Travelers Have Voted: Here’s Where to Play, Eat, and Stay in Charleston, SC

This depth is a large part of what helped Charleston earn top accolades in TripAdvisor’s 2025 Travelers’ Choice Awards, an awards series that recognizes the best in travel and dining based on authentic reviews from millions of travelers over 12 months. Charleston ranked ninth among US destinations, with its hotels, restaurants, and tours receiving additional recognition.

Below are some of the top highlights in Charleston that Tripadvisor travelers love and that I experienced firsthand.

The best things to do in Charleston

Take a historic walking tour

My group joined the Tripadvisor top-rated Historic Charleston Guided Sightseeing Walking Tour with Walks of Charleston, led by Dennis, a licensed local guide.

Dennis explained Charleston’s history in a way that you wouldn’t be able to fully understand if you walked the streets yourself, such as pointing out fingerprints pressed into old bricks by enslaved children in Philadelphia Alley.

“Once you’ve seen it, you can’t unsee it,” he said. At the Old Slave Mart Museum (more on that below), he noted that Sullivan’s Island is sometimes described as the “Ellis Island of the slave trade,” a place where an estimated 40 percent of all enslaved Africans brought to North America first arrived.

Other sites visited during our two-hour tour included — but were not limited to — St. Michael’s Church, a prominent Anglican Church that features distinct pew boxes; the homes of prominent slave traders, such as Nathaniel Russell House; the Battery, which overlooks Charleston Harbor and Fort Sumter; and the iconic Rainbow Row’s pastel homes, which we learned were influenced from Charleston’s longstanding Caribbean connections.

Walks of Charleston: 45 Pinckney Street, Charleston, SC 29401

Do a food tour with a renowned local chef

Chef Forrest Parker, head chef of Revival (more on that below), leads the Tripadvisor top-rated tour Undiscovered Charleston: Half Day Food, Wine & History Tour with Cooking Class. He kicked off the tour by describing his inspiration from decades in the kitchen.

“I kept asking myself: what is it about Charleston’s dining scene that makes it so special?” Parker said. “And how did we get here in the first place?”

We joined the 90-minute walk, which starts at the city’s iconic Pineapple Fountain and passes through historic sites connected to Charleston’s culinary evolution. Throughout the tour, Parker blended insights with his quirky brand of humor.
“Charleston has a long-standing reputation as a restaurant city with a drinking problem,” he joked. “Savannah, our sister city, has a long-standing reputation as a drinking city with a restaurant problem.”

The experience concluded at a private kitchen adjacent to the prominent restaurant Azur, where Parker led a live cooking demonstration. We watched him prepare delicious Lowcountry classic recipes such as pimento cheese biscuits, shrimp and grits, and the Huguenot Tart with benne wafers. Using heritage ingredients and techniques he’s refined over two decades, he turned lunch into a masterclass and history lesson all in one.

Undiscovered Charleston: Various

Visit the McLeod Plantation Historic Site

I’ll admit: I was hesitant about visiting a historic plantation. Having lived in the South, I’m aware of how plantation culture is romanticized in classic films such as Gone with the Wind and even in subtle ways today. That said, the tour at the McLeod Plantation Historic Site, a 37-acre Gullah/Geechee heritage site, pleasantly surprised me and explained why it was so highly rated on Tripadvisor.

From the start, our guide made it clear that this tour wouldn’t sugarcoat history. The narrative centered less on the McLeod family and more on the lives and labor of the enslaved — and later freed, though still constrained — people who lived and worked on the property, with stories carried through first-person accounts across the Civil War, Reconstruction, and well into (and even after) the Civil Rights era.

McLeod Plantation Historic Site: 325 Country Club Dr, Charleston, SC 29412

Visit the Old Slave Mart Museum

While we briefly stopped outside the Old Slave Mart Museum during our walking tour with Dennis, I was intrigued to learn more, so I visited the museum’s interior on my own. The museum occupies part of Ryan’s Mart, once a major slave-trading site. The upstairs gallery covers the transatlantic trade, while the downstairs section covers how slavery operated domestically.

