Game Lodge Campground

Our site 7E, was full sun, morning or night. Could not level the 20' van, the incline was subtle but pronounced. Park host offered another spot some hours after our arrival, but we were already set up. Restrooms are super clean and convenient, great shower. Sites are well cared for and park is set back from road with paved walking trails in both directions, buffalo in sight often. But $37 for a reservation ($30 + $7 non resident fee), and then $20 for a day pass to the state park made it pretty pricey for what we got. Able to walk to Game Lodge for a nice dinner, which was a whole lot more expensive but a nice meal in a pretty dining room. Lots of family campfires, which always spoil sleeping with the windows open.

Just drive to your site with your reservation. Everything was excellent. Beautiful park full of wildlife. Water available next to dump station. Clean bathrooms and showers. Top notch all around. Get your South Dakota State Park annual pass for $36, $54 for two. South Dakota is a well kept secret. Custer State Park is better than some Nat Parks we have been to and way less crowded. We didn't want to leave.

AT&T cell service was excellent without the booster.

This campsite is in the heart of Custer SP. The campsite has coin operated laundry room and RV dump station. Our campsite was very shady and quiet. The camp host was very friendly and knowledgeable. The campground is near the State Game Lodge and General Store. There are several hiking trails nearby and a nice kids playground. The campgrounds have two nice restrooms with showers.

Due to hardly any AT&T cell service in our Oerville Campground, no showers, no electric, and no dump station, we canceled our next reservation in the similar Bismarck Primitive Campground and luckily booked another site back at Game Lodge Campground which provides all the above. We forfeited the $22.00 we had previously paid for one night at Bismarck and spent another $39.50 for this one important night at Game Lodge, which for some of us would seem pretty stupid. But I don’t care. Our next planned adventure is for three nights, weather permitting, in the Badlands and we wanted to get better prepared for the coming unknown. We packed up early and arrived back at Game Lodge around 11:30 AM . Our site 33E was vacant so we set up camp. Next, a nice shower in their very clean restrooms and a load of laundry was completed as well in their nice little laundromat. A short nap followed and then some more relaxation in preparation for our next day of exciting travel. All worth it as Game Lodge is the best place to camp IMO in all The Black Hills.

Notwithstanding the injustices festered here, this park is one of the most beautiful and astounding places we have ever been. Words cannot describe the majesty of this place. Game Lodge Campground itself is a gem as it provides, if desired, electricity on sites as well as the cleanest shower rooms and a coin-operated laundry facility. Our site was 51E and it cost us about $34.00 per night. We were lucky to get three nights at this site, and still wish we had more. The park’s main information center is across the street and there is a stadium seating theater inside and a beautiful but short large-screen video showing off what the park has to offer. There are also interactive displays and materials in which to get a better idea of what to do and see throughout the entire park system while visiting. The actual Game Lodge is also less than a mile away and offers very good food at reasonable prices. Game Lodge Campground is centrally located to just about everything.

We stayed at the Game Lodge campground in Custer State Park for five nights beginning May 8, 2022. Granted, we were early in the season but Game Lodge and three other park campgrounds were the only ones of the eight open. Yet, when we arrived on Sunday evening the campground couldn't have been half full. Although it did fill to almost capacity by later in the week. The campground was clean and organized, the utilities worked, the bath-house was immaculate and the campground host was terrific. We even had two bison greet us from the other side of the fence (to keep them out of the campground). In fact they pretty much hung around the Lodge/Campground/Visitor's Center all week. This campground was perfect for two older adults but didn't have much to offer children but a small play area and a swimming pond. If you're traveling with a family you'd be better served by some of the other more resort-style campgrounds. Game Lodge campground is rather out-in-the-open with few trees which was great given the time of year and the limited warm sunshine. If you value a more in-the-woods style of camping the Blue Bell Campground might be more to your liking. None the less, Game Lodge is centrally located to all of the driving loops in Custer, and the other nearby sites such as Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Wind Cave National Park, the Black Hills and even the Badlands are only 90 minutes away. In five days driving the park roadways we saw over 50 bison, long horn sheep, antelope, turkeys, pheasants, and hundreds of prairie dogs! All from the car, or from short hiking trails. All in all a fantastic place to visit, and a great place to camp.

Reservations easily made online. Stayed here November 5th-8th. Park not very busy. Only one bath house still open, but did not use. Paved roads and sites, easy to level. Fire pit and picnic table at site. Lots of trees and grass. Sites are spaced out nicely, reminds of National Park, COE campgrounds. Water spigot and dump were still open. Good Verizon signal. Able to text, search the internet, and stream videos. Would definitely stay here again.

Join us on a walking tour of the Custer State Park Game Lodge Campground. Custer State Park is the most popular state Park in South Dakota. The Game Lodge Campground is the most accessible campground within the park. In this video, I show you the best campsites and provide a walking tour of campground amenities. Verizon cellular service clocked in at 8.32 Mbps download speed and 3.53 Mbps upload speed. AT&T cellular service clocked in at 80.5 Mbps download speed and 3.94 Mbps upload speed. T-Mobile cellular service clocked in at 0.42 Mbps download speed and 0.01 Mbps upload speed.