Stayed at Center Lake Campground for a night. showers and bathrooms were clean, and camp hosts were attentive and kind. there was a pretty intense thunderstorm that night and one of the hosts went out of her way to let my brother & I know about the thunderstorm warning.

dave
6/26/2026

Services 5.0

Wait on the Lord

Beautiful area. Lots to see and do.

Heavy Trucks
6/25/2026

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Great Stay!

Out camp hosts were wonderful and checked in on us regarding a lightning threat. They were very friendly and eager to be of assistance if needed.

gorpgal
6/25/2026

Overall Experience 5.0

Loved the free Kayaking morning and the Catch and Cook activities at Center Lake. The campground was clean and comfortable. The only issue was, Sunday. A new camper was running their generator (2hr limit per regulations) and playing their booming music all evening. The mobile camp host did their mini van rounds three times with out addressing the noise. We tried to stop the mobile camp host but he had his windows up and eyes straight ahead. I’m just happy we were halfway across the campground so we could turn on our fan to ground out the bass. Also, fix your website before 2027. I could not create an account because we have a PMB.

Curious Compass
6/19/2026

Overall Experience 4.5

Services 4.0

Facilities 4.4

Camping Trip to Custer

We camped at Stockade South. This is a smaller campground designed for smaller camping units. It is also well off the main roads. As such it is quiet and relaxing. Overall very enjoyable experience.

Mike
6/18/2026

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 4.7

Facilities 4.8

Beautiful

Happy camper
6/18/2026

Overall Experience 5.0

Great family fun

Staying in the cabins at Blue Bell campgrounds at Custer State Park was a perfect stop when visiting Mount Rushmore. The cabin had 2 sets of bunk beds (twin-over twin & a twin over full size), a small table, and convenient shelves and hooks. There was a nice metal table and fire ring outside.

Happy Trails
6/18/2026

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 5.0

Pay for site then pay park entry, too $$

Made reservation via 1-800 phone #, asked several times if the campground had flush toilets, they assured us they did. Booked for 2 nts, $69, then had to pay $25 for park entry. No flush toilets, only vault toilets!! Also camp host were constantly buzzing around on gold cart going to sites to make sure people pd, have never seen that before!! Not a very peaceful place! Overall we pd too much $$ for nothing!

Road trip
6/17/2026

Overall Experience 3.0

Services 1.5

Beautiful park

I stayed in the Blue Bell campground for two nights. Beautiful spot, tons of trees with tons of shade. Highly recommend staying here! The spots are nice and level, plenty of space for car camping / RVs, and the bathrooms are very clean. The lodge nearby is convenient, and the food is decent, if a bit expensive.

Car Camper
6/17/2026

pDub
6/16/2026

Overall Experience 5.0

Nice campsites - but. It as secluded and shaded as previous years

pDub
6/16/2026

Overall Experience 5.0

EPIC

From bottom to top, incredible wilderness and strenuous scrambling to get to top of Little Devils Tower from Trail #4 in Custer Park. I cannot believe this is right in the backyard of our country! THE MOST spectacular scenery and stunning landscapes through Black Hills, South Dakota! This was a last minute decision to stop and stay and I was able to book a reservation to camp at Center Lake which was quiet, clean and safe. I appreciated the specialized attention from the Park Rangers host to say hi and ask if I needed anything. Love the hospitality. Can't wait to come back to explore more.

VStrange18
6/16/2026

Services 5.0

Book It Now. Don't wait. Yes, you will enjoy it. No Regrets .

Fantastic experience! The cabins were all close to restroom facilities within the park. The views are all very picturesque from each of the cabins. And YES the mattresses in these cabin are definitely an upgrade compared to other SD State Park Cabins. GFP need to make that mattress investment in ALL State Park Cabins.

Sodak Charger
6/15/2026

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 5.0

Nice campground

LLS
6/15/2026

Overall Experience 4.5

Peaceful campground

Phylon
6/15/2026

Overall Experience 5.0

Great Park!

DJM
6/15/2026

Overall Experience 4.8

Perfect, as usual.

Custer State Park is world class in every way.

SD Climber
6/15/2026

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 5.0

Classic Camping Experience

only thing would be to consider dimming or switching to a less bright light near the Stockade Lake North Campground entrance when it it not staffed. It would be awesome to have a darker campground area if possible. It was visible from my site and a bit distracting for good sleep + birding.

adVANturing
6/15/2026

We camped at Center Lake Campground. Vault toilets were clean but wish there was running water for hands and a dishwashing facility. The hot water in the showers was wonderful.

Eddie
6/10/2026

Overall Experience 4.5

Services 5.0

Perfect Park Experience

We loved everything about this beautifully maintained park. It was scenic; abundant in beauty, wildlife, and recreation. Check-in was extremely easy and the camp host super helpful. Resources such as firewood, fuel, ice etc. were conveniently located throughout the park.

Annamarie
6/10/2026

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 5.0

3 bathrooms for that many cabins????!!!!

We stayed at Blue bell campground in the cabins. Cabin was clean it had two sets of bunk beds, so not the fancy cabins LOL. Park was great! Only complaint is they had 3 bathrooms for all the cabins in the area. Each one had a shower and toilet in the same building, so if all you wanted to do was brush your teeth you had to wait 30 minutes for someone to get out of the shower!!!! That's a long time wasted waiting to brush teeth!!! They need toilets and sinks separate from showers.. also nice if they double the amount of both!!

