24 Hours in My City- What to see, eat, & do in Greenville, SC!
Hello hello, again, Foodie Friends 🙂 One of my best friends since first grade came down to visit recently and I came up with a fantastic list of fun things to do, see, and especially eat in Greenville if you only had 24 hours to be here. Follow along on our foodie adventure journey as I took her to see all the best parts of Greenville, and give you options of some other great places we didn’t make it to!
Amber and I had a big day ahead of us, so we had to start with brunch, of course! Greenville has some amazing breakfast nooks, and one of my favorite small southern chains we visited was Tupelo Honey Cafe.
Her being from the mid-Atlantic part of the East Coast, Tupelo Honey was something new to her and the perfect introduction to great southern food, biscuits and all! My favorite part is the homemade blueberry jam (see picture above) and honey that goes on the biscuits before your brunch comes out, gotta love a breakfast appetizer!
Amber ended up ordering eggs, bacon, and sweet potato pancakes smothered in chocolate drizzle!
I ordered the Smashed Avocado Breakfast Sandwich – apple cider bacon, melted Havarti cheese (I took away the cheese to make it more #nondairyfriendly), fried egg, mayo, and sriracha honey, which was served on organic health nut bread. It was a little spicy, sweet, savory, and crunchy, loved all the flavor combos on my tongue!
Had we not gone to Tupelo Honey, here is a list of other amazing brunch spots in downtown as well as the surrounding Greenville area that are must tries (click the names to open links!):
- Eggs up Grill – Greenville, SC
- Stax Omega Diner – Greenville, SC
- Biscuit Head – Greenville, SC
- GB&D (Golden Brown & Delicious) – Greenville, SC (I’m quite fond of their food truck in Hampton Station)
- Tandem Creperie – Traveler’s Rest, SC (I’ve yet to check this one out myself but it’s a Greenville favorite!)
- Flying Biscuit Cafe – Greenville, SC
- Reid’s Fine Foods – Greenville, SC
Next Stop – Exploring Downtown!
Greenville, SC
What better way to walk off all those carbs than by exploring downtown! The TD Saturday Market, a weekly farmers market held from 8 am to noon, shuts down a good portion of Main Street and is a great chance to interact with the local Greenvillians and check out the food scene downtown. If you’re here in the off-season (from December- March), check out the winter sister market that takes over after the TD Saturday Market shuts down in Brewery 85 called The Toasty Farmer Market.
Local farmers, homemade items makers, and restaurants all set up booths and give out free samples!
Check out the slideshow below for more pics, who knew there were so many different kinds of basil!
It wouldn’t be a trip to Main St. without *popping* into Poppington’s, our resident creative popcorn shop downtown. This store has been in business for 12 years, and was recently taken over by new owners Todd & Stephanie after the old owners retired after 10 years!
This fun, colorful shop is a must-try for even the most indifferent of popcorn eaters.
From dill pickle to salted caramel to churro-flavored popcorn, they have something for everyone! Try their “Greenville Mix”, which is a combination of Golden Cheddar, White Cheddar, and Caramel, which brings me back to the Boy Scout popcorn tins of old my family would get around the holidays for gifts.
After our snack, we decided to be touristy and hit up some iconic downtown landmarks.
The Peace Center and Wyche Pavilion (shown above) are two great fixtures next to the Reedy River.
The Peace Center holds the majority of our large-scale arts, music, and theater events, hosting anything from the Piano Guys to the Hamilton and Dear Evan Hansen musicals, which sold out tickets in the first few hours they went live!
Wyche Pavilion is an absolutely gorgeous open-air venue that used to be a mill and is now used for weddings, photoshoots, and catering events.
The next stop on our tour was Falls Park, with its gorgeous green space, suspension bridge, and waterfall in the heart of downtown.
This was probably one of our favorite parts of downtown, a stop away from the hustle and bustle of Main Street to stop and enjoy nature.
After this, we headed back to the Saturday Market to buy some coffee and granola, and stopped at the basil stand you saw above!
Lunch was at Cookout (another Southern favorite), with trays and milkshakes galore (none for me though 😂)!
Other great lunch and dinner spots to check out include:
- Korean BBQ – Greenville, SC (Now this place doesn’t have a website, but it’s one of the best places I’ve ever had fried rice in my life. MUST VISIT this little hole in the wall 💜)
- Saffron – Greenville, SC (Great extensive Indian dinner menu and lunch buffet!)
- Willy Taco – Greenville, SC (Amazing tacos and great atmosphere, brunch on Sundays too!)
- Coastal Crust Pizza – Greenville, SC (One of our new favorite pizza places, already written a blog review about it here)
- Schwaben House – Greenville, SC (Amazing upscale German food!)
- For more great Greenville spots, check out my entire Upstate, SC Food Bucket List here, or on my Instagram to stay up-to-date on our newest restaurant reviews!
We also stopped at the Clemson, SC Botanical Gardens, but neglected to take any pictures. Whoops! Check out their website for more info, it’s a great place to learn about the native animals and wildlife from South Carolina.
Last Stop – Dinner & Evening Activities
Hampton Station,
Greenville, SC
We wanted to round out the evening somewhere that had it all – fun, alcohol, and great food. Hampton Station checked all the boxes! Seriously, this is where I take everyone who visits for the first time they come, it’s such a consistent go-to.
This converted mill area has blossomed with new businesses, with Birds Fly South Ale Project and now Wandering Bard Meadery as its anchors. The area now includes a cross-fit gym, a boutique hotel for dogs, art gallery spaces for creators, a great little ice cream/coffee shop combo, and many more.
We chose to start with the beer and then headed over to the Craft Axe Throwing Bar, an almost 3-year-old business that has been a great place for friends, corporate events, and team-building activities since. We have written about Craft Axe quite a few times here at Pimento & Prose, we’re definitely fans!
Check out some of our in-action shots below 🤗💪
Other fun weekend activities could include:
- Biking the Swamp Rabbit Trail (complete with the brewery on one end and cafe/pizza place midway through)
- Checking out a Greenville Drive (Minor League Baseball) or Greenville Triumph (Minor League soccer) game
- Trying a candle-making class at Greenville Soy Candle Co. or a woodcraft-making class at AR Workshop
- Hopping on a guided Greenville Brewery Tour
- Striking out at Stone Pin Bowling
- Catching a movie at Cherrydale Regal Cinemas (known for its limited nationwide-release movie showings, such as Eight Grade (by Bo Burnham), American Animals, etc.)
Last, but certainly not least, was dinner! A local taco joint started in Asheville, about an hour or two away in North Carolina, made its way here to Greenville, nestled next to Birds Fly South.
White Duck Taco Shop is a lot of fun, with duck feet as you stand in line and their duck mascot on the walls.
They have a really creative menu, and always include two or three seasonal item tacos too!
We started out with chips, queso, and two kinds of salsa (top right). I got the Molé Duck Taco, which included lettuce, apple-cranberry salsa, and crema. The one on the right was Zach’s Crispy Chicken BLT taco, with lettuce, pico, mayo, and bacon.
This place was delicious, and the perfect bite to eat after throwing axes for an hour or so!
So what do you think Foodie Friends? Have any restaurants or activities you think I’ve missed? Shout out in the comments below, and as always, feel free to like, share, or leave suggestions on what places I should check out next 🤗 Stay tuned for a Weekend Foodie Warriors later this Sunday featuring the South Carolina Peach Festival, Food Trucks, and more!
