Photo by Abby Joy Studio, used with permission
There’s plenty to do in downtown Greenville — and plenty to see. If you’re new to the area, or just unfamiliar with Greenville’s sights and sounds, a guided tour can acquaint you with our town’s unique history, architecture, food and environment. Greenville is home to several tour companies that offer anything from in-depth historical tours to self-guided rides on rental bikes. If you’re looking for a scenic or informational ride through town, there’s plenty of options to choose from.
This list is perhaps one of our narrowest, sticking to tour and bike rental companies that serve the downtown Greenville area.
Greenville History Tours
Website: greenvillehistorytours.com
Since 2006, Greenville History Tours has set the standard for experiencing Greenville’s culture and discovering its history. Run by BJU graduate and art professor John Nolan, author of A Guide to Historic Greenville, South Carolina, this company offers culinary tours, walking tours and driving tours of the area’s cultural centers. For an authoritative and accurate look into Greenville’s history as a textile town or a sampling of the city’s rich and varied foodie scene, Greenville History Tours is the perfect one-stop shop.
Here’s a list of the tours available to book from Greenville History Tours:
Greenville History Tours
- West End Walking Tour: Connect with Greenville’s past and future with a guided stroll starting at Falls Park and ending in the West End. $12 per person.
- Historic Neighborhood Architecture: This driving tour showcases 200 years of the city’s industrial and residential architectural history. $20 per person.
- Greenville Driving Tour: Perfect for newcomers to the area, this driving tour provides an introduction to Greenville’s major landmarks and history. $15 per person.
Greenville Culinary Tours
- At the Chef’s Table Tour: We talked about this tour in our article about fine dining in Greenville. Visit several of Greenville’s finest restaurants to sample downtown’s culinary delights. $69 per person.
- Greenville BBQ Trail Tour: Another food tour tailored to Greenville’s award-winning barbeque spots, including Bucky’s Bar-B-Q, Henry’s Smokehouse and Mike & Jeff’s BBQ. $39 per person.
- Greenville Breakfast Tour: The culinary tour, but for breakfast — this tour features Biscuit Head, Spoonbread and La Petit Croissant. $39 per person.
Greenville Mill Tours
- The Complete Textile Crescent Tour: This tour is specific to the industry that put Greenville on the map; a ride in the tour van takes you to 12 historic mills. $40 per person.
- Textile Mill & Village Tour: The Early Years: This tour takes you on the first half of the Complete tour. $25 per person.
- Textile Mill & Village Tour: The Second Wave: This tour takes you on the second half of the Complete tour. $25 per person.
Read more about this one-of-a-kind tour company and the man who built it in BJUtoday’s interview with John Nolan.
Interactive Tours
Website: interactivetours-greenville.com
Interactive Tours is a family-owned and operated touring company that integrates technology into traditional tour guiding methods. Run by Brenda and Michael West and their family, this tour company takes tours to the next level with virtual elements.
Knowledgeable guides provide each guest with a headset and a tablet that displays historical photos during this walking tour of downtown Greenville. “As the tour approaches each stop,” Michael explained in an email to me, “the guide shares another vignette of some of Greenville’s most influential people and their impact on our city.”
Interactive Tours accommodates groups of up to 20 guests. They’ve temporarily shut down operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but plan on reopening in mid-September of this year. Meanwhile, they are in the process of updating their website to better accommodate future guests.
Greenville Glides: Segway Tours and Bike Rental
Website: greenvillesegwaytours.com
Greenville Glides offers unique guided and self-guided tours. This company takes you and your friends on guided tours while riding a self-balancing cruiser up and down Greenville city streets. The company offers three different guided segway tours through downtown Greenville: the West End and Falls Park Segway Tour (from $60), the seasonal Haunted Segway Tour (from $70), and the Taste and Glide Segway Tour (from $80).
If you’d rather explore Greenville on your own, Greenville Glides also offers bikes and all necessary bike equipment for rent at $20 for four hours. Pedal through downtown or set out on the Swamp Rabbit Trail to experience the city at your own pace.
Reedy Rides
Website: reedyrides.com
Reedy Rides specializes in bike rentals and guided bike tours on comfy, easy-to-use regular and electric bikes. This tour and rental company has a 100+ fleet of 7-speed bikes, Ebikes, tandem bikes, kids bikes and tag-along bike trailers. They offer two standard tours: a tour through downtown Greenville followed by a 10-mile trail ride to Travelers Rest ($105 per person) and a tour of the Swamp Rabbit Trail ($65 per person).
If you’re only interested in bike rental, Reedy Rides has got you covered. Rent a regular adult bike or an Ebike for a half ($25 regular, $55 Ebike) or a full day ($40 regular, $75 Ebike). Children’s bikes and child-accommodating bike equipment are available for rent as well. All rentals come with a helmet, a storage bag and a bike lock.
Reedy Rides has also partnered with Greenville BCycle, “an all-electric bike share system” that lets customers “rent and return the shared bikes from BCycle stations across the downtown” according to the Greenville BCycle website. This service uses an app-based rental platform that allows you to check out a bike from any of their stations without dealing with a third party. Greenville has eight of these stations scattered around our downtown. You can purchase a $15 Guest Pass that’s good for an unlimited number of 60-minute rides for a 24-hour period. Single ride, monthly and annual passes are also available for active commuters.
Don’t miss the rest of our Around Greenville series to see more of what our city and the area around it has to offer.
