Custer State Park is a must. There is enough to do there to spend a week. Grace Coolidge campground was fine - quiet and clean, with a bike path that connects it to the convenience store and Lodge (useful for internet access + laundry + restaurant). Our site (10E) was located along the stream, which made it quite bucolic.

The Custer State Park Grace Coolidge Campground is located on US Highway 16A. In this video, I give you a walking tour of the Custer State Park Grace Coolidge Campground. I show you the best campsites and other campground amenities. I did not find a dump station or fresh water fill at this campground. A speed test failed for cellular service on AT&T, and there was no cellular connectivity for both Verizon and T-Mobile at this location.

Of all the campgrounds at Custer State Park, this is my favorite. It is centrally located near visitor centers and park restaurants/bars, hiking trails, and a short distance to the single dump station and water fill. Campground has beautiful shade trees, the cleanest & nicest restroom/bathhouse you will find at any campground, electricity pedestals, grills & firepit. Gravel pads were level, plenty space between campers. There was a 3 mile paved bike/hike trail that originated at Grace Coolidge. A herd of bighorn sheep came through the campground almost daily. The other nice campground within Custer is at Sylvan Lake, but it's fairly remote from most of the park. Sylvan seemed to have a great selection of hiking trails. For cell service, take a short drive up the road to Pavillion or Visitor Center.

Of all the State Park gems we have stayed in while in South Dakota, this is easily the best of them all. What an unbelievable State Park. We camped for 9 nights in site 13, which is out in the sun (which was no problem in early June) and next to the road (which is quiet at night, very busy during the day). Our site was paved and level, and very easy to back into. Potable water fill at the bath house with a dump station a couple of miles down the road. Plenty of room at our spot. Not a lot of privacy, but there was a great view of some granite cliffs just out our door. There is a paved walking trail which goes for several miles toward the Visitor Center which comes right into the campground. The highlight of this camp was the near-daily buffalo grazing which took place mere feet from our door. Amazing!! The only downside here is the complete lack of a cell signal in the campground. A signal could be had (Verizon) a couple of miles down the road. Hiking trails here are absolutely spectacular and too numerous to list. Three stunning lakes offer ample paddling opportunities and there is just a ton of things to do from a wildlife loop drive, to Mt. Rushmore, to the Needles Highway, to the town of Custer, to Wind Cave Nat'l Park, to.... well you get the point. We could have easily spent another week here. Several other campgrounds here, all of which looked quite good, though Center Lake would be tight in some places for a large rig.

We stayed here in August and loved Custer State Park. So much to see and do in the park. The bathrooms were very clean. No cell service in this campground but there is some in various parts of the park. The picnic table and fire pit were on the wrong side but site was fairly level and paved, sites are small we have a 21’ TT and did ok. No dump station but there is one in the park not far from the campground. Also close to Mount Rushmore.

We had a nice shady spot. We camped in July and were grateful for the shade, it was hot! Over half the sites are shady, but a couple are in the direct sunlight. The reservation website has pictures of each campsite. FYI, you have to make the reservations early, the campground fills up fast. Because of the high demand, you can make reservations up to a year in advance. Nice to have electricity to have air conditioning during the hottest part of the day. We stayed 2 nights and checked out the sights. We no cell service at the campground, we hit the needles highway and wildlife trail at crack of dawn. It was great, early morning traffic very light. I took my dog for a morning walk and you could see and hear mountain goats running around on the top of a tall cliff. They must be really sure footed because a fall would have been life threatening for the goats. No water or sewer, but we brought our own water.

We stayed 2 nights in early July 2020. We really enjoyed our time here!