Stavkirke Chapel in the Hills Chapel Valley, Rapid City, SD 57702, 605-342-8281, This replica of an eight hundred fifty year old church in Norway features unique architecture and intricate carvings that create a world in which pagan Norse and Christian symbols are integrated to form a setting like no other, save for the original church in Norway.  

Mount Rushmore National Memorial 25 miles southwest of Rapid City, Highway 16A, Recognized the world round, this monumental achievement recognizes the history of the United States through its portrayal of Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt carved into the solid granite of the mountainside.  more... 

Children's Science Center 515 West Boulevard, Rapid City, SD 57702, 605-394-6996, This museum offers a variety of exhibits and activities to introduce children to the many areas of interest within the realm of science.  

Dahl Fine Arts Center 713 Seventh Street, Rapid City, SD 57701, 605-394-4101, Among the art on display at this fine arts center is a one-hundred-eighty-foot canvas with an oil painting panorama that spans two hundred years of American history; in addition there are other galleries on the site that exhibit and sell the contemporary works of artists from the area and elsewhere.  more... 

Journey Museum 222 New York Street, Rapid City, SD 57701, 605-394-6923, This unique museum combines exhibits from the Museum of Geology, the State Archaeological Research Museum, The Sioux Indian Museum, the Minnilusa Pioneer Museum, and the Duhamel Plains Indian Artifacts Museum, to provide a truly educational and enlightening journey of exceptional breadth, depth and variety.  more... 

Museum of Geology 501 East Saint Joseph Street, Rapid City, SD 57701, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, 605-394-2467, 800-544-8162, This museum explores the diverse and rich geology of the area through exhibitions that include minerals, rocks, gems, and fossils that include dinosaurs such as the Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus and Edmontosaurus; among the many other features is a Paleo-zoo that features exhibits of now extinct natives of the area, including saber-toothed cats, three-toed horses, turtles, rhinoceroses, giant pigs, camels, alligators, bird eggs, and more; there is also an extensive collection and exhibit of a great variety of minerals.  more... 

Prairie Edge Trading Company and Galleries 6th & Main; P.O. Box 8303, Rapid City, SD 57701, Located in Historic Downtown, 605-342-3086, 800-541-2388, Prairie Edge features an amazing collection of authentic Plains Indian art, crafts, and cultural artifacts from tribes including the Lakota, Crow, Cheyenne, Shoshoni, Arapaho, and Assiniboine. The artists represented use many of the same materials, including furs, feathers, shells, teeth, claws, and buffalo parts, and techniques used by the aforementioned to handcraft beautiful pieces of art. The Trading Company offers glassware, pottery, Pendleton blankets, star quilts, jewelry, clothing, fountains, and candles.  more... 

South Dakota Air and Space Museum 2890 Davis Drive, Rapid City, SD 57719, Ellsworth Air Force Base, 605-385-5188, This museum features displays of historic bombers, fighter planes, and more.  more... 

Badlands National Park 25216 Ben Reifel Road, Rapid City, SD 57750, Located 67 Miles East-Southeast in Interior, 605-433-5361, More than 800 bison graze in the Badlands National Park, which is made up of "244,000 acres of sharply eroded buttes, pinnacles and spires blended with the largest, protected mixed grass prairie in the United States." It also contains the world's richest Oligocene epoch fossil beds, 23 to 35 million years old. Be sure to check out the Ben Reifel Visitor Center. Visitors can enjoy hiking, biking, horse trails, camping, and the Cedar Pass Lodge while visiting. more... 

Black Hills Caverns 2600 Cavern Road, Rapid City, SD 57702, Four miles west of Rapid City on Highway 44, 605-343-0542, This natural cavern features stalactites, stalagmites, and a great variety of cave formations, with two different tours and gemstone panning being offered, as well as other attractions on the site.  more... 

Cosmos of the Black Hills 4021 West Chicago, Rapid City, SD 57702, 16 miles south of Rapid City on Highway 16, 605-343-9802, This location offers a chance to step through the looking glass into a world where the very laws of nature and physics seem to have been forgotten or subverted, offering a “topsy-turvy” world that defies logic, and in which nothing, including the observer, seems to be in its “normal position.”  more... 

Crystal Cave Park 7770 Cave Road, Rapid City, SD 57702, 605-342-8008, This beautiful cavern offers one of the least strenuous tours of its type in the area that is nonetheless enrapturing and long on natural beauty and wonder, with a forty five minute “subterranean adventure” being offered.  

Sitting Bull Crystal Caverns 13745 South Highway 16, Rapid City, SD 57701, Nine Miles South of Rapid City, on Highway 16, 605-342-2777, This site features tours of the world's largest collection of subterranean dog-tooth crystal, with special sites such as the Chandelier Room, the Crystal Palace, the Rainbow Arch, and the Diamond Lake that features clear, still water reflecting a grandiose crystal ceiling.  more...

Bear Country U.S.A. 13820 South Highway 16, Rapid City, SD 57701, Rapid City, 605-343-2290, This family owned, and operated drive-through wildlife park was established in 1972, and offers a three-mile drive on which one may view the world's largest private collection of North American Black Bear, as well as encountering wolves, mountain lions, elk, buffalo, deer, bighorn sheep, Rocky Mountain goats, and many other animals; the Wildlife Center features a variety of younger and smaller animals.  more... 

Reptile Gardens 8955 South Highway 16, Rapid City, SD 57709, Six miles south of Rapid City, 605-342-5873, There are four shows per day, providing entertainment as well as education, at this reptile center that boasts the world?s largest collection of reptiles.  more...

Storybook Island 1301 Sheridan Lake Road, Rapid City, SD 57702, 605-342-6357, This fairytale land features live animals, depictions of scenes from one hundred twenty eight fairytales, special events, food concessions, and more.  more...