1st timer
6/10/2026

Overall Experience 3.8

Services 3.0

Facilities 4.3

Best Time Ever

LoveCuster
6/10/2026

Overall Experience 5.0

Outing

There was loud partygoers into the early morning hours. No quiet time enforced. Drinking and driving.

Doc
6/10/2026

Overall Experience 4.0

Services 4.3

Facilities 4.7

Awesome Time

This was our first time coming to Custer State Park. We had a great camping experience at Stockade South. We hiked a bunch of different trails throughout the park. All of them were great. We also drove the Wildlife loop and saw bison and the wild donkeys. We really enjoyed Needles Highway to as it reminded us of our trip to the Rockies in Colorado.

Hiker
6/10/2026

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 5.0

Amazing Park

Custer State Park is an amazing destination. We stayed for a week in Bluebell Campground. The sites were spacious enough to not feel crowded and everything was immaculate. Camp hosts were knowledgeable and friendly. I cannoy say enough positive things about our whole experience there. The park itself is breathtaking. We saw so much wildlife and were able to hike a couple trails. It is a great central spot to visit attractions outside the park, too. We visited Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, the Badlands, and even an impromptu visit to Devils Tower. However, you wouldn't even have to leave the park to have fun. We drove the wildlife loop and all the side gravel roads numerous times throughout our visit. The scenery and wildlife sightings kept drawing us back out.

OctoberTN
6/10/2026

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 5.0

Absolutely Amazing!

The whole experience would have been way better if the staff weren’t so rude. My daughter and her other 3 friends were yelled at by grown staff members. Zero hospitality, definitely need more training on human decency.

Jesse
6/2/2026

Overall Experience 4.0

Services 1.7

10 / 10, Would Repeat Our Stay

We stayed in a small cabin at Blue Bell Campgrounds. We knew it could be anywhere between 30 - 80* when we booked for the week before Memorial Day and were so excited and relieved to unpack our things into a cozy little cabin while it was rain/snowing on us after we arrived. Our cabin was a tiny room with a bunk bed and twin bed, a little table, and a bookshelf. We turned out the small heating unit and all four of us slept great. We wouldn't have needed the heater the other nights, but it was way nicer than sleeping in a tent in 30*, which we have done before. But this was nicer. :) The bathrooms were clean, warm, and with warm/hot water in the showers. Also, a huge shout out to the great staff with the horses. We have an 8 and 10 year old who haven't ever been around horses before, and the staff were so sweet and kind to the kids and the horses during their first ever horse ride. Core memory unlocked.

Becca B
6/2/2026

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 4.6

Wonderful

Hawk1005
6/1/2026

Overall Experience 5.0

consistently a great park

beefoust
6/1/2026

Overall Experience 4.8

Nice clean cabin

Cliff
6/1/2026

Overall Experience 5.0

GL47

carthon13
6/1/2026

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 4.9

Clean, quiet, private

We stayed in a cabin in the Stockade Lake South campground and it was an amazing experience for the price! And the bathrooms were cleaned several times a day, cleanest ones of any park we have ever camped at. Will definitely return to this park!

Midwest traveler
5/31/2026

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 4.5

Facilities 4.8

What a place!

Beautiful park and helpful, kind workers! Bison were literally in our campground so that was nerve-wracking. I wish each campground could be fenced in.

Daniel
5/31/2026

Overall Experience 4.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 4.8

Great facilities

Happy Campers
5/31/2026

Overall Experience 5.0

This park is spectacular!

The staff at the campground were so friendly and beyond helpful. We were greeted by a smiling gentleman that checked us into our campsite.This some man( I wish I could remember his name) gave me a booklet an gave some tips of points of interest .The next morning ( my birthday) we woke up to a herd of buffalo in the campground! Wow! The park staff did a fantastic job of keeping everyone safe and rounding up the buffalo and diving them outside of the campground! After breakfast we took off for the Needles highway,what a road! It is just like the description and MORE! Heed all the warnings it is steep and very narrow tunnels made of rock formations,but worth the journey. We were rewarded with breath talking views and an out of this world experience! Then the wildlife loop,the name says it all animals on all sides! I would give this park a 20 out of 10. We will be coming back!

Ilsa Billings
5/31/2026

Services 5.0

Facilities 5.0

Gamelodge review

Absolutely loved camping at Gamelodge and loved the restriom and showers which were very clean.

Preema
5/30/2026

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

a little help

Make sure you know your campsite as they no longer put who has reserved the site, tons of people showing up and think the spots are available

Traveler
5/29/2026

Overall Experience 4.5

Facilities 4.3

Beautiful State Game Lodge Campground

State Game Lodge Campground is an absolutely beautiful facility. I only wish it was easier to get a site. Reservations are hard to get even 90 days in advance unless people live on their computers.

kplo
5/7/2026

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 4.7

Facilities 4.8

Easy to reserve and awesome campground

Super clean, easy to drive through and get in and out of campsite, wonderful bathroom/ shower house. We were there when temps were still in the 20s at night so dump station wasn't open in the campground but double dump station and fresh water was open just up the road (in the park). Campground is in a perfect location for everything the park offers. Highly recommend!

Deb
5/7/2026

Overall Experience 5.0

Happy Camper
4/26/2026

Overall Experience 5.0

Facilities 4.6

Nice Spring Break

Bas baa
10/28/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Hike

I absolutely love this park! I wish it was closer to home for me. I have yet to hike a trail that didn’t offer something spectacular. This was the first year we stayed in a camper cabin. Offered everything we needed since we spend most our time on the trails. The park is extremely dog friendly as well. The first time I visited with my pup I e-mailed just to ask if there were any places she wasn’t allowed. It almost seemed in their response that they were excited my pup got to share the experience with me. We have been there a few times now and will continue to go back, hopefully yearly.

