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Theodore Roosevelt National Park is the undoubted highlight of any visit to North Dakota. Honoring the 26th president of the United States, himself a passionate conservationist, the park encompasses an area where the vast rolling Great Plains meet the rugged Badlands.

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At Stanton, visitors can learn more about the Hidatsa, the Northern Plains Indians that once lived in an area now preserved as the Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site. Here you can see the visible remains of 17th-century semi-subterranean earth-lodge dwellings. One of these lodges has been recreated and furnished as it would have looked like back in the day.

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Anyone interested in the wider history of North Dakota will be richly rewarded at the fascinating North Dakota Heritage Center in Bismarck. The state's largest museum features four galleries themed to represent a timeline that stretches back to prehistory. As a bonus, the Northern Lights atrium welcomes guests after dark and provides an eye-catching spectacle at night.

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The outstanding exhibit at the Scandinavian Heritage Park in Minot is the full-size replica of a mid-13th-century church that houses the engaging Gol Stave Church Museum. The park is unique in that it is the only outdoor museum in the world that features all five Nordic countries: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

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Established in 1907, Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park is the oldest state park in North Dakota. Located near Mandan, it features a replica Indian village and, among other buildings, the Custer House, home of General George Custer, who commanded the fort. It was from here in 1876 that Custer lead the 7th Calvary to defeat at the infamous Battle of the Little Bighorn.

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Watersport enthusiasts have long made Lake Sakakawea their home away from home. Nourished by the Missouri River, this immense reservoir serves as a nautical playground for sailing, kayaking, and motorboating. Located about 80 km (50 mi) from Bismarck, the lake sits near two state parks, with both offering overnight camping facilities and other recreational options.

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How does 232 km (144 mi) of non-motorized footpath sound? For seasoned hikers, the Maah Daah Hey Trail is the only way to explore North Dakota's back and beyond. The route winds through the Little Missouri National Grasslands across the Badlands, follows the Little Missouri River Valley, and takes in portions of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Along the way, nine campgrounds provide rest stops for anyone ambitious enough to take on the 10-day challenge. Otherwise, the city of Medora is often a basecamp for day trips on the trail.

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The North Dakota State Capitol building in Bismarck is landmarked by a 21-story art deco tower, which makes it the tallest structure in the state⁠—and one of the most unique state capitol designs in the country! The highlight, quite literally, of a tour of the building is the chance to reach the observation deck, which affords grand views of the city and surrounding countryside.

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Bismarck's Dakota Zoo appeals to all the family, and the kids will love meeting the many different animals. Among the more familiar residents are rarer guests like the Carpathian lynx (pictured) and Przewalski’s horse.

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So enamored was Roosevelt with the region that he built a log cabin, the Maltese Cross Cabin. It still stands, preserved by the National Park Service. A bigger ranch, called Elkhorn, has long vanished, though Roosevelt's writing desk is on display in the museum at the South Unit Visitor Center. The Elkhorn site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

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While traveling throughout the state look out for the colorful social gatherings known as powwows, when Native American people meet to dance, sing, socialize, and honor their cultures. In North Dakota, the United Tribes International Powwow held each September in the capital, Bismarck, is one of the largest powwows in the United States.

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Downtown Fargo has a treat in store for cinema fans: the Fargo Theatre. This art deco gem of a movie theater opened in 1926 and still screens films. It's the venue for the annual Fargo Film Festival for mostly independent productions.

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Fargo, founded in 1871, is always worth a look for its collection of museums, including the Plains Art Museum and the Fargo Air Museum. The majority of planes exhibited at the air museum are airworthy and regularly piloted on special guest flying days. Check the museum's website for airshow program dates.

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Between 1828 and 1867, Fort Union was the most important fur trade post on the Upper Missouri River. Partially reconstructed to its original 19th-century design, the site today stands as one of the earliest declared National Historic Landmarks, designated as such in 1961. It's located near the city of Williston.

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Within the park boundaries roam an astonishing variety of Great Plains wildlife, including bison, wild mustang horses, coyotes, big-horn sheep, and white-tailed deer. Among the notable year-round residents circling above are golden eagles.

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Fittingly, Abraham Lincoln is one of four US presidents set in stone on the colossal sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore, along with George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Theodore Roosevelt. Located near Keystone, Mount Rushmore is one of the most recognized tourist attractions in the United States, drawing more than two million visitors annually.

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Like its northern neighbor, South Dakota is also famed for its fabulous outdoors, exemplified by the Badlands National Park. Boasting an unworldly landscape of buttes, canyons, pinnacles, and spires, the park's inhospitable scenery is strangely compelling. The park has eight designated hiking trails in place. Alternatively, follow the Badlands Loop Road, which takes you alongside the Buffalo Gap National Grassland, one of the last remaining intact prairie landscapes in North America.

