I heard so many great things about Charleston leading up to this trip and they all proved to be true. Not only is she an incredibly beautiful city to explore (whether by foot, carriage ride, or bike) there is a historical significance about her that really makes you take a step back in amazement. Everything from being name for King Charles II, the Civil War starting here, and how so much of the culture was influenced by slaves, I definitely found myself traveling through time.

Here are my recommendations for traveling to Charleston!

Where to Stay

We stayed at Hotel Emeline, a pet friendly, boutique hotel in Charleston’s historic district. Yes, pet friendly, and there were dogs everywhere, so for dog lovers – great, for non animal lovers – be prepared. The rooms are somewhat small, but they welcome you with the best tasting Planter’s Punch. The staff at the front desk was incredibly kind, welcoming, and helpful when asked about all the “touristy” things.

Because of COVID, they aren’t cleaning rooms. You could request to get new towels or sheets, but they didn’t come around daily. They also recommend that you wear a mask in the lobby and common areas. Most people did, some people did not. There are two restaurants attached to the hotel: Frannie & the Fox and Clerk’s. We spent some time on the patio at Frannie & the Fox (and to this day I can’t stop thinking about how good the mozzarella was) and grabbed coffee at Clerk’s one morning.

Other Choices

To be honest, I didn’t do a whole lot of research on hotels. Emeline was recommended by a few people, and once we found it on Hotwire.com for a discounted rate, it was easy to just go with it; however, some of the hotels we saw that looked really nice were:

• Charleston Place
• Hotel Bennett
• The Mills House
• 20 South Battery
• Market Pavilion Hotel

Where to Eat

I can’t even begin to tell you how many great restaurants there are in Charleston. The biggest piece of advice I would offer is to book your restaurant reservations right now. I didn’t truly understand that until we got there. Tourism is up 25% over the normal/non-pandemic times, and many of the employees in the service industry have not returned to work. This means if you don’t have a reservation, you’re not getting in. The places we ate at were:

• Husk
• Poe’s Tavern (on Sullivan’s Island)
• S.N.O.B.
• Magnolia’s
• Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit
• Hank’s Seafood Restaurant
• JohnKing Grill
• Frannie & The Fox

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Other Recommendations

These were all fabulous recommendations that came in that either a) we couldn’t get a reservation for or b) ran out of time. I truly believe you can’t go wrong with any of the choices and will be full and happy after leaving them all!

• Hall’s Chop House for Sunday (Gospel) Brunch
• Poogan’s Porch
• Charleston Grill
• FIG
• The Darling Oyster Bar
• 167 RAW
• Peninsula Grill
• Bourbon and Bubbles
• Millers All Day
• 82 Queen
• High Cotton
• Stars Rooftop & Grill Room

What to Do

Carriage Ride

I 100% recommend taking a horse carriage ride. It’s hard to understand until you get there, but there are horses and carriages everywhere (which you can also smell…..just FYI.) There are four different routes throughout the city they take you on and it is totally random which route your carriage takes. Charleston is a significant city in America’s history, and the tour guides speak to that history. You ride through gorgeous neighborhoods, past restaurants, churches, important historical buildings, and the tour guide pretty much gives you the low down of Charleston. It was worth every penny and took about an hour.

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Charleston City Market

This market is considered the cultural heart of Charleston and one of the nation’s oldest markets. I could have spent hours in the market, looking at all of the paintings, gifts, trinkets, clothings, and handmade authentic sweetgrass baskets.

One tip for the market – there are local younger looking men/boys outside handing out what looks like flowers. Once you take one, they then harass you for payment. Our tour guide on the carriage ride warned us of them and said to stay away!

Sullivan’s Island

When you have a kid named Sullivan, you visit Sullivan’s Island. I wish we could have stayed longer and that the weather would have been better. It was cold, damp, and windy and made for not exactly a beach perfect day.

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King Street Shopping

One morning, we walked all up and down King Street doing some shopping – Vineyard Vines, Lilly Pulitzer, Jude Connally, Louise Vuitton, Collard Greens, Impeccable Pig, Under the Almond Trees and so many more. Definitely wear your walking shoes for this!

Boone Hall Plantation & Gardens

I wish we would have had one more day to visit this beautiful place. Even now just viewing the website is giving me major FOMO vibes from not going. Not only is it beautiful to view, but there are extremely important and educational exhibits to view such as Black History in America Exhibit and a Slave History Presentation.

Rooftop Bars

Charleston is also known for its rooftop bars – see below!

• Henry’s on the Market
• Pavilion Bar
• The Rooftop Bar a The Vendue

Tips

1. I already mentioned making reservations. Some of the more well known and “famous” restaurants are booking up FAST. I would almost plan your trip around your meals. We took the approach of planning them out, but not making reservations everywhere because we didn’t fully understand why you needed to make reservations. Here (in Katy/Houston area) you don’t need to make reservations for restaurants right now, but you do in Charleston. Many restaurants have space reserved for walk ins, but you might have to wait for an hour or so.
2. UBER! Y’all, I’ve never been on the Uber app and it tell me, “There are no Ubers available.” The Uber game is totally unreliable right now in Charleston. And when you do get an Uber, you are being upcharged drastically! A few things I would suggest are a) trying to coordinate with your hotel on transportation to and from the airport, b) using Charleston Green Taxi, c) scheduling an Uber in advance.
3. Not a tip, but something I learned. All of the Charleston single houses have a piazza, which is basically a porch on the side of the house. There is a door on the street that looks like a traditional “front door,” but it is really the door leading to the porch. The door to the house is off of the porch, and in the old days, you would wait on the piazza until you were formally received.

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The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist

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Well, friends, what did I miss? I hope to go back again one day to cross more off the list. Like I said, Charleston is a beautiful city that has so much to offer – whether you are looking for that laid back Southern life, upscale restaurant game, or somewhere in between.

Cheers – MP