Columbia: how to get there and around
Airports, stations, ports, where the hotels are and what the numbers say, from public data rather than a brochure.
Columbia is a city of 142,416 people in United States (South Carolina), 97 m (318 ft) above sea level. The nearest large airport is Columbia Metropolitan Airport (CAE), 11 km (7 mi) from the centre. It has 2 railway stations on record, including Columbia station.
Key facts
Daylight in Columbia runs from about 9 h 56 min a day in late December to 14 h 28 min in late June (computed for 34° latitude), which matters more than the forecast when a day is built around one flight or one crossing.
Getting there
Columbia is served by one airport with scheduled flights. The closest large one is Columbia Metropolitan Airport (CAE), 11 km (7 mi) from the centre, with a longest runway of 8,601 ft, which limits it to short and medium-haul aircraft.
Flights to Columbia: every airport, routes and times
By rail: stations on record include Columbia station, Union Station (Columbia). Trains to Columbia
Buses to Columbia · Driving and car hire
What people come for
| Sight | Visitors a year | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Richland County Public Library | 1,882,900 | 2017 |
The busiest is Richland County Public Library at 1,882,900 visitors in 2017. Figures are the latest each site has published, so they are not all for the same year.
Tours, tickets and day trips from Columbia
Nearby cities, and how to get between them
- Charlotte, 137 km — trains · buses · car rental · tours
- Atlanta, 311 km — trains · buses · car rental
- Raleigh, 294 km — trains · buses · car rental · tours
- Greensboro, 257 km — trains · buses · car rental · tours
- Durham, 295 km — tours
- Winston-Salem, 244 km — trains · buses · car rental · tours
- Fayetteville, 230 km — trains · buses · car rental · tours
- Knoxville, 341 km — trains
- Cary, 286 km — trains · buses · car rental
- Savannah, 213 km — trains · buses · car rental · tours
Twin towns and sister cities: Kaiserslautern, Cluj-Napoca, Chelyabinsk, Plovdiv, Accra, Taichung.
Common questions
Which airport serves Columbia?
Columbia Metropolitan Airport (CAE), 11 km (7 mi) from the centre.
How big is Columbia?
About 142,416 people live in Columbia, across 349,389,396 km² (GeoNames and Wikidata).
What time zone is Columbia in?
America/New_York, currently UTC-4.
What currency is used in Columbia?
The Dollar (USD). Traffic drives on the right.
Which cities are near Columbia?
Charlotte (137 km), Atlanta (311 km), Raleigh (294 km), Greensboro (257 km), Durham (295 km).
Where these facts come from
- GeoNames (CC BY 4.0): population, elevation, time zone, postal codes
- Wikidata (CC0): area, sister cities, visitor numbers, heritage listings, stations and ports
- OurAirports (public domain): airports, runways
- Natural Earth (public domain): map outlines
Data compiled 13 September 2026. Hotel figures are from our booking partner’s catalogue on that date. Journey times on this page are estimates from distance, not timetables; check the operator before you rely on one.