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Custer State Park is one of the nation's top wildlife destinations, not least for its sizeable bison herds. Easily accessible by road from Rapid City, the park captures the imagination with its varied terrain including rolling prairie grasslands and rugged mountains. Pictured are the famous Cathedral Spires seen from the Needles Highway.

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One of South Dakota's more unusual visitor attractions, the Wind Cave National Park just north of Hot Springs is home to a massive subterranean karstic cave system. Join a park ranger-guided tour of the caves to appreciate the unique and delicate cave structure known as "boxwork," which is found in few other places in the world. Image: National Park Service of the United States of America

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While in Hot Springs, be sure to take in the astonishing museum and paleontological facility known as the Mammoth Site. Over the years, the remains of 61 mammoths, including 58 North American Columbian and 3 woolly mammoths, have been recovered here. Visitors can admire the partially uncovered bones of these huge creatures, elephant-like mammals that roamed the Earth five million years ago.

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Stepping into Deadwood is to revisit South Dakota's Black Hills Gold Rush heyday. The town's historic main street preserves the destination's mid-19th-century character and on which stands a bar on the site of the original saloon in which Wild Bill Hickok was gunned down and killed. Hickok, together with another Old West legend, Calamity Jane, is buried in the town's Mount Moriah Cemetery.

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One of the state's most enchanting beauty spots is Spearfish Canyon, where a series of stunning waterfalls can be admired tucked away under a canopy of ponderosa and spruce pine trees in the Black Hills. The scenic canyon can be reached by vehicle and then explored on foot or by mountain bike.

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South Dakota sounds an unlikely location for the earliest surviving French piano, but it is in fact one of the star exhibits at the National Music Museum in Vermillion. Built by composer Louis Bas of Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, the instrument, made in 1781, features an inverted wrestplank and an ornately decorated soundboard. Other rare exhibits include a double chromatic harp from 1890, and one of only two Stradivari mandolins known to survive.

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The scarlet swallowtail butterfly is just one of over 800 free-flying butterflies from around the world housed in the year-round tropical oasis that is the delightful Butterfly House & Aquarium in Sioux Falls. Within the same facility is the Marine Cove Aquarium where, among other exhibits, you'll find the outstanding Pacific Tide Pool and the Shark & Stingray Touch Pool.

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Sioux Falls is also noted for the Old Courthouse Museum. Housed over three floors within an eye-catching 1800s-era quartzite building, the collection chronicles the history and heritage of the state including its railroads, Native American artistry and culture, life traveling on the prairie, and country towns.

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South Dakota's unassuming capital city is Pierre. Founded in 1880 on the east bank of the Missouri River opposite Fort Pierre, the city is worth exploring for its State Capitol building, completed in 1910. The interior is awash with polished marble and Italian terrazzo tile.

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Running through Sioux Falls is the Big Sioux River, which tumbles and cascades through the city's park to lend the destination its name. Falls Park features a café, visitor center, and observation tower, and the remains of an old mill.

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Waiting to frighten visitors to Sioux Falls' Washington Pavilion of Arts and Science is "Stan," the T-Rex skeleton that stands tall in the facility's Kirby Science Discovery Center. Elsewhere, movies, theater productions, and visual art presentations are hosted in the auditorium, while eight spacious galleries host regular exhibitions of leading regional, national, and international artists.

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This Sioux Falls zoological facility also incorporates the Delbridge Museum of Natural History. And while the museum displays 150 mounted animals, including 38 "vanishing species," the zoo houses the real thing, including this handsome snow leopard.

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Located 6 km (4 mi) east of Sioux Falls is the Big Sioux Recreation Area. Crisscrossed with walking and biking trails, plus a number of bridleways, this wonderfully inviting recreational environment is dissected by the Big Sioux River.

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If you're staying in Rapid City, consider an overnight at Hotel Alex Johnson. Built in 1927, this is one of America's oldest—and spookiest— hotels. In its time the property has hosted six US Presidents, from Calvin Coolidge to Ronald Reagan. Its most famous guests, however, were Cary Grant and Alfred Hitchcock, who stayed here during the filming of the classic 1959 thriller 'North by Northwest.' Various floors and rooms are reputed to be haunted. One ghost is said to be that of a young bride who leapt to her death from room 812 shortly after the hotel opened!

Sources: (United Tribes Powwow) (Britannica)

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The Dakotas is the collective term for the US states of North Dakota and South Dakota. The Dakota Territory was split in two and divided into North and South in 1889. The separation, however, never impinged upon the shared culture, heritage, and geography that these two landlocked Midwestern states enjoy. In fact, finding out what each state has to offer means combining a journey that takes in some of America's most celebrated national parks and monuments and the ancestral land of several Native American tribes. It's also about dividing your time between various museums and historic landmarks, and following an extended outdoors recreation itinerary. Indeed, getting to know the Dakotas is all about discovering the best of both worlds.

Thinking of visiting? Then click through for ideas of where to go and what to see.