Best Things to Do in Charleston

If you’re looking for she-crab soup, one of the city’s most well-known dishes, look no further. Open since 1982, this French Quarter area restaurant serves classic Lowcountry cuisine like their award-winning she-crab, crispy chicken livers and fish and grits. 

Scott ran his family’s barbecue restaurant out of a small space in rural Hemingway, S.C., before opening his first spot under his own name. His whole hog pork, served with sweet “Carolina style” sauce or “Alabama white” sauce, is the main draw. But, this is barbecue, so you have to get a few side dishes, too. Some of the best here are the collard greens and mac and cheese. 

Make the trip to James Island for this family-run restaurant dating back to the 1920s. Diners sign the wooden walls with Sharpies and eat oysters straight from the marsh, brought to the table by shovel. This is also a great spot for frogmore stew, a traditional Lowcountry boil of shrimp, corn and sausage. 

The narrow King Street shop is the perfect spot for breakfast on the go. Get your fluffy biscuit piled high with fried chicken, pimento cheese or sausage gravy. The shop also sells frozen biscuits to take home as tasty souvenirs and has a second location inside the bustling City Market. 

This restaurant is one of the few places in the city where you can get traditional Gullah food, the cuisine of the people of the Sea Islands. Signature plates include crab rice and shrimp with okra. 

The International African American Museum opens January 21, 2023, on the site of Gadsden’s Wharf, the point where 40% of all American enslaved persons entered the country. The museum covers the African diaspora, the influence of African American culture in the United States and movements for racial justice and equality.

America’s oldest museum is the best place to start your visit to Charleston. Founded in 1773, its diverse collection ranges from a stuffed polar bear to historic garments to pottery fragments found at local homes. The museum manages two adjacent historic homes, and you can purchase a combination ticket that gets you into all three sites. 

This museum is one of the city’s most underrated landmarks. It opened as the collection of a local philanthropist in 1905, making it one of the country’s oldest arts organizations. Highlights of the museum’s collection include paintings from the Charleston Renaissance and the artful sweetgrass baskets woven by Gullah artisans, the Creole-speaking, coastal people who trace their ancestry from central and west Africa.

While the historic City Market can be overwhelming, it’s the best place to snag locally made products. You’ll find sweetgrass basket weavers carefully crafting pieces here, along with jewelry inspired by Charleston’s gatework and Gullah artwork. 

The area between Morris Street and Septima Clark Parkway is where the new, trendy restaurants and shops have popped up in recent years. Give yourself plenty of time to wander the small, but delicious, area, grabbing a local beer at Elliotborough Mini Bar and picking up trendy menswear at Indigo & Cotton. 

Cross the bridge to visit the Old Village area of Mount Pleasant. This charming stretch is like stepping back in time. It’s so scenic that it’s been used in a number of television shows and films including “The Notebook” and “Outer Banks.” Grab an old-fashioned soda at Pitt Street Pharmacy and fresh-from-the-creek seafood at The Wreck of Richard and Charlene. 

North Charleston’s circa-1900 planned community centers around a large roundabout, with restaurants and shops around its spokes. It’s also near the city’s decommissioned Navy base, now used for festivals, concerts and as a filming locale. 

This boutique hotel is a welcome addition to the Charleston City Market area, which is otherwise overcrowded with basic hotel chains. Rooms come with record players and a curated album of music by local musicians. The bar and restaurant has cocktail windows where you can ring a bell to receive your drink. In the morning, grab coffee from Clerks and browse the gift shop that sells Stetson hats made exclusively for the hotel.

This 91-room hotel has Caribbean vibes with a rooftop pool and its Little Palm Bar. The coastal-inspired rooms have Peloton bikes available for rent. Its adjacent restaurant, Hank’s, is one of the city’s best seafood spots.

Stay like a local at the seven-room inn in the Old Village neighborhood, which has large and airy rooms, a popular restaurant and bike rentals to explore the area. The rate also includes a lovely European-style breakfast.