Sample
Itineraries
Our tourism team works
diligently to develop sample itineraries that appeal to people of
all ages and interests. Following is a list of sample itineraries
highlighting the area attractions. The sample itineraries are
merely ideas. You can customize your trip according to your group’s
interest.
If you need help finding the
people, places and things that make the Capital City/Lake Murray
Country region unique, we encourage you to call our staff. They are
anxious to answer questions and help with special requests and
needs.
View our Regional Packages
Book a package today - click here!
Make plans for a Guys Getaway!
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Day #1 ~ Arrive in Capital City/Lake Murray Country. Check into a hotel of your choice and head to Downtown Columbia’s Vista for dinner and drinks at the Flying Saucer or Rust, Columbia’s own Whiskey bar.
OR
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Stay at a cabin at Dreher Island State Park, located on Lake Murray. Grill burgers, roast marshmallows and enjoy the fireside atmosphere by the lake.
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Day #2 ~ Depending on what you enjoy…
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Spend the day with a fishing guide on Lake Murray. Let an expert show you where the fish hide.
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Try your luck on one of the 22 golf courses located in the region. With such a large selection of golf courses, you are sure to find one that will suit you.
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Consider canoeing or kayaking on one of the 3 rivers in the region, and/or enjoy a nature hike at the Congaree National Park (www.nps.gov/cong).
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After an eventful day, enjoy a sunset dinner at Dockside or the Rusty Anchor located on beautiful Lake Murray.
Girls Getaways!
For the Adventurous Girls
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A two night stay in the newly
renovated Radisson hotel with the fabulous Select-Comfort beds.
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Head to Saluda Shoals Park
for a canoeing or kayak trip down the Saluda River.
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The River Chef will prepare
lunch for your group on the banks of the river. (www.AdventureCarolina.com).
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Spend the afternoon jet
skiing on Lake Murray and end your day with a fabulous dinner at
one of the many fine restaurants in the region.
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Start your second day hiking
the trails of Saluda Shoals Park, on the edge of the river or try
horseback riding in the park.
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Spend the afternoon at the SC
State Museum. This is one of the largest museums in the
Southeast. Southern Living rated it in the top ten in the
Southeast.
The Typical Girl Tour
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Check into the historic
Hampton Inn in downtown Columbia. You will find unique shopping
areas of the Congaree Vista. The Doors of Devine and Five Points
are also nearby. The area around your hotel is filled with
everything from antiques to high fashion.
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Enjoy a girl’s luncheon with
lots of restaurants to choose from.
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The afternoon finds you
touring the Governor’s Mansion and the USC President’s Rose
Garden.
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Enjoy a performance at the
Koger Center for the Arts and head back to your hotel.
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Start your second day with a
trip to Newberry, SC, to visit Carter & Holmes Orchid Nursery.
This is the largest orchid nursery east of the Mississippi. The
guided tour explains how new orchids are grown from tiny spores.
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Stop at the Newberry Opera
House for a backstage tour.
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After lunch visit the many
antique shops of Newberry and do not miss Anderson’s Shoe Store.
On your way back, stop for a massage or more shopping in the
Harbison area.
Birds,
Bees, Flowers & Trees
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Spend the morning browsing the Botanical Garden at
the Riverbanks Zoo.
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Enjoy lunch and a nature lecture with a naturalist
at Saluda Shoals Park.
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Board your bus for a trip to Carter and Holmes Orchid
Nursery in Newberry- this is the largest orchid nursery east of the
Mississippi.
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Enjoy your dinner on the Southern Patriot as you
cruise beautiful Lake Murray, a 50,000 acre water playground.
Visit during the summer months and see thousands of Purple Martins
return to their roosting site at sunset.
Small
Towns & Treasures
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Start your visit at the Capital City/Lake Murray
Country Visitor's Center. Visit the museum and exhibit hall and view
species of fish that call Lake Murray home. Enjoy refreshments
as you watch a film of how the world's largest earthen dam was
built.
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Board the bus for a ride across the dam to the town
of Lexington. Visit the Lexington County
Museum. Costumed
guides lead tours of the complex which includes three 18th century
cabins, two antebellum homes, an 1870 post house and the 1832 John Fox
House, complete with nine rooms of authentic furnishings.
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Travel the back country roads to Prosperity where
you'll enjoy a good ole southern cooked lunch at the Back Porch
Restaurant.
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After lunch, visit Carter and Holmes Orchid
Nursery-
the 3rd largest orchid nursery east of the Mississippi River. Here
your tour guide will explain how new orchids are cultivated from tiny
spores and you will see the various growth stages.
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In Newberry- check in at the beautiful Opera
House Hampton Inn. Relax until it is time for dinner at one of
the many wonderful restaurants in Newberry.
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After dinner, enjoy the highlight of the tour- a
performance at the Newberry Opera House which is only steps away from
your hotel.

