The Insider’s Guide to Charleston

The hotel I mentioned, Zero George, played a significant role in our decision to move to Charleston. A cluster of buildings, more inn than proper hotel, with lovely interiors, it is decidedly for romantics — and I don’t just mean couples, but also people who love feeling like a deeply rooted local. Below, an entirely non-comprehensive selection of other hotels I rate highly:

The Charleston Place: The classic here; ceilings aren’t high, but the comfort level is. This was the standard luxury choice until the Bennett came along. It is a super scene — a winter wonderland — over the December holidays.

The Dewberry: Hipper vibe, great spa (I go there for massages). If you like a spacious room, you’ll need a suite; bathrooms, on the other hand, are large.

Hotel Bennett: For luxury lovers who like a grand hotel feeling.

The Loutrel: A buzzy bar scene and stylish hotel.

The Pinch: If you’re looking for a casual but cool place where you can spread out and maybe stay for a while, I’d recommend The Pinch. Rooms and suites come with kitchen areas and washing machines.

Coming in the next year or so are two five-stars: the Four Seasons and The Cooper (Charleston’s first hotel on the water), and every sign suggests they will be game changers for this destination.

One thing’s for sure: We will never work our way through all of Charleston’s restaurants — both because there are so many of them, with new ones popping up all the time, and because getting reservations takes patience and a bit of finesse. Booking windows sometimes close before you can get there, leaving only the Notify option on Resy. Here are my favorites among those I know:

For Sunday Brunch
The Obstinate Daughter may be my top choice for any meal in and around Charleston. It’s close by the beach on Sullivan’s Island and has fantastic chowder, oysters, salads, burgers, and polenta fries. The other place I like a lot is the Post House Inn on Mount Pleasant — especially the bar and front room — for traditional breakfast food and more.

For Weekday Lunches
The classic place for oysters, fish tacos, and seafood salad is 167 Raw. You can’t miss the people waiting by the door of this no-reservations spot on King Street. Leave your name and peek into some of the shops nearby; they’ll call you when your table is ready. Two of my other top lunch spots: Bar 167, around the corner from its sister restaurant (I highly recommend the Arroz con Negro, tuna tartare on a bed of crispy black rice) and Basic Kitchen, for its wildly flavorful vegetarian Basic Bowl.

For a Real Southern Lunch or Dinner
Leon’s Fine Poultry & Oyster Shop. The name pretty much says it all — go here for fried chicken, chargrilled oysters, and Southern specialties like hush puppies and black-eyed pea salad. Always pretty crowded — and fun.

For a Relaxed Night Out
More intimate than some of the other oyster and seafood places and with fabulous food, Delaney Oyster House is a place we keep going back to — try the blue crab rice, the crispy fish platter, or the roasted oysters. (It’s directly opposite the Mother Emanuel AME Church, sadly made famous by the shooting that took place there in 2015.) The other spot we can’t get enough of is Melfi’s, an Italian restaurant that seems special, even for someone coming from a city where Italian restaurants run the gamut from haute cuisine to red sauce. You’ll know what I mean when you try the spicy Caesar salad, branzino, mafalde pasta, or Mr. Wally pizza, with salami, onion, and hen-of-the-woods mushrooms. Then there’s Vern’s, which I almost hate to mention because you’ll never be able to book a time you like. Try Resy Notify, or just walk in — it’s worth it. I’m not a big meat eater, but whatever meat they have is worth trying, along with everything else.

For the Buzzy New Places in Town
Close your eyes and you’ll think you’re in Brooklyn, with women in jeans and high-heeled Manolos and their hipster partners, but you’re at Lowland, the newest game in town for serious eaters who like a lively ambience (try the celery salad and the crispy quail or the tavern burger and fries). A few months older: Costa, from the people behind Zero George, is a high-design spot serving coastal Italian specialties; our favorites are the rolled and stuffed chicken breast, the pork Milanese, and the broccolini with Calabrian chili and lemon.

For a More Refined Dinner
A handwritten menu announces each day’s specialties, from France, Spain, or Italy, at Chez Nous. It’s a tiny restaurant with limited choices that is high on the list of many foodies here. Peninsula Grill is the Charleston special-occasion place — white tablecloths, nicely dressed diners, roast meats, and the renowned Ultimate Coconut Cake (available on Goldbelly). A classic.

