Top 5 Budget-friendly North American Ski Resorts

Join Budget Travel as we continue our series Discover USA. Discover USA explores states, counties, cities, and everything in between. Each week we will explore a new US destination to help you find things to do, itinerary ideas, and plan where to go next.
This week, we invite you to Discover what North Dakota has to offer. North Dakota is known as a destination for avid outdoorsmen with stunning lakes and rivers, abundant wildlife, and excellent walleye fishing. The state is also home to numerous cultural centers and and museums, with a particular focus on its Native and early American history.
Culinary
Pitchfork Steak Fondue – courtesy of medorand.com
North Dakota leaves no point on the culinary spectrum untouched. Foodies will find award-winning fine dining, breweries, wineries, cultural cuisine, locally owned restaurants serving comfort food classics, and aromatic coffee shops. Follow the culinary trail across North Dakota and sample authentic German and Norwegian dishes, funky and local fare, and refined farm-to-table entrees – just remember to leave room for dessert.
Farm to Table: Chefs across North Dakota are creating dishes and experiences that reflect the freshest unique ingredients and cultural traditions in their local areas.Local Fare: From western steakhouses to family comfort food, the local favorite dining spots in each community offer a window into some of North Dakota’s hidden gem eateries.Culinary Trail: For a greatest hits list of North Dakota’s dining spots this culinary trail hits all the high notes, from fine dining and cultural cuisine, to breweries, wineries and distilleries.Good Eats North Dakota Style: From Pitchfork Steak Fondue (closed for the season opens spring 2023) in Medora to Rosewild in Fargo, the list of notable restaurants across the state is extensive.
Arts & Culture
North Dakota is home to several important Native American sites – Courtesy of ndtourism.com
Native American History and Culture: From Sitting Bull to Sakakawea, North Dakota is rich in Native American history — and with approximately 30,000 enrolled tribal members sharing geography with North Dakota, there are many opportunities to explore and experience Native American culture.
Visitors can attend a powwow, with most held from late June through early September. The celebrations are multi-day festivals centered around traditional song and dance performances, and traditional foods , as well as vendors selling arts and crafts. The Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site preserves and protects the Northern Plains Native American Heritage. A state-of-the-art museum dedicated to preserving the culture of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara tribes is located at the visitor center. The Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site was the largest fur trading post on the upper Missouri River from 1828-1867. The site includes a reconstructed Bourgeois House with museum exhibits, and replica trade goods are available for purchase in the reconstructed Indian Trade House. The new MHA Interpretive Center near New Town uses living history programs to tell the story of the great MHA Nation and has a large display of museum quality and interactive kiosk of the culture.
Archaeology and Paleontology: It’s said North Dakota once was a tropical paradise complete with giant lakes and the giant fish that used to swim in them. There is proof that other giants used to roam North Dakota in prehistoric times and they are being uncovered all the time. Dinosaurs literally left their footprints all over this state and their skeletons now figure prominently in many museums. Discover North Dakota’s prehistoric past with these fun fossil sites, and dinosaur attractions.
Lewis and Clark Trail: Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery were some of the first non-Native visitors to North Dakota. Most people know the story of Lewis and Clark and Sakakawea — the explorers came through North Dakota, wintered here and met a young Native American girl who would become vital to the success of the Corps of Discovery. Today, you can see where and how they lived during their stay at Fort Mandan and Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site. The Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center has artifacts and comprehensive details on the journey.
North Dakota Heritage Center & State Museum – Courtesy of ndtourism.com
Art and History Museums: Artists have long found inspiration in North Dakota’s sweeping landscapes and rich cultural heritage.
The North Dakota Heritage Center and State Museum in Bismarck is a one-stop source for the arts, culture and history of North Dakota. In the heart of downtown Fargo, The Plains Art Museum occupies a renovated turn-of-the-century warehouse and is the largest and only accredited art museum in North Dakota. The permanent collection features modern, post-modern and contemporary pieces, as well as traditional Native American and African pieces. The North Dakota Museum of Art in Grand Forks is a preeminent collection of contemporary regional, national and international art in all media, and includes a survey collection of contemporary Native American art. The museum is recognized nationally for its commissioning of landmark works of art depicting the landscape, history and culture of the Northern Plains. The cowboy is a prominent figure in North Dakota culture, and the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame in Medora seamlessly blends the history of ranching, rodeo and Native American photos, displays, and videos to bring the cowboy to life. Recent census data shows that 30 percent of North Dakotans trace their ancestry to Norway, and this culture is on display and celebrated at the Scandinavian Heritage Museum in Minot, which pays homage to the five Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.While not a traditional museum, North Dakota’s wide-open vistas are the perfect setting for some of the country’s most impressive roadside art. Gorgeous, colorful murals can be found in nearly every city and town across the state, many of them depicting scenes, symbols or graphics that are meaningful and connected to the local community. Along the Enchanted Highway, visitors can drive the famous 30-mile stretch that’s dotted with roadside sculptures including the world’s largest metal sculpture, Geese in Flight by Gary Greff. And you won’t want to miss the world’s largest buffalo Dakota Thunder, an impressive 60-ton concrete monument in Jamestown. A sculpture garden in Wahpeton has a rotating menagerie of dinosaurs, bears and more. Smaller scale sculptures punctuate manicured gardens at the Rainbow Garden and Sculpture Walk in Mayville, a perfect scale and speed for families with young children.
