If you’re exploring the Sandhills Scenic Byway in Nebraska, plan to stop for an overnight at Tomahawk RV Park in Broken Bow, Nebraska. Though Broken Bow, Nebraska isn’t your typical travel destination, it is a great place to park your RV for the night. Broken Bow has lots to offer for rural travelers. It provides an excellent small town feel with fun things to do in this cornhusker town.
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Tomahawk RV Park
+ Things to Do in Broken Bow, Nebraska
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Where is Tomahawk RV Park located?
Tomahawk RV Park is a municipal RV Park that’s centrally located the city of Broken Bow, Nebraska.
Also known as Tomahawk Municipal RV Park, it’s located on the west side of town. Tomahawk RV Park is one block North of the intersection of Highway 2 and 15th Street.
How to get to Tomahawk RV Park
Tomahawk Park is located one block North of the intersection of Nebraska’s Highway 2 and South 15th Street on the west side of Broken Bow.
IMPORTANT NOTE GETTING TO TOMAHAWK RV PARK!!! If you are driving a big rig, towing a trailer or in fact, any RV, please heed my advice. Your RV GPS, Google Maps and Apple Maps directions suck and here’s why!
From Rt 2 or NE92, Do NOT turn onto South 15th Avenue. There is a sizable dip in the road leading to the RV park. Your motorhome or trailer will either get hung up or rip off anything that’s on the back of your RV!!
Instead, from Rt 2 or NE 92, turn onto S. 9th Avenue. Then turn left onto S. B Street which will lead to Tomahawk RV Park. See image below:
Tomahawk RV Park Rates and Reservations
Tomahawk RV Park rates (2023) are $35 per day/night for a pull-through site. Each site is a full-hookup site that includes water, electricity and sewer.
If you’d like to stay longer, they also offer monthly rates.
- April 1 – September 30 – $750/month
- October 1 to March 31 – $600/month
You can make a reservation for an RV site at Tomahawk RV Park by calling 308-872-1249. Or, you can take your chances of just showing up.
However, you may not be as lucky scoring a site during the One Box Pheasant Hunt that’s in November.
Tomahawk Municipal Park operates on an honor system where you fill out the envelope, write a check for your specified number of days you want to camp and insert it into the honor box.
There is a city employee that does make their rounds to check to see if you’ve paid for your site.
You can download the Tomahawk RV Park Map for a preview of the park RV sites.
How many RV sites are at Tomahawk RV Park?
Tomahawk RV Park is a year-round campground that has 12 pull-through RV sites. There are also 3 super-size pull-through sites for big rig RVs (vans and small RVs, please do not park in these). It also has some shaded grassy areas to pitch at tent for an overnight.
The gravel sites are mostly level (you’re in Nebraska!). You may need to tweak your leveling system or blocks just a little but nothing major. Be aware, the RV sites are not shaded.
Tomahawk Municipal Park (right next to the RV park) offers more than just tent camping or parking your RV.
- Picnic grounds with tables and charcoal grills
- 4 picnic pavilion shelters
- Lighted softball and baseball fields
- Basketball court
- Tennis courts
- Playground
- 2 Restrooms
- 1 Shower Room
- RV Dump station
Check-in and Parking
If you’ve made your reservation on the phone, a municipal employee will assign you a site. If you arrive after working hours, just find a vacant site. Then pay via the honor system mentioned earlier at the small honor box.
Connectivity at Tomahawk RV Park
Campground WiFi is surprisingly good fort both AT&T and Verizon. However, we did notice signal strength during the evenings, weekends and holidays slowed but not to the point of being unusable.
Pros of Tomahawk RV Park
There are several pros of camping at Tomahawk RV Park. The park grounds are mowed and clean. The restrooms and shower are meh. Personally, I don’t use bathhouses or public showers but Dan did survive his bathhouse experience.
I do always recommend taking a can of Lysol to spray down everything. And always wear your flip flops or shower shoes.
Tomahawk RV Park is also within walking distance into the town center where there are restaurants and stores. There’s also an affordable movie theater (we went 3 times!).
There are small businesses and café’s located in town. Also, Broken Bow has 3 small grocery stores to get what you need (they sell beer and wine in them!).
By the way, Broken Bow is one of the best places in the U.S. to stock up your freezer with beef!
Cons of Tomahawk RV Park
As with any campground or RV park, there ae some negatives but I don’t consider them deal breakers at Tomahawk Municipal RV Park.
