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Stayed at South Molle Island. A beautiful place and a resort full of activities (beautiful beach, bushwalking, great landscapes!) and fun nighttime entertainment as well. Went snorkeling at the GBR from here. Loved my stay here!! Absolutely gorgeous and everyone was so friendly! And had a wonderful run-in with a flock of colorful Rainbow Lorikeets! They would perch on your shoulders, arms, hands, and made for great photo-ops!

No matter what time you come up here, it will be absolutely gorgeous! A friend of mine at school has a house in the mountains so a group of us went up for a weekend right in the beginning of fall, so just some of the leaves had changed. It was absolutely perfect! We had an amazing time—trekked out to a waterfall, hiked some, visited some of the cute nearby towns and a really cool out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere arts school. It was a ton of fun and a great break from college life for a weekend!

Pretty much anything worth seeing that comes to South Carolina comes to the HOB. So I regularly find myself making the 2-2 1/2 hour trip from USC in Columbia to go to concerts. But worth the drive, especially since it’s so easy to head down to the beach and chill for a while after a good concert! And we usually grab dinner at Dicks before since it’s right nearby, or go grab some shakes from Johnny Rockets!

and we go down to Myrtle Beach a lot for concerts at the HOB and also just to get away (went down for Fall Break). I highly recommend Broadway at the Beach, tons of fun! Reminds me a lot of Disney World’s Downtown Disney actually.
Also, don’t skimp, get a hotel on the beach. If three college students can afford it, there’s no excuse for anyone not to! Worth being able to walk out of your hotel and on to the beach for a last goodbye in the morning before you leave! And being able to swim in a pool with a view of the beach and the ocean at night!

Great food!!!

I LOVE SPAIN! It left such an impression on me. I spent two weeks there, mostly living with a family in Sada (a beach/coastal town just outside A Coruna in Galicia) but also visited Madrid and Toledo. And I absolutely can’t wait to go back and visit more of Spain! I’m dying to visit Barcelona, Grenada, Seville, Basque Country, Gibraltar (although it’s not actually considered part of Spain), and so much more! I highly recommend visiting Spain, no matter where your travels take you within it! It is beautiful (and incredibly diverse in its landscape and beauty so try to travel around!) I highly recommend Galicia (especially A Coruna and Santiago Compostela) and Toledo (beautiful, historic, so worth the trip!). I admit I wasn’t incredibly impressed by Madrid after my two weeks in Galicia, but it is the capital city and has a lot to do and see so you probably should stop there at least for a couple days. If I went again I would probably like it more, because I really only go to spend a day and a half there and had no opportunity to go out at night which I believe is when the city really comes alive (the bar and tapas crawl and all!)

But no matter what, make it a point to visit Spain! You’ll love the land and the people!

I love love love Sada! I lived there for two weeks with a local family and it was an amazing experience. The people are so friendly and fun, I met so many wonderful friends! The town is small and easy to get around and right on the beach! It also has one of the best clubs from what I gathered. I went there on a Saturday night and it was packed! Apparently everyone from A Coruna comes down to this club because it is so good! I had an amazing time that night! Also I highly recommend a bar called Moby Dick, we hung around there many nights and had a great time. Also check out the port, especially at night to see all the lights from town! And check out the ceramics factory, it has some really cool stuff at decent prices! And you might even get to meet the famous Diaz Pardo! He took a picture with us and gave us all free cokes!
And then you can still visit A Coruna whenever you want for shopping or to visit the acuarium, Torre de Hercules, or check out a different beach!

People tend to hit just the big cities in Spain and they are really missing out. I spent two weeks living in Sada, a coastal town just outside A Coruna, and spent many days and nights in the city itself as well. It is an amazing city. My trip to Madrid simply paled in comparison. It’s smaller, friendlier, and much safer-feeling. I absolutely loved it! And there’s nothing like strolling the city and then heading down to the beach at night with friends! (Although we were approached by some interesting characters while we were down there!) I can’t wait to return again someday! And I highly recommend exploring the surrounding area—smaller surrounding towns like Sada, as well as a trip out to Santiago Compostela.
Oh and drop by the acuarium, it’s small but fun and a nice addition to any day! And make sure to at least see the Torre de Hercules!

A little bit of gaelic influence…green spaces…but also so much more than that. I actually stayed in a little town called Sada outside La Coruna, right on the ocean and absolutely beautiful! I completely fell in love with both the town and La Coruna and all the people there were so amazing! I had asuch an amazing experience there, I highly recommend it!!

buut not the best Spain has to offer. I was somewhat unimpressed with Madrid. Maybe I just had high expectations? Or perhaps it just couldn’t live up to the lovely lovely area I had spent the two weeks prior to my visit (the Galicia region is beautiful, I stayed just outside the city of La Coruna in a beautiful coastal town called Sada! I highly recommend!)
It’s your typical city, not the prettiest or cleanest but has sufficient interesting things to see and do.