Greenville,South Carolina

Greenville is appropriately named as there’s a lot of green space in this beautiful city in South Carolina. It is near the Blue Ridge Mountains. It is actually the 4th fastest growing city in America! It was named as the Top 19 Must-See Destinations in 2019! Travel Channel named it as “The South’s Next Big Charming Destination”. Of the many accolades, Travel & Leisure called Greenville the “Top 20 America’s Favorite Cities for Food”. And we 100% agree with all these quotes!

Greenville is a great place to getaway especially if you enjoy the outdoors and enjoy being active. One of the most popular things to do here and free is walk or bike along Falls Park on the Reedy. It’s a beautiful park that wraps around downtown and has been opened to the public since 2003. Here you’ll find gardens, nature trails, picnic areas, and a beautiful series of waterfalls. You’ll also find the Liberty Bridge here. It’s suspension bridge which you can walk or ride on. This bridge overlooks the waterfalls! It’s absolutely beautiful. When you walk on it you can definitely feel the bridge move. But it’s very safe nonetheless. Down the road there are plans for a Grand Bohemian Hotel to be connected to this area of green space.

Another fun and free thing to do in Greenville is bike the Swamp Rabbit Trail! It’s a 22 mile paved trail but of course you could do less as it was plenty hot and steamy when we went. This muggy weather is typical for a summer in South Carolina and even steamier in August so bring plenty of water! We decided to ride 15 miles on this beautiful trail up to Furman University! Unfortunately, Furman University was closed due to COVID-19. Once this opens back up, I would highly recommend biking up here and enjoying the campus. Furman has a beautiful lake and botanical garden. It’s a really nice rest stop to stretch your legs out from biking. Traveler’s Rest is about 3-4 miles from there if you want to grab a bite to eat. The Swamp Rabbit trail itself is good for bikers of all skill sets. Although I would not recommend children to bike on this trail as there are a lot of intense bikers who fly by. But it’s safe enough for families with children to walk as long as you heed to other bikers. There’s also an additional rubberized surface for runners lane. Bathrooms are available but they are not on every mile marker so be prepared. This trail can get pretty busy but luckily it was not that bad during this time and therefore it was easy to social distance.

Greenville is also known for its good food! I’ll share more about this in our food blog but I wanted to give a shout out here to Gather GVL! Gather GVL sells food out of retired shipping containers. There’s a lot of local food, desserts, and beverages to include alcohol that you can find here. It’s like local food trucks but out of shipping containers. And it’s located in a park of sorts with plenty of seating and even VIP Seating available. You can even bring your pets here except for Saturday and Sundays.

Another great spot to eat and socialize in Greenville is at the Embassy Suites Roof Top Bar called Up on The Roof 😊. It’s a great spot to relax and enjoy the most scenic views of the city! They have two roof top areas on opposite sides of the building which is really neat. They have delicious hand crafted cocktails, wine and beer on draft, and small plates on their menu. Very upscale on a medium budget! And as you look down the roof, you’ll see artwork of Greenville between the building. Highly recommend this place!

And if you are looking for a dessert location and something to end your night with. Look no further than Limoncello. It’s an Authentic Italian Restaurant that has fantastic gelato and a wonderful cocktail list. We had their limoncello, of course. This is made from their house limoncello, prosecco, and lemon…it’s a true treat! The food looked amazing as well, but we did not try it. Their outdoor seating was beautiful and away from the center of the city, so you could enjoy a meal without any interruptions. We were able to see the fireworks at a distance from here, which was especially nice.

We had a nice time in Greenville. The city did a fantastic job keeping everyone safe during Covid-19, as all staff in buildings wore masks. There was a good show of social distancing. The weather held up, couldn’t ask for more. We shall return! Hope you will visit someday too!