Best RV Parks & Resorts near Aurora, SD

This is a truly magical place, and if you’ve ever read any of the Little House on the Prairie books and are anywhere near De Smet South Dakota, do yourself a favor and swing by.

The Campground

The Ingalls Homestead consists of two main parts. First is the "campground," which is a basically a large grassy slope where you can set up your tent for just $10. It includes hot showers, flush toilets, and a few picnic tables and fire-pits throughout the field. There's also fairly basic RV parking for $30 with electric and water hookups and a dump site as well as some basic but cool covered wagons for $60. We arrived just as the sun was setting, found a lovely spot for our tent, and then paid in the shop the next morning. The bathrooms were clean, the showers were a little strange but also clean and hot (basically a large room cordoned off by several shower curtains).

The Homestead

De Smet is where the Ingalls family lived during the "Long Winter" of 1880-1881, and the Ingalls Homestead is a "family run business" that brings to life many activities from the 1880s such as visiting a one-room schoolhouse, making a corn on the cob doll, going on a covered wagon ride, etc. It's truly hands-on and some of our favorite time was spent hanging out in "Pa's" lean-to barn with the barn kitties and riding horses and ponies. My oldest son also learned how to drive the covered wagon to the schoolhouse down the road (another treat). Each station on the self-guided tour has an activity with incredibly nice and informed hosts. Most of the buildings are based on the original plans and descriptions from the Ingalls family, though no original buildings remain on the site. Visiting the homestead is an additional $15 per person over the age of five, and while you could camp without visiting the homestead, it was definitely worth a half or full-day visit.

Another beautiful state park. The RV sites are spacious, level and well-arranged. The Verizon cell service is not perfect but manageable. The entire park is very clean and well-maintained. The dump station is very accessible and well-equipped. Overall, this is a great park. If it had full hookups, it would be perfect!

A very cool and unique campsite on the grounds of the Laura Ingalls Homestead near De Smet, SD. Unique in that you can camp right on the open prairie and for only $10 a night. Just pick a spot of grass and you’re good to go. There are some picnic tables you can choose to be near or just head out on the frontier. There are also options to camp in a covered wagon as well as a bunkhouse. RV spots are available and include water and electric hookups. Well appointed and clean bathrooms (electricity and flush toilets) are on site with showers.

The other really cool thing about this spot—especially for families—are all of the fun activities at the homestead itself. There’s a one-room school house with tours, a barn with animals, a covered wagon ride where you (or your kids) can lead the horse-drawn wagon, opportunities to learn how to make a jump rope, twist hay, wash clothes—all things the Ingalls family had to do on a farm from long ago.

A night or two in the summer is great though with no shade for the campsites field, it can get warm but evenings on the prairie are gorgeous. All in all, a great spot to set up that is cheap but with nice facilities and staff.

Large spots maintained very well. RV spots have electric. Many spots have shade, some are near the lake, and some with lake views. They have small cabins for rent, as well as paddle boards, kayaks, and canoes. There is a lower park that’s great for families, with activities on the weekends , a large playground, and easy lake access. The other park is mainly spaces, with a large grassy area in the center. They spray regularly for bugs, which is extremely important to me! The area has many geocaches as well!

Small clean campground no reservations needed easy access to highway. Great place for an overnight stay on our way to Sturgis $25 a night full hookup and water if needed

Beautiful area, very shaded by trees in the RV camping spots. Clean bathrooms. Quiet camp grounds and easy access to the river. Loading area for kayaks and canoes right next to the campgrounds.

This park is tucked in the middle of a Brandon neighborhood. I've always been a tenter in the past. I am new to RV camping. I was pleasantly surprised how much space there was between each campsite. We stayed in 37E. It was level as most of the sites appeared to be. It's spring now so the trees are just starting to bud but this site will have some shade and privacy when everything blooms. The picnic table and fire ring were clean and in good repair. I enjoyed my stay here. My only criticism is the overly full vault toilets. I'll spare you the details but it was un pleasant. I would visit again!