A girl and her dog
10/28/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Custer State Park never disappoints us! It is one of the nicest state parks in the US. I talked to folks from all over the US and they all comment on how beautiful and nice the park is!

GD Influence
10/22/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 4.5

Month in S. Dakota

Patricia
10/21/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Hazy but great hiking weather

The Blue Bell camping cabins are such a great value and beautiful surroundings. Perhaps my 8th visit here and worth the 10 hour drive. Even the 16A detour was manageable - very well marked. This location is serene yet close to Custer and other scenic sites. Highly recommend

Charles
10/21/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 5.0

Good Camping Experience

Very well kept campground. Showerhouses were especially nice and kept very clean!

David
10/20/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 4.4

Hidden gem

Cute lil cabin tucked away with ample privacy. Plenty of space for my pup to explore and for me to set up anything extra. Host was friendly, welcoming my arrival while sharing some bits about the area. Shower house super clean and well maintained. Would highly recommend staying here. Cabin is a bit small for larger family if it were to be a day needing to stay in. Definitely more of a place to lay your head and change an outfit. Has four beds set up as two bunk beds with one bed being I believe a full or queen size, others are twins. Mattress not bad, bring own linens. No mini fridge so bring an cooler. Over all just a great gem tucked in Custer park that I have stayed at several times.

Ajae
10/20/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 4.5

Custer State Park Campgrounds

I came for the Buffalo Roundup, it had been 15 years since I last visited Custer State Park, at that time I realized I should have spent more time in the park when visiting the Black Hills. I stayed for a week this time and it was well worth every minute. This is such an outstanding part in every way. That includes the campground, Bison Center, wildlife viewing, gorgeous landscapes, employees and volunteers. The park is well run and maintained, much better that many National Parks. My son & I have been to 38 national parks and Custer rates up there with Glacier, Grand Canyon, Grand Tetons & Big Bend. Thank you South Dakota for this park and doing such a good job to running the jewel that it is.

Clover Grab
10/20/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Wildlife loop was great. We saw a variety of wildlife. The visitors center was great and helpful if showed where the herds were. We stayed at the Game Lodge campground and it was in the perfect location. The amenities were excellent - showers, water and dump station.

KWed
10/12/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 5.0

Best Campground Ever

Beautiful campground with electric hook-ups. I enjoyed the wildlfe sounds of coyotes and geese. An improvement needed is clear signage of the trails.

George Smith
10/12/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 5.0

Custer State Park Fall trip

Love Custer
10/12/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Exceptional State Park

A definite return is needed. We camped and loved our campground but there are so many options in camping. This park rivals most state and national parks. Incredible !! Enjoyed the Blue Bell Lodge Bar and Restaurant- food, drinks and staff were great.

Michigan
10/11/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 5.0

Summer to Remember

Custer SP was clean, fun and a beautiful park. The camp host was fantastic, the camp sites were large and scenic. The whole park was well run!

Summer to Remember
10/11/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 5.0

Review

JH
10/10/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Happy Camper

We enjoyed our stay at Custer State Park. It’s very convenient for all your sightseeing. Don’t forget to get water before you back into your site. My only negative is the dump stations in the park are not close to Stockade North but you can find commercial rv parks that will let you dump for a small fee.

Happy Camper
10/10/2025

Overall Experience 4.8

Services 4.6

Facilities 3.7

Perfect Cabin and Location

The cabin at Stockade Lake South was great. However, make sure you understand there's only beds, table and electricity. Walk to bath/toilet house is a concern. Outhouse was closer, but smelly as people kept closing the door. .Annual Buffalo Round-Up was our goal to see.. Don't need to go over at 1:30 am. Also, the coordinating Arts&Crafts Fair that same weekend was very good.

LAW
10/10/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 5.0

Wonderful experience

Clark
10/9/2025

Overall Experience 4.8

Great campground & staff

Beautiful and small-ish campground close to park trails and activities. Hot showers even! My only beef is a staff member came and pounded on my camper at 11:55 announcing checkout. I understand keeping the schedule in a busy park/campground but this was disruptive as I was on a work call. I was also completely packed up with a clean site and ready to roll when I was planning to wrap up the call at 11:59. That said, it was minor and didn't inconvenience my trip or stay. The regular evening host/check in person was very friendly and helpful and the whole system is very organized.

riceek
10/9/2025

Overall Experience 4.8

Services 4.0

Carping

Roadtripper
10/8/2025

Overall Experience 4.8

Fall escape

We love Custer State park. The animal sightings, the peacefulness, the amazing views, and the campfires are so relaxing. The facilities are very clean and have everything a person needs to be comfortable.

Vacation
10/8/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 4.8

Heaven

This park is awesome ,the pines, and animal's that visit the campground and other campers are friendly and very helpful. The needle,s road has some great tunnels with beautiful views.Doing the loop road to see the buffs and donkeys is a must. We have been coming out here since 1993 every September .

2favoritepark
10/8/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

One of the nicest Parks we have visited. Clean, quiet, and absolutely beautiful.

Scooter
10/7/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 5.0

Custer Family Camping at Blue Bell

We had a great stay at the Blue Bell Campground with our kids (ages 4, 7 and 10). The campground store has everything you would need along with great Custer souvenirs that we grabbed on our way out. There's a nice playground near the bath house in the cabin loop, which also has a family bathroom. The facilities and campsites are all well kept. My only comment is that, at least in sites 10 and 11, the fire rings are on the opposite side of the campsite then what would make sense . . . we were in a motorhome, so we just pulled nose in so that our ring was still on our patio side. The camp host was very attentive and quickly to our campsite upon arrival to answer questions and give the lay of the land.

