Tips And Tricks For A Family Vacation To The Black Hills And Badlands Of South Dakota

As you all know from my last post, our family had such an incredible time visiting the Black Hills and Badlands of South Dakota! After reminiscing over our trip, I put together some helpful tips that may help another family when they are planning their travels there.

1. First and foremost, pick a family friendly hotel that is a good central location to all of your destinations. We stayed at the Best Western Ramkota Hotel and had the best experience. It was the perfect location. Our favorite part about it (especially the kids’ favorite) was the indoor water park at the hotel. Every morning the second they got up they wanted to race down to get some swim time in and it was a perfect chance for us to plan out our day and drink our coffee while they had a blast!

2. Plan your days accordingly. If you only have a few days to try and see everything, it really helped us to look at a map and find all the attractions that were close by each other so we weren’t driving back and forth. You can check out my last blog post here for an exact itinerary of our trip! But to give you an example, Reptile Gardens, Bear Country USA and Dinosaur Park are all right near each other!

3. Don’t miss out on any of the wildlife! Between Bear Country USA and Custer State Park, there are so many animals to see and it was so exciting for the kids! Both of these spots are definitely attractions you don’t want to miss! The three-mile drive through Bear Country USA, you can look just outside your window and see black bear, elk, reindeer, deer, cougars, bobcats, rocky mountain goats, bighorn sheep, Dall sheep, pronghorn and buffalo!

4. Make sure to check out the National Parks and outdoor attractions. With so much history to discover, make sure to see some of their most popular attractions like Crazy Horse Memorial,(We heard the “Legends in Light” laser-light show projected on the mountain carving is incredible and we’ll definitely add that to our list for next time!), Mount Rushmore, Badlands National Park, and so many more.

5. Don’t forget to live in the moment, and go explore! There are so many beautiful places to walk around, hike, and explore new things. Between off-roading, hiking, camping, backpacking, kayaking, or just taking in all the scenic views, no matter what type of traveler you are, the Black Hills has something for everyone!