First being the RV sites are not shaded. During the summer, it can get really hot, so you’ll need to use your awning.
However, I HIGHLY recommend NOT leaving your awning out anytime you step out to go explore in town or while sleeping. The wind can brew quickly.
Speaking of wind, Tomahawk RV Park does not provide fire rings nor do they allow campfires. It gets pretty dry in Nebraska so it’s understandable the reason why they disallow them.
Tomahawk Municipal RV Park also does not provide an on-site laundry facility. However, there is a public laundromat within walking distance near the library and post office.
Worth noting, the RV park is in very close proximity to railroad tracks. It can get pretty loud if you’re not accustomed to trains. However, during sleeping hours, the trains do not blow their whistles.
Finally, if you’re not accustomed to farm and ranch smells, you’re in for a treat! Broken Bow is a ranching town with a stockyard feed lot. Depending on which way the wind is blowing will determine whether you’ll need to fill your noses with cotton balls. It can get pretty smelly.
But, as our rancher friend who has lived in Broken Bow all of his life, “that’s the smell of money!”.
Check out Benjamin Perillo’s video showcasing Tomahawk RV Park in Broken Bow, Nebraska:
Things to do in Broken Bow, Nebraska
Broken Bow has four other municipal recreation parks to enjoy the outdoors, have a picnic and for the kids to work off the wiggles and pent up energy.
Melham Park – Off 5th Street North of Memorial Drive
- Olympic size, heated swimming pool
- Stocked 5 acre lake
- Ball fields
- Soccer fields
- Picnic shelter
- Bicycle path
- Restrooms
- Walking trail
North Side Park – Located 4 blocks north of Memorial Drive on 10th Street, right next to North Park school.
- Playground
- Picnic area
South 5th Park– Located on south 5th Avenue.
- Softball field
- Playground equipment
City Square Park – Located in the heart of downtown Broken Bow.
- Tom Butler Memorial Bandstand
- Playground equipment
- Picnic tables
Farmer’s Market & Summer Happenings
Located in the heart of downtown Broken Bow
City Square Park is also the host grounds for the Broken Bow’s Market on the Square & Summer Celebrations in the Square.
Every Thursday in late Spring and all of Summer, visitors and townspeople can enjoy produce & craft vendors, shopping, live music, food & drinks, and more.
Fox Theater
317 S 10th Avenue, Broken Bow, NE 68822
If it’s too hot or cold to play outside or you’re looking for night entertainment, movies come to life at the Fox Theater in Broken Bow!
The main auditorium (screen 1) has a seating capacity of approximately 120 and is wheelchair accessible. The upstairs auditorium (screen 2) has a seating capacity of 92.
The movie theater offers affordable movie ticket prices, friendly staff, and features large movie premieres.
Kinkaider Brewing Co.
43860 Paulsen Road, Broken Bow, NE
See how Kinkaider Brewing Company crafts their many selections of Kinkaider beers taking a brewery tour. You can learn everything you want to know about how all their beers are made. Then enjoy a sample tasting at the conclusion of your tour!
If you’re lucky, maybe you’ll even get to have a beer with Dan the Wiser himself! (Pssst! This is the highlight of our visits to Broken Bow!)
Custer County Museum
445 South 9th Avenue, Broken Bow, NE
If you enjoy diving into a little history, on the corner of you can visit the Custer County Museum. Experience 19th century life in Custer County, Nebraska.
Enjoy free admission (donations welcome) to the museum. View artifacts depicting pioneer life from the 1880s to the present. Check out the preserved collection of the Wescott, Gibbons and Bragg, and general store.
And currently (2023), the Solomon D Butcher Gallery features works that include a large collection of Custer County Families.
Check out their website above for operating hours. Be aware they are closed on major holidays.
Other things to do near Broken Bow, Nebraska
Sandhills Journey Scenic Byway Visitor Center
44106 NE-2, Broken Bow, NE 68822
“Highway 2 is not just another highway that goes somewhere. Highway 2 is somewhere.” -Charles Kuralt of CBS television program “On the Road”
Nebraska Highway 2 is not only a major artery of commerce, but provides scenic views of one of America’s most unusual land formations.
The Sandhills Journey Scenic Byway Visitor Center is a great family friendly leaning center near Broken Bow, Nebraska. It’s located on the East side of Broken Bow in the big red barn, south side of Nebraska Highway 2.
Visitors can discover some of the byway’s leading attractions such as its’ Nature & Recreation, Culture and History. Check out their tips and advice for your Sandhills Journey.
