Columbia and Region

Local Points of Interest:

City of Columbia
SCIway - The Largest Directory of South Carolina Information on the Internet
The State Newspaper
South Carolina Cities, Towns and Places
Columbia and the Midlands Area
South Carolina Parks, Recreation and Tourism

Columbia, the state capital of South Carolina, offers cultural and ethnic diversity and serves a metropolitan area of over 400,000 through a variety of artistic and recreational facilities and programs. These include excellent community and university theaters, several ballet and dance companies, numerous philharmonic organizations and museums. The acoustically engineered Koger Center for the Arts on the University campus, is the home of the University Symphony and Chamber Orchestras with numerous ballet, opera, and musical performances offered on a regular basis.   The Carolina Center, which opened in November of 2002, is the largest arena in the state of South Carolina with 18,000 seats, and the tenth largest on-campus basketball facility in the nation. Located on the beautiful University of South Carolina campus, this one-of-a-kind facility features 41 suites, four Entertainment Suites, and the Frank McGuire Club, a full-service hospitality room that will have a capacity of 300. The state-of-the-art facility also features plush seating, a technologically advanced sound system, a four-sided video scoreboard, and a one-of-a-kind selection of unique concession foods that will delight fans of all ages.

 Just 15 miles from downtown Columbia, Lake Murray, a 50,000 acre man-made lake offers boating, sailing and some of the nation's best fishing for largemouth bass. Within the Midlands area are located attractive city parks such as the unique Finlay Park and Sesquicentennial State Park, and the Congaree National Monument, the last significant stand of old river bottom hardwood forest. The Riverbanks Zoo has been named as one of the ten best zoos in the country. Columbia is also the home to the Columbia Inferno, our minor league hockey team (Buffalo affiliation).

 Columbia's climate can be described a sub-tropical with four distinct seasons - long pleasant fall seasons, colorful springs and mild winters. Summers are typically hot with frequent afternoon thunderstorms.

 The foothills of the Appalachian Mountains with their excellent ski areas, as well as beautiful beaches and primeval coastal islands, are within a few hours drive from Columbia.

 Charleston, South Carolina, with its ante-bellum charm is connected to Columbia via I-26, making weekend visits and trips to the world famous Spoleto Festival USA a two-hour drive away.