CusterCamper
10/7/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 5.0

Great Experience

NC Badger
10/6/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Nice Campground

Camped at Stockade North Cmpgnd. Good space between sites. Clean shower house. Clean vault toilets. Quiet even though the road is close. Pat is a friendly and helpful camp host. Always checking the campground. Saw turkeys and deer. Easy walk to Stockade Lake.

COCamper
10/6/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 4.6

Custer State Park Newbie

Very nice campground Stockade Lake South. Easy in and out of the sites. Mostly off camber sites so you will need to level your camper good. We saw a few campers having some challenges leveling theirs. Park was fairly full, could have showed up without a reservation and found a spot this time of year.

h8pvmnt
10/6/2025

Overall Experience 4.8

Services 5.0

Facilities 4.7

Black Hills

NE Ohio
10/3/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Lots of great amenities!

It is a lovely campground with plenty of exceptional amenities for car/tent campers. Accessible potable water, restrooms and even showers! As it is located on a major roadway it can be loud, but Custer City and other National and State Parks are easily drive accessible.

WesternCarCampingTraveler
10/2/2025

Overall Experience 4.8

Services 5.0

Facilities 4.3

Excellent

Joe S
10/2/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Buffalo Roundup

We thought we would be staying in Blue Bell campgrounds in the park but when we got there we were told it was really Stockade Lake campground on the other side of the park. Took us 45 minutes just to get in the lineup of cars for the roundup.

Bigal
10/1/2025

Overall Experience 3.5

Services 3.0

Facilities 2.8

Tent camping in S Dakota

Overall, Custer State Park is a real gem. Camping at Center lake was a highlight. Next time I would bring a fishing pole, however.

Doug
10/1/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 4.8

Buffalo Round-Up & Grace Coolidge Campground

Grace Coolidge CG is a nice & clean campground. The camp host, Deb, was very friendly and knowledgeable about the area. Buffalo Round-Up.. I would suggest that the concessions at each location stay open to sell water & soda u til the buffalo have been put in the corrals. They stopped selling at 9:00 am & the buffalo didn’t even make it to the location until about 10:40. It was over 70 degrees and warm with no shade. Most people came unprepared without anything to drink.

Micfuz
10/1/2025

Overall Experience 4.8

Services 5.0

Facilities 4.4

Custer Legion Lake bison visitor

Superior Visit
10/1/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Custer 2025

I camped in a tent camp site one night and a camping cabin the next night. Overall everything was super clean. Bathrooms and showers were in great shape. Normally I expect to see spiders and whatnot in the vault toilets but there were none. Center lake was the tent site, beautiful view of the lake by the shower house. Blue bell for the camping cabin.. the cabin was amazing! It had heat, AC, electricity, table, 2 sets of bunk beds. Plenty of room for a group of 5 even though it was just me. My favorite part about the park is that it felt like a giant drive thru safari. I recommend taking the wildlife loop to see the donkeys! I spent 2 days in the park and feel like I needed 2 more just to really see everything.

Madison A
10/1/2025

Overall Experience 4.8

Services 5.0

Great park but campground needs work!

Campground needs some work! Showers didn’t have warm water and the huge fan running makes it feel freezing! Most of the sites are VERY unlevel. The campground is secluded but the road back to the campground is awful. Highly suggest using Lower French Creek Road to enter and exit because Stockade Lake Drive is awful, especially in the dark!

LuckysMom
10/1/2025

Overall Experience 3.5

Services 4.0

Facilities 2.3

Cabins are great!

We went for the Bison Round-up. Great experience. Cabin 10 at South Stockade was awesome. Restrooms & showers were clean. So close to Crazy Horse monument and Mt. Rushmore. This time of year, before the nightly lighting ceremony, the Big Dipper is just right above the presidents' heads. Magnificent. Moving ceremony.

Campfire Fred
10/1/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 4.8

Facilities 4.8

GOOD EXPERIENCE

SHS
10/1/2025

Overall Experience 4.5

Great experience but plan ahead

Camp hosts were fantastic!! But we need a wash rack for horses.

Alex
9/30/2025

Overall Experience 4.8

The park was so very great. Very clean, great camping and lots to see and do.

Brenda
9/23/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 5.0

fall visit

dakotaspike
9/23/2025

Overall Experience 4.5

Best camping spot!

We stayed in South Stockade Lake and I feel like it's location is the best! It's right next to Custer, convenient for ice and restaurants. The land is massive, so much to explore there. We probably only hiked within a .5 mile radius and there was so much to see. The only thing that would make it better, is to add a mini fridge.

UkaLailie
9/22/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 5.0

Great Stay

Great access and the campsite host provided a great welcome

Lgndsdtr
9/22/2025

Overall Experience 4.5

Services 3.3

Another Great Stay

We have been visiting Custer State Park and camping at the State Game Lodge for over 15 years now and will go nowhere else. We used to tent camp and now stay in a camping cabin; #8 is our favorite but #6 is now a close second. The camping sites are always clean, as are the bathrooms and laundry facilities. Staff is friendly and helpful when needed. I do need to say that our camp attendant this time was the best we've ever encountered. He facilitated our move from #7 to #8 and made the transition seamless. He also made more daily loops of the campground than we have ever seen before. We're not sure how many more years we will be camping but, as long as we are, we will be returning to Custer State Park. PS Do the wildlife loop early in the morning. Less traffic and more wildlife.

