The town of Custer, South Dakota is located in the Black Hills region near Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Visitors to the area will find many things to do and places to explore, including hiking trails, scenic drives, and world-famous attractions. Custer is also home to many opportunities for family adventures like fishing and hiking at Sylvan Lake.
Custer is one of the small towns in South Dakota that everyone should travel to and explore. It is surrounded by the Black Hills National Forest, which has many great attractions.
The main things to do in Custer include:
- See the world renowned Mount Rushmore National Park
- check out the Crazy Horse Monument
- show your outdoors man style at Custer State Park
- take an early morning or late afternoon drive on the Wildlife Loop Road
- enjoy a tour of Jewel Cave National Monument
- go for a drive on the Needles Highway to Sylvan Lake
- make contact with your inner cowboy at Four Mile Old West Town
What other people thought was the best place to see in Custer
Must do
Visiting Custer State Park is one of the must-do adventures in Custer. It has been named among the best wildlife destinations in the world due to its wide range of wildlife. The park is located on a seventy-one thousand-acre piece of land in South Dakota. Granite peaks, rolling plains, and wide ranges in this park attract a lot of people.
This park is full of activities, including biking, boating activities, camping, fishing, wildlife viewing, and hiking. The Custer State Park is best known for campgrounds, historic sites, scenic drives, man-made fishing lakes, and bison herds. Once you travel to Custer, you will have an enjoyable experience watching the wildlife during the game drives. Other impressive features in the park include mountain streams, the Harney Peak, and Sylvan Lake.
What I Like Best About Custer
The Buffalo Safari Jeep Tour is one of my best adventures in Custer. The tour offers you a great chance to explore some rare Buffalo species, such as the noble buffalo, elk, and pronghorns. You will also be offered a guide who will give you insights concerning the buffaloes. The Jeep Safari is one of the activities that must feature in your bucket list. You will certainly not regret this investment. Ensure that you follow all the instructions given by the guide for you to spot the buffaloes easily.
Best Walk in Custer
George S. Mickelson Trail makes a great walk. Hikers, bikers, and horseback riders can tour the Ponderosa pine forest and spruce. This experience is for all age groups, including babies. The trail offers you a great chance to see the beauty of the Black Hills. George S trail was opened in the month of September 1998. The path has gentle slopes making it accessible by any person of any kind and age. Some parts of the trail traverse through the private property while other parts go through the National Forest Land. It is one hundred and nine miles long and has hundreds of railroad bridges and four rock tunnels.
Best Restaurants in Custer
Pizza Works is one of the best restaurants in Custer. When you visit Custer, you should enjoy a bite of pizza. This restaurant offers its customers great pizza that has well-cut edges. They have a unique recipe for making small quantities of dough and use freshly collected ingredients. The restaurant has great experience since they have been making pizza for several years. After the customers place an order, the hand-crafted pizza is prepared right in front of them. Pizza Works restaurant prepare their sauce and use it along with their own Wisconsin cheese. The pizza recipe includes a variety of toppings, including vegetables, meats, and fresh cheese. They later bake it in a stone oven.
Best Places to Stay in Custer
I have added a few of the most popular places to stay in Custer. For more details and customer reviews please hit the links and you will be taken to TripAdvisor.
- Rocket Motel is an 1950’s Motel, the rooms and showers are a tad smaller, but the charm is enormous!! We look forward to serving all vacation needs.
- Super 8 by Wyndham Custer/Crazy Horse Area is your basecamp in the Black Hills. We share your passions and the soundtrack of your travel. And, when you’re here you can depend on us to leave you refueled for the day ahead because, in Custer, you’re literally minutes from every must-see and at the Super 8 Custer, your centrally-located to restaurants.
- Mount Rushmore Resort & Lodge has the adventure and relaxation of the outdoors with the convenience of resort style accommodations:∙ 62 lodge rooms∙ 20 full-service private cabins∙ 10 row cabin duplex rooms∙ 6 executive lodges∙ 3 meeting facilities. We also offer fine dining, shopping, and family friendly itineraries!
Best Festivals in Custer
The Buffalo Roundup and Arts Festival is a major festival in Custer. It is held annually in the third week of September from nine-thirty in the morning. You will enjoy the sight of cowgirls and cowboys as they drive a large herd of buffaloes. This festival is aimed at obtaining a healthy herd and also to entertain the guests. Ensure that you remain at the viewing site until the herd is in the corrals for safety purposes. You will be offered both breakfast and lunch.
Night Life in Custer
Custer town is one of the best places to have a fantastic night out. The Custer Beacon is a bar and restaurant that offers a spacious gathering hall, a concert and sporting venue, wine and craft beer bar, and a casino. You will enjoy the great services, and you can socialize with family and friends. Custer Beacon also hosts various community events and concerts. It is also home to local and international touring acts. The other cool place to visit is the Gold Pan Saloon. It offers regular macro beers, and you can enjoy your drink either at the table or at the bar. Most beers are locally sourced from Deschutes or Alaska.
Best Day Trip Out of Custer
Jewel Cave National Monument is an adventurous place to visit out of Custer town. It is a thirty minutes’ travel from Custer. Brothers made a discovery of the cave as they passed through the Hell Canyon. The cave is located below the Black Hills of South Dakota. It has many passageways that cover more than two hundred and two miles, making it one of the longest caves in the globe. It has a fantastic ecosystem made up of fragile rocks of lovely colors.
You will enjoy the scenic view as you take pictures along the paths. Jewel Cave National Monument is home to various animals and plants. This monument is a natural glory, and just as its name suggests, it is truly a jewel. You will have tour guides on your tours, and they will explain uncertain features. They use the pristine cave system for the guide. The cave is a special feature with various cave formations, including the delicate strands of gypsum, calcite crystals, and many others.
Something that not so many travelers would know about Custer
The Crazy Horse Memorial is one of the amazing features that many people don’t know about. There is a big rock sculpture that originated from a Lakota chief called Standing Bear. His main objective was to remind the world that Indians also had heroes such as the Crazy Horse, who won the fight on the Little Bighorn River. This sculpture was officiated in 1998, although not complete. Once the Crazy Horse is finished, it will be five hundred and sixty-three feet. The fantastic statue is located to the south of Mount Rushmore.
These are breathtaking experiences that you should not miss. Custer is undoubtedly a wonderful destination for both local and international tourists due to its diverse adventures.