Greenville, South Carolina. It doesn’t have the beaches or Spanish moss that you might picture when you think of South Carolina, but it still has so much. I’ve called this place home since 2016 and I love to share it with people.

Over the last few years, I’ve worked with more and more couples who aren’t familiar with the area and are looking for recommendations for what to do. This blog post has literally been years in the making and is pretty thorough, based on my own experiences here.

NATURAL SCENERY NEAR GREENVILLE, SC

South Carolina State Parks

Many of the state parks in the upstate offer views of mountains, waterfalls, or lakes. Paris Mountain is the closest one to Greenville and has some beautiful fall colors, but it you won’t really see mountains there, like the name suggests. Table Rock is one of our favorite spots because you can get some gorgeous views anywhere, whether you take a stroll around the lake or hike thousands of feet up. You can use the AllTrails app to find a hike in the area with what you want to see at different levels of difficulty. Some overlooks that don’t require any hiking include the Table Rock Visitor Center, the Caesars Head overlook, Bald Rock Heritage Preserve, and Pretty Place Chapel. You can also hang out or take a boat on Lake Jocassee, Lake Keowee, or Lake Hartwell! We’ve been to all 47 state parks in South Carolina, and you can read about our experiences here!

Caeesars Head State Park, northern Greenville County

Downtown Greenville

Downtown Greenville is unique because it has a waterfall, but it’s also just a really fun place for a walk. Falls Park on the Reedy River has two bridges over the Reedy River, Reedy River Falls, and some areas with more diverse plant life. You can also check out all the restaurants, stores, and coffee shops. Near Christmas, you can skate at Ice on Main by the Marriott. Its name is similar to the “Mice on Main” statues: see where you can find them all! Check out some of my favorite places to take photos in downtown Greenville!

Swamp Rabbit Trail

The 22-mile Swamp Rabbit Trail runs through a lot of Greenville County, including downtown Travelers Rest, downtown Greenville, and Conestee Nature Park in Mauldin. It’s a popular place to walk or bike, whether you’re looking to go for a few minutes or most of the day.

South Carolina Botanical Gardens

Clemson University has several different programs for life sciences, which make for lots of diversity in the botanical gardens on campus. Some of my favorite spots include the desert garden in front of the Bob Campbell Geology Museum and pier at the pond where you can see ducks, lots of turtles, and huge fish. I wrote a blog post all about the botanical gardens so you can see what it looks like all through the year!

Best Foliage near Greenville, SC

My favorite places for fall foliage are the South Carolina Botanical Gardens, Paris Mountain State Park, and Pretty Place Chapel. In the spring, the Botanical Gardens and Furman University are always beautiful! You can read more about fall and spring color in the upstate here.

The woods next to Pretty Place Chapel, late October

Fruit Picking near Greenville, SC

This is one of our favorite things in the summer! In the late spring and early summer, you can pick strawberries—we love Beechwood Farms in Marietta. Later in the summer, the Happy Berry in Six Mile will be full of blueberries, blackberries, figs, and my favorite grapes.

Some farms offer peach picking if the conditions are good enough that year, but if not, you can get some from Abbott Farms in Gaffney or Fisher’s Orchard, which has multiple locations throughout the upstate.

Twin Creeks Lavender will usually have lavender available for picking in June.

Our favorite apple orchard is just over the North Carolina border—Stepp’s Orchard in Hendersonville.

Chattooga Belle Farm in Oconee County and McGregor Orchard in Travelers Rest both have various fruits to pick throughout the year.

Farmer’s Markets Near Greenville, SC

The biggest farmer’s market and the easiest one to get to is the Greenville Saturday Market along Main Street in downtown Greenville. This market runs May through October before the Frosty Farmer opens in the wintertime. We also really like the Travelers Rest Farmer’s Market, just north of Greenville.

Live Performances in Greenville, SC

In addition to the colleges around the upstate with theater programs, Greenville also is a stop on several national tours. Lots of popular musicians play at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena each year, and the Peace Center has several Broadway tours come through each year, plus local dance companies and some other concert tours. Before Christmas, you’ll have multiple opportunities to see a Nutcracker performance at the Peace Center. Other performing arts companies in the area include Greenville Theatre, Glow Lyric Theatre, Mauldin Cultural Center, and Carolina Ballet Theatre.

Carolina Ballet Theatre at the Peace Center

Sports near Greenville, SC

Greenville is home to the Greenville Drive (baseball), Greenville Swamp Rabbits (hockey), and Greenville Triumph and Greenville Liberty (soccer). You could even go to one of the local colleges and see their sports teams!

The most prominent college team around here is Clemson, most widely known for football, but also prominent in baseball, basketball, soccer, and softball. If you’ve never seen a Clemson football game, you’re in for a fun day, even if you have no attachment to the school. Clemson also recently added a gymnastics team, and college gymnastics meets are super fun and full of excitement.

Greenville Zoo

The animals at the Greenville Zoo range from farm animals to giraffes and cool reptiles. It’s small enough that you can get through it in about an hour and a half with kids.