Susan/Colorado
9/22/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 5.0

Best State Park in America

Custer State Park, in my opinion, is the best state park in America. Nothing matches its beauty, majesty, and diversity. The campsite we had was amazing. The campground was pristine. This is our second visit, and we will be back.

Wisconsinite
9/22/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Custer State Park

Very impressed with the bison herd that is managed by the Park, and the volunteers earning free camping as they volunteer. The bison centre was very interesting, lots of history.

canadian camper
9/22/2025

It would have been nice to have potable water at Iron Creek Camp.

Harlequin duck
9/20/2025

Overall Experience 4.5

Services 5.0

Fantastic spot

Clear Lake campground , particularly lower loop, is one of the best campgrounds we have ever been at. So quiet with stream, lake and shady spots. Enjoyed that it was only for campers not needing hook ups

Mo travels
9/20/2025

This was our second camping trip to Custer in 13 months. We live in Illinois and love how Custer feels like a world away, but is easily accessible to us. This time, we had a creekside site at the Game Lodge Campground [last time we stayed in the same campground but in a non creek site]. We love this campground because we can easily access the main visitor center, State Game Lodge, and the Coolidge General Store. Facilities in the campground are well maintained. My kids are currently 12, 11, and 9 and they're already talking about returning again next year.

Laura Boudreau
9/19/2025

Overall Experience 4.5

Services 4.5

Facilities 5.0

Beauty everywhere

I’ve been to Custer a number of times with family on the way to Mt Rushmore but it was always a quick drive on the loop drives. Camping for 3 nights at Sylvan Lake was and further exploring the park was a whole new and wonderful experience

Red Marx
9/18/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 4.5

Great campground & park

CO visitors
9/18/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Beautiful

The park is wonderful, so much to see and lots of hiking trails! If you want to alter your reservation when you are in the park...impossible.There is no cell service and no Wifi available. There are NO staff in the park that can do this, it's all online or a phone call.So if you don't have either you can' t do anything. We found a person that directed us to the highest spot in our campground and got a cell signal, then waited for 15 minutes in the hot sun before someone answered the phone. My suggestion drive into the town of Custer and do all of you calls, reservations from there.Have a great time, it's a top notch park!

USTRVL
9/18/2025

Overall Experience 4.8

Services 4.0

Facilities 3.9

Great stay

I tent camped four nights at the Grace Coolidge tent area at site 22. Thought it was located down a very short hill, it ended up being the most secluded, with a nice grassy area looking at a rock cliff with a small stream flowing beneath it. I've camped in several state parks and the restroom/shower facility at this campground was the nicest/cleanest I've ever encountered.

DC
9/18/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 4.8

Visit to the black hills

This park is wonderful. I stayed at the Blue Bell campground and enjoyed this location because it is so close to the wildlife loop/.

Travel Gal
9/18/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 5.0

Grand Lodge Campground

The Wanderers
9/17/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Excellent facility

Km
9/17/2025

Overall Experience 4.8

Enjoyed North Stockade Campground Stay

MomJ
9/17/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Great place for campers and horses!!!

S. Cnr
9/17/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 5.0

website

French Creek is great. Expect longer trails that are poorly marked. Also, the app for the map does not download there, nor is it an easy app to navigate which is the case for the gooutdoorssouthdakota website. One of the worst that I have experienced. I have used multiple map apps while riding SUV & snowmobiles without a problem. This one is very difficult to figure out. also, had a funeral so we went riding a week sooner than originally planned, canceled our reservation for the following week. Said we were qualified for full refund and that we should expect $ in 2-3 days. Everything looked good and I exited the site. Got an email reminding me that we had upcoming reservations( that we had cancelled) while gone and we were not able to follow up. Now, when I got home I see that we didn't get reinbursed and the cancellation never happened. Again, this is a poor website. We liked it so much better when we could go right to the Park we wanted to stay at and not navigate through all of them. And again, while French Creek is great, take some notes from the snowmobile trails in the Blackhills and have maps and good directions at intersections on trails.

Moe
9/17/2025

Overall Experience 4.3

Services 3.7

Facilities 4.5

The place to see

Old gal adventuring
9/16/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Great park!!!

SAR
9/16/2025

Overall Experience 4.8

During same day reservation process for Center lake camping I was asked the length and width of RV but not height. There is a 9.8 clearance restriction. Out RV is 11 feet. Driving in as it begins to get dark and paying park fee, only to discover that we couldn’t access the camp site was super disappointing and stressful.

JB
9/14/2025

Overall Experience 1.0

Services 3.7

2025 trip

Frank
9/14/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Bison Galore

Phone reservations were courteous.

Queen Bee
9/13/2025

Happy in Custer
9/9/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

We ?? Custer Park

We love Custer State Park. We just stayed for a week and would love to have made it two. The facilities are always clean. The staff is friendly. There is a ton of things to do. We visited every historic site, fished, swam, went to the education and visitor centers, hiked, explored Needles Hwy, the pig tails, and took several trips around the wildlife loop. We saw nearly every type of wildlife known in the park and even saw a bonus bobcat. Great experience! We had an RV site and 2 cabins. Everything was wonderful.

Happycamper
9/9/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 4.5

South Dakota Trip

Camp Host Sue at Center Campground was absolutely the best!! She helped us tremendously! Don, who also works there was wonderful.