While there, I happened upon an author reading by Margaret Seidler, a self-proclaimed “accidental historian” who traced her lineage in Charleston and realized — rather unsettlingly — that her ancestors eight generations back, including William Payne, ran a prominent slave brokerage. She was raising awareness for her picture book, Payneful Business: Charleston’s Journey to Truth, which interprets hundreds of slave-sale advertisements through imagery brought to life by illustrator John W. Jones.

Old Slave Mart Museum: 6 Chalmers Street, Charleston, SC 29401

Go shopping for local finds

Charleston City Market, one of the oldest public markets in the US, is a hub for local treasures, including Gullah sweetgrass baskets that showcase West African craftsmanship. During my visit, an unseasonably cold front allowed me to snag a pashmina scarf and fuzzy beanie for $15 from a vendor, which was a more affordable option than the higher-end boutiques along King Street.

Charleston City Market: 188 Meeting St, Charleston, SC 29401

Where to eat and drink in Charleston

Revival

Named the #1 fine-dining restaurant in the US by Tripadvisor, Revival sits inside the art-focused Vendue hotel. My group attended the “Revival Through Time” tasting experience, where the restaurant’s chef, Forrest Parker — who also leads the Undiscovered Charleston food tour mentioned above — explained how the dishes are inspired by Charleston’s multicultural roots, including Spanish, English, West African, and French culinary traditions.

Highlights included beautifully presented dishes of She-Crab Soup with lump crab and Amontillado sherry; Lowcountry Pirlou with butter-poached lobster, crab, shrimp, Carolina Gold “Pegao” rice, saffron, and black garlic aioli; and a roasted halibut with pistachio butter and heirloom vegetable purées. Dessert was a Key lime pie with blackberry coulis. After dinner, we walked through the lobby of the Vendue, an art-focused hotel in Charleston that displays more than 200 original works.

Revival: 162 East Bay St Next To The Vendue, Charleston, SC 29401

Circa 1886 Restaurant

Tucked into the carriage house of the historic Wentworth Mansion, the fine-dining institution Circa 1886 — which is a top-rated date night spot on Tripadvisor — offers tasting menus inspired by Charleston’s rivers: The Ashley and The Cooper. I chose The Cooper, which featured small plate dishes such as a 62°C Storey Farms egg, foie gras custard, sea bass with cauliflower chowder and pancetta, and Mishima Ranch beef with chimichurri sauce. Wine pairings were led by Anne Hampton, the in-house sommelier and wine director, who had a charismatic personality and explained the selections in a refreshingly informative and approachable way.

Circa 1886: 149 Wentworth St Behind the Wentworth Mansion, Charleston, SC 29401-1733

Amen Street Fish and Raw Bar

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The Amen Street Fish and Raw Bar — another Tripadvisor top-rated date night spot — sits in a historic cast-iron storefront from 1851 and takes its name from Charleston’s original “Amen Street,” a nod to the nearby churches that give the city its “Holy City” nickname. We ordered Southern staples with a twist: fried green tomatoes with hot-and-sour okra and pimento cheese, hush puppies with honey-sumac butter, shrimp corndogs, and crab cakes. Service was a highlight, as well — our waitress served the dishes with fun explanations and even offered tips on where to go out afterward.

Amen Street Fish and Raw Bar: 205 E Bay St Corner of Cumberland & East Bay, Charleston, SC 29401

Lewis Barbecue

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As a born-and-bred Texan, I’ll admit I was skeptical about visiting a restaurant in South Carolina claiming to serve Texas barbecue. I take my barbecue seriously. Sure enough, Lewis Barbecue — a Tripadvisor top-rated hidden gem and a Michelin Bib Gourmand recipient started by El Paso-born pitmaster John Lewis — turned out to be authentically Texan and exceeded every expectation. We devoured the brisket, duck, beef ribs, and housemade sausages alongside macaroni and cheese and the spot’s signature green chile corn pudding, a cheesy corn casserole with diced Hatch chiles. This Texan left very happy.

