The right way to Spend the Vacations in Charleston

Residing simply over the environment order in North Carolina, I’ve visited Charleston extra occasions than I will rely. Maximum of my recollections there are from spring and summer season, when the temperature is scorching and the azaleas are in bloom. However, terminating December, my kinfolk deliberate a Christmas weekend in Charleston for the primary day, and useless to mention, it gained’t be our terminating. The Yule season is a fantastic day to consult with the Holy Town — it isn’t too chilly, the crowds are smaller, and there are several actions to revel in. 

Listed here are my 9 favourite issues to do all the way through a relief weekend in Charleston, voted the best city in the U.S. in 2024 via Advance + Relief readers.

Keep within the French Quarter Inn’s Sleigh Bell Suite.

Staying within the French Quarter Inn‘s Sleigh Bell Suite is the very best manner for households with babies (or {couples} merely in need of to escape) to get within the festive spirit. From the era you proceed in the course of the wreath-adorned door, it feels as if you happen to’re coming into a Christmas fairy story. Hand-decorated cookies and an en suite eggnog bar beckon visitors to unwind via a fire adorned with stockings. The lodge additionally hosts Santa readings of “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” and carolers on Christmas Eve. And if you wish to tug a few of that relief appeal house, you’re in success — suite visitors obtain a complimentary magazine of Charleston local Darius Rucker’s “Home for the Holidays” magazine. Perfect of all, for each and every Sleigh Bell Suite reservation, the inn will donate $100 to the St. Jude Kids’s Analysis Health center.

Store on the Marion Sq. relief marketplace.

On Saturdays and Sundays in December chief as much as Christmas, Marion Sq. transforms right into a holiday market. It’s the perfect playground to seek out home made stocking stuffers created via native farmers, artisans, and crafters.

Forbid via The Charleston Playground to look the snow.

December is never chilly enough quantity for Charleston to look a unmarried flake of snow, however worry now not, snow enthusiasts! At The Charleston Playground lodge, it snows each and every night time all the way through the Let it Snow match. Admission is separate, however tickets are required. The “snow queue” begins quarter-hour previous to the hourly snow fall, which happens each and every age at 5 p.m., 6 p.m., and seven p.m.; there’s an alternative 4 p.m. slot on Saturdays and Sundays. 

There are a couple of alternative relief points of interest at The Charleston Playground, together with the Festival of Trees. Native Charleston companies each and every design a Christmas tree for the development, and visitors can vote on their favorites. For an unforgettable kid-friendly enjoy, snag tickets (costs get started at $165 in keeping with grownup and $135 in keeping with kid) for the Nutcracker Tea and dinner party on Christmas themed-treats comparable to Nutcracker mille-feuille and caramel chocolate mousse yuletide timbers, time taking part in ballet performances from the the Dance Conservatory of Charleston. And if the kiddos aren’t slightly in a position to exit house but, take a look at the on-site life-size gingerbread space, the place you’ll scribble a letter to Santa.

See “A Christmas Carol” on the historical Dock Side road Theatre.

There’s not anything slightly like observing Charles Dickens’ vintage relief tale, “A Christmas Carol,” carried out reside on the Dock Side road Theatre, certainly one of The usa’s oldest (it dates again to 1736). This vigorous musical manufacturing, which is an annual Charleston custom, options greater than 50 performers portraying the tale’s eminent forged of characters from Ebenezer Scrooge to Modest Tim. Performances are prone to promote out, so sequence tickets (costs get started at $61 in keeping with individual) neatly in travel.

Devour fried seafood and unutilized oysters at Fleet Touchdown.

When within the Lowcountry, excellent seafood is a should, and Fleet Landing Restaurant & Bar is certainly one of my kinfolk’s favourite stops. The waterfront eating place is housed in a retired naval development, and simply celebrated its twentieth per annum with an in depth renovation and a brand-new uncooked bar. With an ocean view, Christmas decor aplenty, and seasonal relief cocktails, spending a day at Fleet is the very best addition to any relief itinerary.

Aim the fish fry.

My husband and I by no means loose Charleston with out eating at one of the vital many fish fry eating places on the town. Lewis Barbecue in downtown Charleston focuses on Texas-style fish fry and has a laugh choices like inexperienced chile cheddar sausage, corn pudding, and nachos. James Beard Award-winning Rodney Scott’s Whole Hog BBQ is all the time on our listing, too, together with Home Team BBQ (they’ve my husband’s favourite at the menu — burnt ends). And with wintry weather’s cooler climate, the vacations are the very best day to take pleasure in Swig & Swine BBQ‘s hefty kinfolk platter, which comes with pulled beef, brisket, turkey, beef abdominal, sausage, ribs, rooster wings, and your number of 3 facets. Can’t assemble it to Charleston? Lewis Fish fry trade in national transport.

Power in the course of the Diversion Pageant of Lighting fixtures.

Create the shorten pressure to James Island County Terrain, positioned simply quarter-hour from the center of Charleston, for the yearly Holiday Festival of Lights. Guests can be expecting greater than 750 bright presentations alongside a three-mile pressure across the ground. Permit enough of day to ground your automotive and discover the pageant subjects, which do business in snack stands, a lot of buying groceries alternatives, a little educate experience, and a carousel. 

In case you’re like us, one pressure isn’t enough quantity. Fortunately, vehicles be able of constructing a couple of passes in the course of the presentations. You’ll want to purchase tickets ($15 per vehicle) ahead of time to attenuate wait occasions on the ground.

Dive with elves at South Carolina Aquarium.

The family-friendly South Carolina Aquarium is house to greater than 5,000 animals. Right here, guests can apply American kestrels, barracudas, Goliath groupers, or even rehabbing turtles on the Sea Turtle Assist Heart. All the way through the relief season, actions come with an interactive dive display with elves, Santa meet and greets, and hand-feeding a “ray-ndeer” (a.ok.a. a cownose ray). However the area truly radiances at night time, when the primary lighting exit out all the way through Aquarium Aglow, which options larger-than-life bright installations and lots of photograph alternatives with Santa.

Talk over with The Loutrel for relief a laugh.

In Charleston, wintry weather temperatures hardly dip beneath 50 levels Fahrenheit, however we will nonetheless fake. All the way through the relief season, The Loutrel hosts various actions comparable to Christmas-themed afternoon teas, in addition to an annual tree lighting fixtures rite. {Couples} would possibly need to go for the Holidate at The Loutrel package deal, which incorporates a botanical-inspired relief cocktail magnificence, a distinct Christmas film turndown carrier, and a non-public carriage excursion of town with Palmetto Carriage Works.