Yooper’s
9/9/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

love camping in Custer State Park

Cougar camper
9/9/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 3.7

Facilities 5.0

So helpful

I would love to personally thank the campground Host Pat. When we arrived we didn't realized we booked a tent site without electricity. So he worked diligently to fine us a spot to move to. So please let him know how kind generous he was for doing that. The park is beautiful, campsites spacious, bathrooms clean. It was a great experience. We stayed at Custer Park just outside of Custer on 16A

Alan
9/9/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 4.8

Facilities 4.3

Great Vacation!

Fabulous camp host however there were problems with a couple of campers on a continual basis that created turmoil in camp with conservation police coming and going. If campers repeated can not follow rules, the should be removed to protect fellow campers from continual drama

Nehring
9/8/2025

Overall Experience 4.3

Services 4.3

Facilities 4.1

Sylvan Campground

We stayed in Sylvan Lake Campground. Before we arrived, we were not aware that there were no dump or water fill options at the campground. We had to travel to Bluebell Campground to dump and get water, which took time away from our vacation. Also, our site 5E was very tight, without much space to park our truck.

Lash61
9/8/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 3.7

Great Experience

Vern
9/8/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Needs new mattress

The cabin itself was in good condition, but the mattress on the double bed. was very uncomfortable and we ended up sleeping on the bed across from it. it was more like a single bed, but was more comfortable. There wasn't much room for both of us.

darla
9/7/2025

Overall Experience 4.0

Services 3.7

Facilities 3.4

Anniversary trip

Custer had never been on my radar as a must see but while researching our road trip i was surprised at all the beautiful sights. We stayed at Sylvan lake campground and it had nice sites and very clean bathrooms with private showers. Camp hosts were readily available and checked us in in when we arrived. There's a nice store/gift shop by the lake with a small eatery inside.

Stacy
9/7/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

WE STAY AT CUSTER STATE PARK ALMOST EVERY YEAR.

KOTA IS FREEDOM
9/2/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 5.0

Great Experience

Midwest Traveler
9/2/2025

Overall Experience 4.8

Great experience

Freekat
9/2/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Beautiful campsites & covered horse pens

The campsites with electric & the covered horse pens are wonderful. The camp hosts, Bob & Crystal, were great. My only complaint & reason why we won’t be coming back is because of the bull bisons on the horse trails. We had one come at us & snorting on a trail, my horse freaked out & started bucking. I stayed on, but I would have been hurt pretty bad if I had landed on those rocks. We then had to bush wack our way out of his area. We encountered Bulls on the horse trails 3 different times. It’s just too dangerous with all the rocks & trying to avoid bulls.

Bones
9/1/2025

Overall Experience 4.5

Services 2.3

Facilities 3.8

Stopover

Bothered by extra charge for 2nd person camping in a tent site....seems the overall charge became double when i informed the reservation agent i was tent camping with my husband. Only 1 tent 2 people, we were charged twice the tent camping fee. Very annoying.

Al
9/1/2025

Overall Experience 4.0

Services 3.3

A state park that rivals a lot of National Parks

Flyguy
9/1/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Amazed

Stella B
9/1/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

State Park

MoneyPenny
8/31/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Beautiful patk

The stay at Game Lodge campground was amazing as usual except there was not ever any hot water for showers.

Zoey
8/31/2025

Overall Experience 4.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 4.0

Quiet time

Beautiful spot right on babbling stream campers next to me started chopping wood at 6:15 am. Not a fun morning

Bob
8/30/2025

Overall Experience 3.0

Services 3.7

Facilities 4.5

Gorgeous Park!

Happy Camper
8/27/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Wonderful experience, the host was very knowledgeable and helpful. Bathrooms were very smelly and unable to see at night. It is a bathroom which is understandable. Shower house was clean.

RealNameHere
8/23/2025

Overall Experience 4.8

Services 5.0

Love Custer State Park!

pDub
8/23/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Great Campground and Park

Schmidt Family
8/23/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Great!

evelyn
8/23/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Center Lake has been and always will be my favorite place to play. I live less than 30 minutes away and always feel like I went far away after camping at Center Lake.

Center Lake
8/20/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 3.7

Great facility!

The settings of the campgrounds are excellent. Signage around the park is good.

RH
8/20/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 5.0

Dump station

Only one dump station. Not convenient for those staying at campgrounds other than the campground it is at. We stayed at Stockade and it would have taken us 20 minutes in the opposite direction we were headed to dump.

DoubleL
8/20/2025

Overall Experience 3.8

Services 3.4

Love the Hills

Coper
8/20/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

nice park

creeman42
8/20/2025

Overall Experience 4.8

Review

Cstout_79
8/19/2025

Overall Experience 3.3

Custer blue bell campground

Great place, quiet, lots of activities for adults and kids

Pedro
8/19/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 4.6

Great value, would stay again!

We stayed in one of the basic cabins. At $60 a night, I felt it was an incredible value. This was a 2 night stop on a week long road trip. It was so nice to be able to skip setting up a tent for a reasonable price. The cabin was clean and that is all we were hoping for! The bathrooms were also the cleanest we encountered out of all the campgrounds we stayed at. Our cabin had the bonus of a being the furthest in the back so we had a lot of privacy which was really nice. The store was close we could restock ice or do laundry when needed. The washing machines could use some cleaning. That would be my only complaint. I would definitely stay here again!

danieg04
8/18/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 5.0

Game Lodge Site 40E

Facilities 5.0

Our stay in Custer Park

Our stay at Grant Coolidge campground was awesome. I was able to get the ADA spot so I had electric for my oxygen concentrator and was close to bathroom and showers. Everything was very clean and everyone was very nice.

Flora Ramirez
8/16/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 5.0

Love Custer State Park

Game Lodge camp ground is always beautiful and well cared for.

