Charelston Travel Guide

Hey you guys! I am super excited to share this post with you on what has become one of my favorite cities. Today I am going to tell you all about Charleston, South Carolina.

I have always heard amazing things about both North and South Carolina and it has always been a goal of mine to get down in that area. This past fall, I took the trip with my boyfriend to Charleston and immediately fell in love. Let me start off by saying, southern hospitality is real. The people down there were SO unbelievably friendly. It added that much more to our experience while visiting. Not one Uber driver, one barista, one waiter was rude and everyone is more than willing to go out of their way to give recommendations so that you enjoy their city as much as they do.

Courtyard at the Bluegreen

To start, we stayed at the Bluegreen Vacations King Street Hotel.  This place was nothing fancy, but was clean with a comfy large bed and even a kitchen if you felt like making some of your own meals (I recommend not taking this route because food is such a large part of what this city has to offer). This hotel also has a nice courtyard in the center where you can hangout and relax. It was also very reasonably priced so your money can go further on everything else the city has to offer. I also loved the location. It was within 15-20 minutes of everything we wanted to do, aside from the beach and plantations, and almost all of it was within walking distance. The location was at the end of King Street, which is one of the main roads in Charleston. If you follow this road straight down, you'll stumble upon a large outdoor mall.

Speaking of, we luckily arrived on the third Sunday of the month, which happens to be when the city shuts down the "shopping district" of King Street and you can walk freely on the roads to shop, try food trucks, and explore. It was a very fun experience!

Now let's start with my favorite topic ever; where to eat.

We were starving after our flight and walked about a block up the street from our hotel where we found Prohibition.  It is a cute, rustic jazz themed bar with live entertainment. We split the apricot french toast and I tried one of their signature drinks called the "Dartery" and my boyfriend tried their bacon old fashioned. First few sips/bites in and we almost fell off our chairs, the meal was amazing. It was the perfect start to our trip. 

That evening, we also had dinner reservations for 5Chruch. Key tip here if you ever go to Charleston, make all your dinner reservations before your trip. It helped us plan out our days and it made everything SO much easier. It also took away any wait from their very popular restaurants and believe me, they ALL fill up.

Anyways, we checked out 5Church which was a very cool atmosphere.  The food was great and the location was surrounded by many other great spots for an after dinner drink. 

  We then headed over to a rooftop bar nearby at the Market Pavilion Hotel. Charleston has so many amazing rooftop bars, we tried a few which you will hear about throughout the post. All of them had a great atmosphere and tasty drinks.

One of our FAVORITE stops of the trip was Husk. Again, I can not stress it enough, make reservations. This place books up months ahead for dinner and days in advance for lunch. We went for lunch since, big surprise, dinner was booked for the entire duration of our trip. I honestly wondered if this place would live up to the hype and you guys, it did. We tried their Husk burger and chicken fried steak with peppercorn gravy. I just don't have words. How can a burger be so good? I don't know, but it was. We then opted to get dessert because as you know, dessert is life. We ordered a s'mores dessert with a graham cracker ice cream. Speechless. Just go. It truly is amazing.

Husk is also known for it's bar that is right on the side of the restaurant. Many people take advantage of grabbing a drink their while waiting for their reservations. 

 views from dining at Husk

Another place worth checking out is right next door to Husk, called Poogan's Porch. This place lives up to every standard Husk does and again, very popular. We actually made reservations only a few days in advance for this place. We headed here after a long day of exploring and it was the perfect ending to the day.

We tried their seared scallops with ricotta dumplings and their she crab soup. A-MAZE-ING. This hands down was probably my boyfriends favorite meal and it was truly excellent. They even give you a basket of their homemade biscuits, it paired perfectly with the soup. I highly recommend this place and this exact meal. 

Up next is PAWPAW. We stumbled upon this place after visiting Rainbow Road. We had dinner reservations at Poogan's just a few hour later so we decided to just get some appetizers and drinks to hold us over. We got their crab dip and jalapeño hush puppies, accompanied with some frozé and boozy lemonade.  Do I need to tell you all for the 50th time that the food I ate was amazing? Because it was.

