South Dakota

Find South Dakota travel tips, stories, maps, videos and news for unusual tourist attractions and sights.

New Reports

Cowboy Rides a Giant Walleye
Mobridge, South Dakota
Sculpture made of farm machinery junk depicts a life-size cowboy riding a bucking giant Walleye fish, like some novelty postcard.
Statue of the Superfast Cyclist
Sturgis, South Dakota
"Smokin' Joe" Petrali on an experimental Harley-Davidson "Streamliner." Depicts him breaking the motorcycle land speed record in 1937.

Sights for Oddball Excursions

1880 Cowboy Town
Buffalo Ridge, South Dakota
Animated characters creak to life to tell their stories of the Wild West.
Chief Crazy Horse Memorial
Crazy Horse, South Dakota
Bigger than Mount Rushmore. And more than a head.
Petrified Wood Park
Lemmon, South Dakota
Forest of frozen fossils -- hundreds of spires, buildings and piles made from petrified wood in the 1930s.
Porter Sculpture Park
Montrose, South Dakota
Features a 60-foot-tall, 25-ton sculpture of a bull's head -- and its creator may be lurking inside.
Pioneer Auto Show
Murdo, South Dakota
Sprawling vehicle collection includes an Elvis motorcycle, "General Lee" from the Dukes of Hazzard, and a car made of wood.
Reptile Gardens
Rapid City, South Dakota
A popular Black Hills reptile ranch and classic tourist attraction, with performing chickens in boxes and the largest collection of reptiles on Earth, including a giant crocodile named Maniac.
Dinosaur Park
Rapid City, South Dakota
Free park of concrete dinosaurs standing on a hill above Rapid City.
Cosmos Mystery Area
Rapid City, South Dakota
Two identical shacks distorted by the forces of gravity and crowd flow.
America's Founding Fathers Exhibit
Rapid City, South Dakota
Famous Declaration of Independence painting rendered as 47 3D sculptures. After learning all about the Founding Fathers, head to the musket range to shoot at Redcoat targets.
Concrete Outline of USS South Dakota
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
The most decorated battleship of World War II is an outline on a lawn dotted with salvaged parts.
Wall Drug Store
Wall, South Dakota
This mega-tourist trap has been a vacation stop for generations of thirsty travelers -- it's much more than a drug store.
Center of the Nation Monument
Belle Fourche, South Dakota
Belle Fourche is the Geographic Center of the U.S. A big "stand on the Center" monument proves it.
Six-Ton Prairie Dog
Cactus Flat, South Dakota
Twelve feet of paint-chipped, weather-worn, prairie-dog-resembling cement glory, next to a prairie dog town and the Ranch Store gift shop.
Death Chair of Wild Bill Hickok
Deadwood, South Dakota
Deadwood has become fashionable again, but Wild Bill Hickok's Death Chair has been drawing visitors since 1876.
Devil's Gulch: Jesse James Jumped Here
Garretson, South Dakota
Legendary leap for a legendary law breaker.
Badlands Petrified Gardens
Kadoka, South Dakota
The timeless romance of piles of petrified wood, with an assist from screaming billboards, lures travelers off I-90 to this attraction.
National Presidential Wax Museum
Keystone, South Dakota
Every American President, displayed in one museum. From Washington to Obama, they're all waxen here.
Hugh Glass Bear Battle and Dinosaur Cowboy
Lemmon, South Dakota
Dramatic scrap iron sculptures by local artist John Lopez of a cowboy riding a dinosaur and frontiersman Hugh Glass fighting a bear.
Corn Palace
Mitchell, South Dakota
With its mad mix of onion domes and minarets, this corn-plastered edifice looks like it was drop-kicked out of czarist Russia. Undergoing reconstruction: travelers in Summer 2015 be forewarned.
Muffler Man With Beer Mug
Vale, South Dakota
With a deep tan and crazy eyes, this fiberglass titan hoists a mug of suds and a fat cigar outside a biker bar and campground.