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South Dakota vacation rentals

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Top-rated vacation rentals in South Dakota

Guests agree: these vacation rentals are highly rated for location, cleanliness, and more.

Cabin in Spearfish
Charming 1890's Log Cabin 2
Recently featured in 605 magazine, this Scandinavian log home was originally built in 1890 and has been remodeled with Black Hills pine beetle floors and reclaimed barn wood trim. Centrally located, within a block walking distance to 3 local restaurants, 2 blocks from spearfish creek bike path, 2 miles from spearfish canyon and within 60 miles of attractions such as Mount Rushmore, Custer State Park, Devils Tower and many more. This cabin has a private entrance, bathroom, kitchen and parking.
$92 per night
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Treehouse in Valley Springs
Lookout Loft Treehouse
Welcome to the Lookout Loft Treehouse! Find a quiet retreat in this peaceful hilltop oasis just a short 20 min drive out of Sioux Falls, SD. Sleep in the clouds on your dreamy pillow top mattress, wake up to stunning 360 degree views overlooking the surrounding countryside. Enjoy a cup of coffee on the wraparound deck, a propane fire on the mid-level deck and a dip in the hot tub at ground-level. Space includes a kitchenette, bathroom, and sleeping quarters, with AC and heat.
$144 per night
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Tiny home in Custer
Modern A-Frame Cabin Next to Custer State Park
Enjoy this newly built modern A-Frame Cabin. Located just 5 minutes to Custer State Park. Experience views of the Needles Highway and Black Elk Peak while you drink your morning coffee! You will have access to the entire house all to yourself! Great area to hike, bike, see the fluffy buffalo. Just a two minute drive to downtown Custer. This area has great ATV and kayak, trail ride rentals near by! Feel refreshed when you stay in this rustic gem.
$227 per night
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Home rentals in South Dakota

Home in Spearfish
Downtown Modern-Farmhouse Studio
$156 per night
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Home in Spearfish
Private Farmhouse Studio
$111 per night
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Home in Spearfish
Modern 2-Bedroom Getaway
$149 per night
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Home in Rapid City
Cozy 1-Bedroom Home
$73 per night
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Home in Sturgis
Entire Home in the Black Hills
$141 per night
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Home in Custer
Bear Rock Bungalow-King bed & Queen air mattress
$180 per night
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Home in Keystone
Cozy, beautiful, and convenient
$251 per night
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Private room in Rapid City
Entire basement with private bed and bath
$75 per night
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Home in Lead
Haylie's Hideaway
$175 per night
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Home in Rapid City
The Sunset
$103 per night
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Home in Rapid City
Clean, one-level living close to amenities!
$89 per night
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Private room in Rapid City
Private room in the beautiful Black Hills
$40 per night

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.


When is 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.


What are the 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.