Charleston, done right.
Cobblestone walks, harbor sunsets, graveyard ghosts and the long day out to the plantations: what each one is really like, what it costs, and where to book it.
The seven that anchor a first visit.
First visit or fifth, these carry a Charleston itinerary: the walk that reads the Historic District street by street, the harbor at sunset, a food tour through the South of Broad kitchens, the graveyard your guidebook keeps quiet about.
Charleston’s Old South Carriage Historic Horse & Carriage Tour
A one-hour horse-drawn ride through Charleston’s historic district with draft horses, certified guides, and Civil War stories.
From $50 per person
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A morning the live oaks have kept for centuries.
The estates north of the city pair formal gardens and preserved architecture with the history of the people enslaved there, and the tours worth your money tell both. Boone Hall’s oak avenue, Magnolia’s flooded gardens, Middleton’s terraced lawns: here is how the main sites compare.
How do you want to see the old city?
The Historic District is the whole reason you came, and there are three good ways through it. Pick the one that sounds like your kind of afternoon, then start with the shortlist behind it.
On foot
The walking tour
2 hours (approx.) · from $30 · 6,216 reviews
The peninsula gives up its best stories at walking pace: the hidden alleys south of Broad, the ironwork gates, the churchyards behind the spires. Two hours and a good guide, and you will never look at Rainbow Row the same way. The right first thing to book.
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By carriage
The carriage ride
1 hour (approx.) · from $50 · 10,023 reviews
Let a draft horse set the pace while a guide points out the single houses and the earthquake bolts. Covered when the sun is high, an hour long, and routed by lottery through the streets south of Broad. Easiest way to cover the ground with children or in the heat.
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After dark
The ghost walk
40 minutes (approx.) · from $50 · 3,678 reviews
Come back once the gas lamps are lit and the same streets turn on you: the Unitarian churchyard grown wild, the old jail, the stories the daytime guides leave out. Ninety minutes, more history than jump-scare on the good ones. For travellers who like their sightseeing with a chill.
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The Holy City keeps its ghosts.
When the gas lamps come on, the churchyards go quiet and the stories start. The Unitarian graveyard left to grow wild, the old jail on Magazine Street, the pirates who swung at White Point. Charleston earns its reputation as the most haunted city in the South — go once with a guide who knows which doors to knock on.
The Lowcountry eats slow.
She-crab soup, shrimp and grits, benne wafers and a praline for the walk home. A good food tour threads the South of Broad kitchens and the market stalls in a single afternoon — these are the ones to book on an empty stomach.
The harbor is the other half of Charleston.
From the water you get the postcard: the church spires, the Battery mansions, dolphins rolling off Shem Creek and the light going gold behind Fort Sumter. Schooner or motor yacht, sunset sail or dolphin run — start here.
A city built to be looked at.
The pastel houses of Rainbow Row, the double piazzas turned side-on to catch the breeze, the mansions along the Battery watching the harbor: the lower peninsula is an outdoor museum of Charleston single houses. The best tours read the details you would otherwise walk straight past.
From the Battery to Folly Beach.
The city works in pockets. The Historic District for the walking. Rainbow Row and the Battery for the postcard. Charleston Harbor for the boats. Folly Beach when you need the sand and the surf.
Walk it, sail it, or haunt it.
Every kind of Charleston day is a tile here, from a dawn harbor sail to a midnight ghost walk. Pick the one that sounds like you and start reading.
Out past the Battery.
Charleston is a fine base for the Lowcountry. The plantations up the Ashley River, the boat out to Fort Sumter, Folly Beach and the Morris Island lighthouse, the tidal creeks at Shem Creek — all close enough to be back for dinner.
Three days in the Holy City.
You can’t see all of the Lowcountry in one visit; you can absolutely do the right three days. This is the sequence we would hand a friend flying into Charleston tomorrow.
Day 1
Learn the peninsula on foot
A morning walking tour through the Historic District, Rainbow Row and the Battery, a carriage ride to rest your feet, then supper on East Bay. By dark you will know your way around.
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Day 2
Out onto the harbor
The ferry to Fort Sumter in the morning, Patriots Point after lunch, then a sunset sail with the dolphins as the spires turn gold. Charleston from the water is a different city.
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Day 3
Up the Ashley River
Drive out to Boone Hall or Magnolia for the gardens and the full history of the estate, then back to the city for a Lowcountry food tour. Save your appetite for the last night.
Plan day three →
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