We happened upon this park during the 50th anniversary of the park so there were lots of park events happening. This is a very clean and well maintained park. We tent camp so much of my observations are geared for the tent camper. We stayed at site 34E, a long but narrow and slanted site. We were lucky to find some awkward somewhat flat place for our two tents. This site would be just fine for RV camping but I’d steer clear for tent camping. I’d estimate that 50% of the sites are flat and suitable for tents.
Here are some key take aways from our 3 night stay in late July 2022. -clean and well maintained park

• fair wireless service for Verizon
• well placed and clean shower / restroom houses
• nice playgrounds
• great options on the park for paddle boarding, kayaking, water play as well as additional options at near by Devil’s Gultch and Split Rock parks.
• Very well shaded park
• Grocery store less than 10 min away.
• Mosquitos weren’t a problem during out stay with a little bug spray prevention.
• Nice aluminum picnic tables at all sites. Standard fire pits with grilling attachments.
• employees will enforce local approved fire wood use Negatives:
• lots of biting flies
• if you like private sites this isn’t for you The interesting:
• this is easily the most heavily staffed state park I’ve ever stayed at. If you like a constant park employee presence you’ll like it. I found it to be excessive however. During a 30 min time period we counted 8 employee vehicles to two park visitors driving by. It seemed to create unnecessary road traffic and noise at times. Park employees walk the park on foot in the dark at the 11pm to enforce quite time. There aren’t going to be any site reservation mix ups there either. Park employees constantly check sites and make sure reservations are correct. The camp host was very nice and makes the round frequently.

Lovely sites by a small river. Clean and well maintained. Free showers and even a pool in season. For $30 for hook-ups the price can’t be beat.

Such a nice campground. Nice big shady trees and manicured lawns. They sell campfire wood for 6$ a bundle on site so we had some great campfires going. They have nice long paved trails for walking and biking. We got to walk our dogs on it to avoid tick contact from the grassy trails. There was a cool suspension bridge that was fun to walk on. The showers were very nice and hot without a lot of traffic. 

There is no sewage hookup or water hook ups. They do that 50/30 amp sites available. There is a dump station right at the entrance to dump when you leave and it also has a separate fresh water station if you want to fill up right when you get there so youre not traveling with a bunch of water in your tank. 

It was a great campground and the falls were close by and palisades state park was also in the area with a nice hike. 

There is an extra $8 car fee per night that you have to pay on top of any camping fees. If you are staying longer than 5 days it better to just get the annual parking pass for $32, which would cover parking for all state parks and recreation areas in SD. 

They have great discounts if you are a veteran and south dakota resident.

Small campground in Montrose. Electric hook ups, and a place to dump and fill with water. Pool is across the street which was nice for our kids.

We stayed here in Aug 2019 - although it was a short visit, we had a nice time. Wasn’t busy, kids liked playground, walking path, and checking out Mortimer’s cabin. Electric hook-ups.

We passed through Palisades State Park earlier this year and spent some time in the day-use area so we knew it was a good place to camp as we passed through South Dakota on another trip. One main (clean) bathhouse with two showers plus two pit toilets for those camping farther away on the loop. A mix of cabins, tent, and electric sites. Lots of trees. LONG driveways and some sites (such as 34E) are very large. The website allows you to view sites, so you know in advance what to expect. Nice walking trails and picnic areas.

Passing town of Arlington and found a couple of city parks with electrical hookup and about six sites with picnic tables! On busy truck route but very quiet after dark! Nice town to bike or walk! Grocery store, gas mini mart and Main St all close. No vehicle needed!

Headed west and looking for stay. Beautiful little campground with electric n water hook ups Great setting in park near river and towns Rec fields. Fun local bar, Post Office and coffee shop are short walk. Lots of walking paths. Americana at its best

We stayed here in a travel trailer. The site was level with lots of shade and grass. Spacious sites,not too close. Our site was along the river but it wasn't easy to access the water from our site. The biking, walking trail was great! Lots of bugs and mosquitoes. It was very quiet here, and the rangers were really nice. We had electricity and could access water close by. Only a long drop toilet nearby, but there were bath houses. There was firewood for sale at the entrance.

I enjoyed my stay here--except for my neighbors. It was beautiful, filled with trees, along a river, great bathrooms and private showers. Very clean and well maintained. I just stayed one night in my van in an electric site, but they also have tent sites with no hookups. I would recommend this place.

We stayed here for one night on the way to the Black Hills in South Dakota. The campground is in the far south western corner of Minnesota about 30 minutes for Sioux Falls South Dakota. The site is in the middle of grasslands and cornfields. They have very organized park staff that have an efficient check in process. The campground has some nice ponds and bike routes. It’s located next to a bison range and tours are available. Unfortunately the camp sites are packed in on top of each other with no privacy. You have a lot of local large RV users using loud generators and playing music until after midnight. They have good facilities with showers and dump stations. During our stay, the water in the camp tested positive for bacteria and the camp was giving out free drinking water. Since you don’t have many options in the area, this may be a good choice. The overcrowding was our main issue.