mkenwayx

Taking advantage of President's Day and heading to CHS, thanks to a cheap FL fare (my first experience...finally a YX loyalist can compare).

Anyone have any thoughts or particular suggestions on things to do, places to eat...

Thanks a lot!

USFreak

Having lived here for 3 years, I STILL have not done it all whatsoever......one weekend just won't be enough......Here is a link to our CVB page http://www.charlestoncvb.com/visitors/index.html

Jack Hanna will be kicking off the tourist season here with the Southeastern Wildlife Expo the week of your arrival.....If you get here early enough on Friday, you can take part in some of the exhibits. I believe it will finish up on Saturday.....

What to do

First, you have to do a horse drawn carriage ride around the historic district and south of broad. They depart near the Doubletree hotel on Market Street and go out every 15 minutes. While you are there, check out the old slave market and remember-NEVER pay full price--it is a bargain system so if it is $10 a t-shirt, do 2 for $16 and you walk away with a deal.

Second, walk King Street-our shopping district....you will find some usual chains but some stores that are unique to Charleston.....PLENTY of stores for the women but a little lacking for the men. The true Charleston clothier is Dumas & Sons-vineyard vines and they sell the typical Charleston clothing.......

Charleston is known for the historic homes......Particularly, Aiken-Rhett, Edmonston-Alston and my personal fav, the Joesph Manigault House. In the spring, the gardens are some of the most beautiful that you will see anywhere. This is from a guy who DESPISES gardening.

Other things to do: Boat tour to Fort Sumter; South Carolina Aquarium (right by the departure point to Ft Sumter); Plantation Tours-Boone Hall, Drayton Hall, and Magnolia Plantation. These are neat to see but rather expensive for admission. They are nowhere close to downtown so you will need to rent a car to get there.

I could go on and on b ut this is a good start for the weekend.

The next thing we are known for is our FOOD!!!! Some of the best restaurants in the country are here and below are my personal favorites (FYI-be ready to pony up where ever you go downtown):

Expensive
Oak Steakhouse: The best steak I have ever had but be prepare to pay $125 for 2 people.
Slightly North of Broad or AKA (SNOB)
High Cotton
Blossom
Cypress
FIG (Food Is Good)

Moderate
Jestine's Kitchen-you MUST eat here for some southern cooking! Be prepared to wait in line for awhile
Sticky Fingers-best ribs around
Jim-N-Nicks BBQ
Sermets Corner (French Fusion)
Rue De Jean (on John Street-not a bad thing on the menu but reservations strongly recommended-if you are in town on a Sunday, avoid the wait and do sunday brunch--it is fantastic and they have not been doing it long so not a lot of locals know about it)
Coast Wine and Seafood (behind Rue de Jean)
Vickery's-Cuban flavors but has more American flavors......Very gay friendly


Feel free to PM if you know where you are staying and not renting a car--i'll be happy to help......You are gonna have a great trip!

mkenwayx

THANKS!

That was great! Any good micobreweries that I should check out?

Anyone have any feelings on the Boardwalk Inn at Wild Dunes? Rates are as good or better than downtown...read some mixed reviews (mistly good...)on the various sites, but its always hard to weigh those.
Thanks a lot!

kahuna613

I'm from Mt. Pleasant (which is in between Isle of Palms and Charleston).

I second all of those restaurant reccommendations. One of the main microbreweries is South End, which is at East Bay and Vendue Range downtown. I don't really recall how their beer is, but if its still on the menu, I love the pork tenderloin with apple brandy sauce and grits.

I don't really think there is any point to staying on IOP/Wild Dunes if youre not planning on going to the beach. From Wild Dunes to downtown, with no traffic, its about at least 25 mins I would say. I don't really have much in the way of knowledge of hotels (since I grew up there!) but staying downtown would be better I think.

If youre a Civil War buff, you can see the CSS Hunley (submarine that was salvaged from off the coast a few years ago, one of the first military submarines if not the first in the US) in North Charleston, not too far from the airport actually I dont think.

There is a number of rooftop bars which are really quite pleasant to sit at and have a drink...I don't know how the temp is right now in Chas (Im in France this year...doh) but it shouldn't be too cold. On Vendue Range, across and then down the street from South End there is one with some views of the harbor.

