Charleston,
South Carolina

Charleston is one of those American cities where the past is not behind you — it is directly in front of you, built in brick and stucco and wrought iron on every block of the historic peninsula. The city was founded in 1670 as Charles Town, capital of the Province of Carolina, and grew wealthy on rice, indigo, and cotton cultivated by enslaved West African people whose agricultural knowledge made the Lowcountry's plantation economy possible and whose culinary traditions — Gullah Geechee cooking — became the foundation of what most Americans recognize as Southern food. That history is inseparable from the city's beauty, and the finest visits to Charleston engage with both honestly.

In 2025, Charleston had one of its most celebrated culinary years on record. The inaugural Michelin Guide American South awarded three Charleston restaurants with stars — Malagón, Vern's, and Wild Common — placing the Holy City alongside New Orleans and Asheville as the South's premier dining destinations. Chef Daniel Humm of New York's three-Michelin-star Eleven Madison Park opened a year-long residency at The Charleston Place, bringing one of the world's most celebrated chefs to a city already producing nationally recognized cooking. The New York Times named dishes from both Chubby Fish and Palmira Barbecue among the 23 best restaurant dishes eaten anywhere in the US in 2025.

The Battery, Rainbow Row & The Cannonborough Neighborhood

The Historic District's walking architecture is the primary reason most visitors come to Charleston, and it rewards extended attention. The Battery — the seawall promenade at the southern tip of the peninsula, flanked by antebellum mansions and facing Charleston Harbor — is among the finest urban waterfront promenades in America. Rainbow Row, the 13 pastel-colored Georgian row houses on East Bay Street dating to the 1740s, is the city's most photographed streetscape. The City Market, operating since the 1790s, is the social center of tourist Charleston; the surrounding streets hold galleries, boutiques, and the kind of horse-drawn carriage traffic that makes the city feel like a period film set.

The Cannonborough-Elliottborough neighborhood — a few blocks west of King Street — has become the city's most culinarily concentrated quarter, housing Chubby Fish, Vern's, and Kultura within walking distance of each other, plus a growing cluster of natural wine bars and independent coffee shops. The Charleston Museum, founded in 1773 and the oldest museum in America, anchors the cultural corridor near the Visitor Center. The Gibbes Museum of Art holds the finest collection of American portraiture and Southern art available in the region.

Lowcountry Oysters, Shrimp & Grits & Charleston's Michelin Moment

Charleston's food identity is the Lowcountry — shrimp and grits, she-crab soup, oysters roasted over open fire on the barrier islands, rice dishes descended from West African traditions, and the Gullah Geechee cooking that the city's best chefs are now honoring explicitly. The 2025 Michelin Guide recognition formalized what national food media had been saying for years: the Holy City's restaurant scene is operating at a world-class level.

The Charleston Place, Zero George & King Street Boutiques

Charleston's lodging is defined by its historic boutique properties. The Charleston Place — the grand dame of King Street, now housing Daniel Humm's acclaimed residency restaurant — runs $280–$600/night. Zero George Street, a collection of restored 19th-century buildings in Ansonborough with one of the South's finest cocktail programs, runs $250–$480/night. The Spectator Hotel (Art Deco, downtown) and the Restoration on King run $200–$380/night. For the most authentic historic district experience, the city's inns and B&Bs in antebellum row houses on the quiet residential streets run $180–$320/night.