Shop
Until
You Drop Tour
Visit any one of our shopping malls to find the perfect
items that you have been searching for and then visit our unique, local
shopping areas such as the Congaree Vista, The Doors of Devine, Five
Points or Newberry's historic downtown. You
will have many dining choices for your lunch or dinner enjoyment.
Columbia Mall
Columbiana Centre
Congaree Vista
Doors of Devine
Dutch Square Mall
Five Points
Richland Mall
Sacred
Sites
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Historic Columbia Foundation's Sacred Sites
Tour:
Experience the region's religious history on a walking tour of
downtown churches and a synagogue. The tours begins at the
Capitol Building and continues to Trinity Cathedral, First
Presbyterian Church, Washington Street Methodist Church, First Baptist
Church, Bethel AME, St. Peter's Church and the Big Apple.
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Lunch at the Big Apple
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See funeral and mourning customs at the SC State
Museum through exhibits such as the African-American Memory jug and
the horse-drawn hearse used in the 1920's. Before funeral
parlors, burial and bereavement was a much more personal and family
orientated event.
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Dinner at New Orleans Restaurant overlooking the
Columbia skyline.
Exploring
the African-American Story
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Historic Columbia Foundation's Trolley
Tour of 25
African-American sites. Included are the Big Apple, a popular
nightclub for African-Americans from 1936-1938, the home of the
Modjeska Monteith Simkins, a leader in the SC civil rights movement,
site of Booker T. Washington High School built in 1916 as the only
high school in Columbia for African American students.
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Tour the SC State Museum with the curator of African
American History.

Nature
& Art
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Historic Columbia Foundation
Trolley Tour of Arsenal
Hill including the Governor's Mansion; then to the USC Horseshoe
including the USC President's Rose Garden.
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Columbia Museum of
Art- Lunch on the Garden Terrace
including a glass of Southern Ice Tea.
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Guided tour of landscapes from the permanent
collection and the Christian Thee Garden Room.
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Tour the 70-acre Riverbanks Botanical Garden
which
features formal gardens, scenic views and woodland trails.
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Spend the afternoon at the
Saluda Shoals Park
education center with a lecture by a park naturalist.
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Optional: Congaree Owl Prowl
Agricultural
Tour
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Start your day with a "Southern Farmers
Breakfast" at Lizard's Thicket.
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Travel a scenic, country route to Saluda County to
visit a large cattle farm in operation. The county extension agent
will be your guide. Saluda County is noted for its many peach,
cotton, cattle & produce farms.
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Enjoy a "Southern Lunch" as you meet and
chat with local farmers.
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Travel to Harmon's Tree Farm for a guided Hayride Tour
of this Xmas Tree Farm. They also have hundreds of Xmas
ornaments on display.
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Reminisce about the "good ole days" at the
Ballentine Farm Museum. This museum offers visitors an
opportunity to view farm tools and implements of yesteryear.
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Travel to the Lorick Plantation House for relaxing
refreshments and a Southern BBQ dinner. The Lorick Plantation
House (circa 1840) now houses the Lake Murray Country Visitors Center,
but at one time was the site of a thriving plantation.

OTHER TOUR OPPORTUNITIES
The group tour coordinator can
assist groups of 10 or more. Individuals interested in the tour
opportunities below should contact the attraction they are interested
in.
CARTER
& HOLMES ORCHIDS
This
is the 3rd largest orchid nursery East of the Mississippi.
Tour the greenhouses and learn how to grow beautiful orchids and
foliage plants. Orchid
plants are produced from seed and by tissue culture in the modern
laboratory. Orchids,
houseplants and foliage plants are available for sale. (803)
276-0579
FACTORY TOURS
KRISPY
KREME DOUGHNUTS
Tour
groups walk through this doughnut factory where they see the process of
doughnut making from beginning to end.
They see how the dough is mixed and how doughnuts are shaped,
cooked, glazed, filled, decorated and packed.
A tasty treat is received at the end of the tour.
(803) 926-9943
S.C.
EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION
SCETV
is nationally recognized as a leader in educational telecommunications.
Groups touring SCETV are walked through the process of creating a
television program, which includes scripting, graphic and computer
animation, studio production, and distribution.
Groups visit SCETV Master Control where 32 channels of
programming are delivered via satellite to sites across the state,
nation and world. (803) 737-3260
The Historic Heart of Columbia is a walking
tour that visits downtown historic sites, landmarks such as the
University of South Carolina Horseshoe, the State House and Trinity
Cathedral. Learn about the city's founding in the late 18th
century. Count the iron starts on the State House walls marking
where Union cannonballs hit the building in 1865. Laugh at the
antics perpetrated by USC students since the school's founding in
1801. (The walking tours are seasonal and those interested should call for scheduled dates.)
