We visited Greenville in November 2024 as part of our two-week Carolinas in November trip. Read about our previous visit seven (?!) years ago here.

From Columbia, it’s just under two hours of interstate driving to Greenville. Why Greenville? It’s a cool little city in Upstate South Carolina, about halfway between Charlotte and Atlanta, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. We’ve been to Greenville a few times (twice with the Airstream, once without, and I actually lived there for several months on a consulting job in 1999–it’s changed a ton since then!) and always have a good time there, with its bustling downtown centered around the the Reedy River and Falls Park, and lots of quality food and drink options.

Campground

In Greenville, like in Raleigh, we parked the Airstream at a brewery through Harvest Hosts. Based on our Raleigh experience, we expected a fun buzz of activity around the brewery, and we looked forward to coming home at the end of the day and tasting some beer. It didn’t quite turn out that way.

Thomas Creek Brewery is located about twelve minutes south of downtown Greenville. There’s a big parking lot and the Harvest Host campsite is an easy back-in next to the taproom patio. Finding someone to tell us where to park was a challenge, though–the place was a ghost town. I also hadn’t gotten a response through the HH app earlier in the day when I’d asked about an early arrival.

The brewery’s website says the taproom is open everyday but Monday, and we were there on a Wednesday, and we basically saw zero people. Maybe they’re closed? Maybe they’re only open on the weekends? There’s a church on Harvest Hosts closer to downtown; we chose the brewery because we had fun parking at the brewery in Raleigh, but next time we’ll try the church.

Activities

Downtown Greenville is cute and walkable, and our main activity was taking Bugsy for a meander along the River Walk, past the waterfall, down Main Street, and by the minor league baseball stadium. Here’s how I summed up our feelings in my notes: “Neat town!!!”

Bugsy and I also popped down the road from our campsite to Dolly Cooper Park to give J some privacy in the Airstream for a meeting. It’s a big county park with a playground and ball fields; we went for the paved walk by the river. It was pleasant if not super scenic or exciting. The park’s disc golf course looked impressive.

Before leaving town Thursday morning, we worked out at MADabolic, our gym from home with locations around the country. The Greenville outpost is in a cool corner of downtown, and was one of the first MADabolics to open ten years ago.

Food and drink

Eating

We stopped for a light lunch next to the footbridge over the Reedy River while walking by the river downtown. Passerelle Bistro has a dog-friendly patio, tasty salads, and good service. Passerelle means footbridge!

Dinner that night was a grain bowl at Magnetic South Brewing, where you can build your own bowl from all sorts of fun bases, proteins, sauces, and add-ons.

After our morning workout, we grabbed breakfast at Cafe West downtown. The egg sandwiches on local bread were slow to arrive but tasted fantastic!

Drinking

We set a goal to try two new-to-us breweries on Wednesday evening, and based on J’s research prioritizing atmosphere, proximity to the Airstream, dog-friendliness, and interesting beer lists, we chose Double Stamp and Magnetic South.

Double Stamp Brewery was maybe our second-favorite brewery of the entire trip. They have a large outdoor space including a rooftop, and a fun 90s theme inside (but strangely they weren’t playing 90s music–although I guess that would get old for the employees). The beer was delish, and dogs are allowed inside, so we were very happy campers.

Magnetic South Brewery is a huge dog-friendly beer hall with arcade games and tasty beer. The main draw to us though was the food menu, specifically the build-your-own-bowl option. Yum! It was a super place to take Bugsy for dinner.

After we were denied a nightcap at our home base of Thomas Creek Brewery, we spotted a neighborhood bar on the map just a few minutes away. Cork & Tap was a super find, small and very friendly, and since they don’t serve food they allow dogs inside.

To do

We like Greenville and plan to return to try some other breweries and stay at a different Harvest Host. This list has a mix of places we’d researched or heard about and didn’t get to, and others we walked by and liked the look of.

• We walked by Gather food hall and it looks wonderful!
• Breweries that J researched and we didn’t get to: Other Lands (looks kind of restauranty, but they have a hazy and a sour), Pangaea (looks interesting, but not the right beer list for us), Liability (looks pretty good), Southernside (big outdoors, good beer selection), New Realm (looks like a cool spot to sit outside downtown)
• We should take our bikes and check out the Swamp Rabbit Trail, a 20-mile multi-use trail starting in Greenville
• Paris Mountain State Park is a small state park close to town with some hiking trails
• Table Rock State Park is 45 minutes north of Greenville and has more hiking than Paris Mountain… and I think we camped there in the early 2000s. Aha! I found it–October 2006. Wow. And the next morning we had breakfast in downtown Greenville, although I have no recollection where.

On to Asheville, the last official stop of this trip!