Trl
8/15/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

We were excited for the first family vacation we were able to have in 7 years, but it was ruined by motorcycles everywhere we went. The loud engines from early in the morning until late at night scared all the wildlife away and ruined the forest experience. The animal loop was pretty much empty. I get that the Sturgis rally is a huge boost for the local economy, but maybe there could be rules, or at least strong suggestions about when and where motorcycles are allowed. Especially the really loud ones.

Chrf David
8/10/2025

We had a great time in a quiet campground, except for the sound of kid's playing, and that was music to our ears.

JDM-MN
8/6/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Great experience for our 2ns night in SD

We were in spot GL44E, which was a back-in spot perfectly level for our class B van. Restrooms were spotless, and we chose to use the showers instead of our van. While the campground was full, we felt we were secluded from others.

GWagner
8/5/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 5.0

July 2025 Horse Camp Review

We stayed at French Creek Horse Camp. Beautiful campground and you cant beat the equestrian trails. Clean facilities too. On l y drawback is the number of side by sides, 4 wheelers and motorcycles constantly buzzing through camp. The camp is supposed to be for people with horses only however, there was a toy hauler camping there with atvs and no horses. This was a major concern.

Lucy
8/5/2025

Overall Experience 4.5

Services 4.2

Facilities 3.9

Great time

Traveling Texan
8/5/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Wonderful campground!

The bathrooms are kept incredibly clean. I was impressed with the campground host & other attendants' attention to the campground's cleanliness and safety, making many rounds throughout the campground every day. Stockade South is definitely worth fighting the awful GoOutdoorsSD app & website to make a reservation.

Meredith
8/4/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Fabulous in every way my family had an amazing time

Andrew
7/31/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 4.2

Facilities 4.3

Ain't no place like the Black Hills!

Our third visit to Custer State Park, and it is still a perfect place to use as a basecamp to all of the Black Hills. Stockade Lake is a short drive to the various attractions, and is right next door to supplies in Custer. I'll be back. The only negative is that the only dump station is a bit of a drive away, over at the start of the wildlife loop. Wee wish there was a dump station more closely located (or full hookups). Thanks.

WestCoastWanderer
7/31/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 4.4

Family Tradition

The prices are going up to fast for locals to afford it. That is unfortunate and disappointing. We love our state parks but it is not the same value it had been. Please stop increasing the costs.

AJ
7/30/2025

Overall Experience 4.3

Services 4.3

Facilities 4.9

Tree

We always enjoy our stay at Legion Lake campground. This year we were in site 14 which was definitely not our favorite. We had to have our camper in a certain spot to get the slide out on one side, which prevented us from getting out awning out on the other. It won’t prevent us from going back. I already have my two reservations for next year, but we won’t reserve 14, again. It’s just not a good fit for our camper, which is only average size.

Camperks
7/30/2025

Overall Experience 4.7

Services 5.0

Facilities 4.4

Excellent host

Vill
7/30/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Will be coming back!

I stayed at the Stockade Lake North Campground in a tent and loved it!! The site was clean as well at the bathrooms/ showers. All the campers we interacted with (mostly RV) were friendly! We had some deer visit our site in the early morning and could hear coyotes during the night. The staff person who checked us in was so nice and helpful. So much to do around the area!!

Mr. Meep
7/30/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 4.6

Campsite review

Campsite was smaller than anticipated… almost too small. Back area of campsite was unmoved and riddled with poison ivy.

Jim B
7/30/2025

Overall Experience 3.3

Services 3.5

Facilities 3.3

Camp Site Review

Good reservation experience, but was misled as to campsite location. Campsite was riddled with poison ivy. Campsite was smaller and tight for my tent.

Jim B
7/30/2025

Overall Experience 3.3

Services 3.5

Facilities 2.4

We Love Game Lodge Campground

Lori Ask
7/30/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

adventures in SD

outstanding state park; scenic, wildlife, facilities, history, The hiking was wonderful and the wildlife loop and visitor centers were outstanding. Staff and volunteers very helpful and friendly. Hope to return in the future.

tomdetz
7/30/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 5.0

Little Slice of Heaven

This was our third time staying at the Blue Bell Campground Camping Cabins, and Custer State Park keeps drawing us back. The park is stunning, the cabins are comfortable, and there are tons of activities for the whole family to enjoy. We spent time at the lake, hiked Cathedral Spires and Black Elk Peak, and did the Wildlife Loop twice. We were pleasantly surprised to find a new playground installed at the campground—our 6-year-old loved it and used it regularly, along with many of the other kids staying there. The staff are friendly and work hard to keep the grounds clean. A few upgrades we’d love to see at Blue Bell in the future include: trough-style sinks for dishwashing and updated bathhouses that don’t require a fan running constantly to dry the floors.

Obberss
7/28/2025

Overall Experience 4.5

Services 4.4

Facilities 3.9

Game Lodge Campground July 2025 Review

Great Hosts, Facilities and very clean. Laundy within the campground was reasonably priced, worked. The reason for a 2 in safety / security was that an adult male with 2 girls was in the lady's bathroom. The bathroom stalls and showers have huge gaps (up to 2 inches) in them at the Game Lodge Campground where you can see someone undressed for showers or using the toilet. The man did not see using women's bathroom as an issue. The mother said she told him to use the bathroom because she did not feel comfortable with the girls using the men's bathroom and her husband doesn't look..... Fixing the gaps or having family restrooms would help resolve this concern.