The next place worth checking out is The Restoration Hotel. This place is beautiful and would make for an amazing hotel stay. It however is very pricy, but if you have money to splurge, I would stay here. However, it's stay is not the only great thing about this place. They have an amazing coffee shop called Rise and a great rooftop bar called the Watch Rooftop. I tried their lavender honey latte at the coffee shop and it was so tasty! Great mid-day pick me up. We also checked out the rooftop where we had delicious drinks and split their burger with truffle fries. All of it was so delicious and all while enjoying the view over looking the bay. It was a very peaceful and relaxing environment and was my favorite rooftop that we went to.

The meal I was most excited to try was at Hall's Chophouse. This is one of their most recommended restaurants and it is obvious why. I'll start by saying this place is expensive. It is a top notch steak house and it comes with all of the bells and whistles. They take the phrase "waiting on you hand and foot" quite literally. We decided to split a steak, as well a side of lobster mac and cheese and loaded mashed potatoes. Best. Meal. Ever.  The price was absolutely worth it, service was astounding and I would go back in a heartbeat.

Two little quick mentions: If you are looking for a quick breakfast like we were one morning, I would check out Callie's Hot Little Biscuits. You can get them sweet or savory and with multiple dipping butters. It was a cute little shop and the perfect on the go breakfast.

If you are looking for a quick and sweet fix, I would check out Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams. You can even get a little trio of flavors so you can try out multiple at a time. My favorite was brambleberry and gooey butter cake.

Lastly, is Hominy Grill. They serve both an amazing brunch and dinner and are known for their southern 'lowcountry classics'. We went for our final meal of the trip and tried their popular "big nasty biscuit" and banana bread pudding french toast. It was a great final meal and perfect end to our trip.

 In case you have not realized, Charleston is a foodie's dream. I didn't even realize until we got there what we were in for, but it was such a pleasant surprise. Most people joke that all we did was eat on this trip and thats 70% true. However I'll explain the other 30% now.

We checked out a few destinations while visiting. First was Folly Beach. It is a very touristy area, but has a huge beach with a long pier that you can walk, grab drinks, and just watch the ocean. Though it is touristy, we had a great time out there and it was super calming and relaxing.

The next place that all the locals recommended was Shem's Creek. My favorite destination of the trip. The best way I can describe this place is like a little water town. 

You can kayak in the creeks that lead out to the ocean where you can even see dolphins. It also has little bars along their walking path and then restaurants and sports bars at the main area. We adored this little piece of serenity.

I recommend stopping at Muddy's for a quick drink before following the path out to over look the ocean.

Areas you can kayak at Shems's Creek

We ended our time there at Tavern and Table for dinner where we tried their seafood burger. It was super tasty. We then after hopped over to Red's Ice house next door to watch some NFL games with drinks out on the patio. It was a super fun environment and so much fun to go to. I can see why it is a local's favorite.

Seafood burger from Tavern and Table

Obviously while we were in Charleston, we checked out one of their many plantations. We decided on Magnolia's which is their oldest and most popular. I recommend allowing yourself at least 2-4 hours of time while visiting the plantation. The property is huge and the gardens seem almost endless. There are many tours and activities to do while out there, but we did the basic house tour to get a little of the history behind the place and then just a self guided garden tour. They will give you a map and then you can just go and wander the property. It is so serene and has so much wildlife to see. I believe general admission was about 20 dollars per adult.

The last few places we visited were :Rainbow Row, Waterfront Park and the Battery.

All are known for their scenery and views.

Rainbow Row

Rainbow Row is just a strip of houses that is about two blocks long. It's nothing special, but it is cool to see and a well known tourist area in Charleston. 

 This was from Waterfront Park with their famous Pineapple Fountain. I recommend making time to stop over here, it is very close to Rainbow Row so you could do both within the same day. It is a very pretty area with large swings on the pier to let you relax and just take in the scenery. 

The Battery is another pretty area known for all the old mansions and view of the ocean. We walked here after dinner one night and just used is as a nice way to end the night and explore a bit more.

Charleston is highly known for its history. You can also find the Old Slave Mart Museum and many old cemeteries to wander around. They also provide haunted ghost tours, if like me ,you like the spooky side of things. We heard mixed reviews from locals about the tours, but if we had more time we probably would have checked it out.  

Well everyone, that's all I have for you. I apologize for how lengthy this was, but I wanted to be as in depth as possible, so if you ever plan a trip down there you can experience the best of Charleston. I do not know how many times I can say how much I adore this city and I hope if life permits it, you all get a chance to see this beautiful place. Have a great week friends.

xo H