How To Spend 3 Days In Charleston SC
Overall vibe of Charleston, South Carolina:
Charleston is a charming, historical, waterfront city with beautiful old homes, amazing restaurants, cute shops and laid back nearby beaches. There’s a reason the TV show “Southern Charm” is called that; Charleston really is the epitome of southern charm. It’s SUCH a fun city to visit and there’s hidden, more local feeling gems, nestled throughout all of the cute, quaint residential streets.
King Street
Quick Guide to Charleston:
Overall vibe: charming, lively, historical, amazing food
How long to stay: 3-4 nights (avoid summer - it gets SUPER hot/humid)
Where to stay: Downtown, Cannonborough
Getting around: downtown is super walkable but it’s nice to rent a car so you can get to the beaches easily
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Where to stay in Charleston
I recommend staying near downtown or a little north in the Cannonborough neighborhood. Downtown is more lively/busy and closer to the water. Cannonborough is a bit more residential/quiet with some really cute, local bars and restaurants.
Emeline Hotel: chic, modern hotel with a great restaurant (Frannie & The Fox) and coffee shop (Clerks) at the base.
Hotel Bennet: very luxurious hotel with a rooftop pool and a very classic, clean design.
The Spectator: super cute hotel with a really cool speakeasy-like bar!
Planters Inn: if you want to get a more Southern vibe experience, this hotel is great. Make sure to get a room in the newer building!
The Dewberry: mid-century modern (ish) vibe with an amazing rooftop bar (Citrus Club). This one is a little bit farther from downtown (about a 15-20 minute walk).
Best restaurants in Charleston
Dinner:
167 Raw (Instagram: @167_raw): amazing seafood restaurant with great vibes. It’s popular so make a reservation!
Leon’s Oyster Shop (Instagram: @leonsoystershop): a really cool, quintessential Charleston spot for fried chicken, oysters and cocktails.
Renzo (Instagram: @renzochs): super cute neighborhood restaurant for wood-fired pizza and natural wine.
Renzo
Frannie & The Fox (Instagram: @frannieandthefox): great, trendy, Italian restaurant at the base of the Emeline hotel.
Breakfast/brunch:
Basic Kitchen (Instagram: @basic_kitchen): my FAV spot we went to! It’s a super cute cafe with retro/boho vibes and AMAZING food!! Literally best burger I’ve ever eaten! And the basic bowl was SO good. We went for brunch and loved it but they also do lunch and dinner. HIGHLY recommend!
Miller’s All Day Cafe (Instagram: @millersallday): trendy brunch spot with classic brunch food. The poptart is incredible! It’s heavier food so if you want something light, eat somewhere else and just stop by Miller’s for the poptart ;)
Miller’s All Day Cafe
Cocktails:
Felix (Instagram: @felixcharleston): super cute spot for great cocktails!
Citrus Club (Instagram: @thedewberrycharleston): beautiful rooftop bar in Charleston. It’s usually a longer wait list so go early (they don’t do reservations).
Bar 167: this is the sister bar to the restaurant 167 Raw. We got a drink here while waiting for our table at 167 Raw and loved it!
Ice Cream:
Off Track (Instagram: @offtrackicecream): AMAZING ice cream and cookie ice cream sandwiches.
Off Track
We didn’t go to these but they were on our list and look really good:
Chasing Sage (Instagram: @chasingsage): super cute restaurant with vegetable focused small plates.
Husk (Instagram: @huskrestaurant): one of the most popular spots for Southern food. The patio is amazing!
Little Jack’s Tavern (Instagram: @littlejackstavern): apparently the best spot for burgers.
Obstinate Daughter (Instagram: @theobstinatedaughter): pizza and Italian on Sullivan’s Island.
Beech (Instagram: @beechrestaurants): smoothie bowls and poke.
Best coffee shops
Second State (Instagram: @secondstatecoffee): one of my FAV coffee shops ever in terms of the quality and taste of the coffee. Highly recommend!
Second State Coffee
Harken (Instagram: @harkencafe): another great coffee shop. It’s cuter than Second State but the coffee at Second State was better (but still very good here).
Harken
The Daily (Instagram: @thedailychs): a cute spot for breakfast/lunch/coffee. The coffee is just fine (go to Second State if you’re truly wanting the best quality) but it’s a good spot if you want to get breakfast or lunch and coffee at the same place.
The Daily
Best things to do in Charleston
Walk the Battery along the water: this is a MUST do! We started and parked right near the U.S. Coast Guard Station Charleston and walked along the water to Rainbow Row (a famous row of color homes near downtown) then headed back to the car on Broad Street.
Walk/Shop King Street: there’s tons of shops, bars and restaurants to explore!
King Street Fair: Every second Sunday of the month, there’s a street fair on King Street in the main part of downtown with tons of vendors. It made it extra fun to walk around and explore downtown.
Magnolia Plantation: there wasn’t a lot of information given at the plantation about the history of it so if you’re looking for that, I’d skip it. But if a peaceful walk in nature sounds nice, then it’s nice to see. This is also where the canoe scene of the Notebook was filmed!
Magnolia Plantation
Go To The Beach: see the best beaches below
Skip It:
Historic Charleston City Market: it’s a bunch of junk in my humble opinion so I’d skip it ;)
Best beaches in Charleston
Isle of Palms: the least crowded of these 3 beaches we went to. The beach is really wide and was perfect for a long morning walk! I would say this was my favorite of the 3 just because it was the most spacious and least crowded.
Isle of Palms Beach
Folly Beach: the most low key, casual beach town of the 3 we went to but it’s very crowded (we just surrendered to it and had a great day anyways). We got lunch at Chico Feos which is a SUPER casual bar with a few food options. The tacos weren’t anything special but it was super convenient since it’s right across from the beach.
Folly Beach
Sullivans Island: this beach was fairly crowded but not as packed as Folly Beach. We enjoyed hanging out here for a few hours one day.
Sullivan’s Island
Google Map of All Charleston Recommendations
I saved all of my recommendations for you in the map below to make it super easy to get around! Here’s the full link so you can save it: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/4/edit?mid=1huUoFAj4taxF2VUg-5mIQe5MVVawIVI&usp=sharing.
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