If you’re considering taking a trip to South Carolina, the first thing you should keep in mind here is that not every city is the same, especially Charleston. Actually, the tiny lie people tell themselves before a Charleston trip is that it’ll all be easy to figure out once they’re there. And okay, to be fair, the city does make that seem believable. Sure, everything looks walkable, the food looks good everywhere (no, really, it honestly does), the streets look pretty enough that “just wandering” sounds like a complete plan, and the hotel map you’re given at check-in makes every neighborhood look close enough if the screen is zoomed out far enough.
Again, makes total sense to make these assumptions, at the same time, though, some of these are the first-time mistakes that happen to travelers when they visit. So, what all should you know to avoid first-time travel mistakes here?
Planning to Drive to Charleston?
Now, hands down here, a rental car feels very adult and prepared while booking, right up until it spends most of the weekend sitting in a garage, collecting parking fees, and making dinner plans feel more complicated than they need to feel. Now, of course, it depends on what you’re doing and where you’re staying.
But the problem here is that Downtown Charleston is one of those places where a car can be helpful for beach days or anything outside the main area, but for the actual walk-around, eat, shop, drink, look-at-old-houses part of the trip, it can become more of a responsibility than a convenience. Do you really want to spend money on parking, and even just finding a parking spot, while dealing with all of this?
Close Enough on the Map Can be a Trap
Well, sometimes, not always, but you should zoom in on the map if theres a specific hotel that you’re eyeing. Like, if you’re planning on spending the weekend at The Nickel Hotel on King Street, than thats honestly a super good choice, as you’re right where everything is in downtown. But some travelers want to save more money, and so they intentionally choose a hotel that’s further out, but of course it might look close enough on a map, like a ten-minute walk or a ten-minute drive to the historic district, but usually it ends up being way longer (and you might not be saving that much money either).
Dinner isn’t the Time to Start Researching Dinner
Hands down, Charleston food is too good; it’s so good that you shouldn’t be planning last minute. Sure, it’s easy to think there’ll be plenty of options, and technically there are, but the places people actually want can fill up fast. So, just booking one or two meals ahead keeps things from getting irritating later, while still leaving room for casual lunches, coffee stops, snacks, and whatever looks good while walking around.
Arlight, so the trip doesn’t need a full dining schedule, because that gets exhausting, but it also doesn’t need everyone standing on a sidewalk scrolling reviews while getting hungrier by the second.
