48 Hours in Rapid City, South Dakota

Rapid City is located in the Black Hills of South Dakota and is a popular tourist destination because it’s the closest city to a lot of historical sites. It’s about 50 minutes away from Badlands National Park, but it also has iconic landmarks like Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse Memorial nearby. To be honest, there was nothing special about Rapid City itself, but we did visit a lot of amazing nature during our stay and thought it was a perfect stopping point on our road trip. We spent a few days here so we have all the tips on everything you can’t miss if you visit Rapid City!

How is Rapid City Handling Covid-19?

As we said in our Sioux Falls blog post, it seems like the entire state of South Dakota is not taking the pandemic very seriously. There is no mask mandate in the state which means that almost everyone is walking around without masks. Most shops & restaurant workers were wearing masks but pretty much anyone we passed on the street was not. We also just happened to be visiting during the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally which brought 300,000+ people to the Rapid City area during a pandemic. We made sure to avoid large crowds, wear our mask, sanitize, and stay away from anyone who we thought wasn’t being safe. If you are worried about getting sick, maybe avoid South Dakota for the time being.

Where to Stay in Rapid City

We stayed at an Airbnb during our stay and we thought it was affordable and in the perfect location! We feel the safest staying at Airbnbs during the pandemic (as long as we have the entire place to ourselves) because we don’t interact with anyone else! If you want to get a discount on your first Airbnb stay, you can use our code for up to $65 off!

Best Things to Do in Rapid City

Walk into the shops on Main St. in Downtown Rapid City
Learn about Native American history at the Journey Museum ($12 per person)
See some wild American Buffalo at Custer State Park ($20 per vehicle)
Snap some photos of the amazing street art in Art Alley (located on 7th St. in Downtown Rapid City)
Take a trip to explore Badlands National Park
Visit Crazy Horse Memorial ($12 per person, but the money goes directly to local Native American communities)
See the iconic Mount Rushmore, but make sure you know the real history first ($10 for parking)

Where to Eat & Drink

Harriet & Oak Cafe
Que Pasa Cantina
Tally’s Silver Spoon
Firehouse Brewing Co.
Kathmandu Bistro
Blaze Pizza

Rapid City/The Black Hills have a lot of history with the local Native American community. We touch on it as best we can in our YouTube video of Rapid City below, but if you plan on visiting we highly recommend doing your research on the local Lakota Sioux tribe. It’s very interesting and a huge part of American history that we were never taught in school!