Best things to do in Charleston

Palmetto Carriage Works

Sightseers ride behind horses in old-fashioned carriages while receiving a narrated history lesson.

Lowcountry Walking Tours

Guided walking tours of the peninsula led by locals who know Charleston's history past the brochure version.

Cypress Gardens

Swamp garden with giant cypress trees offering boat tours plus a butterfly house attraction.

Friends of the Hunley

Waterfront museum offering weekend tours of a 19th-century historic submarine, artifacts & exhibits.

International African American Museum

Waterfront museum on Gadsden's Wharf, the precise site where enslaved Africans first arrived in America, documenting that history through galleries and genealogy resources.

Angel Oak Tree

400+ year old live oak on Johns Island. Free to visit. Branches that touch the ground.

Colonial Lake Park

Historic tidal pond & dog-friendly park with paved pathways, benches, fishing & open green space.

Middleton Place

Sprawling Ashley River rice plantation dating to the 1730s, with gardens and refined lodging.

Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon

Self-guided tours offered in a historic building, formerly a Revolutionary prison & City Hall.

Adventure Sightseeing

Family-friendly bus and boat tour operator running sightseeing routes through the historic peninsula since 1967.

Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park

A pair of historic military sites with roots dating from 1776 & featuring Charleston Harbor views.

Colonial Dorchester State Historic Site

Colonial-era settlement with many original buildings & ruins, archaeological digs & guided tours.

The Battery

Seawall promenade at the tip of the peninsula where antebellum mansions face the harbor and cannons point toward Fort Sumter.

Aiken-Rhett House Museum

Tours of this historic home of an influential 1800s family include a back lot where slaves lived.

Powder Magazine Museum

Colonial military history museum & gift shop in a 1713 gunpowder storage building.

Fort Sumter National Monument

Accessed by boat, this fort with ruins, gun emplacements & a museum saw the Civil War’s first shots.

Marion Square

Urban green space with historic significance, hosting regular events including a farmer's market.

The Charleston Museum

America's first museum, founded in 1773, exhibits relics from South Carolina & Confederate history.

Hampton Plantation State Historic Site

Established in 1735, this historic plantation is an interpretive site about slavery & offers tours.

Carolina Polo and Carriage Co.

Horse-drawn carriage tours through the historic district, departing from Pinckney Street since the 1980s.

McLeod Plantation Historic Site

Preserved historical plantation with a Georgian-style mansion, slave cabins & interpretive tours.

Mace Brown Museum of Natural History - College of Charleston

Free natural history museum inside College of Charleston's science building, with fossil collections, minerals, and regional specimens.

Charleston, South Carolina

Historic walking city where centuries of architecture, cobblestone streets, and harbor views reward those who slow down enough to look up.

The Original Ghostwalk of Charleston

Lantern-lit walking tours through the historic district covering Charleston's documented hauntings, graveyards, and colonial-era tragedies since 1999.

Rainbow Row

Historic District cluster of 13 pastel-painted Georgian-style rowhouses dating from 1748 to 1845.

Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park

Two Civil War forts bookending Charleston Harbor, reachable by ferry, where the first shots of the war were fired.

Charles Towne Landing State Historic Site

Tours & interactive exhibits at the birthplace of the Carolina colony, first settled in 1670.

The Museum at Market Hall

Greek Revival landmark built in 1841 offering Civil War history & tours by women's-group docents.

Drayton Hall

Storied, well-preserved antebellum plantation with tranquil grounds & an African-American cemetery.

Joseph Manigault House

Built in 1803, this antebellum structure is furnished with period American, French & British pieces.

Magnolia Plantation Gardens

Romantic-style gardens dating to 1680. Azaleas peak in March; camellias bloom all winter.

Charles Pinckney National Historic Site

Remnants of a 1700s plantation, with indoor & outdoor exhibits on Charles Pinckney's life & times.

South Carolina Historical Society

Private library housing historical state photos & documents, with a Colonial & antebellum focus.

When I First Remember(Old Bethel United Methodist Church)

Old Village Historic District

Tree-lined antebellum neighborhood in Mount Pleasant where locals walk, jog, and let kids loose among 19th-century cottages along the waterfront.