Downtown Rapid City
Downtown Rapid City
4.5
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Monday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday
10:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Thursday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Friday
9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
About
Escape for the weekend to Downtown Rapid City and experience numerous art galleries, fashionable boutiques, a variety of fine cuisine, the City of President statues and great entertainment from music to theatre and various events. Explore the fountains at Main Street Square, a place to make fun-filled memories for the whole family. With plenty of hotel rooms, over 70 shops and 33 restaurants, head Downtown, year round.
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237 within 3 miles
Attractions
77 within 6 miles
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
Popular mentions
4.5
2,345 reviews
Excellent
1,282
Very good
847
Average
169
Poor
35
Terrible
12
Beau
Rapid City, SD5 contributions
Jan 2020
downtown used to be a nice place but the pan handling is getting out of control. Aggressive begging on every corner and the city seems to do nothing about it. Maybe move the mission outside of town. If you are poor - make better decisions and quit begging. It's terrible downtown. When you bring your kids downtown keep them close. Pan handlers hold no quams with their racist remarks if you are white.
Written January 7, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Pcbiggs
McKinney, TX23 contributions
Sep 2020 • Couples
My wife and I enjoyed walking around downtown and visited several of the presidential statues. There are photo ops galore! The ability to see dozens of life size statues of US Presidents in the same area was fun and unique. There are restaurants and shops along the streets, so no shortage of places to stop and rest as you make your way. We highly recommend to anyone visiting Rapid City.
Written October 7, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
JaJkH6576
Saint Joseph, MO110 contributions
Aug 2020
Normal little downtown area - Restaurants. shopping and a square block for kicking back with a splash park. The statues of the Presidents on various street corners create a unique experience
Written August 16, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Brenda U
Kansas117 contributions
Jun 2020
Taking a picture with each one of the statues of the Presidents was on my son's to-do list and we completed that task. It took several hours, but was a fun morning. During the walk of Presidents, we stopped in a few shops and found a neat toy store that had some cool things. Downtown wasn't too busy when we were there making it easy to social distance.
Written August 14, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hoosier_Travel_Nut
Fishers, IN343 contributions
Jun 2020
I saw a review below about drunks, homeless, and "piles of vomit." I stayed in a hotel downtown for 3 nights (the Howard Johnson). Not once in 3 days did I see any of these things downtown. I found downtown to be a pleasant place to take a stroll, look at shops, and buy ice cream. The presidential statues are so cool. It's fun to think of your favorite presidents and then try to find their statue.
Downtown Rapid City makes for a great place to explore the entire Black Hills region. I visited the Badlands, Hill City, Keystone, Mt Rushmore, Custer State Park, the Mammoth Site, and the 1880 train..all using RC as a base. What I love about RC is that it is large enough to have anything you'd need, but also still has the small town feeling downtown. The next time I am back in Western South Dakota, I will be staying in downtown Rapid City!
Downtown Rapid City makes for a great place to explore the entire Black Hills region. I visited the Badlands, Hill City, Keystone, Mt Rushmore, Custer State Park, the Mammoth Site, and the 1880 train..all using RC as a base. What I love about RC is that it is large enough to have anything you'd need, but also still has the small town feeling downtown. The next time I am back in Western South Dakota, I will be staying in downtown Rapid City!
Written June 21, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Tommy599
Two Rivers, WI864 contributions
Sep 2020
Walking around the town is very enjoyable. One very interesting feature in the town is that at about every intersection there are full scale bronze statues of all the former presidents (quite impressive) on each corner.
We noticed only a few street people (homeless) on some of the street corners.
We noticed only a few street people (homeless) on some of the street corners.
Written November 13, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Colin Archibald
Kingston, TN4,365 contributions
Jul 2020
One of the things I love to do when in Rapid City is to take a walk around town and see the many statues of Presidents. It is fun to try to guess who the president is before reading the plaque with the name. There are also other statues to add to the viewing pleasure.
Written August 10, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Grover R
Pensacola, FL22,266 contributions
Sep 2021
My wife allows me to plan trips to great natural places like the Black Hills and Badlands if she can stay in a hotel, eat good food and have some shopping experience. Rapid City was the perfect base for our trip. We stayed in the Alex Johnson Hotel. While our days were out in the Badlands or Black Hills, we always returned to Rapid city and found great restaurants and bars in walking distance.
