A Day in Charleston

I recently went on a work trip to Charleston and had one day on the tail end of the trip to explore the city. There is much more to this cute little city than could be done in one day, but I packed in as much as I could with the time I had.

I got an early start to my day with breakfast at Spread Bagelry. This is an Ontario-style wood-

fired bagel shop with lots of bagel sandwich options and great coffee! The bagel was great, nothing special. The best part to me was the coffee. I think this was the best latte I had in Charleston across the few places I visited.

The area around Spread is cute to walk around-there are several little shops nearby, as well as Baba Coffee, a very popular coffee spot. I wanted to go here, as it was highly recommended to me (specifically the whipped honey cortado), but it had a line and I was starving when I got there so I opted for Spread.

After breakfast, I drove down to downtown for most of the rest of my day. There are several parking garages around downtown, which seemed to be an easier option than trying to find street parking. Below are the stops I made around downtown (these are all walking distance from each other):

• Charleston Street Market-This is a great length of road with little booths offering all kinds of little trinkets and art. There are jewelry shops, sweetgrass shops, booths with little art prints, and other touristy memorabilia.

• King Street-This is where the more luxury shops and clothing stores are. Its fun to pop in and out of all the shops on this street, as well as making a stop at Buxton Books (the CUTEST little book store!!).

• Rainbow Row-a row of historic homes all painted different colors. Be respectful-these are residential homes still!

• Amen Street Seafood-I was recommended to go here by a friend. I got the peel and eat shrimp, creamed corn, and fried green tomatoes. This restaurant was so cute and cozy! I have heard the oysters and the Caesar salad here are great as well!

• Sorelle Café-this is an Italian restaurant that also has a coffee shop and bakery! I stopped here for an after-lunch latte (the seasonal special was a hazelnut cheesecake latte) and it did not disappoint!

• Walk along the water-from rainbow row, you can continue to the waterfront. There is a nice paved boardwalk for about 2 miles to walk along, as well as a few waterfront parks that are a peaceful spot to sit and read, enjoy the view, or have a picnic.

After all of this walking and coffee, I decided to also go for a run and get a drop-in pass at a gym for a shower. I ran a few miles along the same waterfront path I had walked earlier, then went to Ethos Athletic Club to work out a bit more and to shower before my flight. Ethos was a GREAT gym, with a little cafe, really nice locker rooms/showers, saunas, and a gym area with a great vibe. I actually was back in Charleston not too long after this for work again and got a 2-week drop-in pass here and LOVED IT.

Below are a few more restaurants and attractions I didn’t have time for, but were either recommended to me or I had my eye on. Charleston is a city with a lot of history and culture, as well as being right on the water. It’s a lovely city and I cannot wait to be back.

Restaurants:

• Spread Bagelry

• Amen Street Seafood

• Baba coffee

• Harken Café (coffee & breakfast bowls)

• Sorelle (Italian or coffee/pastries)

• SNOB (brunch)

• Uncork wine bar (wine & charcuterie)

• Lewis BBQ

• Sullivan's Fish Camp

• Post House

Other things to do:

• Haunted tours/dungeon tours

• Walking tour or horse-drawn carriage tour – this town has a lot of history and culture and I would have loved to take a formal tour of the downtown area to learn more about it

• Check out Mt. Pleasant and Daniel Island

• Have a beach day when the weather is nice

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If you are interested in a custom trip itinerary, contact me at lauren.jones3@fora.travel or the submission box at the bottom of this page!