Ben Reifel Visitor Center

The Ben Reifel Visitor Center at Cedar Pass is Badlands National Park’s main visitor center and the best place to get oriented before you drive the Badlands Loop Road. Inside you will find museum exhibits, the park film Land of Stone and Light, a staffed information desk with a self-serve passport stamp station, and a bookstore run by the Badlands Natural History Association. The standout feature is the Fossil Preparation Lab, where you can watch staff work on real fossils from the park, though it runs on a seasonal schedule. Ranger programs and talks leave from here throughout the summer, including the evening hike that starts outside the building. The center is just steps from the Door, Window, and Notch Trailheads and Cedar Pass Campground, so it works as an easy first or last stop.