Should you visit Gainesville or Rapid City?
If you're trying to decide where to visit between Gainesville or Rapid City, this travel cost comparison can help. The overall cost of travel is usually a consideration when deciding where to go next, and the cost comparison below can help you decide based on the average prices from other travelers along with your own travel budget.
Gainesville
Home to the University of Florida as well as Santa Fe College, the town of Gainesville has all of the shopping, entertainment, and restaurants that you could want in a college town - plus easy access to a number of outdoor adventures from canoeing, diving, and kayaking to birding, fishing, hiking, and biking. Some of the top features include the Butterfly Rainforest, the Florida Museum of Natural History, the Kanapaha Botanical Gardens, and Devil's Millhopper Geological State Park.
Rapid City
Rapid City is a large city in western South Dakota that is considered the gateway to the Black Hills National Forest. Rapid City is often used as a base for all types of outdoor activities, including tours to the infamous Mount Rushmore and surrounding parks. The city has a budding art scene and offers the perfect combination of a metropolitan city surrounded by stunning natural scenery. Rapid City experiences the best weather from June-September with temperatures in the 70's and 80's Fahrenheit. Temperatures drop to the low 20's F in the winter and the area receives the most rain pour in April and May.
Which city is cheaper, Rapid City or Gainesville?
These are the overall average travel costs for the two destinations.
The average daily cost (per person) in Gainesville is $135, while the average daily cost in Rapid City is $93. These costs include accommodation (assuming double occupancy, so the traveler is sharing the room), food, transportation, and entertainment. While every person is different, these costs are an average of past travelers in each city. Below is a breakdown of travel costs for Gainesville and Rapid City in more detail.
Accommodation
A hotel room in Gainesville is about $138 This assumes double occupancy and modest accommodations.
Double occupancy rooms typically run around $96 in Rapid City For nicer amenities and a premiere location, you can expect to pay a bit more.
Local Transportation
The cost of a taxi ride in Gainesville is significantly more than public transportation. On average, past travelers have spent $33 per person, per day, on local transportation in Gainesville.
Public transportation tends to be much less expensive in Rapid City than paying for a taxi or private car service, as is expected. Typically, people spend $42 on transportation in Rapid City on average per day.
Hired Cars and Shuttles in Gainesville
Some specific examples of transportation prices in Gainesville:
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Private Transfer from Gainesville to Port Canaveral:
$658
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Private Transfer from Gainesville to Orlando-Sanford (SFB) Airport:
$676
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Private Transfer from Gainesville to Orlando (MCO) Airport:
$453
Is it cheaper to fly into Gainesville or Rapid City?
Prices for flights to both Rapid City and Gainesville change regularly based on dates and travel demand. We suggest you find the best prices for your next trip on Kayak, because you can compare the cost of flights across multiple airlines for your prefered dates.
Food
While meal prices in Gainesville can vary, the average travelers spends about $46 per day on food. Based on the spending habits of previous travelers, when dining out, an average meal in Gainesville should cost around $18 per person. Breakfast prices are usually a little cheaper than lunch or dinner. The price of food in sit-down restaurants in Gainesville is often higher than fast food prices or street food prices.
In Rapid City travelers spend around $19 a day on food. You can save money by choosing casual restaurants or food stalls, or you can spend plenty more by dining in nicer restaurants at every meal.
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Food
Meals for one day
Gainesville $46
Rapid City $19
Typical Food prices in Gainesville
Some typical examples of dining costs in Gainesville are as follows:
Entertainment
Entertainment and activities in Gainesville typically cost an average of $14 per person, per day. This includes fees paid for admission tickets to museums and attractions, day tours, and other sightseeing expenses.
Sightseeing expenses in Rapid City, including the cost of admission tickets for day tours, museums, and attractions, usually cost an average of $21 per day, per person.
Typical Entertainment prices in Gainesville
Some typical examples of activities, tours, and entrance ticket prices in Gainesville are as follows:
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Manatee Tour for Two
$98
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Tour Guide Tip
$5.00
Tours and Activities in Gainesville
Some specific costs of activities, tours, and entrance tickets for Gainesville are as follows:
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Butterfly Rainforest at Florida Museum of Natural History Ticket:
$14
Tours and Activities in Rapid City
For Rapid City, here are a few prices for actual activities, tours, and tickets provided by various companies:
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Mount Rushmore and Black Hills Bus Tour with Live Commentary:
$84
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Bus Tour of Mount Rushmore and the Black Hills:
$123
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Bike Adventure on the Mickelson Trail - Private:
$267
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Southern Black Hills Bicycle Tour - Private:
$267
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Private Mickelson Trail Bicycling Tour/ Two Person Minimum:
$299
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Private Jeep Safari and Hiking Tour/ Two Person Minimum:
$307
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Private Badlands National Park Day Tour:
$315
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Private Mt Rushmore & Southern Black Hills Tour:
$329
Alcohol
The average person spends about $39 on alcoholic beverages in Gainesville per day. The more you spend on alcohol, the more fun you might be having despite your higher budget.
Typically, people visiting Rapid City spend on average $5.54 on alcoholic beverages per person, per day.
When we compare the travel costs of actual travelers between Gainesville and Rapid City, we can see that Gainesville is more expensive. And not only is Rapid City much less expensive, but it is actually a significantly cheaper destination. So, traveling to Rapid City would let you spend less money overall. Or, you could decide to spend more money in Rapid City and be able to afford a more luxurious travel style by staying in nicer hotels, eating at more expensive restaurants, taking tours, and experiencing more activities. The same level of travel in Gainesville would naturally cost you much more money, so you would probably want to keep your budget a little tighter in Gainesville than you might in Rapid City.
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