Also if youre into naval stuff, Patriots Point in Mt. Pleasant has the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier, a destroyer, a submarine, and a Coast Guard Cutter. Its pretty cool, I believe the Yorktown has the largest collection of naval aircraft in the US on its deck.

Visiting the plantations is also an interesting experience but its gonna take prolly a half hour from downtown to get out far enough to them...which may take up a good chunk of day if youre only visiting for the weekend. Drayton Hall, Magnolia Plantation, and Middleton Place are all in West Ashley (our term for west of the Ashley River). Unlike the other two, Drayton Hall is not furnished and has been preserved, not renovated. I was a junior docent there in middle school. On the Mt. Pleasant side, you have Boone Hall, which is not far at all from IOP, its on 17 just on the north side of Mt. Pleasant.

You can also go out to Sullivans Island and walk along the beach....Fort Moultrie is at the entrance to the harbor on Sullivans and is a nice visit. It was built for the Revolutionary War and had a unique system of palmetto log fortification that repelled cannon balls well. There are also one or two nice restaurants on Sullivans, such as Atlanticville.

Let me know if you have any questions.

USFreak

Mt P here too! Sorry you are in dirty country this year!! LOL

I believe Southend Brewery closed....i havent been down to East Bay in about a month but that and City Bar I believe were victims of liquor violations......

If you go to Sullivans-make sure you stop by Poes for a burger--AWESOME burgers but damn hard to get a table!

mkenwayx

Thanks again! I really appreciate it!

Finally decided on the Hampton Inn Patriots Point...it's cheaper, but still kinda close.

If you had to choose 1 plantation, which would you pick? (distance isn't too big a factor...).

Strange about south end...they're website makes it look like its still open...

USFreak

you are 2 miles from my home at the Hampton! It sits next to Channel 2 news and is literally right off the new Ravenel Bridge to Downtown.....DEFINITELY go for a walk up-although the Mount Pleasant side is quite a grueling climb if you are not used to walking.......

I'd recommend Drayton Hall in West Ashley but Boone Hall Plantation in Mount Pleasant is a good/close alternative.....

HereAndThereSC

Personally, I would try to overnight near the old slave market or downtown (which is near the market), in a boutique / one-off hotel. The charm is hard to beat. The price will be a good bit higher than a Hampton, but it's worth it in my book. Your wallet will decide where you stay.

The slave market is very touristy. It doesn't quite feel like a tourist trap (like Myrtle Beach would) but it's very tourist oriented. But it's worth a visit nonetheless.

Make sure to walk the waterfront from the slave market to rainbow row - weather permitting. It's a good haul but it'll open your appetite!

JP

mkenwayx

We do plan to spend some time walking around downtown, and don't really find walking the bridge too daunting! I tried for downtown, but there was barely any availability for any of the non-chains by the time I was trying to book. Between Vday and Pday...must be a busy weekend! Hopefully the weather come through for us.
thanks again!

USFreak

That is because Jack Hanna's Southeastern Wildlife Expo is currently going on until the 15th and typically those people make the weekend out of it.....supposedly, all the flights in and out are booked pretty solidly this weekend

mkenwayx

Thanks for all the input!

It was an absolutely wonderful trip! Charleston is a beautiful city, that certainly is underappreciated here in the midwest. It offers so much history and architectural beauty that you can really enjoy much of what it has to offer without needing to spend too much!

We stayed just across the Cooper River at the Hampton Inn Mt. Pleasant/Patriots Point. We rented a car, which was pretty cheap (and worth it given the hotel savings, and not worrying about a shuttle at midnight...). The drive across the bridge was easy, and parking wasn't too bad, but we didn't mind walking so didn't care how far away we were.

The first day in we spent walking all along the river downtown, and then explored some of the side streets. Enjoyed lunch at Tommy Condon's Irish pub...vapid waitress, but surprisingly good food for a rather touristy location (we're not the fancy restaurant/gourmet types anyways...). At sunset we returned to Mt. P for an early night given our late arrival the night before.

