CHARLESTON · SOUTH CAROLINA
Pastel facades, plantation oaks, salt air.
Historic walks, plantation gardens, harbor cruises and Lowcountry food. Rainbow Row, the Battery, Fort Sumter, Magnolia and the beaches just past the peninsula.
The opening act
Start with the city from a carriage seat.
Charleston earns its reputation in the first hour. Pastel walls, gas lamps, palmettos at the gate, the Battery at the end of the line. The most-booked tour in town.
A Charleston primer
Charleston in three acts.
Charleston gives you three travel angles — the historic peninsula, the river plantations, the working harbor. Most travellers do all three. Here’s where to start with each.
ACT I
The Historic Peninsula
Cobblestones, gas lamps, antebellum houses and the Battery at the end of every walk. The Charleston you came for.
- Charleston’s Old South Carriage Historic Horse & Carriage Tour
- Historic Charleston Guided Sightseeing Walking Tour
- Charleston Horse-Drawn Carriage Tour: Explore Historic Charleston
- Charleston Harbor History Day-Time or Sunset Boat Cruise
ACT II
The River Plantations
Out past the Ashley River bridges. Avenues of oak, formal gardens, the hard history that built the wealth. A full day in itself.
- Boone Hall Plantation All-Access Admission Ticket
- Magnolia Plantation Admission & Tour with Transportation from Charleston
- Boone Hall Plantation Admission & Tour with Transportation from Charleston
- Charleston: Magnolia Plantation Entry & Tour with Transport
ACT III
The Working Harbor
Fort Sumter from the ferry, dolphins off the Battery, the city skyline from the water at sunset. Charleston from a different angle.
- Charleston Harbor History Day-Time or Sunset Boat Cruise
- Charleston: Daytime or Sunset Historic Harbor Cruise
- Charleston Harbor Sunset Cruise
- Charleston Water Taxi Cruise with Dolphin Sighting
The classics
Charleston's Most Popular Tours
Carriage rides, walking tours, harbor cruises, plantation days. The Charleston short-list — the tours travellers actually book.
By the way you want to see it
Pick how you see Charleston.
Each angle is its own day. The historic peninsula on foot or by carriage. The harbor by boat. The plantations out past the bridge. Storied Charleston after dark.
By tour type
Or pick how you want to spend the day.
Walking tours if you want stories. A carriage if you want to sit back. A boat if you want the harbor. Ghost tours after dark. Plantations for the gardens and the hard history.
Charleston after dark
America’s most haunted city, walked at night.
The Unitarian graveyard, the Old City Jail, the Battery at midnight. Charleston’s nighttime stories — three lantern-lit walks we’d recommend to first-time visitors.
Eat what Charleston eats
Shrimp and grits, she-crab soup, the rest of the Lowcountry table.
Charleston’s restaurant scene is one of the best in the South. Walking food tours through King Street and the French Quarter — three we’d send our hungriest friends to.
Beyond the peninsula
The plantation day, done right.
Magnolia for the gardens, Boone Hall for the avenue of oaks, Middleton for the geometry. Out past the Ashley River — three plantation tours we keep recommending.
The shape of a Charleston trip
The Charleston long weekend.
Three days is the Charleston sweet spot. Here’s how the city usually unfolds — the standard arc that locals quietly recommend to friends.
Settle into the peninsula.
Drop the bags, lace up. A carriage ride or guided walk through the historic district orients you for the rest of the trip.
Carriage & walking tours →A day at the plantations.
Rent a car or hop a tour out to Magnolia, Middleton, Boone Hall or Drayton Hall. Plan on most of the day — the gardens reward unhurried walking.
Plantation tours →Charleston after dark.
Dinner on East Bay, then a lantern-lit ghost walk through the French Quarter. Charleston has more haunted square footage than anywhere in the South.
Ghost & evening tours →Out on the water.
A harbor cruise, the Fort Sumter ferry, or a dolphin run before brunch. See Charleston from the side that built it.
Harbor & boat tours →Just added