Charleston, SC

[anakenzie]

Hi All,

Over the weekend, FI and I were talking about places we'd like to visit and he brought up Charleston (I think he saw something on travel channel that involved Oysters.. LOL) and I figured why not, so we are starting to plan a trip for next year.

I've done a bit of research and had narrowed it down to either April or October, though we are leaning towards October. I think we might want to fly in, get a rental car (in case we want to go outside of the city), and I am thinking of renting a Condo or house for a week. The area I was looking at is the Historic District, which seemed to be a close walking distance to a lot of different things.

Any advise? Any other suggestions for times of year to go, neighborhoods to stay in, etc?? What sites are not to be missed? Both in the city and within an hour or two drive (I don't want to be driving far every day, but one or two days I wouldn't mind)?

Thanks for any info!!!

[SJ]

We spent the day Tuesday in Charleston and LOVED it.

It was obviously a whirlwind day, so this is what we did:

-Walked around the Historic District
-Walked around the park near the battery
-Took a tour of the largest private home in town- Calhoun Mansion www.calhounmansion.net
-Ate lunch at Husk- named 2011's Best New Restaurant by con appetit. It was delicious (we made reservations in advance)huskrestaurant.com/
-Went on a horse-drawn carriage tour

If we had more time we would have liked to go to Ft. Sumter as well as to at least one of the plantations nearby.

[krystee]

We went in November and stayed on a beach house on Isle of Palm (or Palms, I can't remember). It was so pretty and relaxing; we'd see dolphins right off our beach every day, and it was super empty (and much cheaper) because it's off season. I'd totally recommend doing that for a couple of days and then maybe another two days in the historic district. The plantations look beautiful too; we went to one for a wedding, but didn't get to explore much.

[anakenzie]

Thanks!!!!

[blackcat]

Jun 1, 2012 15:54:06 GMT -5 krystee said:

We went in November and stayed on a beach house on Isle of Palm (or Palms, I can't remember). It was so pretty and relaxing; we'd see dolphins right off our beach every day, and it was super empty (and much cheaper) because it's off season. I'd totally recommend doing that for a couple of days and then maybe another two days in the historic district. The plantations look beautiful too; we went to one for a wedding, but didn't get to explore much.

We did this as well, we stayed at a huge resort with condos on Isle of Palms (resort is called Wild Dunes), it's about 20 min outside Charleston. Mount Pleasant is also nice, about 15 min from Charleston. If you can stay outside of Charleston, it will save you money.

Favorite restaurants are Hominy Grill (for brunch, it's a little hole in the wall, food is amazing), High Cotton, and Magnolia's. The Noisy Oyster is really fun also and great for people watching, get a booth near the open air window.

Make sure to take a carriage ride, check out the old slave market, the battery... Charleston is such a great city, we are really fortunate to be within a 3.5 hour driving distance.