Walking Tours
Featured each Tuesday, Historic Heart of Columbia
walking tours last approximately 90 minutes. Tours begin on the
front porch of the National Advocacy Center at 6:30 pm and ends in the
Congaree Vista, in time for dinner at one of the neighborhood's many
restaurants. You will be able to spend a pleasant evening after
the tour enjoying tastes, sights, architecture, and ambience of this
unique Columbia area. As Columbia's trolley system makes frequent
stops in the Vista, you are ensured a convenient ride home. Tours are
$10 per person. Phone: (803) 252-1770, ext. 24.
Historic Columbia Home Tours
Tours are conducted by the Historic Columbia
Foundation Tuesday through Saturday 10 to 4, and Sunday 1 to 5.
Admission fee charged. Tours begin at the gift shop on the grounds of
the Robert Mills House and Gardens. Phone: (803) 252-1770, ext. 24.
Homeplaces, Workplaces, Resting Places:
African-American Heritage Sites Tour (Driving Tour)
Tours are conducted by
the Historic Columbia Foundation. From the Mann-Simons Cottage, home of
Celia Mann, a free black mid-wife in antebellum Columbia, to the North
Carolina Mutual Building, offices of the largest African-American-owned
life insurance company in the United States, this tour explores houses,
businesses, cemeteries, and other sites important to the
African-American community. Comprised on 25 sites listed on the National
Register of Historic Places, this tour features locations that
illustrate important events and little-known facts about Columbia's
African-American community from 1786 to the present. Along the way,
visitors will pass the Modjeska Monteith Simkins house, home of the
important South Carolina civil rights activist, the Big Apple, a former
synagogue turned night-club, and Benedict College. By special
arrangement, groups can tour the Mann-Simons Cottage. This tour is
provided as a step-on service on your tour bus or trolleys may be rented
for an additional fee. Trolleys have a capacity of 28 people.
Free driving and walking tours of Greater Columbia.
Heritage education programs and heritage touring packages by reservation
only - fees charged. Contact: Historic Columbia Foundation, 1601
Richland Street, Columbia, South Carolina, 29201 Phone: (803) 252-7742.
Take a walk on the wild side the 1st and 2nd Saturday of each month!
The guided walks begin at 10am at the Visitor Center and last
about 2 hours. Each walk will have a different focus and is
suitable for all ages and interests. Guided canoe trips are
offered the 4th Saturday of the month. Reservations must be made by the
1st Saturday of the month. Owl prowls are offered each
Friday at dusk during the spring and fall months. Call to make
reservations 2 weeks in advance. Phone: (803) 776-4396 ext.10.
GHOST TOURS OF COLUMBIA
Join the Ghosts and Legends of Carolina walking tours
for a 90 minute narrated encounter with the region's spirit. Tours
depart from the north steps of the state house. Reservations
required. Phone: (803) 765-1837.
KENSINGTON MANSION GUIDED TOURS
This 29 room, 12,000 square foot mansion is
magnificent with its sky lighted dome and elaborate cornices and moldings.
This home was built by Matthew Singleton, a wealthy cotton planter and
reflects the life of pre-war southern aristocracy. Guided tours
are given: Thurs.-Sat. 9:30am, 11am, 1pm & 2:30pm. A
reservation must be made for 10 or more persons. Fee: Adults
$5.50; Seniors $4.50; Children over 10 $2.50; Children under 10 Free;
School Groups Free.
LAKE TOURS VIA SOUTHERN PATRIOT TOUR BOAT
There are a variety of cruises offered by the Southern
Patriot. Call the number below for reservations and specifics. Other private group tours/special
events can be arranged by
appointment. Also, see the calendar of events section of this site
for dates of specific cruises. Contact: Lake Tours, PO Box 227, Ballentine, South
Carolina, 29002. Phone: (803) 749-8594.
COLUMBIA MUSEUM OF ART TOURS
The Museum of Art offers guided tours:
Thursdays 12:15-1:00pm; Fridays 1:00-1:45pm; Saturdays 1:00-2:00pm;
Sundays 1:30-2:30pm. Also, the Museum offers an Art Safari Family
Tour the 1st Saturday of the month 10:30-11:05am. Phone: (803)
799-2810.
RIVERBANKS ZOO & GARDEN ~ ADVENTURE TOURS
Behind the scenes tours put you in the shoes of Riverbanks Zoo's animal keepers! All ages are invited to take a walk into the keeper's area and get a behind-the-scenes look into the wonderful world of animal care and training. Adventure tours are offered on Saturdays only. Most tours accommodate 1-8 participants. For advance reservations, email kmixon@riverbanks.org or call (803) 799-8717 x1110.
SOUTH CAROLINA STATE HOUSE
Free tours are available at the South
Carolina State House, the seat of South Carolina's legislative and
executive branches of government. Within these walls the General
Assembly, comprised of the South Carolina Senate and House of
Representatives, drafts the laws that govern our state. The
State House is 145 years old. There are six bronze stars on the
west and southwest walls marking where Union shells struck the
building during the Civil War. Tours are available: Mon.-Fri.
9-5pm; Sat. 10-5pm and the 1st Sunday of the month, 1-5pm. Phone: (803) 734-2430.