Fort Hartstuff State Historical Park
82034 Fort Avenue, Burwell, NE 68823
Fort Hartsuff State Historical Park is a post Civil War historic park located 6 miles SE of Burwell, Nebraska. It’s preserving a typical U.S. Army cavalry outpost of the late 19th century. Fort Hartsuff was active from 1874 to 1881.
TripAdvisor Contributor BugJohn shares:
“This is a very well-maintained frontier fort that is quite out of the way. A number of buildings are present, and they have been nicely restored and furnished with period items.
The barracks, for example, have a complete complement of beds, and the guardhouse had reconstructed detention boxes that must been horrifying for those held in them.
One can also go through the officer’s quarters, stables, baker’s area, and quartermaster’s commissary. Signage was good.
The park headquarters had a short (10 minutes) video that provides background on the fort (although the volume was rather low on a small screen) and some relics from the site and period.
There is also a small store there that sells snacks, books, and other interesting tidbits. The staff was pleasant and knowledgeable. The tour is self-guided and took about an hour Very enjoyable visit!”
✰✰ READ MORE ✰✰ Visit Fort Hartsuff State Historical Park – Burwell, Nebraska
Boneyard Creation Museum
1709 South E St. Broken Bow, NE 68822
The Boneyard Creation Museum is a non-profit, faith-based, educational museum located in Broken Bow, Nebraska. It displays scientific evidence for creation and showing the contradictions between evolution and creation.
The museum has many fossil and replica displays highlighting the many problems that evolution has with such theories as the origin of life, the Cambrian Explosion, Mt. St. Helens, mutations, living fossils, transition fossils, whale evolution, spontaneous generation, DNA, radioactive dating, human evolution, homologous structures, vestigial organs, and more.
About Broken Bow Nebraska
Historically, in June 1882, Broken Bow was located and platted. The city’s name was suggested to the post office department by Wilson Hewitt, who found on an old Indian camping ground in the vicinity a broken bow and arrow.
Broken Bow is the largest town nestled in the heart of Custer County in the state of Nebraska The quiet, ranch town also serves as a point of commerce and shopping.
Mileages of closest cities to Broken Bow, Nebraska
- Burwell – 52 miles
- Kearney – 65 miles
- North Platt – 74 miles
- Grand Island – 81 miles
- Lincoln – 178 miles
- Omaha – 204 miles
- Alliance – 210 miles
Broken Bow prides itself as having 126 total acres of recreational parks in the city park system. It also has an aquatic center.
Once you park your RV at Tomahawk RV park, we highly encourage you to take a walk downtown to visit town merchants. You might be surprised by what you can find in Broken Bow!
As mentioned earlier, the city has a nice indoor movie theater for an evening movie and a great library for travelers to enjoy a quiet day of reading or catching up with emails.
For a little action, you can take in a game of bowling at Pleasure Lanes or round of golf at Broken Bow Golf Club.
In the city of Broken Bow, you can find the nostalgic Evans Feed Store (circa 1927), Straight Arrow Bison Ranch, Tractor Supply and 3 small grocery stores (Grocery Cart, Gary’s Superfoods and Schmick’s Market).
And if you’ve not noticed by the aroma in the air, 2 miles south of Broken Bow reigns Nebraska’s largest cattle feedlot. The Adams Land and Cattle south lot holds approximately 85,000 heads of cattle.
Broken Bow has also had a few brushes with fame. There are several references to Broken Bow in the film Run Hide Fight produced by The Daily Wire.
And, the town has been referenced in the Dylan Sindelar book, The Showers.
But also, Marty Robbins’ song “Prairie Fire” tells the story of cattle drivers racing a prairie fire from Broken Bow to the Platte River.
Listen to Prairie Fire by Marty Robbins:
Final thoughts on Broken Bow Nebraska
That wraps up our review and everything you wanted to know about Tomahawk RV Park and all the fun things to do in Broken Bow Nebraska.
This small cornhusker town-city is a great escape from big city chaos. It’s a great portal town to park your camper or pitch a tent for the night, grab some stakes and a 6-pack of Kinkaiders.
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More Nebraska Destinations
Fort Hartsuff State Historical Park – Burwell, Nebraska
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Scotts Bluff National Monument – Gering, Nebraska
Lake Minatare State Recreation Area and Lighthouse – Minatare, Nebraska
More Nebraska campgrounds we camped at
Fort Robinson State Park Campground Review: Crawford, Nebraska
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