Greenville, South Carolina, is home to fantastic museums, picturesque parks, attractions, and activities, giving weekend visitors plenty of options. The Greenville County Museum of Art is one of the best museums in the United States if you enjoy art. The Children's Museum of the Upstate, which offers hands-on learning, and the Greenville Zoo, which allows you to observe rare creatures, are two of the best things to do in Greenville, South Carolina for families. Certain attractions may be closed temporarily or require reservations in advance. Currently, some eateries only provide pickup. It's possible that the hours and availability have changed.
1. Falls Park on the Reedy
One of Greenville's finest gems is Falls Park on the Reedy, a magnificent natural refuge in the center of the city. This well-kept city park, located in downtown Greenville's Historic West End, provides a green urban space for residents and visitors to enjoy and is one of the top things to do in Greenville, South Carolina.
It offers people of all ages and interests the opportunity to participate in a variety of outdoor and recreational activities. The park features a variety of public art and sculptures, as well as attractive stonework and the Liberty Bridge, an artistically pleasing promenade that offers spectacular views.
Visitors can take 360-degree virtual tours of the park, walk along the Swamp Rabbit Trail connecting Falls Park and Cleveland Park, or relax on the lawns or at the protected River Lodge with a picnic basket.
2. Roper Mountain Science Center
The Roper Mountain Science Center is a learning center dedicated to fostering and motivating a passion for science, ranging from life and natural sciences to space and physical sciences.
The Roper Mountain Science Center, which houses a planetarium, an arboretum, a living history farm, a butterfly habitat, and an observatory, hosts a variety of educational activities throughout the year, such as Starry Nights, Science on Wheels, and Summer Adventures. This is a terrific site to come to if you're seeking interesting things to do in Greenville with kids.
Visitors can explore a lovely butterfly garden and a pond teeming with aquatic and insect life, as well as enjoy picnics along the route, on a mile-long nature trail that runs through the pine trees on the mountainside of the center.
3. Greenville County Museum of Art
The Greenville County Museum of Art (GCMA) is one of the best things to do in Greenville, South Carolina, and is rated one of the best art museums in the country. It mostly exhibits American art, with a concentration on artists from the Southern United States and South Carolina.
The museum, which is located at 420 College Street on Heritage Green in downtown Greenville, has the world's biggest public collection of watercolors by world-renowned American artist Andrew Wyeth, as well as a major collection of modern artist Jasper Johns' works. The museum's prestigious Southern Collection examines American art from colonial beginnings to the present, highlighting notably rare pieces such as 1726 pastel portraits and Civil War landscapes.
On Sunday afternoons, the museum provides a variety of events, including gallery presentations, musical performances, and hands-on demonstrations.
4. The Children's Museum of the Upstate
The Children's Museum of the Upstate was established to provide a safe and comfortable setting for children of all ages to engage in hands-on and interactive learning.
Through a variety of exhibitions, displays, events, and workshops, the museum seeks to provide children with chances to explore, question, discover and inspire curiosity. The Reedy River Bed, which contains an intricate system of rivers, pipes, and fountains, and Start Your Engines, which investigates the physics of speed, sound, and aerodynamics, are two interactive exhibits within the museum.
Construction Zone, a hands-on building and construction exhibit, is also available at the museum. Finally, the museum provides a variety of arts and early childhood education programs, as well as after-school classes and fall break camps.
The Greenville Symphony Orchestra, the Greenville Chorale, the Carolina Ballet Theater, the South Carolina Children's Theater, and the International Ballet are all housed at the center, which has a modern patrons' lounge as well as a variety of practice and event facilities.
5. Greenville Glides
Greenville Glides is a unique and enjoyable way to tour Greenville on a Segway. Segway excursions are available year-round, seven days a week, and cover a variety of locations throughout the city. As you ride through downtown Greenville to the historic West End and weave along the Swamp Rabbit Trail and Falls Park on the Historic West End and Falls Park Tour, you will be able to experience the vibrant vitality of Greenville.
The Haunting Segway Tour of Greenville, on the other hand, takes you through the haunted trails of Springwood Cemetery and the buildings, hotels, and mills along the Reedy River's banks for a more frightening perspective of the city. Greenville Glides also provides bicycle tours and rentals, both of which must be scheduled ahead of time.
6. Artisphere, Greenville, South Carolina
Artisphere is an annual trademark event in Greenville that honors the arts as well as the region's unique international and multi-cultural heritage. The immensely popular festival, which attracts thousands of visitors each year, promotes local and worldwide talent through a variety of live performances, demonstrations, displays, and exhibitions.
The festival, which aims to entertain, educate, enrich, and inspire audiences through the beauty and diversity of art, includes university demonstrations, wine, and craft beer exhibitions, science, technology, and engineering displays, culinary arts demonstrations, and Kidsphere, a special exhibition center for children.
7. Larkin's on the River, Greenville, South Carolina
Larkin's on the River, an award-winning restaurant owned and managed by Mark and Larkin Hammond, is located on the banks of the Reedy River in a historic pre-civil war building with exposed brick walls and open ceilings.
The Hammonds have converted the once-dingy restaurant into one of Greenville's best dining locations, renowned for premium cut steaks, super-fresh seafood, exquisite boutique wines, and outstanding service, in collaboration with the Executive Director of Cuisine Alex Castro.
The restaurant has a relaxed atmosphere with stylish décor and pleasant lighting, and the exceptional wine list contains a variety of local and globally famous labels that go well with any item on the menu.