Map view
Mount Rushmore and Presidential Trail Loop
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: June-Aug
Cost: $
- National memorial centered on a colossal sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills
- Sculptor Gutzon Borglum designed the sculpture, called Shrine of Democracy, and oversaw the project's execution from 1927 to 1941 with the help of his son
- The sculpture features the 60-foot-tall (18 m) heads of four United States presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln
- The four presidents were chosen to represent the nation's birth, growth, development and preservation
#4 in Best Landmarks in the USA
#12 in Best Landmarks in the World
#19 in Best Attractions in the USA
Badlands National Park
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: June-Aug
Cost: $
- National park that protects the landscape of sharply eroded buttes and pinnacles, along with the largest undisturbed mixed grass prairie in the United States
- The area around Stronghold Table was originally Sioux territory, and is revered as a ceremonial sacred site rather than a place to live
Adams House, Deadwood
Best time to visit: June-Aug
Cost: $
- 1892 Victorian mansion home of Deadwood pioneer W. E. Adams, with original furnishings and personal items on display
The Journey Museum and Learning Center, Rapid City
Best time to visit: June-Aug
Cost: $
- Museum in Rapid City featuring gardens, set up as a journey through the history of the Black Hills, starting with the Native American creation stories, moving into the 2.5 billion years of history in the rock record with the geology exhibit, paleontology, archaeology, Native American inhabitants, and concluding with the pioneers that traveled west
Cathedral of Saint Joseph, Sioux Falls
Best time to visit: June-Aug
Cost: $
- The Cathedral of St. Joseph traces its history to the establishment of St. Michael's Church, Sioux Falls' first Catholic parish
- It was founded in 1881 and a wooden building was constructed for a church
- Two years later a larger brick church was built
- The structure has been altered over the years, and a Kilgen pipe organ was installed in 1935
Crazy Horse Memorial
Best time to visit: June-Aug
Cost: $
- Mountain monument under construction on privately held land in the Black Hills
- It will depict the Oglala Lakota warrior Crazy Horse, riding a horse and pointing to his tribal land
- The memorial was commissioned by Henry Standing Bear, a Lakota elder, to be sculpted by Korczak Ziolkowski
- The monument has been in progress since 1948 and is far from completion
- If completed as designed, it will become the world's second tallest statue, after the Statue of Unity in India
D.C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery, Spearfish
Best time to visit: June-Aug
Cost: $
- One of 70 fish hatcheries that were opened by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, established near Spearfish, in 1896
- Its purpose is introducing and establishing populations of trout in the Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming
- It is one of the oldest fish hatcheries in the United States
- The hatchery spawns and releases about 20,000 to 30,000 rainbow trout each year
Rankin Ridge Interpretive Trail, Wind Cave National Park
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: June-Aug
Cost: $
- National park established in 1903 by President Theodore Roosevelt, it was the first cave to be designated a national park anywhere in the world
- The cave is notable for its calcite formations known as box work, as well as its frostwork
- Wind Cave is the third longest cave in the United States
- Above ground, the park includes the largest remaining natural mixed-grass prairie in the United States
Black Elk Peak Loop: South Dakota Highpoint, Custer State Park
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: June-Aug
Cost: $
- State Park and wildlife reserve in the Black Hills, and South Dakota's largest and first state park
- The park covers an area of rolling prairie grasslands and rugged mountains
- It is known for its scenery, and its scenic drives, with views of the bison herd and prairie dog towns
Roof Trail, Jewel Cave National Monument
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: June-Aug
Cost: $
- Currently the fifth longest cave in the world, located in Black Hills
- Frank and Albert Michaud, two local prospectors, discovered the cave in 1900, when they felt cold air blowing out of a small hole in a canyon
- It is unknown whether any previous inhabitants of the area were aware of the natural cave opening, which was not large enough for a person to enter
- Jewel Cave is a "breathing cave," which means air enters or exits the cave with changes in atmospheric pressure from day to night or due to changes in the weather
Wall Drug
Best time to visit: June-Aug
Cost: $
- Roadside attraction and tourist stop located in the town of Wall, adjacent to Badlands National Park
- Wall Drug consists of a collection of cowboy-themed stores, including a drug store, gift shop, several restaurants, as well as an art gallery and an 80-foot (24 m) brontosaurus sculpture
Corn Palace
Best time to visit: June-Aug
Cost: $
- Multi-purpose facility located in Mitchell, a Moorish Revival building decorated with crop art
- The murals and designs covering the building are made from corn and other grains, and a new design is constructed each year
- Each year, the Corn Palace is celebrated with a citywide festival, the Corn Palace Festival
Black Elk Peak and Little Devil's Tower Loop, Black Hills National Forest
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: June-Aug
Cost: $
- Predominantly ponderosa pine, Black Hills National Forest also includes hard woods like aspen, bur oak, and birch
- The lower elevations include grassland prairie, but lands encompass most of the mountainous region known as the Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming
- Within the forest is Black Elk Peak which is the tallest mountain in South Dakota