The next day, the weather was again beautiful. Went to mass at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist (much prettier on the inside than out!), then headed out to Fort Sumter. It was neat to see, and nice to get out onto the water, but there really isn't too much there. Since I'd already been to the end of the Civil War (Appomatox court house), it was time to say I've been to the beginning. Then we headed back downtown, walked around some more, and did a little bit of shopping (minimal!). Then we went to dinner at Southend and had a great night! Beer was decent, waitress was great, and the food was VERY GOOD! I highly recommend the grits appetizer (sounds a little weird, but they are top notch...coming from a Yankee who has never liked them before). The barbecue pork was really good with the golden bbq sauce (but a little fatty). THE CHOCOLATE COBBLER IS AMAZING!!! A unique take on the typical chocolate desert choice! All in all a great day.

Monday morning it rained, so we did a little shopping downtown, checked out the COC and MUSC (we're college campus buffs...), packed up, and headed home.

As for the flights (I'll include it here even though not related). This was my first experience with Airtran...and I'm an NWA/YX loyalist. Took the flights because of price and lack of RJs. I was very open to the experience, despite the YX/FL animosity, and tried to be very objective in my critique. I was optimistic, and expected something that would be similar to YX given all the hype we heard here in MKE. As a comparison, I've flown some of the European LCCs, most of the US majors, Aloha, Island Air and YX. Ultimately, I am unlikely to FL again, regardless of price, for some of the reasons listed below.

1. All 4 flights were delayed. The flight out of MKE because of a late arriving aircraft from ATL. ATL-CHS delayed d/t a groundstop in EWR, this delay was over an hour, which bumped the midnight arrival to after 1AM...wasn't too happy, after a 2+hour layover in ATL (and I usually enjoy layovers). On the return, CHS-ATL delayed about a half hour d/t late arrival from ATL. ATL-MKE delayed again by late arrival, this time by about 15 mins.

My biggest problem with these delays is that not once did any gate agent, FA or pilot mention them. I listened closely for the obligatory "sorry for the delay folks, but we'll get under way as soon as we can." Not once did anyone apologize on any of the 4 flights. I was shocked, and took that as kinda low-class.

My observation here is that while aircraft utilization is a great thing, it's unrealistic to schedule the flights so tight because a 10 min delay in ATL turns into a half hour on the return from an outstation, and just continues to build throughout the day. And this was all without any weather issues in MKE/ATL/CHS (EWR was understandable...) on both days. Further, I've never had service workers getting on and off the plane while trying to board...

2. Cleanliness and comfort- The 717s (3/4 legs) were very tired looking (much more than YX 717s and comparable to the DC9s on NWA) and dirty. NWA takes a lot of flack for dirty planes, but these were worse. The seats on the 717 were average for comfort. The 737 seats weren't too comfortable for me...too stiff, thin, and not curved the right ways (I'm kinda used to that being 6'4" but I'm not fat so that wasn't my problem). Bathrooms weren't in great shape on any flight either...but that's kinda standard these days.

3. The ticket and gate agents in MKE were about the worst I've ever encountered. They were rude, never made eye contact, and could have cared less that I was a paying customer on their airline. I've posted before that I think NWA's MKE agents are on the whole comparable and sometimes better to YX (I've run into a few YX agents in MKE who are rather indifferent), but it is a completely different world in the D and E concourses at MKE!!! Basically they make you feel like a person (and I always try hard to make ticket/gate agents and FAs feel like people, not personal servants, but in MKE nothing I did worked).

In ATL and CHS they were better, but I attribute this to Southern hospitality, and can't really compare to any other airline.

4. ATLANTA! We tried to decide if ORD is worse, and didn't really come to a consensus. It might be, but ATL is up there, especially the D concourse, which is darker, narrower, more crowded and fewer services than any of the other concourses (and we walked them all since we had 4 hours on the return). No comparison to DTW or MSP, which I frequently transit. There is a long list of airports that I would rather connect in (DTW, CVG, MSP, MKE, SLC, DEN, CLT, MEM, SEA...). This is another huge reason to avoid FL (and some of DL for that matter).

5. Passengers- there was a different type of passenger on FL, especially compared to YX. They were generally less respectful and appropriate. A few on different flights were loud, others had no problem being rough with other people's luggage in the bins. The worst, however was deplaning. We quickly learned that you need to get out of your row quickly or the aisle will fill from the back of the plane. I've never seen this before, and was quite shocked!

