to stay while site seeing

Flying into Rapid City is best.

I assume you plan to include Mount Rushmore and Custer State Park. If you%26#39;re looking to stay in one location, Hill City is a good choice. You could stay a night or two in the northern Black Hills in Deadwood or Spearfish/Spearfish Canyon. This would make for a little less driving but might not be worth the effort of packing and unpacking in the middle of your visit.

You should be fine with a regular rental car in late Sept./early Oct. There certainly could be snow--especially in the higher elevations and northern Black Hills--but it will be early enough it won%26#39;t be a big problem.

Wow this is great information....I guess we better shake out our coats before we come! And yes Mt.Rushmore is on the list! I just hope we have time for it all! Thanks ya%26#39;ll...

Hi,

As others have said, flying into Rapid is a great plan. I think with 5 days, you will be able to see the highlights, but you will definitely be busy. The nice thing about the area is that attractions are close together, allowing you to see more in a shorter period of time.

As Accomodator said, you can consider staying in the northern Black Hills (Deadwood, Lead, or Spearfish)for a night to cut down on drive time getting out to Devil%26#39;s Tower, but with only 5 days, I don%26#39;t know if I would do that either. Bank on daytrips to see the Badlands and Devil%26#39;s Tower/Deadwood/Spearfish Canyon. This will put you down to 3 days. Hopefully they are full days and not partial travel days.

Your cave tours run around 2 hours each, and Crazy Horse can easily take a morning if you are interested in native American history. Rushmore will also take at least a morning. Walking around the Presidential Trail is awesome!

Is Custer State Park on your list? It really is worth exploring. The Wildlife Loop, Iron Mountain Road, Needles Hwy, and Sylvan Lake are beautiful areas. You can spend at least a day checking out Custer alone.

If time runs short, some people just do drive-bys of Crazy Horse. Although I would not recommend this, I guess if you had to cut something, you could at least see it from the road.

As far as places to stay, Hill City, Keystone and Custer are best. I will give my vote for Keystone. Lots of people don%26#39;t like Keystone because of its touristy feel. We didn%26#39;t mind. We really didn%26#39;t spend enough time there to feel it. We were just too busy!! Hill City is very nice also and has a shopping area that is much less ';tacky'; than Keystone. Keystone reminds me more of a beach/boardwalk feel with loads of t-shirt shops.

Enjoy your trip to this beautiful area and be sure to ask if you have additional questions.

THANK YOU SLRTRAVELPANNER!

That was great information that I will take with me!

Looking for the BEST resort in S.Dakota; at least a 4 star. Are there any? Thanks

I agree with both posts concerning Custer State Park %26amp; Mt. Rushmore. We loved both sites! Have a great trip.