Mount Rushmore hotel recs?

[wendow]

Has anyone gone fairly recently and could recommend a good but inexpensive hotel? We are going with my aunt and uncle and they will take 2 of my dc in their room. So, we are just looking at two basic hotel rooms. Also, we are going over Memorial Day weekend. Does anyone have any thoughts on that timing?

TIA!

 

[disneypharm]

Has anyone gone fairly recently and could recommend a good but inexpensive hotel? We are going with my aunt and uncle and they will take 2 of my dc in their room. So, we are just looking at two basic hotel rooms. Also, we are going over Memorial Day weekend. Does anyone have any thoughts on that timing?

TIA!

We stayed at La Quinta Inn & Suites, Rapid City in 2010.
http://www.lq.com/lq/properties/propertyProfile.do?propId=884
It had a good breakfast and an amazing water park. I think we had to get a ticket to enter the water park, but it was great to have when the kids were tired of touring the sites.

 

[wendow]

Thanks so much! The hotel looks great. Do you remember about what the waterpark tickets cost? I didn't see that on their website.

 

[MrsPete]

If you're going to Mt. Rushmore, you do not want to stay in a hotel. Look into Custer State Park, which is very near Mt. Rushmore. It's an incredible state park known for its wildlife, especially the buffalo. They rent all sorts of cabins, which have much more charm than the Holiday Inn and other hotels in the nearby town. They have a lake, water sports, horseback riding, and other activities. I think they have a chuckwagon dinner, but I might be confusing that with Yellowstone.

While you're there, consider taking the Buffalo Safari. We absolutely loved it. The guide took us all over the park in his jeep, including some places not accessible to regular tourists. He showed us so much wildlife and taught us all sorts of interesting things about the buffalo and how they manage them there in the park. He also put a healthy fear of these huge creatures into us, telling us stories about how foolish tourists get themselves killed every year -- often trying to pose near these wild animals. The Safari was one of the highlights of our 3-week Western Parks trip.

In this general vicinity, you can also visit two national caves: We visited Wind Tunnel, and I think the other is Jewel Cave. Definitely worth a trip. Very cool experience.

The downside of this area is the food. Few choices, lackluster quality. There is a Piggly Wiggly in town.

 

[arthur06]

We rented a camping cabin at KOA in Hill City. It was wonderful.

We wanted a more authentic experience than a hotel room. There are many cabins that will have all the amenities as well.

We did Bear Country, Rushmore, Sceinic Train, toured a Cave, it was a wonderful time.

 

[hercamore]

I agree with Mrs. Pete's comments.

Rushmore is 40 minutes from Rapid City.

Stay in Custer. Plus you are going over a very busy and expensive time period, fyi.


herc

 

[wendow]

I appreciate all this info! I'm going to look into all these options.

I am realizing this is an expensive time to go. It frustrates me b/c we can go anytime but we have family flying here to Colorado from Texas to go with us and they need to use holidays for their trips.

 

[disneypharm]

Thanks so much! The hotel looks great. Do you remember about what the waterpark tickets cost? I didn't see that on their website.

I think it was about $9 or $10 per person, but it could be different now. I agree with other posts that if you can get closer to Mt Rushmore you should do it, however, this was a last minute short trip for us. We decided to take the vacation 2 weeks before leaving. I didn't want a cabin at that time. I remember it took about 25 minutes to get to Mt Rushmore, however, other sites were much closer.

 

[StephMK]

We are about 8 hours from Mt. Rushmore and went Memorial Day weekend in 2009. It was COLD. Great trip but bring jackets & long pants. We saw the Corn Palace on the way there, worth a short stop if you go through that area.

We tried to see the Crazy Horse Monument & night laser show but it was too foggy to see. We still enjoyed the displays, DH especially because he had taken a Native American class a few years earlier. We went to Mt. Rushmore the next day and caught a quick view before it was completely covered by fog for the rest of the day. I think we stayed in Hill City at a Holiday Inn or Comfort Inn? It was fine and the people were nice.

We also drove through Badlands and stopped by Wall Drug. It was a busy weekend but lots of fun, despite the weather. Badlands was the hands down favorite!

I don't know the ages of your kids but mine were 7 & 9 and enjoyed the Jr. Ranger program at both sites. It made us learn more than we would have on our own & they still have the badges they were given.

Have a great trip!!

 

[Njord]

We didn't go to Rapid City just to stop at Mount Rushmore (were on a cross country move), but we stayed at the Grand Gateway Hotel and it was very nice. Maybe I am biased because we went deep in the off season (late March) and it was only $31 a night. I don't really remember Mount Rushmore being all that far away. I think the drive was so interesting on the way there, we didn't really notice the time.

 

[BlueBeagle]

Check out Palmer Gulch. It's very centrally located in the hills and offers a hotel, cabins or RV hook-ups. They also have a lot of activities you can do plus heated pools.

Just a little side note (and I'm aging myself drastically) Piggly Wiggly has been closed in Rapid City for more than 20 years.

 

[VillianDiva]

If you're going to Mt. Rushmore, you do not want to stay in a hotel. Look into Custer State Park, which is very near Mt. Rushmore. It's an incredible state park known for its wildlife, especially the buffalo. They rent all sorts of cabins, which have much more charm than the Holiday Inn and other hotels in the nearby town. They have a lake, water sports, horseback riding, and other activities. I think they have a chuckwagon dinner, but I might be confusing that with Yellowstone.

The downside of this area is the food. Few choices, lackluster quality. There is a Piggly Wiggly in town.

I agree with everything this poster said! We loved staying in Custer State Park. It is beautiful!

 

[Soupermom]

We stayed at the Powder House (cabins) and LOVED IT! We had friends stay another time and they loved it too. It's in Keystone.

 

[wendow]

Thank you all again! Really appreciate all these great recs. We are trying to move things around so we can go during the week after Memorial Day to avoid the crowds and high prices. If we have to go over that weekend, we are in trouble cause almost everything is booked solid and what is available is like Disney deluxe pricing So, really hoping we can shift things around!!

 

[Meekogsd]

our summer rates start Memorial day wknd and go thru Labor Day. If your schedule works out to hit Mr Rushmore, go in the evening. The lighting of the faces is awesome! Hill City has Prairie Berry winery