I did Badlands/Mt Rushmore at that time of year and the weather was all over the place in just the few days I was there--60 one day and snow the next. It was kinda cool to be at Mt Rushmore when it was otherwise deserted. Bottom line is that bad weather can happen there at that time of year, and if you're not up for that possibility, summer is better.

We also stayed in the La Quinta in Rapid City last Summer. They are better than we expected. Not 5-star but certainly liveable. Free waffles for breakfast were a mega-hit. We used La Quintas for probably 12 of our 21-day cross-country drive. It's attached to that water park which was fun but it was an extra fee.

On our cross-country drive we went Yellowstone - Billings, MT - Little Big Horn - Devils Tower - Rapid City - Badlands and Wall Drugs - Rapid City - Carhenge and then into Omaha. The drive from Yellowstone to Billings was FANTASTIC over the Beartooth Highway. I mean STUNNING. However, the Beartooth is only open something like 3-4 months a year due to snow. You'll miss it if you go in Spring.

Near Rapid City we saw Wall Drug, Badlands, Devils Tower, Sundance (Sundance Kid fame), A bear park in Rapid City (kids loved it).

I really think Spring Break is way too early. You'll miss so much as many of those other events are closed and the snow will be a pain. Mount Rushmore really wasn't that big of a deal, and if that is the only thing that is open it's going to be a rather anti-climactic trip.

I have to add. We did this a few Spring Breaks ago. The first few days were glorious. Beautiful early Spring weather. And then. And then there was the BLIZZARD. State roads closed. White outs. Hotels sold out. Red cross centers too far away to get to (and see the aforementioned closed roads). Let's just say, we weren't the only ones sleeping in our cars at the truck stop!

We did this trip in June 2015. We also stayed at the hotel w/ the Watiki water park. At that time access to the water park was $25 per person per day. We used the hotel as a base and drove everywhere. It was a lot of driving. The badlands were awesome. I wished we stayed in the park. I also wish we would have attended their star gazing program w/ the National Park service. We loved Custer State Park, I wish we would have stayed in the park as well. The wildlife loop is fun. We also did needles highway. At Custer, we did the Jeep tour w/ the chuck wagon dinner. From the hotel we drove an hour to hot springs to see the mammoth excavation. We were bored. Our group ranged in ages from 6-72. We ate lunch in Keystone and I wish we would have spent the whole day there. We visited Mt. Rushmore, and ate Thomas Jefferson’s ice cream (his recipe). One day we drove to the center of the USA (it’s the center when Alaska and Hawaii are added), went a fish hatchery (pretty cool), sturgis, , dead wood (I wish we had more time there), and devil’s tower. If your kids have the National parks passport, they will get lots of stamps on this trip.

You can do snowmobiling tours of Yellowstone in winter. Pricey but sounds awesome.

We haven't done this trip yet but it's on my list. Thanks for this info and the waterpark hotel and hot springs info!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in Colorado and friends of ours went to Mt Rushmore on their way home from somewhere last spring break (last week in March). Most things (besides Mt Rushmore) were closed.

We went in June and stayed at a hotel attached to a water park, the kids liked that.

Plus, you could get a big storm then—it’s really iffy that time of year.

What's the name of the hotel, please?

Yes, please, name hotel! We are looking at Mt. Rushmore in June/July and need a fun place to stay.

NOt the PP, but it might be this. We went two summers ago, and I remember seeing it when I did my research (we ended up renting a house instead).

http://www.watikiwaterpark.com/

Yes, that was it. We stayed at the La Quinta. Not the best hotel, but affordable and the kids liked it. And one of the slides is transparent and goes through the bar so you can drink and watch your kids zoom by overhead.

thanks!

Yes. Don't go until at least June.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in Colorado and friends of ours went to Mt Rushmore on their way home from somewhere last spring break (last week in March). Most things (besides Mt Rushmore) were closed.

We went in June and stayed at a hotel attached to a water park, the kids liked that.

Plus, you could get a big storm then—it’s really iffy that time of year.

What's the name of the hotel, please?

Yes, please, name hotel! We are looking at Mt. Rushmore in June/July and need a fun place to stay.

NOt the PP, but it might be this. We went two summers ago, and I remember seeing it when I did my research (we ended up renting a house instead).

http://www.watikiwaterpark.com/

Yes, that was it. We stayed at the La Quinta. Not the best hotel, but affordable and the kids liked it. And one of the slides is transparent and goes through the bar so you can drink and watch your kids zoom by overhead.

We flew to Denver..spent 2 days in Rocky Mountain Natl Park (great). Drove to SD. Mt Rushmore..ok..manmade tourist attraction to get people there..enjoyed learning more about the presidents. Hot Spring Monmouth Musem was great. Badlands was great too.

I worked in that area for three weeks in the summer 20 years ago. No advice re snow but when / if you go look into the town of Hot Springs. It has an active mammouth excavation and a heated water park / pool.

I assume it would be terrible weather - read Buffalo for the broken heart - there’s a chapter about how buffalo evolved to survive the driving blizzards in South Dakota.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I sent my husband the link to this thread and told him we aren’t going in March, so now hopefully we will go in August instead, phew.

BTW if you do a search for a trip like this during the summer there are already some great threads on it. But if anyone wants to add some recommendations please post here anyway. Thanks.

I am one poster from above who did a similar trip in summer 2016. We flew into Rapid City and out of Denver. We spent 3 nights in Custer and did Mt. Rushmore, Bear Country (not recommended). the Wildlife Loop, and mammoth site in Hot Springs (very cool). We did not make it to the Badlands which was unfortunate. Things there are very spread out, and if we wanted down time (which we all did), we were not able to fit in as many things as we hoped. We visited friends at their cattle ranch for one night in Wyoming which was probably the coolest part of the trip, spent a night in Cheyenne, and then 2 nights in Denver where we saw a baseball game, went to the Botanic Gardens,and the Denver Zoo. Denver was OK, but not my favorite part of the trip. We really enjoyed the SD and WY part of the trip.

Great trip for summer.