For Oysters
No place is better than The Ordinary. To quote from the restaurant’s website, this is a “Southern seafood hall and oyster bar.” It’s located in a former bank. You can sit at a table, the bar, or the raw bar in back and watch it all happen. Highly recommended: the Creole seafood gumbo and the Peel & Eat Tarvin Shrimp. Then there’s Chubby Fish, the holy grail for oyster and seafood lovers. Another no-reservations place, it has a line that begins forming at 4:30 p.m., half an hour before the restaurant opens — one good reason we haven’t made it there yet.

As an indefatigable shopper and fashion hound who has hit many of the global hot spots, I can tell you with some conviction that Charleston in its own way is right up there. King Street above Broad is the main artery for shops and restaurants, and an easy route to follow in order to take in — and take home — a lot.

Women
Hampden stocks the latest clothes from Simkhai, Dorothee Schumacher, Labo.Art, Proenza Schouler — you get it — as well as shoes and handbags. RTW offers a great selection of brands such as Dusan, Peter Cohen, and Manolo Blahnik. Ibu is a marketplace for sophisticated artisanal work by women from Morocco, Colombia, Afghanistan; great caftans, handbags, and jewelry. Lake is a regional brand and shop for stylishly simple jersey pajamas and robes, for children as well as grown-ups.

Men
A classic men’s haberdashery à la Paul Stuart, with a thriving catalog and online following, Ben Silver stocks sport coats, slacks, and sweaters, among other wardrobe essentials, as well as some women’s clothing — including my favorite furry English bedroom slippers. Berlin’s, a Charleston landmark for generations — along with its neon sign on King Street — features Italian designer clothing, Peter Millar, and other brands with a bit of a modern twist. Grady Ervin & Co. and M. Dumas & Sons are also excellent resources.

Books
Blue Bicycle Books has a fantastic selection of secondhand books, including highly collectible art books, cookbooks, and more, plus current volumes by Charleston-based authors, such as the food world’s Matt and Ted Lee. Buxton Books is a great shop for new releases and recently published titles, with a significant selection of children’s books.

Made in Charleston
One of my favorite stops is the Preservation Society Shop on King Street, which offers world-class Charleston and regional products such as Smithey Ironware cast-iron pans, J. Stark canvas tote bags, Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit mixes, and locally grown rice, plus regionally focused books for adults and children.

Antiques and Home
Making your way up King Street from Broad, Alexandra has whitewashed Swedish furniture and French confit pots, and Tucker Payne is an old curiosity shop filled with English furniture, 20th-century lighting, and lots of surprises. Nearby on lower King is the kitchen and cupboard shop EtúHome. Just off King Street, opposite from The Charleston Place hotel, The Lampshade Library is exactly what its name says. Farther up King, there’s Wynsum Antiques & Interiors. Over the bridge in West Ashley, South Windermere Antiques and 17 South are beloved by decorators and design mavens. If you’re looking for stylish garden furniture, items for the home, or even jewelry, it’s worth the short trip to Mount Pleasant to check out Elizabeth Stuart. Back in town, there’s a treasure trove of Charleston and South Carolina history over on Church Street at Carolina Antique Maps and Prints. Finally, newly opened Wentworth, on the corner of Rutledge and Wentworth, is a decorator’s and design hound’s dream.

No surprise that with Charleston’s almost innumerable historical riches — the city was founded in 1670 — museums and well-preserved heritage sites are such powerhouses here. Below, a few of my favorites.

The Historic Charleston Foundation is an influential voice for the preservation of Charleston’s heritage and for ecological and neighborhood-revitalization projects as well, with two important historic house museums, Aiken-Rhett House and Nathaniel Russell House.

Said to be the oldest museum in America, The Charleston Museum has collections of jewelry and clothing, artifacts, and ceramics from the region; also, contemporary crafts and two historic houses, Joseph Manigualt House and Heyward-Washington House.

The Gibbes shows 18th- and 19th-century American art, work by contemporary South Carolina artists, and a nice collection of Japanese woodblock prints.

