Over the last few years, I’ve seen countless influencers move to Charleston and posts from sorority girls on a relaxing getaway with their friends. I had been dying to go for awhile, but had never found the right group or time to go. When looking at possible spring break trips for my senior year, I knew I had to keep it closer to home and also not too party-centric, as I have the 2025 TYR College Club Swimming National Championships the following week (P.S., by the time this article is out, I’ll be traveling back to JMU after competing!) and wanted to only vacation a few days so I could get back to training before the meet. When narrowing down warm and interesting locations keeping those other standards in mind, we came up with two locations: Savannah, GA and Charleston, SC. I’ve been to Savannah countless times, and decided it was time to try somewhere new, so a group chat was made, Venmo requests were sent, and a house in Charleston was booked!
Before combing through my itinerary and booking your trip, there are a few basics you should know about our stay as well as the Charleston area. We had nine people attend our trip, meaning we had one too many to just get hotel rooms and had to opt for a house. That also means we had to be meticulous in planning our meals and activities, because most restaurants can’t just seat a party of nine during dinner rush. Lastly, my parents always raised me on the principle that as long as you finish your meal or enjoy your activity, we will pay for it. Our most cherished moments from vacations have been at fancy restaurants or shopping in unique stores as a family. Being a college spring break trip, and everyone having low budgets, we had to cut down on activities and meals that were on the extensive list I researched for everyone (I am genuinely the Type A to end all Type A’s). I will be including some things that did not make the final cut at the bottom of this article to help you in your planning should you want it. Additionally, while we stayed in the Historic downtown area, there are many other sub-neighborhoods of “Charleston” that we visited and are included in many recommendation lists. Some of these include Mount Pleasant, Shem Creek, Sullivan’s Island, James Island, and Folly Beach. You could stay in any of these other locations and still be a short drive from the rest, but I found the Historic Downtown area was truly the most central and gave you the best of both worlds.
Without further ado, here is our itinerary + bonus recommendations:
Day 1: travel day + exploring
We spent a good chunk of our day traveling, as we weren’t allowed to check into our house until 4 p.m., so there was no point in getting there early. Once we all got settled in and finished picking up groceries, we headed to King Street, the main strip in the Historic Downtown area, for dinner and a little bit of shopping. We were able to walk right into The Rarebit for dinner. The food was fair, but the prices were stellar for such an expensive area. And while the food was just fine, the cocktails were fantastic.
Being St. Patrick’s Day weekend, the whole downtown was full of college students and adult townies alike, dressed in green and hopping from bar to bar. The most packed bars with young people included El Jefe Texican Cantina and Republic Garden & Lounge. We did some shopping at that end of King Street, but many stores were closed by the time we left, which was very shocking for a Saturday night in a bustling downtown area. We spent the rest of the night in playing games and just hanging around our house.
Day 2: Rain, shopping, and more
Of course, our first full day of the trip wouldn’t be complete without rain the entire time. Luckily, instead of the hours of torrential downpour that were predicted, it was mostly fine to walk around in, despite the occasional 90 second dump that would soak us in between stores. In the morning, a few of us took a hot girl walk to find some coffee and potentially a brunch to kickoff our morning (despite it being noon). We ended up taking morning walks everyday of the trip after this, to be continued in the rest of the itinerary. We stopped at Holey City Bagels for bagels, of course, which I found to be pretty bland. Their sister coffee store was so busy that they were not taking orders, so we walked one block further for babas on cannon, which turned out to be for the best. I tried the Peanut Mocha, which was one of the best coffee drinks I have ever had in my life. Babas is officially my #1 coffee spot on my Beli (shameless plug — follow me @carlyyburnss) which is saying something since I am so particular about a good coffee.
After we recollected at the house, the boys decided to all get Costco food for lunch and then go lift at a gym instead of braving the rain. Meanwhile, us ladies decided this would be our big shopping day. We spent hours on the half on King Street that we were yet to explore, and still didn’t make it everywhere we wanted before turning back. Aside from all the cool local boutiques, highlights from popular brands included a three-story Brandy Melville, both a Free People and Free People movement store, and the largest Urban Outfitters I have ever seen. The shopping was truly to die for. On the way back to our house, we also stopped at Mess Hall Truck Shop, an adorable little store that sells patches, pins, and more to create DIY trucker hats and tote bags. While the price was a little steep, you had the ability to create a stylish, one of a kind souvenir you could wear anywhere for years to come. I opted to buy a cute little pin to start decorating my purse (Jane Birkin, you are my inspiration), but the hat one of my friends made was iconic.
All that retail therapy had us starved, so we drove over the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge (a popular walking spot during the day) and headed to the Mount Pleasant/Shem Creek area for dinner. We opted for Red’s Ice House, a casual waterfront spot that’s packed during the summer months. The food is your standard American bar fare with plenty of seafood options to reflect the region you’re dining in. The food was still average, but definitely better than the night before. The highlight was once again the cocktail menu — including rum buckets for quite less than you would normally see in the area. After that fast meal, we headed back to the house for another night of tomfoolery.
Day 3: St. Pat’s and Folly beach
As stated above, the morning coffee hot-girl walks became a tradition. This time, we ate a light breakfast at home and returned back to Holey City, this time to try their coffee. I got “The Influencer”, a double espresso shot with vanilla and oat milk. While it was not as good as my drink the day before, which would be so hard to beat anyway, I enjoyed it and would also order this again.
