Location: Rapid City
Top Things to do in Rapid City
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The 10 Best Sights & Landmarks in Rapid City, South Dakota (SD)
Rapid City has long been considered one of the gateways to the West, and its rich cowboy and Native American heritage is the result. Visitors won't want to miss the area's mammoth outdoor sculptures. There's Mount Rushmore, of course, but work also continues on the nearby Crazy Horse Memorial, which will be the largest sculpture in the world when it is finally completed years down the line. Among the many local attractions are the scenic Black Hills, several nearby cavern systems that offer guided tours and the South Dakota Air and Space Museum.
Restaurants in Rapid City
1. Chapel in the Hills
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 625 reviews
Celebrating 50 years in 2019! Replica of the 850-year-old Borgund Church in Norway and has unique architecture and woodcarvings.
Reviewed By CharlesP1904
This place is really beautiful with wonderful wooden chapel structure inspired by the exact replica of Borgund Stavkirke of Laerdal, Norway. It has a prayer walkway. It has a gift shop for souvenirs and products from Norway. I really like the chocolate.
2. Fort Hays Old West Town and Dinner Show
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 896 reviews
**Closed for winter months. Our doors will re-open on Mothers Day 2019. See you then!** Start your day at Fort Hays Old West Town, site of the Oscar award winning movie set, Dances with Wolves. Walk along our boardwalk and make your own brick, tin plate, gem pan or make a twine lasso rope. There is no admission fee to browse the film set & South Dakota Film Museum. See the original buildings used in this popular Wild West movie. Enjoy All-You-Can-Eat Cowboy Pancakes for 99 cents! Find the perfect souvenior at one of our three unique Gift Shops. Dinner shows are held at Fort Hays mid May through mid October.
Reviewed By ju65dy - Redding, United States
Highly recommend this all day tour—what a bargain!! Fun & educational Fun chuckwagon dinner & music to finish off the day!
3. Downtown Rapid City
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 2,254 reviews
Escape for the weekend to Downtown Rapid City and experience numerous art galleries, fashionable boutiques, a variety of fine cuisine, the City of President statues and great entertainment from music to theatre and various events. Explore the fountains at Main Street Square, a place to make fun-filled memories for the whole family. With plenty of hotel rooms, over 70 shops and 33 restaurants, head Downtown, year round.
Reviewed By Celticladdie - Bellingham, United States
On a rather warm day in Rapid City we walked the length and breadth of the downtown the lifelike bronzes of the past presidents - it was a good walk and let us see a bit more of Rapid City than we would have other wise - we made a game out of it by trying to guess who that was across the street - as others have said shame it was not in order and I second that emotion!!
4. Dahl Arts Center
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 34 reviews
5. Berlin Wall Exhibit
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 166 reviews
Reviewed By karenESM - Exeter, United States
Be sure to visit this pretty part and a piece of history - and a wonderful display explaining the whole story of the Berlin Wall.
6. Rushmore Plaza Civic Center
7. Buffalo Gap National Grassland
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 23 reviews
Reviewed By 603sarae - Youngsville, United States
Gazing upon grazing buffalo, grass as far as one can see. Flat, hot in August, and wonderfully stark. Beautiful area.
8. Black Hills Caverns
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 167 reviews
Black Hills Caverns has been amazing its visitors in the Black Hills of South Dakota since 1939. Visitors have enjoyed the natural beauty of the Caverns and by the variety of different formations. The Caverns continue to be explored and new passages are found within the cave’s underground wilderness. Black Hills Caverns offers our Adventure Tour and our Crystal Tours daily from May thru September. We also offer the best Gemstone Panning experience in the Hills! Our Adventure Tour – This fun & educational underground guided tour of Black Hills Caverns showcases the amazing natural formations. Your Guide will take you on a beautiful journey of all three levels of the caverns, sharing local history, fun stories, some folklore, and caverns geology. Our Crystal Tour is the main level of Black Hills Caverns and is an easy walking tour with few stairs and is a moderate passed tour, for our visitors who want to experience the caves natural beauty on this 30 minute, shorter tour.
Reviewed By Jal4950
Our visit on the "Long Tour" at Black Hills Caverns was excellent. Our guide Cooper was very knowledgeable and did a fantastic job explaining all the rock formations and the history of the caverns to us. One needs to be in decent physical shape to do this tour as there are slippery inclines and declines to walk up and down and many stairs to climb on the long tour. We are senior citizens and my wife has osteoporosis. She was scared of slipping and/or falling but my holding her hands, walking slowly, reassured her and she did fantastic walking the tunnels and steps during our whole time here. The tunnels are very narrow at some points where you have to duck your head and enter very narrow areas so I don't believe you can carry small children on this tour if they cannot walk on their own. Also bring a light jacket or sweater with you as the temps drop to 50 degrees when you are in the caverns, quite a contrast to the 90 degree weather we had outside on that day. All in all we had a great time exploring the caverns with Cooper.
9. Cosmos Mystery Area
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 1,002 reviews
You'll wonder how it all works at this mysterious attraction where you can stand on the walls and balls roll uphill. The 40-minute tour will amaze and delight adults and children of all ages. Opening April 12th for the 2019 season
Reviewed By 965dedram - Chandler, United States
I came 20yrs ago as a kid but my husband had never been. We had a blast and loved our tour guide Kayla she was so fun!
10. Old MacDonald's Farm
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 180 reviews
Reviewed By taylorfamily2007
Of all the things we did in the Black Hills THIS was what my kids loved the most :P They baby goats you can hold were the most popular thing my kids went crazy over!!
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