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South Dakota Tourist AttractionsGuide to roadside oddities and other weird, strange and unusual travel attractions in South Dakota.
Many of the old South Dakota tourist attractions have survived through time.
Mt. Rushmore? It’s still there. The Corn Palace? Ditto. Dinosaur Park? Yep... And of course the old South Dakota tourist attractions that are caves are still there!
Tour this roadside attraction just like the 1930s travelers of the South Dakota Black Hills! You enter and leave the cave through the historic entrance. You view the cave from an unpaved trail. And..AND..the only light is from the lanterns everybody carries…
Photo courtesy nonlocality.com.
Now how cool is that???!!! The tour guides even wear historic uniforms. And there’s steep steep STEEP wooden steps. This is THE way to tour Jewel Cave. For sure! Well, or maybe the spelunking tour. That’s cool too. Headlamps on your hardhat, you’re ready for the adventure of experiencing Jewel Cave in its natural state. Climb, crawl, scramble your way through 2/3 of a mile for 3-4 hours. It’s strenuous! Plus…There’s a few musts…Like an extra set of clothes—you’ll pretty much ruin the ones you wear on the tour of this South Dakota tourist attraction! Scared yet? Here’s their website for more Spelunking Tour info. The main Visitor Center and cave entrance for Jewel Cave National Monument is 13 miles west of Custer, South Dakota on Rt. 16. Phone: (605) 673-2288
Here’s another offbeat tour of a cave in the Black Hills of South Dakaota! At Wind Cave National Park, the tour to take is the old-fashioned candlelight tour. See this South Dakota tourist attraction how the early explorers saw it!
You go through the less developed and unlighted part of the cave. The only light is from the candle buckets everyone carries. They’re like a coffee can on its side, with a candle stuck through the bottom and a baling wire handle. Here’s a great map of the cave tours. Wind Cave National Park is located 6 miles north of Hot Springs, SD. The Visitor Center is 11 miles north of Hot Springs on U.S. Route 385. For reservations for the candlelight tour phone: (605) 745-4600
Well, it probably wasn’t intended for that distinction. That just kind of evolved. When a building is covered with around 275,000 ears of corn, I guess it’s inevitable the birds are gonna find it eventually!
It’s a concrete building and the exterior panels are decorated with corn. Each year the theme for the murals is different.
And like a lot of weird tourist attractions, the Corn Palace has…
There’s one in the main hall and one in the gift shop near the stage.
Mitchell’s Corn Palace is at 604 Main, Mitchell, South Dakota. (See? Even their phone number reflects how much Mitchell is into being the Corn Capital of the World!)
When people began flocking to Mt. Rushmore even before the sculpture of the four presidents was finished, Rapid City decided they needed something to draw in the tourists, too.
Life-size concrete dinosaurs were built on a prominent hill above town. If you get lost in this South Dakota town, just look for the big dinosaur on the hill! These roadside oddities, built in the 1930s, are green with white underbellies and red mouths. Clambering on them is encouraged. Climb on them, ride them into prehistoric times, get your picture taken sitting on the tail of the apatosaurus.
Photo courtesy agilitynut.com.
And here’s an added plus - in true tacky tourist trap souvenir style - smashed pennies!!! There’s a smashed penny machine just inside the door of the gift shop. It spits out smashed pennies with…are you ready for this?…dinosaurs on them.
Dinosaur Park is at 940 Skyline Drive, Rapid City, South Dakota.
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The Corn Palace isn’t really made out of corn.
