Two National Parks · 48 miles apart
Badlands or Wind Cave
Badlands had 1,139,361 recreation visits in 2025 and Wind Cave had 606,258. Wind Cave charges no entrance fee while Badlands charges $30 per private vehicle. Badlands holds an International Dark Sky designation and Wind Cave does not. On the rest they match, since neither uses timed entry. The two parks are 48 miles apart in a straight line.
| Badlands National Park | Wind Cave National Park | |
|---|---|---|
| Designation | National Park | National Park |
| States | South Dakota | South Dakota |
| Recreation visits, 2025 | 1,139,361 | 606,258 |
| Entrance fee, private vehicle | $30 (Private Vehicle) | None, free to enter |
| Timed entry reservation | No | No |
| Campgrounds | 2 | 1 |
| International Dark Sky Park | Yes | No |
| Bird species, NPSpecies | 209 | 217 |
| Hours or season | Open all day, every day | Open all day, every day |
Badlands visits by yearWind Cave visits by year
Fees, hours, campgrounds and timed entry from the NPS API. Visits from the NPS Visitor Use Statistics system. Dark sky status from DarkSky International. Bird counts from the NPSpecies inventory. Data refreshed October 14, 2026. Other pairs.