Lewis Barbecue: 464 N Nassau St, Charleston, SC 29403-3828

The Spectator Hotel’s Speakeasy Bar

We stopped by the Tripadvisor top-rated Spectator Hotel’s Jazz Age speakeasy-style bar before dinner for cocktails and small bites. I appreciated the pun-filled menu with cocktail names such as For Peat’s Sake, Hasta Manzana, and Silence of the Yams. I ordered the latter — a mix of the hotel’s private-label Woodford Reserve, allspice dram, sweet potato, lemon, smoked maple, and cinnamon foam — while also learning (and loving) that $5 from every drink goes to the Lowcountry Food Bank. For small bites, we shared the deviled egg duo (chipotle-buffalo and avocado-cilantro) and an equally punny dish called speck taters (speck ham wrapped in russet potatoes with roasted garlic crème fraîche).

The Spectator Hotel: 67 State St, Charleston, SC 29401

Where to stay in Charleston

French Quarter Inn

From the moment I stepped inside, it was abundantly clear why the French Quarter Inn was the Tripadvisor #1 top-rated hotel in the US and #8 in the world. Its attention to detail wowed me: I was greeted with a welcome gift of landscape postcards, which I appreciated as someone who loves to photograph scenery. I then realized that each guest actually gets a personalized gift — someone in my party got a dog collar, while another received skincare cream.

My room, which was a Corner Terrace King, had a panoramic private terrace overlooking St. Philip’s Church on one side and the Ravenel Bridge on the other. Sleep was also taken very — and I mean very — seriously here. In the evening, I’d return from a long day of exploring to see that the staff had closed the shades in my room to support circadian rhythm. Meanwhile, the hotel’s Pillow Menu included everything from buckwheat pillows to a five-foot body pillow delivered via room service. At five feet tall myself, I melted into that pillow with happiness.

Other perks include Champagne on arrival, a wine and cheese happy hour, late-night cookies in the lobby, and chocolates and honey in your room. Bathroom amenities are provided by the local brand Deep Steep Clean Beauty. The hotel also has complimentary bicycles to help guests get around the city.

French Quarter Inn: 166 Church St, Charleston, SC 29401

The Loutrel

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A sister property of the French Quarter Inn and Spectator Hotel managed by Charlestowne Hotels, The Loutrel is a boutique hotel in Charleston’s historic district with a design that nods to Charleston’s Georgian facades and garden-inspired interiors. Its standout feature is the rooftop terrace, where we visited during sunset and captured breathtaking golden-hour views of church steeples and building rooftops.

The Loutrel: 61 State St Main Entrance, Charleston, SC 29401

Getting to and around Charleston

Charleston International Airport (CHS) is the city’s main airport and sits about 20 minutes from Charleston’s downtown historic district. Rideshare services are available at the terminal, and taxis line up outside baggage claim. If you prefer to drive, US Highway 17 and Interstate 26 connect Charleston to the rest of the Southeast, making the city easy to reach by car and a popular road-trip destination in the region.

If you’re staying mostly in the historic district, you can easily navigate without a car because the area is compact and highly walkable and cyclable. The city’s free DASH shuttle connects major downtown streets and points of interest, and regular CARTA buses cover the wider region at a low fare. You can even opt for a horse-drawn carriage ride.

A car offers flexibility if you plan to explore beyond the historic district, such as Mount Pleasant, Sullivan’s Island, or Folly Beach. If you flew into Charleston and want your own vehicle, the rental car center at CHS sits directly across from the main terminal. Rideshare apps are also widely available around the city and are an efficient option for getting around. My wait time for an Uber was always under 10 minutes.