Charleston area beaches

Charleston’s beaches are as charming as the city itself! Folly Beach brings the laid-back surf vibe, Isle of Palms offers upscale resort fun, and Sullivan’s Island keeps it quiet & historic. All within 30 minutes of one of America’s most beautiful cities

Where to Stay in Charleston, SC: The Guide to Getting It Right

by

Charleston is one of those cities where your choice of accommodation genuinely makes or breaks the trip. Stay downtown and you walk cobblestone streets at night, eat at James Beard-nominated restaurants, and absorb 300 years of American history at your own pace. Stay at the beach and you wake up to the Atlantic, bike the shoreline, and drive into one of America’s greatest cities for dinner. Stay somewhere in between and you get a diluted version of both.

Nobody warns you about this before you book. So let’s fix that.

Sullivan’s Island, SC: The Beach That Rewards the Curious

by

Sullivan’s Island doesn’t announce itself. No billboards are counting down the miles. No chain restaurants lining the causeway or souvenir shops stacked with hermit crabs and airbrushed t-shirts. You cross the Ben Sawyer Bridge from Mount Pleasant, and suddenly you’re on a three-mile barrier island with wide, uncrowded beaches. It has award-winning restaurants, 300 years of American military history, and one of the most genuinely atmospheric beach towns on the entire Carolina coast.

Kiawah Island, SC: The Luxury Beach That Actually Delivers

by

Located 21 miles south of Charleston on a pristine South Carolina barrier island, Kiawah delivers a beach experience that genuinely earns its reputation. 10 miles of protected, uncommercial shoreline, over 30 miles of paved trails winding through maritime forest, loggerhead sea turtles nesting every summer, dolphins feeding in the tidal creeks, and alligators patrolling the lagoons with the confidence of creatures that have been here longer than anyone else.

Folly Beach: This Beach Town Does Everything on Its Own Terms

by

Folly Beach doesn’t care what you think of it. That’s precisely why you’re going to love it.
Just 12 miles from downtown Charleston, this six-mile barrier island operates on a frequency entirely its own. Surf shops sit next to taco joints. Live music spills out of beach bars at 2pm on a Tuesday. Locals cruise Center Street on bikes with no shoes on and zero apology about it. The whole place has a cheerful, slightly scruffy charm that Charleston’s polished historic district simply cannot manufacture, and it doesn’t try to.