Photo: Quintin Soloviev, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized.
Tour the 21-story Art Deco capitol called the Skyscraper on the Prairie and ride up to the 18th-floor observation deck.
600 East Boulevard Ave · Bismarck, ND
Completed in 1934, the North Dakota State Capitol is a 21-story Art Deco tower nicknamed the Skyscraper on the Prairie. Guided tours cover the building's public areas, and the 18th-floor observation deck looks out up to 35 miles on a clear day and hosts a changing gallery of local art and historical photos. The 160-acre grounds have walking routes, an arboretum trail with petrified tree stumps, and statues including Sakakawea.
The closest stops to North Dakota State Capitol, ordered by straight-line distance. A few more like it, plus some different kinds of fun so you can build a full day.
Walk four galleries of North Dakota history, from dinosaur fossils and early peoples to the present day, on the State Capitol grounds.
Transit: reachable by public transit
Steps awaySwitch it up: Museums
North Dakota's state tourism office in Bismarck, promoting travel and publishing the official state travel guide.
Transit: reachable by public transit
0.9 mi awayMore like this
Walk a reconstructed Mandan earthlodge village and the rebuilt Custer House at a frontier fort site above the Missouri River.
4.8 mi awayMore like this
Earth-covered village site with a fortification ditch, interpreted by walking-tour signs near Bismarck.
13 mi awayMore like this
A North Dakota state park on the west bank of the Missouri River, known for trails, bison-grazed prairie, and river views.
29 mi awaySwitch it up: Sports & Outdoors
Enter a reconstructed earthlodge and walk prairie trails past the lodge depressions of Hidatsa villages on the Knife River.
47 mi awayMore like this
