Previous threads (in the past couple years) have a lot of good recommendations but mostly about food

Wife and I will be going in November. We've never been. We'll arrive Fri afternoon and likely leave Sunday around lunch time. Seems like all the action is downtown and pretty close together. We would like to have a relaxing weekend just walking around and exploring the city. So I'm hoping we can set up shop in one of the hotels then walk from there. Meaning we do not rent a car- sound reasonable?

Any hotels people have stayed at that they recommend? All the places seem pretty similar- old timey feel, small, but clean and "cute". It's hard to tell what is differentiating a $1k/night place from a $500/night place. Are there any areas to avoid due to safety concerns?

Thank you

A car is not necessary unless you want to drive out to the beach or another town. It's very walkable and Uber is readily available.

I don't know any hotels as we stayed in a VRBO near King and Morris. The Cooper Hotel was being built while we were there and seems nice from the reviews and the website. It's in a great location. Between hotels, AirBNB, and VRBO, there will be a ton of nice options to choose from. The French Quarter and Battery seemed like nice areas.

I did a solo trip a few years ago and did not rent a car. Just ubered to/from the airport and walked everywhere. I thought it was great - no issues. I believe I stayed at the Mills House. Great location, but definitely not a budget-buster (at least when I stayed there).

Check out the Loutrel. My favorite place to stay in Charleston. Very centrally located and easy to walk to all of the restaurants, shops, sites etc but the hotel is a smaller boutique so stays pretty quiet/ peaceful. Highly recommend

TXTransplant said:

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I did a solo trip a few years ago and did not rent a car. Just ubered to/from the airport and walked everywhere. I thought it was great - no issues. I believe I stayed at the Mills House. Great location, but definitely not a budget-buster (at least when I stayed there).

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Another vote for Mills House. Stayed there a couple years ago. Great location.

Was just visiting friends in The Cooper. It is a first class hotel. The location is outstanding. If you can swing it, the Cooper all day.

We stayed at the Live Oak. It was fine. Pretty new and the location was good for partying on King, but a bit of a walk to the historic areas. Not a bad walk though.

Wife and I just got back last month. Stayed at Kings Courtyard Inn. 167 Raw Oyster Bar right across the street. No car needed. Walk to everything. Right on King street. Ton of places. Maybe $1,200 for 3 nights. Cool city.

We just did spectator hotel with friends. It was nice and good experience. Cool bar downstairs and you get butler service included with breakfast every morning of your choosing. No car needed in Charleston, walk, shop, drink and eat. All you need to do.

Lots of good hotels to choose from but no reason to get one over $250-300 per night. You wont be in the hotel like and all inclusive. You will be strolling the historic district and eating a some great resturants in that area. If you are there more than 3 days maybe rent a car for one of those days and explore a bit ourside of the city

I am not a huge luxury hotel person...would rather spend my time on vacay outside exploring the area but that os me

Following as wife and I are going in October and in the same dilemma. Just know we want to stay in the historic district. We've gone back and forth between 4-5 hotels and being indecisive has cost us hundreds as prices have gone up

Which properties are you considering and what do you want your trip to look like? I'm in Charleston multiple times a year, so happy to provide some input if I can

Goldie Wilson said:

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Which properties are you considering and what do you want your trip to look like? I'm in Charleston multiple times a year, so happy to provide some input if I can

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We are looking at Charleston Place, The Dewberry, The Spectator, The Loutrel, and The Palmetto. This will be a birthday trip and our first time to Charleston so goal is really to eat our way around the historic district and marion square areas while hitting some of the historical/touristy stops. We don't intend to get a rental car, just walk and uber. Appreciate any insight you can provide.

We had drinks at the Dewberry and my wife stayed there 2 years ago and said it was great. It used to be a government building and looks it on the outside. I didn't go inside, but my wife said it is great.

We just returned from celebrating our 35th anniversary on Memorial Day weekend in Charleston.

We chose a boring Marriott Courtyard that placed us outside the high traffic flows and allowed us to be within a half mile of any of the great spots that you will want to visit.

We did not rent a car. We did use an Uber for a couple of restaurant reservations where we chose to dress up. We walked back from those reservations.

The only time that I wished we had our own rental was our visit to the Angel Tree. We ended up just paying for ubers and being patient.

We had great weather and it was mostly cooler there than it was in Texas at the same time.

Toros23 said:

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Goldie Wilson said:

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Which properties are you considering and what do you want your trip to look like? I'm in Charleston multiple times a year, so happy to provide some input if I can

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We are looking at Charleston Place, The Dewberry, The Spectator, The Loutrel, and The Palmetto. This will be a birthday trip and our first time to Charleston so goal is really to eat our way around the historic district and marion square areas while hitting some of the historical/touristy stops. We don't intend to get a rental car, just walk and uber. Appreciate any insight you can provide.

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The Loutrel is one of my favorite hotels in the world. I'm headed there next month and will be my 5th or 6th time staying there. Why I like it: the location is phenomenal; close to everything but without being right in the middle of everything. The hotel itself is on a quiet side street, but you go one block in any direction for some lively spots. The hotel is small-ish boutique with great service and nice amenities (rooftop exclusive to hotel guests, complimentary breakfast, etc). It's big enough to have an on site bar and restaurant (unlike some of the smaller inns and B&Bs) which I love for an end of the night cocktail, but the bar isn't really a destination for non hotel guests so it's never super crowded.

Dewberry is nice but much larger of a property than I typically like. Charleston Place and Palmetto are a bit right in the middle of the action (which might be your thing, but my preference for a hotel is a quiet property that's close to the action but not right in the middle of the action). I'm not really familiar with the Spectator other than the location right next to Loutrel, so the above location notes for Loutrel would apply there as well.

