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Places to go in South Carolina.

Springs, beaches, parks and gardens worth the drive. Save the ones you want to visit and tick off the ones you’ve been to.

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2 places

Congaree National Park Forests

Congaree National Park

Hopkins, SC · Congaree River floodplain, central South Carolina

Congaree National Park protects the largest tract of old-growth bottomland hardwood forest left in the country, a floodplain of towering bald cypress and tupelo near Hopkins, South Carolina. Walk the 2.6-mile elevated Boardwalk Loop past cypress knees and trees over 500 years old, home to some of the tallest trees in the eastern U.S. For two weeks in late spring, the park's synchronous fireflies flash in unison, one of only a few places in North America where that happens.

Hunting Island State Park Beaches

Hunting Island State Park

Hunting Island, SC · South Carolina Lowcountry

A wild semitropical barrier island a short drive east of Beaufort, where the Atlantic keeps rewriting the shoreline. Walk the boneyard beach of bleached, weathered driftwood, then follow the trail back through a maritime forest of palmettos and live oaks to the black-and-white 1875 Hunting Island Lighthouse. It is the most-visited state park in South Carolina, and the climb up the tower earns you the whole sweep of the Lowcountry coast.