Located about 15 miles outside Charleston, Drayton Hall is an early-18th-century estate that includes the oldest unrestored plantation house in the United States, with original architectural and decorative details still very much in evidence. The property is an active archaeological site and research center providing significant information about the American South and its enslaved population.

A six-mile drive from Drayton Hall, Middleton Place is a National Historic Landmark with 65 acres of gardens — the oldest landscaped gardens in America — and an impressive plantation house with period furniture (the original house was built in 1755). The property includes stable yards, artisan workshops (re-creating the craftsmanship of the era), and depictions of the lives of enslaved people.

You may find the International African American Museum too wrenching an experience to absorb in one day. Relying on innovative displays of artifacts and first-rate video clips, the museum presents a powerful account of how West and West Central Africans were transported to and enslaved in South Carolina. Beyond the unimaginable cruelty — the high toll on the lives of laborers in coastal rice fields as they fueled the state’s enormous prosperity; the body- and spirit-crushing practices of plantation owners — there is also the compelling story of the impact these enslaved Americans and their descendants have had on arts, craftsmanship, literature, and culture in the United States.

You’ll find an unlimited number of great walks in Charleston, but here is a quick sketch of some that we love:

Historic District
This area is also known as South of Broad, after the east-west street that separates the commercial district and surrounding neighborhoods from this purely residential enclave of 18th- and 19th-century houses. It includes several of our favorite routes, including East Bay and its sprawling mansions facing the water, and the mansions along Meeting Street. There are great houses along Church, King, and Legare (pronounced “Legree”) and, running east to west, lots to see along Tradd, Lamboll, and Gibbes. Keep an eye out for the almost hidden alleys off these streets, including Zig Zag and Price’s, and for houses behind other houses (a phenomenon in Charleston) and lovely gardens.

Ansonborough
A former 18th-century suburb turned residential area, Ansonborough has elegant houses, restaurants, the Gaillard Center concert and performance venue, and Theodora Park, a corner garden created by noted Charlestonian David Rawle as a tribute to his mother.

Harleston Village
There are some charming houses tucked in here, along Montagu, Wentworth, and Pitt, but what attracts many joggers and walkers is the path around Colonial Lake; adjacent tennis courts and the park and playground are also a draw.

The French Quarter
The neighborhood got its name from the warehouses that once stored goods for French merchants. Highlights include the intimate pink stucco Huguenot Church, as well as St. Philip’s Church and its cemetery, and the early-18th-century Dock Street Theatre.

Walking Tours
Walk & Talk Charleston, run by Tyler Wright Friedman, who studied history at the University of Virginia and has a penchant for large hats and gossipy stories, is my go-to for introducing family and friends to Charleston.

Within 20 minutes or so from downtown Charleston are miles of white-sand beaches, including Folly Beach, Sullivan’s Island, and Isle of Palms. The beaches on Kiawah Island are for resort guests and property owners and renters only, but they are an inviting alternative to the island’s main activity — golfing.

This is a city famous for its full roster of important events, starting with the Food & Wine Classic Charleston and the African American–centric Moja Arts Festival in September, followed by the Preservation Society of Charleston Fall Tours in October. The Charleston Literary Festival, with its a wildly impressive array of writers, takes place during the first half of November, followed by Aquarium Aglow and the Holiday Festival of Lights in December. March brings both the Charleston Wine + Food Festival and, from the Historic Charleston Foundation, The Charleston Festival — which this year featured panels of designers moderated by Amy Astley, the editor-in-chief of Architectural Digest. Later in March is the annual antiques show, The Charleston Show. Most renowned of all is the Spoleto Festival of music, dance, and theatrical performances, from late May through the first week and a half of June. Visitors throughout the year also might want to take a look at the impressive offerings at the Gaillard Center, Charleston’s hub for the performing arts.

The founder of the luxury travel advisory service Culturati Travel Design, an affiliate of Local Foreigner, Nancy Novogrod is the former Editor-in-Chief of Travel + Leisure, which she oversaw for 21 years. Before that, she served in the same role at House & Garden/HG, where she succeeded Anna Wintour.