Chip fans should head for the International Vinegar Museum 001 605 486 0075 in

Chip fans should head for the International Vinegar Museum (001 605 486 0075; ) in Roslyn, while another interesting site is the South Dakota Outhouse Museum (001 605 835 8002) in Gregory.HOW DO I GET THERE?No airline offers direct flights to either Dakota from the UK: the nearest international gateway is Minneapolis, served by Northwest from Gatwick (0870 5074074; ). The Corn Palace in Mitchell (001 605 996 5567; ) was designed in 1892: early settlers decorated the exterior of this onion-domed Moorish-style building with corn, grains and grasses and have continued this practice ever since. You can get a feel of life in an 1890s pioneer town by looking round the restored buildings at Prairie Village (001 605 256 3644) in Madison, SD.Fans of Little House on the Prairie should head for De Smet, SD, home of Laura Ingalls Wilder, who wrote the books (001 800 880 3383; ). Though the Black Hills area can be visited year round, there can be a lot of snow in winter and some attractions are open only from May to October.CAN I HAVE A GO AT BEING A COWBOY?How about a stay at the Triple R Ranch, Keystone, SD (001 605 666 4605; ) or perhaps ND’s Knife River Ranch (001 701 983 4290; ) near Golden Valley? Both of these ranches offer loads of horse riding and other western activities in lovely surroundings, dotted with such evocatively-named settlements as Dodge, Marshall and Zap.WHAT ELSE IS THERE TO SEE?SD’s splendid 1910 State Capitol building in Pierre (001 605 773 3765) is open 8am-10pm daily. .If you like the sound of a hotel that mixes Tudor, Germanic and Lakota influences, head for the Hotel Alex Johnson, 523 Sixth Street (001 605 342 1210; ) A room in low season costs $63 (£40).

There’s so much to do in the area that many visitors limit their Dakotas experiences to a stay in the Black Hills with a side trip via Rapid City to SD’s Badlands. Rapid City, the state’s second-largest city, is at the east edge of the Black Hills. The two most interesting are Wind Cave National Park and Jewel Cave National Monument. In the town of Hot Springs at the south end of the hills is Mammoth Site (001 605 745 6017; ), which contains the world’s largest concentration of Columbian and woolly mammoth bones in their primary context (i.e where they actually died). Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday also frequented the town, but didn’t end up dead there. Though no Las Vegas, Deadwood has several casinos and many historic buildings.OTHER BLACK HILLS HIGHLIGHTS?The hills are riddled with cave networks, several of which are open to the public.

In the mining town of Deadwood is Mount Moriah Cemetery, which contains the graves of James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok (who was killed in a saloon on Deadwood’s Main Street) and Calamity Jane. The excellent Indian Museum of North America at the Crazy Horse Memorial (see Mountain Faces box) is also well worth a visit. The renowned Lakota chief was originally buried near Standing Rock just over the ND border.There are cowboys, too. The final resting place of Sitting Bull, close to Mobridge, SD, is marked by a bust from the sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski.

In nearby Mitchell, stop at the Prehistoric Indian Village Museum (001 605 996 5473; ) – in addition to a mock-up of an earth lodge and the remains of underground food storage units, you may be able to see archaeologists at work as they continue to explore the site.Learn about the Sioux Nation at the Akta Lakota Museum in Chamberlain, SD (001 605 734 3455; ). The original inhabitants, the sedentary Mandan, were devastated by smallpox in the 18th century.Also in ND, the Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site (001 701 745 3300; ) contains agricultural remnants of the Northern Plains Indians.Down in Pierre, SD, a huge, earth-covered building, part of the Cultural Heritage Center (001 605 773 3458; ), is dedicated to American Indian culture. On-Slant-Village in Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park (001 701 667 6340; ), across the Missouri River from Bismarck, ND, is an excellent recreation of earth lodge structures. Other musts are drives along the Needles Highway, which twists and turns past towering granite formations and through narrow tunnels, and the Iron Mountain Road.WHERE CAN I LEARN ABOUT AMERICAN INDIAN CULTURE?The Dakotas have several fascinating sites for those with an interest in Native American (particularly Sioux) history. The Park is an easy drive from Rapid City; be sure to take scenic State Road 44 (rather than Interstate 90) in one direction at least.THE BLACK HILLS: UNINVITING?Certainly not. These uplands, which cover an area measuring 65 by 125 miles in western South Dakota, are dramatically beautiful.