Planning 2 Go

I can find what to see, where to stay, but cannot find experiences so...help us out. Looking at the Days Inn, since we will be there a week, and will have travelled 2000 miles by van, we want ROOM to spread out, a nice pool, but clean rooms. I need to hear (or read) about good and bad experiences. Thank you in advance.

alina

What to avoid?
It's rural town of about 58,000.
It's a typical midwestern town of this size.
Nothing fancy, and the Days Inn is pretty basic.
I'd personally be bored stiff there after 48 hours, but it depends on what your needs are.
(Hopefully you're not travelling all that way just to get to RC. That would be nuts).

Planning 2 Go

Thanx Alina. Yes we are driving that far just to go to RC, we are going to see Mt.Rushmore, Badlands NP, Crazy Horse. We are driving over to Devil's Tower in WY. We are scheduled to go to a chuck wagon dinner, and an Indian Powwow. We live in a town of about 60K people in the south so any change is a treat.

Teresa

We live in Nebraska and get up to the Black Hills about once a summer so hopefully I can help. What is your per-night motel budget? I can recommend hotels--hopefully some better than the Days Inn. Since you'll be in the area a week I would definitely suggest splitting the time between Rapid City and the hills--maybe stay a couple of nights in Deadwood (there's a nice Holiday Inn Express there). Mt. Rushmore is great--the evening program is especially good. Take a day and drive through Custer State Park--throw your swimsuits in and you can swim at the lake by Sylvan Lake Lodge--there's even paddleboating. Panning for gold is fun for kids--lots of places to do that in the Hills. If you like miniature golf, there's a particularly nice one in Rapid--our kids love it. I'll think about some other things our family enjoys about the Black Hills and write later. I don't agree with Alina about being nuts if you stay there more than 2 days--we always leave the area wishing we had more time to stay. I will say that Rapid itself isn't that great but it's a good 'base camp.'

Planning2GO

Teresa

Thanx for the info we are going to use Rapid city as our base camp. We are looking for a ground level motel with outside entry and two adjoining rooms it will be hubby and me and 2 teenage boys. The boys get one room we the other bugdet then is about $100 per room per night. We plan to see Crazy horse, Mt Rushmore, Badlands NP, Black Hills and what we can other wise. We ar also travelling to Devils tower and Custer. We will make a huge loop from Texas to montana to Minnesota down to Missouri and then home, 21 days total by van. This is our chosen way to travel and we enjoy it but want to spread out when we stop!!. Thanks.

sfunky67

Just a note about accomodations...we are going to RC in June as well. It will be our fist visit, but thought you'd like to know that we have a suite at the Country Inn and Suites there. The rate is 128.70 per night...a little more than you've budgeted for, but I think definitley worth it! It is a 1 BR suite with a pull out sofa bed in the living room area. Hope this helps! Also, this property has two hot tubs and a nice indoor pool with a 100 foot waterslide.