We recently returned from a trip to Charleston and I have to tell you, it was magical. It’s kind of like tasting a favorite food for the first time after resisting it forever and you ask yourself "what took me so long to try this?"
I’ve been missing out.
Charleston is considered the sister city to my hometown of Savannah, Georgia. I can’t explain why it took me fifty plus years to finally explore this beautiful gem of a city, but that’s exactly what we did the first weekend in October.
Planning our Charleston Trip
We were originally planning to visit California to celebrate my birthday until I saw a reminder about the 2024 Southern Living House in Kiawah and decided to yell 'plot twist!' and head south instead. It was absolutely the perfect time to go since the weather was beautiful, and while it was buzzing, the crowds were completely tolerable in this introvert's humble opinion.
In the meantime, if you're planning a trip to Charleston, I'll give y'all a peek into our choices for where to stay, where to eat, and what to do!
WHERE TO STAY
We were looking at these hotels when we were booking:
Hotel Emeline (we actually did pop in here one night while looking for a pre-dinner drink. I may have rearranged the coffee table books in the lobby while I was there. #allegedly)
Zero George (we walked over looking for breakfast on Sunday morning before our departure only to find that it was for hotel guests only. It was quaint looking and quiet aka off the beaten path but a bit of a haul on foot from city market if you don't have car access just fyi).
We planned this trip only a few weeks before, and hotel space was limited in that we were meeting friends of ours and needed two rooms rather than just one. I should note that a lot of hotels we looked at had a three night minimum and our friends were driving in and only staying for two nights rather than three so it took a minute to find one to fit both of our schedules.
86 Cannon looked gorgeous online but we weren't able to get two rooms. We ended up at the French Quarter Inn and it was lovely. Nightly cocktail hour followed by warm milk and cookies - need I say more? You can't beat the location either, right next to Charleston's city market and completely walkable to most historic sites downtown.
WHERE TO EAT
We arrived before our friends on Thursday, checked in to the hotel and walked over to enjoy dinner at Magnolia's. We enjoyed it so much we went back the next day for lunch. Highly recommend.
We enjoyed one of the most memorable dinners of my life at The Charleston Grill with our dear friends Jeff and Tracy. Together we opted for their tasting menu, and I cannot even begin to describe how inventive and delectable each course was. Something I'll never forget.
Another Broken Egg Cafe - A great breakfast spot!
The Dunlin could easily be placed under the "where to stay" category above, and I did try to make a reservation to stay there for the weekend, but it was booked. Thankfully though we decided to stop in after our tour of the Southern Living Home. We were just walking about taking in the beautiful views and incredible interior design by Amanda Lindroth, when our friend Jeff ran into someone he knew, someone being the manager of the property who then invited us in to have lunch at one of their restaurants, Linnette's. Let me just say, the food, the wine, the view, the interior design...I didn't want to leave. Trust me when I say, go, see, stay. We will be going again to do just that.
WHAT TO DO
We spent the whole day Friday walking around the historic district in downtown Charleston. Since we were meeting our friends later that night who were driving in, we elected not to rent a car. Charleston is incredibly walkable, but I will say that I regret taking only my slip on sneakers by Ilse Jacobsen. Ideally I would have had sturdier walking sneakers since there are lot of uneven cobblestones to contend with in the Historic District. Not a complaint, just a recommendation.
We walked along the Battery and along the Waterfront Park, down Rainbow Row, through City Market, and all around the Historic District. I heard there was a fabulous tour of homes in the spring, and I'm putting that on our to do list for next year along with these six historic homes. I love old homes (new ones too!) - what can I say?
On Saturday we drove over to Kiawah Island and explored the 2024 Southern Living House followed by lunch at the Dunlin. After that we drove around Kiawah, including coffee pit stop at The Sanctuary and a little stop at Freshfields.
MY FAVORITE THINGS ABOUT CHARLESTON
The walkability in the Historic District. We didn't have to dodge tour buses like you do in Savannah, a small horse and buggy maybe.
It felt like we were in a different country and in a different time while taking in all the historic old homes, one piece of eye candy after another.
Seeing it with dear friends. Truly being with people you love and don't get to see that often. The waiter asked if we were family or just friends and I thought to myself "why not both?"
From looking at the 600 plus photos I took, it's obvious that I have a thing for doors, door knobs and knockers, and apparently floral window box displays. ha
If you ever make it to Charleston, I'd love to hear where you go for my next trip! :)
More on my in person SL House experience in an upcoming blog post but in case you missed my preview you can check it out here.
Thanks for joining me on this mini-tour!
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