South Dakota vacation rentals

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Popular amenities for South Dakota vacation rentals

Home rentals in South Dakota

Guest favorite
Home in Sturgis
Entire Home in the Black Hills
Apr 17 – 24
$113 per night
4.95 out of 5 average rating, 121 reviews
Guest favorite
Home in Wall
Cozy Warm Stay. Near Badlands NP. Pets Welcome!
Jan 24 – 31
$115 per night
4.92 out of 5 average rating, 178 reviews
Guest favorite
Home in Hill City
Cabin - 20 acres w/ horses, goats & mini donkey
Dec 21 – 28
$275 per night
4.99 out of 5 average rating, 173 reviews
Guest favorite
Home in Lead
The Hills Hide-a-While ~ Minutes from Deadwood
Sep 20 – 27
$130 per night
4.9 out of 5 average rating, 142 reviews
Guest favorite
Home in Rapid City
Top of the Hill in Harmony Heights
Apr 28 – May 5
$94 per night
4.91 out of 5 average rating, 110 reviews
Guest favorite
Home in Kadoka
Farmhouse charm In a small town setting
Jan 6 – 13
$107 per night
4.88 out of 5 average rating, 278 reviews
Guest favorite
Home in Piedmont
Retreat in a Beautiful Canyon
Sep 22 – 29
$113 per night
4.94 out of 5 average rating, 178 reviews
Guest favorite
Home in Lead
The Miner's Getaway in Lead, SD
Jul 23 – 30
$143 per night
4.94 out of 5 average rating, 214 reviews

Other great vacation rentals in South Dakota

Superhost
Apartment in Custer
Custer Central Apartment
Oct 11 – 18
$97 per night
4.79 out of 5 average rating, 198 reviews
Guest favorite
Cabin in Spearfish
Charming 1890's Log Cabin 2
Apr 17 – 24
$86 per night
4.82 out of 5 average rating, 486 reviews
Guest favorite
Guest suite in Rapid City
Private and peaceful. Hot tub and scenic views.
Jul 12 – 19
$274 per night
4.99 out of 5 average rating, 153 reviews
Guest favorite
Loft in Custer
Downtown Loft
Jan 8 – 15
$80 per night
4.95 out of 5 average rating, 110 reviews
Guest favorite
Chalet in Lead
Tucked Away Chalet minutes to Deadwood and Skiing
May 2 – 9
$92 per night
4.93 out of 5 average rating, 128 reviews
Guest favorite
Cabin in Rapid City
Cozy Cabin Black Hills
Dec 30 – Jan 6
$135 per night
4.97 out of 5 average rating, 197 reviews
Guest favorite
Tiny home in Wasta
The tiny house of Wasta with lots of character
Jan 26 – Feb 2
$89 per night
4.87 out of 5 average rating, 218 reviews
Guest favorite
Cabin in Spearfish
Secluded Cabin - Coyote Ridge Lodge
Jan 31 – Feb 7
$149 per night
4.97 out of 5 average rating, 322 reviews

Your guide to South Dakota

Welcome to South Dakota

The landscape shocks and awes in Mount Rushmore State, nicknamed for one of the country’s most iconic monuments. Bighorn sheep inch among brightly banded rock pinnacles in Badlands National Park. Some 70 miles west sprawls Custer State Park, offering twisty drives, cool mountain lakes, and some of the best wildlife viewing on the continent. Long to experience the prairie? Turn to Wind Cave National Park, one of America’s oldest preserves. Bison and elk roam the ancient grasslands blanketing one of the most complex cavern systems in the world.


The best time to stay in a vacation rental in South Dakota

Heat-seekers should aim to book one of the state’s cabins during summer, when daytime highs reach 80 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit, with night temperatures dropping abruptly to the 50s and 60s. Fall gets chillier before the severely cold winter conditions set in. Think substantial snow and average lows of 10 degrees Fahrenheit. Brrr! For shoulder-season deals and sparser crowds, opt for fall over spring, which serves up more thunderstorms. However, February does bring the quirky Nemo 500 Outhouse Race, where fundraising contestants rally in human-powered shacks with at least one seat hole.

Late June kicks off with the FinnFest in Frederick, celebrating Nordic traditions including a wife-carrying championship in which the prize is the rider’s weight in beer! Also notable: the Fourth of July celebrations at patriotic Mount Rushmore, the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in August, and September’s Buffalo Roundup (part of the state park’s herd management). For Indigenous history and culture, there’s October’s three-day He Sapa Wacipi Na Oskate (Black Hills Pow Wow), which includes grass dancing.


Top things to do in South Dakota

Badlands National Park

Around 75 million years ago, a shallow inland sea covered what is now Badlands National Park. After this salty basin drained into the Arctic Ocean, erosion helped sculpt the terrain into an otherworldly riot of pinnacles, buttes, and gorges. One of the world’s richest fossil beds remains, capturing traces of the ancient horses, rhinos, and catlike animals with saber teeth who once roamed the grasslands. Today visitors are more likely to spot bison, bighorn sheep, and black-footed ferrets. If you need a little extra animal excitement, stop just outside the park. A 12-foot-tall concrete prairie dog looms there, near an enclosure with a colony of its live cousins.

Skeleton Man Walking Skeleton Dinosaur

The family behind 1880 Town inexplicably built this landmark nearby. A human figure leads his bony T-Rex buddy on a leash: a sight best viewed (carefully) from the roadside. Stretch your legs in earnest 16 miles east at Okaton, a prairie ghost town originally settled by railroad workers. Today you’ll see ramshackle houses, rickety fences, and rusting farm equipment, alongside traces of a failed attempt to monetize the haunting, picturesque spot.

Wall Drug

Eight miles north of Badlands National Park stands a humble 1931 pharmacy that transformed modern tourism. The Hustead family erected signs offering free ice water to drivers on Route 16. Soon their kitschy hand-painted billboards marched across the prairie and even further afield, cropping up in London, Morocco, and even Easter Island. Stop in to see the jackalopes and giant dinosaurs.

Destinations to explore