Sioux Falls

Perhaps the Mid-West's best smaller city.

Sioux Falls, South Dakota made my list of America's best small cities for a few reasons. It has one of the country's most beautiful public parks. It also has a walkable downtown area with a quaint main street. It also has a relaxed and calm feel perfect for exploring on foot with no time urgency. I have been there a few times for about 24 hours each time while passing through on a summertime road trip. While I found a day to be the right time for a good experience, the city sprawls a bit and you could easily fill more time, especially if an event or occasion brought you there.

Duration: One full day

Budget: $200 with hotel and dinner

Getting (there and around)

Sioux Falls is located at the intersection of Interstate 90 (west to east) and Interstate 29 (north to south). It's likely you are driving a car and for the most part you will want to have it. However, once you are downtown, it is fairly walkable and there is also a convenient trolley that will take you to the main parts, including Falls Park.

Staying

I was pretty happy with the Hampton Inn in Sioux Falls. It was clean, had a recent refresh, and was reasonably priced for the road trip traveler. It was perfectly located within walking distance of downtown, but also was right along the Big Sioux River. It had a nice bar with outdoor seating over the water and a walking path for some morning exercise or evening stroll.

Doing

The thing that you must do is Falls Park (pictured at top). It is a unique, beautiful public park minutes from downtown and lined with the Big Sioux River's waterfalls. It's perfect for relaxing, enjoying the views, a leisurely walk and even exploring industrial history from the past.

The downtown has one of my favorite main streets with both high end fashion, unique gifts, fun food and everything in between. It is flat, walkable, clean and safe. Easy to spend a couple hours and even enjoy an outdoor meal.

I recommend taking the trolley to hit a number of the main sites and landmarks in a short amount of time. Most things are on a couple parallel streets.

Eating

The only place I've had a proper meal (other than hotel type snack or meal) is Minerva's, which is located in the heart of the main street. It's part of a regional chain of upscale American restaurants, but had a few nice seats on the street as well as a decent dining room. But I'd seek it out an go again as the food was great and appeared a lot of locals were enjoying it too. The humorous part, however, is that the staff raved about the cheese and salad bar. It was a decent salad bar, but the cheese options were mostly processed cheese.

Photography Tips

Definitely go to the top of the tower at Falls Park. It provides an unmatched view over the park with downtown in the background.

Day Planning

Day 1: Start a late morning with a trolley ride to a number of landmarks before visiting Falls Park. Spend the afternoon shopping downtown and then settle in for dinner.