If you are headed to Sturgis for the Black Hills Rally and Races in Sturgis South Dakota you may be wondering how much your trip to the Black Hills will cost? As with any vacation it's always best to have a budget and plan your trip based on your budget. So with that in mind here are some estimates of typical costs related to a vacation to Sturgis South Dakota for the Bike Rally.
Lodging or Camping:
Hotels in and near Sturgis can be very tough to find during Rally week. If you can find a Hotel room expect to pay nearly $300-$400 per night for a Super 8 type room. If you are camping you usually reserve a space that covers you for 15 days that allow for time before and after the Sturgis rally. This can range from $100-$175 per camper using a tent site. If you have an RV expect a charge of $400 for 30 Amp or $450 for 50 Amp service. Many campgrounds also charge a per camper fee on top of this so add that $100-$175 back on. You can rent a house for around $2500.00 which might work for groups of riders.
Gas:
Since you'll be riding a motorcycle you will obviously be consuming a fair quantity of gasoline. Typically you'll get around 25 miles per gallon so to figure out your gasoline costs look at it as $12 per 100 miles. Take your distance to and from Sturgis and then look at the riding you'll do on a day to day basis. When I tour around the Black Hills I usually ride about 300 miles per day. So for me 1200 miles to travel to and from Sturgis and 900 miles touring gives me a fuel cost of $252.00. Of course if you trailer your motorcycle you'll need to adjust your costs for the MPG that your truck or car or RV gets.
Food:
Much of the food you'll eat is fast in nature. You'll eat a lot of fair type foods and diner type foods. It would be fair to estimate $15 - $30 per day for food (not including alcohol) depending on where you like to eat.
Partying:
If you like to party you can expect to spend a lot on alcohol. Just like a concert or football game if you buy beer in a bar or campground concerts you can expect to pay $6-$7 per beer + tip. So how much do you drink? Take that number of beers and multiply by $7 to get your estimate. You can save money at some campgrounds by keeping an inexpensive cooler and ice and buying beer by the case.
So for a couple of riders on a 5 day trip from the Midwest here's the cost estimates I've figured. Tent camping in around Sturgis $300.00. Fuel for both riders $500.00. Food at $50 per day for the pair $250 and three days of partying $180.00 I didn't include souvenirs but from my figures this trip for two riders would run about $1230.00 I'd recommend just bring $1500 and you'd be covered. As you can see Sturgis is a very economical vacation but it has a lot of cost variables that will affect the total cost of your vacation to the Sturgis Rally in the Black Hills of South Dakota.