As we walked we quickly notice this statues on all four corners as they were all Presidents. This was great was well. The big ones like Washington and Jefferson and the more modern ones like Reagan and Kennedy were in the heart of downtown. However, my name is Grover Cleveland Robinson, IV as my great grandfather was named after the first Democratic President after Reconstruction, so I had to find him and we did. It was a great feature to an already great town.
As we walked we quickly notice this statues on all four corners as they were all Presidents. This was great was well. The big ones like Washington and Jefferson and the more modern ones like Reagan and Kennedy were in the heart of downtown. However, my name is Grover Cleveland Robinson, IV as my great grandfather was named after the first Democratic President after Reconstruction, so I had to find him and we did. It was a great feature to an already great town.
Written September 25, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Lin K
Mineral45 contributions
Jul 2020 • Couples
Take time to explore downtown Rapid City. Area between Main & St Joseph streets is filled with historical statues, art alley, fountain park, Museums, Yummy restaurants and friendly shops. Plan to spend several hours or a whole day!
Written July 18, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Andrew V
25 contributions
Jun 2021
A unique downtown with interesting things to see. We loved stopping at the presidential statues and posing next to them trying to mimic the theme of it. However, this was about all we found truly interesting about downtown with the exception of a few nice book shops and a hobby store. Other than that, it is a typical downtown with some people on the streets that you kind of try to steer clear of with young kids in tow. Not that it is a scary place by any means, its just that downtown areas like this are usually a little more rough around the edges and Rapid City is no exception to that.
Written June 14, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Do we need to hire car if we fly to Rapid City or can we use public transport, taxis & tours to get around.
Not keen to drive as from Australia & older tourists
Written June 11, 2019
Yes, you can hire taxi. Uber is not there.
Written June 12, 2019
We will be arriving in Rapid City in August and have heard about the presidents statues. We would like to stay somewhere central. Any recommendations? Also is one day and night enough to see everything in Rapid City. we were going to do the loop from Rapid City to Wall then onto the Badlands and back to either Keystone or back to Rapid City the next day.Thanks Debra.
Written July 27, 2017
I found that pretty much wherever you are in Rapid City you are fairly close to everything. Wall Drug (about an hour drive) is a great little place to go and we spent about half a day just wandering around! The same day we went to the Badlands and I wish we had more time there. There are a lot of hikes and places to explore in the Badlands but be sure to bring plenty of water because it gets HOT. If you go to Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse would be a good spot to hit that same day because you really won't spend tons of time at either one, but on your way back down the mountain, Keystone has an adventure park, eating and shopping. If you have kids, the Reptile Gardens was fun and so is Bear Country USA. We spent one Day just walking Downtown Main Street and letting kids play. If you don't have kids you could probably walk Main Street Square and have lunch etc within a few hours! Have a great time, we were pleasantly surprised with how much there actually was to see and do in and around Rapid City!!
Written July 27, 2017
Where can we get a walking map of Downtown Rapid City?
Written April 26, 2017
Hi,
I found a link to an interactive walking map online at the visit rapid city website. trip advisor won't let me include an exact link to it in my answer but if you Google walking maps of rapid City it come up. Hope this helps!
Written April 27, 2017
Dinner choice for tonight is so hard, it's our anniversary and we want something a little nicer.... Any suggestions? We have been to Que Pasa and Firehouse Brewery already - spending a week here
Written September 25, 2016
Sorry, this might be late......we spent our anniversary dinner at Dakotah Steakhouse, I highly recommend it!
Written September 28, 2016
We are staying 10 days in Rapid City next September so using city as a base. Really not sure if we should stay in Downtown area or if area near Rushmore Mall is better. Not into staying out late but will need restaurant each night and like to walk around. Will have a car also. Any suggestions greatly appreciated.
Written December 18, 2014
Hi Norma!
We are so looking forward to having you stay in Downtown Rapid City next fall!
We have some great options for hotels in the Downtown area. The Hotel Alex Johnson is beautiful and historic, and in the heart of Downtown. It's close to many restaurants and bars. The Howard Johnson Hotel is just up the hill from Downtown and has great access to restaurants. The Holiday Inn Rushmore Plaza is across Memorial Park Promenade from Downtown and has a restaurant in the building itself called The Grille. You can also look to see if the Civic Center has any events if you decide to stay at the Holiday Inn, as they are attached. And there is also the Adoba Hotel, which is right across the street from great food options, but has a restaurant on the main floor called Enigma. So many options!
We look forward to seeing you in Downtown Rapid City in September!
Written December 30, 2014
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