Charleston, South Carolina

[Goofy]

Anyone been to Charleston South Carolina and have any thoughts on family activities. We're going for the first time in a couple weeks. Thanks.

 

[kwillia]

Us the search engine on Reviews of vacations, hotels, resorts, vacation and travel packages - TripAdvisor for that location and you will find out everything you'd ever want to know about that area, what to do, where to eat, etc.

 

[chernmax]

Just get a tourist map of downtown Charleston and start walking, lots of history, shopping and great eats. You also have the Yorktown Maritime Museum, Museum of Charleston, Fort Sumter. Most activities this time of year will be more history related!

Stay out of North Charleston, and watch out for the beggers...

Discover Charleston - The Spooky Side of Charleston

 

[Wentra1]

Beautiful Charleston

I used to live in Charleston and it is one of my favorite places. Some fun things I did included...... touring nearby Boone Plantation (it was very charming and used in the filming of Gone With the Wind), walking along the historic Battery in downtown Charleston as well as the area known as Rainbow Row ( beautiful architecture) , touring Fort Sumter and visiting Foley Beach ( was not as developed when I lived there as other beaches such as Isle of Palms). Try to avoid areas and neighborhoods outside of the prime historic and tourist places, particularly Charleston Heights ( high crime rate). Do google some of these places to get the most up to date info.

 

[Tilted]

I used to live in Charleston and it is one of my favorite places. Some fun things I did included...... touring nearby Boone Plantation (it was very charming and used in the filming of Gone With the Wind), walking along the historic Battery in downtown Charleston as well as the area known as Rainbow Row ( beautiful architecture) , touring Fort Sumter and visiting Foley Beach ( was not as developed when I lived there as other beaches such as Isle of Palms). Try to avoid areas and neighborhoods outside of the prime historic and tourist places, particularly Charleston Heights ( high crime rate). Do google some of these places to get the most up to date info.

I've been to Charleston several times, though it was a decade or so ago. I'd echo some of this - take a boat ride out to Fort Sumter, walk around old Charleston and tour a couple of the homes, and walk through the old slave market (I'm not sure what it's actually called, but it is used now kinda as a big marketplace with all kinds of little shops selling all manner of things like woven baskets and trinkets and such).

 

[lisa8439]

Try to avoid areas and neighborhoods outside of the prime historic and tourist places

We made the mistake of just 'riding' around the city one evening... I honestly thought of Baltimore when we were going through some parts. There are some scary areas - and obviously Charleston isn't as big as Bmore but it just reminded me of the stark contrast between the inner harbour/fells pt. area of Bmore and East Bmore for some reason... anyway, you don't want to go outside of the downtown area (Market St./King St./Bay St.) to do any walking around or sightseeing in the city. The Mt. Pleasant old village area is ok too.

Hubby was there for a couple of months due to some training and we (kids and I) went down quite a bit to visit. Some of Charleston is just beautiful... there are lots of gardens - and some of the houses are really gorgeous. There's a stretch of houses that are painted like a rainbow - the kids liked seeing that. They also liked the aquarium - that was probably the hit 'family' attraction and we went to it twice during our visits.

I don't know how old your kids are or what kind of family stuff you are looking to do - but mine were younger at the time (close to 5 and 3) and they were NOT interested in the 'plantations' or museum stuff. We went to Ft. Sumter and while hubby and I liked looking around, the kids were bored. Same goes with all of the gardens you can visit, different plantation/house tours, etc. I didn't think there was a ton of stuff to do down there for kids to be quite honest - but that's just my opinion. Now if your kids are a little older, they might enjoy some of the museum stuff and statues...

I honestly can't remember any restaurants that were great... we ate at Magnolia's and the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. and weren't blown away by either. They weren't bad - just overpriced, IMO There was a little diner that we liked, I can't remember the name of it - but we ate there for breakfast a couple of times and they would PILE your plate up! Lots of restaurants were a bit too fancy for kiddos (mine anyway)

Have a good trip!

 

[bhatfiel]

Stuff to do in CHS

Anyone been to Charleston South Carolina and have any thoughts on family activities. We're going for the first time in a couple weeks. Thanks.

The downtown area is fun to tour and there are horse drawn carriage tours that start on Market St. There are several Civil War era homes that are open for tours in the downtown area.

Patriots Point Naval Museum is worth seeing.

The Civil War submarine, CSS Hunley, is on display in a lab on the former Navy Base. There is also a small museum about the sub. It is open to the public on the weekends.

Drayton Hall and the nearby Middleton Plantation are both great tours.

Fort Sumter is a great tour as is Fort Moultry.

Have fun!!

 

[Macluvr]

The downtown area is fun to tour and there are horse drawn carriage tours that start on Market St. There are several Civil War era homes that are open for tours in the downtown area.

Patriots Point Naval Museum is worth seeing.

The Civil War submarine, CSS Hunley, is on display in a lab on the former Navy Base. There is also a small museum about the sub. It is open to the public on the weekends.

Drayton Hall and the nearby Middleton Plantation are both great tours.

Fort Sumter is a great tour as is Fort Moultry.

Have fun!!

Born and raised there for the most part, never ran out of things to do. I personally like the Isle of Palms beach much better than any of the more known beaches. Folly beach really sucks. The market is fantastic and The Battery, oh God I am homesick.

That row of houses is actually called Rainbow Row. They have been there since the Civil War. Beautiful, but you get more out of the place in the early summer and summer. Have fun!

 

[lisa8439]

We liked the Isle of Palms beach the best too. Folly beach wasn't bad - but the water was a little too rough for younger kiddos... and there wasn't a storm coming or anything that would typically make the currents bad. I got the impression that Folly beach was more of a 'surfer' type beach (although having lived in southern CA for a few years, I have a hard time picturing lots of surfing any Atlantic beach). If the water hadn't been so much rougher there, we might have gone back - we went to the state (or county?) beach that had the lifeguards and little concession place and it ok, the current and the rough water just made me uncomfortable when hubby would take our 5yo out into the ocean.
We went to the state (or county?) beach on IoP too - you do pay admission but it was well worth it for us to have the lifeguards, bathrooms, etc. They have a little playground too which is nice for the younger kids. I don't remember a concession stand there though.

Of course, if the OP is going soon, I don't think he is interested in the beach info - might be nice to take a little stroll along the beach and get some pictures - but no need to worry about the water.


OP, if you are going to be down there for a bit (a week or so) and you get 'bored' you could always take a day trip to Myrtle Beach. We have family there and went down for two days while we were in Charleston - took rt. 17 straight down and it took about 2 hours or so to get there, so you could definitely leave early in the morning and get back late at night. My oldest could live at Broadway at the Beach - with that little wizard place where you get some sort of electronic wand and find stuff, the IMAX, the dragon putt putt, the aquarium, the rides, and Joe's Crab Shack (both of them just love painting the crab shaped rice krispie treat) he is in heaven when we go there. Youngest is getting old enough to enjoy a lot of that stuff too. And if you have kids into Harry Potter or wizard stuff, that place where you buy the wand and go around on different quests is pretty neat, I just can't remember the name of it off the top of my head.