Charleston, SC

While three days in Charleston might not give you quite enough time to see it all, you can check a few essentials off your list. I’m also positive you will be back once you visit this incredible place. With pastel houses and horse-drawn carriages, you will fall in love with South Carolinas charming port city.

WHERE TO STAY:

You can find a bunch of budget-friendly hotels, or you can also treat yourself to some of the fancier ones. We stayed at the Charleston Harbor Resort, which will now be my go to hotel when staying there. They have two separate properties right next to one another and it’s actually on the water! The Harborside seemed like it was more for families, so since it was just my mom and I, we stayed in the beach Club. The rooms are super nice and being right by the bridge makes it easy to get into town. You can’t walk into town but our drive was less than 10 minutes and parking is easy. They also have the Charleston water taxi if you don’t have a car that will stop by the hotel. The hotel seems to always have fun events going on, and you don’t have to be a guest to attend them. The last day we were there they had a Halloween party for the kids! All the kids were jumping in the pools in their Halloween costumes, It was adorable.

You also have two restaurants, which makes it super convenient if you don’t feel like running into town to grab something. Just remember you’re in the south and if you are used to that northern service, you are going to get a very different service down there.

Being right on the water, the views are spectacular. You can see downtown Charleston across the river and a great view of the Ravenel Bridge and USS Yorktown.

GETTING AROUND:

Downtown Charleston is perfect for walking but if you want to go a bit further there are plenty of Lime bikes now available. Charleston is about two miles wide so it's pretty easy to get around. If you do plan on driving around Charleston, please pay attention to the one-way streets, they change pretty quickly and often. For over 300 years King Street has been the main vein of this grid-style layout city, also King Street has the best shopping. South Broad and specifically Rainbow Row, is famous for its beautifully restored pastel townhomes. Make sure you make your way down to Waterfront park and see the legendary Pineapple Fountain and visit The Battery , Bring your camera! Fort Sumter was closed while we were there, but that will be added to our list for next time!

A WALKING TOUR:

I have been to Charleston many times, but I have never done a walking tour until this time. I 100% recommend you do one, and if you get an awesome tour guide you can go into places that you never would be able to get into (like the cemetery at Saint Phillips.) Hearing about the History of Charleston and why most of the city is still persevered because of neglect is fascinating. The town didn't have any money to “upgrade” the city so everything stayed. The guide talked about the civil war, and I will say what the south is taught about the civil war is very very different than what I was taught growing up in the north. There is only one “skyscraper” in the city, it's only 8 stories tall. Our tour guide talked about Rebecca Motte, John C. Calhoun, Christopher Gadsden, and Dubose Heyward who are all buried in the Saint Phillips Church graveyard. The history of Charleston is really interesting and I now have a list that I want to learn more about. If you have the time, take a tour, they last about 2 hours.

SHOPPING:

Well, I can talk about this forever, but I have to start with the main place. Charleston City Market. The market stretches 4 blocks, and you can find a ton of locally made pieces, there are some food shops inside, and of course women and men making sweet grass baskets. Like I said before King Street is the main run through Charleston, you can find anything from Small boutiques to High-end shops like Louis Vuitton, which happens to be across the street from the target. (I don’t know why, but I just found this so funny) I am a huge fan of Shopping small and I did some shopping. My first great find was in a boutique called My Sisters Cottage, where I asked them to take the tags off so I could wear the dress out of the store. I bought this beautiful linen cut-out maxi dress for the engagement party we had the next night, even though I had already brought 3 other outfits for that event. With a new dress, I needed some new accessories so I found BR Designs in the City Market and fell in love with their clay earrings. One thing that we don't have back home is a Tween store, and it's pretty hard to find Maci clothes that are cute on-trend clothes that everyone else doesn’t have. Down this little alley, we found Scraps of Magic, If Maci was with me we probably would have bought everything in the store. Just because I love the show Southern Charm, I had to Check out Sewing Down South, and even though it's on King Street, it’s towards the end. We, of course, had to hit some of the bigger stores too like Louis Vuitton, Vineyard Vines, and Lilly but didn’t buy anything, this was a shop small trip.

WHERE TO EAT:

You can eat your way through Charleston, and while we didn't eat in town this trip there are some restaurants that I have loved from trips past. Please, please, please make sure you go to Fleet Landing, while it might not be the top restaurant name you will hear, I promise you it is a hidden gem and will be your must go to spot. Fleet landing is the only restaurant with waterfront views on the Ravenel bridge side of Charleston. Fried Green Tomatoes BLT, don't ask questions just order it! I don’t think I have ordered anything else from this restaurant for lunch, we did get a key lime pie that was to die for. (Didn’t even make the before photo!)

167 Raw One of the best seafood restaurants in Charleston, it is a sister location to the original Nantucket oyster bar. We didn’t get to eat at this one but is a family favorite when we are on Nantucket.

We also ate at the Fish House, for Breakfast and Dinner since it was in our Hotel. While I don’t think I will ever get used to service down south, the food was incredible. The restaurant overlooks Ravenel Bridge, on the Mount Pleasant Side, and views the Harbor and The USS Yorktown. You can tour the aircraft carrier, a submarine and a destroyer ship all used in WWII. Easton said this is the top of his list when we go back. See you soon Charleston!