Hope that helps, happy to answer any follow ups or make other recs if helpful.

I just stayed at the Loutrel this past weekend. Would recommend. Honestly, don't think you can ask for a better location. Lots of perks with the hotel.. free happy hour drinks/bites daily from 4pm-5pm, good turndown service, breakfast included, nice bar, and rooms/bed were comfortable.

Had a drink at the Palmetto before dinner at SNOB and it seemed like a nice hotel as well.

Don't need a rental. We did get one for one day though to go to Kiawah and see angel oak tree.

Went to book The Loutrel and now it shows no availability the nights we are there. I'll probably book a hotel near Loutrel and just keep tabs on any cancellations that may open up. I saw a lot of food recs on the thread so think we are good on that, but if anyone has 3-4 can't miss activities in the area I'd welcome those recs as well. Thanks all

Thanks everyone for the feedback! The number of hotels (many similarly priced with similarly excellent reviews) is a bit overwhelming. I ended up choosing the Jasmine House. We will go without a car and will plan to just enjoy walking around downtown.

Thanks again

Historic District

Take a history walking tour...you can see some of the menus of the places you might like to eat at as you walk by

Old Slave Mart was informative

King Street for shopping

Get some food from a place that serves a good lunch as a picnic and take to the Pineapple Fountain at Waterfront Park and hit up houses on Battery Row....could do a dessert at Sunset

Take ferry to Ft Sumter

Outside of Historic District (if you have a car for a day)

Kawaii Island and Ryder Cup bar next to Ocean Course

Angel Oak

Folly Beach

Eat at Obstinate Daughter if outside Historic area

Maybe spend a night in Beaufort which is halfway to Savannah roughly

Aiken-Rhett House was great. It can come as a package with the Nathanial Russell House so we did both. I enjoyed touring these houses and you can show up anytime before 4pm, I believe.

The Charleston Museum was actually a good stop. We didn't have it written down intiitally but we walked by and stopped in. Glad we did.

We did the Fort Sumter tour as well. If you love that part of history then do it but you could also skip this one if you're pressed for time IMO. It was nice to get out on the water one day though. The Aquarium is next door to the departure spot but we didn't have time to check it out.

Walk the Battery and down through the neighborhoods south of Broad. Amazing historic houses/real estate. They also had a great little Farmers Market in Marion Square on Saturday that I would recommend checking out if you are there that day.

Some of our favs:
167 Sushi Bar - Amazing
Slightly North of Broad
The Darling - Oyster Bar
Fleet Landing - More casual spot on the water.

We did a sunset sail from over in Mt. Pleasant. Short uber over to there. It was great. Went all over the bay, also went pretty close to Ft. Sumner. Close enough that I didn't feel the need to take a trip out there to see it.
Highly recommend. Shem's creek is the departure waterway and there are several companies that launch there. A bunch of water front restaurants and bars there too. We didn't eat at any, but they looked like a lot of fun and were doing serious business.

Definitely don't need a car

Poogan's porch for brunch (chicken sandwich was incredible)

Make sure you have dinner reservations ahead of time. Hank's seafood is incredible.

We have a great time on a walking ghost tour (pleasing terrors I think it was called)

Sher Thing said:

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Aiken-Rhett House was great. It can come as a package with the Nathanial Russell House so we did both. I enjoyed touring these houses and you can show up anytime before 4pm, I believe.

The Charleston Museum was actually a good stop. We didn't have it written down intiitally but we walked by and stopped in. Glad we did.

We did the Fort Sumter tour as well. If you love that part of history then do it but you could also skip this one if you're pressed for time IMO. It was nice to get out on the water one day though. The Aquarium is next door to the departure spot but we didn't have time to check it out.

Walk the Battery and down through the neighborhoods south of Broad. Amazing historic houses/real estate. They also had a great little Farmers Market in Marion Square on Saturday that I would recommend checking out if you are there that day.

Some of our favs:
167 Sushi Bar - Amazing
Slightly North of Broad
The Darling - Oyster Bar
Fleet Landing - More casual spot on the water.

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I'll second 167 Sushi. One of the better meals I've ever had. I know nobody is going to Charleston for sushi, but this place is phenomenal.

Goldie Wilson said:

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Sher Thing said:

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Aiken-Rhett House was great. It can come as a package with the Nathanial Russell House so we did both. I enjoyed touring these houses and you can show up anytime before 4pm, I believe.

The Charleston Museum was actually a good stop. We didn't have it written down intiitally but we walked by and stopped in. Glad we did.

We did the Fort Sumter tour as well. If you love that part of history then do it but you could also skip this one if you're pressed for time IMO. It was nice to get out on the water one day though. The Aquarium is next door to the departure spot but we didn't have time to check it out.

Walk the Battery and down through the neighborhoods south of Broad. Amazing historic houses/real estate. They also had a great little Farmers Market in Marion Square on Saturday that I would recommend checking out if you are there that day.

Some of our favs:
167 Sushi Bar - Amazing
Slightly North of Broad
The Darling - Oyster Bar
Fleet Landing - More casual spot on the water.

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I'll second 167 Sushi. One of the better meals I've ever had. I know nobody is going to Charleston for sushi, but this place is phenomenal.

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167 Sushi just announced a move to a bigger location. Not sure if it is going to stay open at its current spot until the new place is ready or if there will be some downtime. Sushi Bar is another great spot we just discovered but more expensive.

I'd recommend avoiding the Cooper hotel for at least another month or so. The hotel is spectacular and in a great location, but the grounds and surrounding areas are still very much under construction