Kick-It Picks Things to Do in South Carolina
The stops worth the drive — and the truth about the ones that aren't.
South Carolina is a small state that acts like a whole South. Up in the northwest corner is the Upstate — the tail of the Blue Ridge, laced with waterfalls, with Greenville reinvented into one of the best small downtowns in the country. In the middle are the Midlands, the red-clay heart around Columbia and a national park of old-growth trees so tall they make a cathedral out of a swamp. And down on the coast is the Lowcountry — Charleston under its steeples and Spanish moss, the wild Sea Islands where the Gullah Geechee kept their culture alive, and sixty miles of Grand Strand beach. These are the picks worth driving the whole thing for — and reckoning honestly with the parts that aren't comfortable.
Regions: Upstate · Midlands · Lowcountry
Everything below is a Kick-It Pick — the entries we’d grab you by the collar for. Each one is pulled from Kick the Bucket List: South Carolina, our 120-stop field guide, and each carries a blunt Bucket Rating so you know what’s non-negotiable and what to skip. Prices and hours drift; we stamp every page with the date we checked it and fix what changes.
The Big Ten
Fall for the Holy City
Non-negotiableWalk the Cathedral of Trees
Non-negotiableClimb the Blue Ridge Escarpment
Worth the driveCross the Bridge Over the Falls
Worth the driveChase Waterfalls Into a Wild Lake
Worth the driveThe Great Outdoors
Oddities
Eats
Road Trips
Small Towns
Month by Month
Locals-Only
Get all 120 in Kick the Bucket List: South Carolina
These are the marquee Kick-It Picks. The book has 120 — adventures, eats, road trips, and the small towns worth the detour — each with a checkbox, a date line, and a Bucket Rating. Fill it in. Score yourself.
See the South Carolina book →