July Review
7/28/2025

Overall Experience 4.3

Services 5.0

Facilities 4.5

Nice Visit

South Dakota Sprinter
7/28/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Great Stay

Everything was neat and clean. The grass was green with all the rain they have received. The bathrooms were spotless for the 6 days we stayed. The only negatives are that some spots have the fire pit on the back side of the camper and many spots are uneven requiring a lot of leveling of the camper.

East River SD Family
7/27/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 4.3

Great time!

Unhappy Camper
7/26/2025

Overall Experience 2.0

Services 5.0

Excellent website!

Great camp site. Was concerned about dry cabins but water was nearby and staff was helpful making sure the stay was enjoyable.

BearHD
7/26/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 4.2

We will be back

Lindsay from Texas
7/26/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Weekend stay

Wilhelmina Grace
7/25/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Great Stay

Badger Tom
7/24/2025

Overall Experience 4.8

Wonderful, Above Average Experience

Been to many parks across the west and these were very nice. Clean, more than sufficient facilities. Well kept and intact environment. Sleeping creekside was awesome and provided some acoustic cover for inevitable noisy neighbors.

Cale M
7/24/2025

Campsite was clean. The shower dressing areas were always full of sand. It would be nice to have a porous mat for people to step on while they dress after a shower. Your website for reservations stinks. It’s not user friendly. Don’t know where to go to find a place.

Camper Gal
7/9/2025

Overall Experience 3.3

Services 2.3

Lastvisit for awhile, until prices are more affordable

Nice cabins, we got in on last years pricing for the cabins. Before everything double entry pass last year $34 to $60 dollars this year, and cabin prices and out of state reservations increased. Which makes staying elsewhere cheaper. Enjoy custer state park go at least 1-2 times a year, but will be taking a break from visiting the park until prices come down.

Last visit until prices come down
7/9/2025

Overall Experience 3.3

Services 2.6

Facilities 3.1

Beautiful park!!

Beautiful state park!! We stayed at Stockade South and it was awesome! Bathrooms were clean and the campground host was very helpful.

Custer
7/9/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 5.0

Nice stay enjoy like many years in the pass, but last can't afford new rates.

Last visit until out of state prices come down.
7/9/2025

Overall Experience 3.3

Services 3.0

Facilities 2.8

Wonderful Camp Hosts!

Stayed in Sylvan Lake for one night. Close proximity to the lake and the camp hosts were so friendly and very helpful! Would stay there again just because of their hospitality!

Amber B
7/9/2025

Overall Experience 4.3

5 night stay in Game Lodge Campground in a 5th wheel. Nothing short of excellent. Very well kept site, easy to park and set up. Campground host available for questions at check in. Friendly park staff checked on us morning of day 2 to ensure everything was ok, answer any questions and offer suggestions for things to do in the park and beyond. Definitely recommend.

KNK13
7/1/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Services 5.0

Facilities 5.0

Best State Park Experience

Custer State Park has the most variety in landscape and activities we’ve experienced in a state park, having visited many in the Midwest and beyond. We were astonished by the landscape, particularly Needles Hwy, Sylvan Lake and Sunday Gulch, and the wildlife loop. We were impressed by the free programming with opportunities to rock climb and learn archery for kids and adults. Our kids got to try horseback riding and are begging to do the longer trips out of Bluebell Stables next time. The thrill of finding bison and other animals like sheep, goats and eagles will be a forever memory for our kids and family. We will absolutely plan another long trip for this park. We saw so much but feel like we could spend another few weeks and have completely new and exciting experiences. The staff was wonderful, and naturalist Anna particularly made the experiences special for our kids.

HitchAndWander
7/1/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Vince
6/28/2025

Overall Experience 5.0

Additional Items Will Be Removed

Great views

Love this park!

Just an Ok stay

Awesome Experience

Annoying Road Construction

Great Experience

Third Visit to Custer State Park

attentive & beautiful

Camping

The Best Week

Clean, quiet, comfortable. Nice playground. Good showers.

Camping

Noisy

Great Space!

What a tremendous park!

Great except for the road construction

Holy snapped trees!

Wait on the Lord

Great Stay!

LL4E

Making Memories

Center Lake

Visitors

Custer 2026

Always love the SGL Cabins

Center Lake

Custer State Park

beautiful experience

Peaceful and clean

Another great Custer stay

Wonderful time at Grace Coolidge

Mt. Rushmore

Amazing Custer State Park

State Game Lodge Campground Review - June 2026

Loved our stay at Custer State Park

Great Campground

Surprising Beauty

Amazing

2026 vacation

Delightful

Great Campground at the Game Lodge

Loved my stay and wish I had more time.

Custer State Park is awesome

Great park

Great campgrounds, horrible website

Camping Trip to Custer

Beautiful

Great family fun

Pay for site then pay park entry, too $$

Beautiful park

game lodge - beautiful campground in a beautiful park

Back to Nature and Affordable

Enjoyed it

Appreciate extended window for reservations

Nice campsites - but. It as secluded and shaded as previous years

EPIC

Custer State Park

Our Wonderful Custer Experience

Great place to camp

Outstanding

Book It Now. Don't wait. Yes, you will enjoy it. No Regrets .

Nice campground

Peaceful campground

Great Park!

Perfect, as usual.

Classic Camping Experience

Memories

Amazing Stay

Experience ~ Great State Park~lots to do. We hiked, biked and enjoyed all the wonderful wildlife. Our campground was clean & very nice to have hot showers. Our camp host was extremely helpful.

Quiet Camp ground

Great Amenities!

Repeat visitors

Great experience!

Beautiful!

Great stay!

Stockade South is great

Great time

French Creek

Custer Fishing