Once we got home, we quickly packed our things and made our way to Folly Beach, since the weather was finally clear enough. We parked at the public pier and made our way down to the water. Folly is supposed to be great for finding shark teeth, but I had no such luck. I did, however, spend a good amount of time jumping around in the waves before making my way back to the sand to tan. This was a huge surfing spot as the waves were quite sizeable, but they were still safe enough to play in. We ate lunch at Pier 101, and while the food and drinks were average, the atmosphere is unbeatable. You are eating on the pier, so the water views and beach vibes were exceptional. From there, we decided we were too cold and went back to the house to nap.
This is where the day takes a bit of a turn. We were supposed to go to the highly recommended Lewis Barbecue for dinner; however, I woke up from my nap nauseous as ever. While the rest of the crew decided to just eat leftovers or make dinner at the house, and then proceeded to live it up for St. Patrick’s Day, I rotted in my bed until around 11:30PM when I finally felt better. While I was sad to miss out on the dinner we planned, it was a fun night with friends, and the bagel and birthday cake I had for dinner (if you’re reading this, send Ryan and Luke happy birthday thoughts in your head) still hit the spot. It was a late, but wonderful night.
Day 4: More beaching and fine dining
For the last full day of the trip, we were able to hit the beach one last time after our morning walk. We stopped at Bad Bunnies Coffee. This was my least favorite coffee of the trip; my iced vanilla latte was just fine at best. Once again, we hit a quick change after coffee and headed out to the coast. Some of the group ate a breakfast at home, and went on a paddle boarding excursion on the intercostal waters. The rest of us tried to internet-famous Saltwater Cowboys for an early lunch on the water. While we skipped out on trying the extensive drink menu to stay hydrated at the beach later, we ordered a variety of items on the menu. Anything ranging from barbecue to seafood or salads was tasty. We also bought our souvenirs for the trip here, as they had very cute merchandise (example: the matching sweatshirt my little and I bought).
After that, we headed to Sullivan’s Island for our 2nd beach day of the trip. If you consider Folly the tourist beach, Sullivan’s Island was the much more secluded and relaxing beach. The little town surround the public beach accesses was adorable, and felt much less tacky-beach town than Folly Beach. The waves were calmer here, and there was far more shore to lounge on. Parking was free on the streets where signs indicated, and rather than hotels, the waterfront was lined with gorgeous houses that were very far back from the waterline. After more tanning and splashing in the waves, we realized we still had enough time to explore town before we had to return to downtown Charleston. We didn’t have a crazy shopping spree like 2 days before, but by far our favorite place was Shop ABOVO. They had the most adorable clothing, accessories, and decor, and were one of the most reasonably priced boutiques in the area (and they have an online shop…).
The main reason we had a time crunch to be back was for our nice dinner of the week, plus taking our group pictures for the trip beforehand since we’d be all dolled up. Our reservations were for Marbled and Fin, which is on the opposite side of the peninsula we were staying on and near the French Quarter area of downtown. Our original plan was to give ourselves time to walk to rainbow row, the battery, and the iconic waterfront park pineapple fountain for pictures, but one our friends recently had a procedure so they could walk less, so pictures in the Hilton across the street it was! After pictures, we played some Among Us in the car waiting until our reservation, which was on the late side since our party was large. They started us off with complementary cocktails (or mocktails) and some small bites. The majority of the group got some variation of steak, mostly the prime steak frites, as well as a few people opting for the wagyu risotto and one friend getting the creamiest looking lobster mac and cheese I’ve ever seen. Everything was cooked to perfection, and I would consider it to be one of the better dinners I’ve had across my past few trips.
Unfortunately, our trip to Off Track Ice Cream had to be canceled, since we were at the restaurant way past the ice cream parlors closing. We ended our night just chilling at our house.
Day 5-ish: homeward bound
Our time in the city was pretty limited with checkout at 10AM. We made one last speedy trek for coffee, going back to babas on cannon. This time I grabbed one of their cream puffs as a snack for the road, which was absolutely life changing.
We waited until we crossed back into North Carolina before stopping for food. We contemplated going a bit out of the way to stop at Buc-ee’s in Florence, SC, as our friends staying in Myrtle Beach did the same, but decided to stop at a Slim Chickens right off the highway instead, as our team loves to eat there during swim meets. Otherwise, it was a smooth sailing quest back to Harrisonburg.
Honorable Mentions
As promised above, I will be including several other recommendations that we couldn’t necessarily make it to, but were recommended many other times online.
Beaches: Isle of Palms, Kiawah Island, James Island (visit the angel tree)
Casual Dining: Costal Crust, Ellis Creek Fish Camp, Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit, Circe’s Grotto, Coconut Joe’s
Finer Dining: Amen Street, Magnolias, Post House, Husk, Vern’s, The Ordinary, 82 Queen, 167 Raw Oyster Bar
Sweet Treats + Coffee: Carmella’s Cafe and Dessert Bar, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, Island Provisions, Cafecito
Activities/Experiences: 2nd Sunday, Colonial Lake, Candlefish (candle making), Tijon (perfume making), tour Outer Banks or The Notebook filming locations
Nightlife: Uptown Social, Prohibition, Ritual Rooftop Restaurant & Bar
I loved this trip so much, and would 100% see myself visiting again in the future. They even have two medical schools in the downtown area, and I could see myself attending graduate school in the area, although I’m not sure my credit card could handle it…
Until next time, Chucktown!