Explore the Outdoors
Bison at Theodore Roosevelt National Park – Courtesy of ndtourism.com
Theodore Roosevelt National Park: North Dakota’s only national park is in the western part of the state and offers majestic Badlands scenery, abundant wildlife, and all kinds of outdoor adventures. The park has three units: the North and South Units (both distinctly different) and the Elkhorn Ranch. In the South Unit, the Badlands have been shaped by millions of years of wind, rain, erosion, fire and the meandering Little Missouri River. The main access to the South Unit is through the historic town of Medora. The North Unit, accessible just south of Watford City, has deeper gorges and is heavily forested in places. The beauty and allure of the North Unit draws visitors year-round for sweeping vistas of this designated wilderness. Visitors to both units can view a natural setting much like the one that greeted Theodore Roosevelt over a century ago. The 36-mile scenic loop drive in the South Unit and the 14-mile drive in the North Unit provide easy access to popular vistas and wildlife viewing. You will always see buffalo herds and prairie dog towns, and you may catch a glimpse of feral horses, mule deer, elk and maybe even a coyote.
The International Peace Garden: This 2,339-acre botanical garden commemorating peace between the United States and Canada stretches along the world’s longest unfortified border. It blooms annually with more than 150,000 varieties of flowers and showcases the Peace Chapel. Explore the two pristine freshwater lakes, scenic hiking and driving trails, wildflowers, waterfalls, and a large variety of North American birds and animals.
Fishing: North Dakota is a top destination for serious walleye anglers from far and wide. The state has more than 400 lakes and rivers—such as the Missouri River system, Lake Oahe, and Lake Sakakawea, and Devils Lake—offering exciting action for walleye, northern pike, perch and other game fish with seasons for most species open year-round. When rivers and lakes throughout North Dakota ice over, avid anglers drill a hole and keep on fishing. Ice fishing practices in North Dakota run the gamut, from a bucket on the ice to elaborate icehouse setups that include televised football games and tasty foods, while others may prefer testing their skills with darkhouse spearfishing.
Mountain Biking: The state offers plenty of space, a variety of trails for all skill levels and no crowds. The crown jewel of North Dakota mountain biking is the Maah Daah Hey Trail, a 144-mile singletrack that slices through a million acres of national grassland in western North Dakota. Mountain Bike Magazine has featured the Maah Daah Hey on their list of best rides, and the Maah Daah Hey Trail received a 2022 Bicycling Travel Award as Best Hidden Gem in the U.S. The Trail is a true test of skills and endurance on a variety of terrains, through an area that is more remote than most people have ever experienced. But the trail is not exclusively for elite cyclists, some of the best highlights and scenic beauty of the trail can be taken in as segment or spur trail rides accessed through nearly a dozen trailheads that can be enjoyed by mountain bikers of all abilities.
Golf: Great golf courses, each featuring their own signature landscapes and challenges, can be found throughout North Dakota. There is the Lewis and Clark Golf Trail, a series of 18- and nine-hole courses along the same route Lewis and Clark took through central North Dakota. The Triple Golf Challenge includes discounted rounds at three of the state’s — and nation’s — top-rated golf courses: The Links of North Dakota near Ray, Hawktree Golf Club in Bismarck, and Bully Pulpit Golf Course in Medora. All three are ranked 1, 2 or 3 in state rankings by Golf Digest, GOLF and Golfweek. Golfweek’s top 100 U.S. best ranked public-access courses in 2022 includes the The Links of North Dakota at #42, and Hawktree Golf Club at #72 in the nation. In the Red River Valley, Fargo Country Club and Grand Forks’ King’s Walk are two highly-rated links, as is the Vardon Golf Club in Minot.
Downhill Skiing, Tubing, and Snowboarding: North Dakota’s four downhill ski areas are popular with snow lovers of all ages. Slalom through fresh powder, ride a rail at the terrain park or feel the exhilaration of tubing down the slope. Huff Hills near Mandan has a 450-foot vertical drop with 16 runs and four lifts. The runs overlook the Missouri River and the Missouri River Valley. Bottineau Winter Park in the Turtle Mountains has eight runs and six lifts and a tubing area with handle lift. Frost Fire Park near Walhalla is tucked neatly into the Pembina Gorge area near the U.S.-Canada border. The area has a tubing run in addition to enhanced ski and snowboard areas. Thrill Hills at Fort Ransom is open for skiing, snowboarding and excellent tubing in the Sheyenne River Valley. (Note: Frost Fire Park is closed for 2022/23 winter season.)