Columbia, the state capitol, is home of the South Carolina State Museum, the largest museum of the South and in the South, featuring art, history, culture, and science collections and exhibits, especially relating to South Carolina. The museum offers lesson support for teachers, birthday parties, and camps and clubs; the Starlab Planetarium; seasonal events, including Halloween and Christmas events, and recurring museum road shows and a yearly toy soldier show. SCSM is a primary location for major exhibit tours, such as the King Tut exhibition.

The Columbia Museum of Art features a large collection of art of different periods and schools; visiting exhibitions; education and school outreach programs and an art school; summer camps; talks, films, and events for the general public, including CMA After Dark and CMA Chamber Music events.

The Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum, which features mainly artifacts and displays of South Carolina's military history, but is of interest to anyone with an interest in the American Civil War.

Columbia, the state capitol, is the location of the South Carolina State House, which took battle damage during the Civil War, and is available for self-guided tours, or guided tours with appointment. The South Carolina Governor's Mansion is also in the city, with extensive grounds and a historic house going back to the late 19th Century.

EdVenture is the largest children's museum in the Southeast, including exhibits on working, making, growing, critters, and featuring EDDIE, a giant kid model and internal organ playground. EdVenture also runs various in-school, homeschool, afterschool, distance learning, and camps and on site classes for children, and can host birthday parties on site.

The McKissick Museum fosters awareness and appreciation of the American South's culture and geography, particularly southern life, material culture, folkways, traditions, natural science, and decorative and fine arts.