Haywood Mall

South Carolina’s largest mall is here in Greenville! Haywood Mall has two floors and it has both chain stores and locally owned stores. There’s also a Cheesecake Factory here, which is pretty cool.

Greenville, SC at Christmastime

Downtown Greenville is so beautiful at Christmas! Ice on Main is an ice rink that is set up in front of the Courtyard Marriott between Thanksgiving and MLK Day. The Festival of Trees is held in multiple places, but most will be at the Regency Hyatt. This is when different organizations decorate trees with a certain theme and put them all on display together!

Where to Eat in Greenville, SC

This is based on OUR experience. I tend to gravitate towards places with vegetarian options, and we don’t drink, so just know that there are other amazing restaurants out there that we haven’t tried. Here are some of our favorite restaurants:

Downtown Greenville

Camp: This is described as an “American eatery” and has high-quality and locally sourced dishes. We loved the crispy lionsmane mushrooms, and Dan loved the scallops.

Abanico: Abanico has tapas and Spanish-inspired dishes. There is also an upstairs area for dancing. We don’t drink, but we ordered non-alcoholic versions of some of their cocktails and loved them!

Passerelle: This is one of our favorite spots for brunch, partially because of the food, and partially because it overlooks Reedy River Falls. We haven’t been here for dinner yet, but the brunch has been fantastic!

Tupelo Honey: The best way I can describe Tupelo Honey is that it’s like southern comfort food fusion. You can get your classic southern food, like chicken and waffles or fried pickles, but you can also get creative salads and burgers. Tupelo Honey originated in Asheville and expanded through the Carolinas before opening locations in other states.

Gather: Gather is an open-air food hall in the West End of downtown Greenville. It has tons of different food options, so you and your family/friends don’t have to all eat the same thing.

Sidewall Pizza: This is closer to the zoo/Cleveland Park area, but there’s also one location in Travelers Rest, Simpsonville, and Pelham Road. The pizzas they offer are super unique, like one that has potatoes and blue cheese, and their ice cream is just as interesting! Get on their email list to get a free pizza in your birthday month and 50% off of a pizza on your half birthday!

Spill the Beans Coffee and Ice Cream: You get to choose your ice cream toppings and have them blended together as a soft-serve. This is super close to Falls Park, so you can easily overlook the falls while you’re eating/drinking.

Roost: We had a really good brunch here on Christmas Day when we unexpectedly had to stay in town! This is connected to the Hyatt Regency hotel, so you can see all the Christmas trees here in December.

Here are a few of our favorite restaurants outside of downtown Greenville:

Keipi: We weren’t familiar with Georgian food before we came here for the first time, but it’s a really cool experience! Georgian food emphasizes hospitality and wine, but they also have khachapuri, or “bread boats” with some unique sauces to go with them. This is located in Hampton Station.

Rocky’s Hot Chicken: This has “Nashville style” hot chicken and southern comfort food. I’m not a fried chicken person, but I like their chicken and waffles and fried pickles. This is located on Laurens Road, close to the ramp to 385.

Willy Taco: One of my favorite things to eat in all of Greenville is the Cauliflower Power taco at Willy Taco. It’s one of many unique tacos they have, but it’s the only one I’ve actually eaten there. There’s one on Laurens Road near the 385 ramp, one in downtown Simpsonville, one in Easley, one in Boiling Springs, and one in Spartanburg.

Califa’s: Califa’s has Los Angeles-inspired, birria-style tacos. This is located in the Orchard Park Plaza, near the Haywood Mall.

Here are some of our favorite restaurants in places near Greenville:

Tandem Creperie (Travelers Rest): My favorites are the blueberry compote waffle and blueberry crème crepe, but everyone else I go with loves the sausage potato crepe the best.

White Wine and Butter (Greer): Described as Cajun-Italian fusion, there are some unique dishes here! The owner was featured on Guy’s Grocery Games on Food Network in 2023.

Smokin’ Pig (Pendleton, Easley, Williamston, and Anderson): A favorite spot for Clemson students, alumni, and their families. I’m not a barbecue person, but I love their fries with vinegar and their cobblers.

Sidewall and Willy Taco also have locations outside of Greenville.

Bald Rock Heritage Preserve, northern Greenville County

I hope this helps you decide what to do when you’re in the Greenville area, and I hope you have the best time while you’re here!

My name is Christine (Scott) Gow and I’m an elopement photographer based out of Greenville, South Carolina. I’m a wife and a beagle mom. The three of us have visited beautiful places in every corner of South Carolina, to include all 47 of our state parks. Sometimes we wear hiking boots, sometimes we wear dress shoes, and sometimes we’re barefoot in the surf.

One thing I love about South Carolina is that it’s not just the beaches and colorful houses that you imagine when you picture it. Whether you’re looking for mountains, beaches, or anything in between; I can help you find the perfect place for the two of you and make it as smooth of a day as possible. No matter how you two choose to spend your day, I’m happy you’re doing it the way that you want.

I can’t wait to meet you!

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