Wellness Guide To Columbia, South Carolina

4 min readOct 14, 2019

I visited my sister for her first college swim meet [go Anne!] + got to experience Columbia, SC for the first time. It was the most beautiful weather [80s in October, so jealous!] + her dorm room as a pool… #southernliving. While I was only there for 3 days, I feel like I can confidently say that I found the best spots.

Best Coffee Shop

Indah Coffee: You need to get the cinnamon cold brew nitro coffee, wow. ++ if you are into sweeter coffees, get the thai coffee. This coffee shop won best coffee shop in South Carolina by Food + Wine!

Best Almond Croissant

Piecewise Coffee: While Piecewise Coffee takes first place, the almond croissant at smallSUGAR is an extremely close second. Try them both! Also, the bagels looked phenomenal at Piecewise Coffee… just saying.

Best Juice

Southern Squeezed: Someone will have to verify this for me [lol], because when I tried to go it was closed! I ended up getting a juice at Good Life Cafe, which I’m not going to lie, was overrated.

Best Breakfast + Lunch

SmallSUGAR: Hands down. Haaaaaands down. If there’s one spot in Columbia that is a MUST visit, this is the one. Pastries, all the toasts, breakfast bowls, salads, kombucha, coffee… I’m drooling just thinking about it.

Best Smoothie Bowl

Roots + Fruits: Found only at the Soda City Market, these smoothies + smoothie bowls are to die for. I got the Green Girl smoothie bowl topped with coconut flakes, strawberries, GF granola, + extra almond butter. DREAMY.

Best Poke Bowl

Freshe Poke: Usually I’m not into fast food chains, besides Chipotle… but I was super into these poke bowls. Tons of veggies, toppings, + sauces to choice from!

Best Place To Get Your Veggies

Soda City Market: Every Saturday on Main Street from 9AM — 1PM, year round — rain or shine ; ) I was so pumped to see that a MASSIVE BOX of fruits + veggies was only $10. Everything looked so pretty!

Best Date Night Restaurant

Motor Supply Co Bistro: Yes, yes, yes to everything on the menu. The menu changes frequently, but apparently the roasted veggies are usually on there… so get them! Also, the peanut butter + chocolate bar for dessert is a must.

Places I’m Excited To Check Out Next Time

1] The Well Collective Columbia: It’s outside of the main “downtown” area… + I’m not really sure what it is, but their instagram + website is super cute… so I’m into it!

2] Congaree National Park: Because #nature.

3] Silver Spoon Bake Shop: This was the highest rated bakery, so obviously need to try their almond croissant! Their browned butter sea salt oatmeal chocolate cookie is screaming at me, too… I need.