6. FAs- not much to say since I know every airline has great ones, bad ones and most are probably just average. It was tough though, since my last trip on a combo of NWA/YX (thanks to a bump from NWA), was exceptional. Everyone was personable, especially the YX flight which had FAs that clearly were experienced (15y with YX) and exuded the spirit of the original Best Care in the Air.

I will say that I was surprised by the lack of formality among FAs in announcements and passenger interactions. This was in contrast to the standard formal uniform. I appreciate someone being personable, but I think a degree of professionalism and formality is required if an FA is to garner respect from passengers, which is important given their position of authority. If they were wearing polo shirts I'd feel a bit different, but even Ryanair was better on this one.

A couple of good things. I hate paying for seats, but it was nice to guarantee the exit row ahead of time (as NW silver, I prefer it this way), which I can't do on YX. The new 737 looked really nice, bright and clean. XM was really nice...although I always have my IPod and often don't bother listening to everything, I did like the XM! The MKE C terminal is REALLY nice...a plus for FL/DL/US who use the end of it (AA/UA/F9 use the arm, which is nice, but not as nice as the hammerhead). Finally, having a 717 to CHS was nice, since US and DL were the only ones with mainline that I saw.

findingneema

Heading to Isle of Palm, meeting family there in mid-May. Was planning on taking my mom out for a late Mother's Day dinner and would like to keep it under $100 for the two of us. Recommendations? And checking out the wine lists at places like SNOB, Magnolia's, etc., let's just say I'm rather spoiled to be living in SF, since the wine seems to be a hell of a lot cheaper here. I'm actually wondering if $100 is possible with a bottle of wine.

chipsodg

Many thanks for this useful post, I have just booked this morning a couple of nights in Charleston (Holiday Inn)

travelmad478

Dredging up an old thread because it looks like I will be headed to Charleston in mid-March for a three-night long weekend there with my best friend.

We do want to rent a car because we don't want to spend our entire time in the city itself. If it is decent weather, we want to get out to the beaches for some walking around, maybe do some kayaking, that sort of thing. We are also very interested in partaking in the restaurant scene there, which I've heard a lot about. We are both 40-something women but can only stand the boutiques/antiques stuff for a couple of hours at most!

I am trying to figure out where would be best to stay. I found a number of B&Bs in the historic district in the mid-$200/night range; do most of those charge extra for parking? I also looked at the Inn at Middleton Place, which is about a half-hour drive west of town, and sort of quirky/interesting as far as the accommodations go, but possibly a pain as far as getting to/from dinner. And then there are the chain hotels, which I could get at least partially on points, but I'm not sure I really feel like drinking their bad coffee, looking at Corian bathrooms, and eating their sorry breakfasts every morning.

Any suggestions on accommodation? And any suggestions on more outdoorsy things to do in the middle of March?

hoyateach

We moved to Charleston last summer and like it very much. My observations:

The beaches are terrific but whether the weather cooperates is another matter. It should be okay but never, ever plan on it.

The B&Bs downtown are lovely and very romantic but since that doesn't seem to be the purpose of your trip, you might be better served by a hotel in West Ashley or Mount Pleasant if you want to save a few bucks. Nothing in either neighborhood should be a 30-minute drive away - 15 minutes, tops, unless it's rush hour.

There's a Marriott near the Medical University of South Carolina that might be a good compromise between convenience and distance but, IMO, the downtown boutique hotels are worth it. I can't speak to the parking situation at these hotels, though, so check ahead. Driving in Charleston is like driving in a miniature version of Boston or DC - lots of one-way streets, narrow passageways, and oblivious pedestrians (mostly tourists).

It's a very walkable town so my advice is: park the car and walk away. Even a couple of blocks off King Street, the tourists melt away and you can soak in the beautiful architecture and brick-lined streets.

The food is terrific. We LOVED the she-crab soup at A.W. Shucks (lots of places serve it) but I don't know if it will be in season in March. If you can find it, have it. Just avoid the canned stuff. I also second the Sticky Fingers recommendation.

I'm sure there's more. If I think of anything, I'll add it. Enjoy your trip!