<p>We just had a week open up in early June and are considering a trip to the Charleston area. I would like to combine some beach time with sightseeing in the area. Can anyone suggest a good place to rent for a week? We’d like to avoid the condo/golf/outlet mall scene. How warm is it at that time of year? (Our usual beach vacation is in the Outer Banks in late July.) Things to do? Good restaurants? Thanks, 1mm</p>
<p>I would go to cyberrentals or vrbo and find a place to rent on the beach near Charleston.</p>
<p>I did that, but there are so many areas to choose from I could use a little guidance. Just looking on my own I thought Sullivan’s Island looked interesting.</p>
<p>My husband and I went on an outing to Isle of Palms while staying at a B & B in Charleston. We stopped at Shem Creek for some lunch afterwards.</p>
<p>I would love to spend a week there – there are plenty of condos from which to choose, but I would go with a house if budget allows. It’s an easy drive into Charleston, so you could have a few nice meals in town as well as do some of your own cooking at the beach.</p>
<p>We have stayed at Kiawah Island some years ago. It is actually a 45 minute drive or so from Charleston and has more of that closed community / golf resort feel.</p>
<p>I would vote for Sullivan’s Island or Isle of Palms. My family vacations at one of those two spots every summer. Sullivan’s Island is absolutely lovely - no condos, only houses. Sulivans’s Island is a sleepy island (fewer tourists and more year-round residents, but has several good restaurants on it and beautiful wide beaches. Isle of Palms has newer homes and also has condos. Many more restaurants, surf shops, tourists, etc. but also has beautiful wide beaches. You can rent golf carts and bikes for the day/week on both islands. I would go to the Island Realty website to look at pictures and rates for both islands.</p>
<p>We spent one afternoon in Charleston during August. It was so hot and humid we could only be outside for a few minutes before we thought we’d roast to death. I hope the weather is cooler in June!</p>
<p>Yes, the weather is definitely cooler in June (and, more importantly, less humid). During summer months, downtown Charleston (Market area, King Street, etc…) is definitely more enjoyable in the morning hours! I personally wouldn’t vacation in Charleston in August, but would have no problem going in June.</p>
<p>We were there in August and it was hot, but still enjoyable!</p>
<p>Thanks, everyone. That is just the sort of help I was looking for. :)</p>
<p>Sullivans or Isle of Palms.(SI and IOP)
Wonder if your time corresponds to the Spoleto Festival…goes until June 13th. If you google it you’ll see a plethora of things to do.
Good restaurants on SI…Poe’s tavern,Off the Hook and Sullivans and they are right there on the main drag as you come on the island. Addresses are mostly Station numbers as RR track ran through.Easy to get around the island. Dorothea benton frank’s book Sullivans Island is fun to read for local fiction.</p>
<p>^^read that book several years ago. It’s a great “beach” read. </p>
<p>How about Folly Beach?</p>
<p>How would you say Folly Beach compares to SI, PackMom?
We would be there for Spoleto.</p>
<p>Ah, Kiawah Island.</p>
<p>I was introduced to it first by the film ‘Daughters of the Dust.’ The movie displayed the gorgeous natural beauty of the island. And now it’s full of luxury homes. What irony!</p>
<p>If you stay at either Folly Beach or Kiawah Island, do not miss eating at Bessinger’s Bar-b-Q on the Savannah Highway. The place is seriously good. Pulled pork sandwiches with Carolina mustard BBQ sauce. Pretty much to die for…</p>
<p>[Bessingers</a> BBQ](<a href=“http://www.bessingersbbq.com/home/default.html]Bessingers”>http://www.bessingersbbq.com/home/default.html)</p>
<p>Kiawah is the “best beach” but less fun to drive into town from…would suggest Isle of Palms or Folly and LOTS of evenings in Charleston…and taking real guided tours in Charleston</p>
<p>Would skip Myrtle altogether. If you want “Beach” try Polly’s Island and Litchfield if you go that direction.</p>
<p>^^that’s spelled Pawley’s Island…just in case you want to look it up. </p>
<p>I’ve never been to Sullivan’s Island so no info. there.</p>
<p>We love Edisto Island but there’s nothing there for entertainment other than the beach, a few restaurants, a golf course and a great bike path around the island. </p>
<p>Only been to Charleston once. We did the tour in one of the horse drawn carriages and thoroughly enjoyed it.</p>
<p>thanks…Pack Mom! re Pawley’s sp! I have also spent time on Edisto.</p>
<p>Charleston is a great destination. Hope the OP enjoys.</p>
<p>My parents have a partial ownership in a condo in Wild Dunes, a lovely golf and tennis resort with a gorgeous beach, on Isle of Palms. IOP and Sullivan’s are great places to stay. It’s an easy 12 mile drive into Charleston for touring, eating and shopping, then come home to beautiful beaches and a breeze that makes the islands up to 10 degrees cooler than the mainland. Lots of great seafood, too - watch the shrimpboats on the horizon catching your dinner! </p>
<p>My one suggestion - if you’d like to take a Charleston Harbor Cruise, go ahead. If you feel compelled to take the one that goes out to Ft Sumter… don’t. Yes, Ft Sumter is very historic. It has a nice view of the city (if you can call Charleston a city, it’s a little on the small side for that IMHO), but… Fort Sumter is basically some brick walls and some cannons. And it’s hot. If you’re there on a hot day, within 1/2 hour everyone at the Fort will be in the gift shop, its’ the only air conditioned place on the island. And the boat doesn’t return to the mainland for like 1 1/2 or 2 hours. </p>
<p>Boone Hall Plantation in (or near) Mt Pleasant is a better choice for historic sightseeing. It’s an actual plantation, including slave cabins, and they run tours.</p>
<p>Also, take a horse-drawn carriage tour in Charleston, and be sure to go down and walk along the “battery” along the city’s waterfront.</p>
<p>Have fun!</p>
<p>(echo the previous recommendation for Island Realty. Also check out: <a href=“http://www.wilddunes.com%5B/url%5D”>http://www.wilddunes.com</a> - it’s beautiful, but other areas of IOP and Sullivans are probably less expensive).</p>
<p>LafAlum…so right about the Fort Sumter tour. DH is a huge history buff and just HAD to do that tour. It was summer and I was newly pregnant with S1. The boat was crowded, it was stiflingly hot and the diesal fumes were doing weird things to my queasy tummy.
I thought it would never end!</p>