Off-the-beaten path things to do in Charleston, SC

[tar heel]

We'll be heading to Kiawah Island for a week next month. We're fortunate to have a free place to stay, so this is a nice relatively budget vacation for us. The problem is that a little beach goes a long way for me -- you can only do so much bike riding no matter how beautiful the island is! Since we've been many times, we've done most of the touristy stuff in Charleston.

I'm trying to find something different to do, somewhere new to eat, etc. With six people and the youngest 15, it's essentially six adults. I should mention that my DH and middle son especially are foodies, and our meals for 6 in Charleston often hit $200 with tip. Yikes. With a nicely equipped kitchen in the villa and grill on the deck, I'd be happy to eat out once, but that won't happen.

Do any of you know fun activities we may have missed? How about good restaurants where six people could get out for $100 or less? We like ethnic food (especially Indian and Mexican). Of course, lots of seafood is a given, but one of my kids usually orders red meat everywhere.

Thanks. Help me get excited about this trip!

 

[PlutoPony]

Have you done an evening "Ghost Tour"? There are a couple companies that do them (don't remember who we used) and we enjoyed it. Also consider Patriot's Point where you can walk around several decommissioned military water craft - there's an aircraft carrier, submarine, couple destroyers, and other stuff. And there's always Ft. Sumter, which also give you a nice view of Charleston from the Bay....

 

[SplashMtnCrew]

By touristy stuff I assume you mean carriage rides and the marketplace downtown?. Have you tried going to the plantations, taking an evening harbor dinner cruise around the Charleston harbor, Charlestowne Landing, Ft. Sumter, a war reinactment, USS Yorktown, Cypress Gardens, ice skating? That's a few I could think of. Have fun!

 

[tar heel]

Thanks for the ideas. A lot of them we've done -- Patriot's Point (too many times), Fort Sumter, Charlestown Landing (considering doing that again), the aquarium, etc. I'm sure we'll go to the market, although I'm not particularly a fan of it, and the battery. My boys would think I was torturing them if I took them to gardens -- definitely not their thing. To tell you the truth, I'm ambivalent about gardens myself -- got a brown thumb and consider gardening "work."

I'm intrigued by the ghost tour -- I think that sounds interesting. The cruise also could be fun, but I'm picturing $$$$ for six people.

DH and I would probably enjoy a plantation, but I don't think the guys would. Has anyone been to the tea plantation -- I think that looks promising because it's so different.

Keep the ideas coming. Any restaurants we may have missed?

 

[dis-happy]

How wonderful! My parents live on Kiawah and our family spends a lot of time there.

Lots of activities available on island as well. Check out the nature center, in years past they've had things like a Turtle Talk, etc. Also ice cream social and barbeques at Night Heron.

Off the beaten path: blueberry picking. There's a place off Bohicket, look for a sign.

Most of the time there we just relax on the beach...... Enjoy your vacation!!!

 

[dis-happy]

PS. A wonderful restaurant is the Mustard Seed, located on John's Island. There's also a newer restaurant that the locals were raving about last summer, can't remember the exact name but it's called The Red Hen, or Fat Hen, or White Chicken, or something like that!

 

[tar heel]

Thanks dis-happy! The Mustard Seed has always looking interesting to me, but the family nixed it b/c they're carnivores. It is vegetarian, right? Maybe I'll try again. I could choose that as my birthday restaurant, then they would have to go.

We'll look for the "Hen" place. Have you eaten at the Privateer lately? We used to always go there, then the quality went down and prices up, so we've not been in a while. Last time we almost went to Chez Fish (or something like that) because it had been highly recommended -- looked like a hole in the wall and is on the road into Kiawah.

 

[dis-happy]

I haven't eaten at the Privateer lately, but completely agree with you.

It's called the Fat Hen.

We've been lazy lately and most often get our meals at the East Beach "fast-food" center. It's great for getting chef prepared meals at reasonable prices, everything from sandwiches to crab cakes to pasta to she-crab soup. Pick up a menu then call your order in....much quicker than waiting around. Pizza is pretty good too.

A friend also recommends a barbeque place on Maybank down toward Folly. Said it was a buffet but everything was deliciously prepared, she liked it all.

 

[fussymonkey]

How about a day trip to Savannah?

 

[tar heel]

The problem with a day trip to Savannah is that I think of it as half way two WDW! I'm not sure I could do it. I have trouble not turning onto I-95 when we're going to Kiawah.

I actually did consider a day trip to the former Hard Rock Park in Myrtle Beach, but I'm not sure I want to drive that far for a couple of good coasters and bunch of kiddie rides.

 

[newtodis]

You've still got about 4 hours or so from Savannah to get to Disney. We're about half an hour from Savannah and it takes us about 4 1/2 hours to get to Disney (5 if DH's driving!). I love Charleston personally and now that we live down here we just don't go enough (we used to come yearly on vacation - that's how we wound up moving down here!).

We ALWAYS take a boat "tour" out to Morris Island. Gresh is wonderful and always does such a great job. On the way to the island, you'll see dolphins (we've seen them every time!!) then he drops you off on Morris Island to pick up shells and look at the light house a little closer. More details and pictures here: http://www.follybeachcharters.com/dolphinsfishing_002.htm.

I've taken my boys to the plantations and they were well behaved (they're 4 and 2 now). I'll have to pull out my list of things we've done to remember which one they preferred over the other. One place DH really liked was Cypress Gardens. It's VERY rustic - like seriously a dirt path next to the water with HUGE gators in there. Yes that's the point of it but it was a little too much nature for me. You can rent ricity (sp?) old canoes and actually paddle out in the water with the gators!! There's no chance of an ice cube in a really warm place but tons of people were doing it!

You can always drive about an hour and a half down here to Hilton Head and check out the Disney resort on the island. In Bluffton (just before you cross the bridges to the island) there's two outlet malls (the Crocs outlet has Disney crocs!) and lots of other "touritsy" and regular shopping places. There's tons of golf (that's a given down here) so you could always drop the guys off to golf and do something you want to do.

Barnes and Noble used to have an "off the beaten path" Charleston book. The little shop at the Folly Beach pier had an AWESOME Charleston walking tours books. I'll dig them out and get you the names so you can see if like the library has them for you to get some more ideas.

As for places to eat, it's hard because DS4 is allergic to shell fish and peanuts - two things included in just about every meal in the South!! Once we find a place that works for him, we pretty much stick with that just so we know we're safe. We've done Bubba Gumps, California Dreamin' in Charleston. Our last vacation (before we moved down) we ate on several different islands - that was kind of fun - picking a different island each day to check out.

Hopefully that helps you out a little bit! If you need more info, feel free to PM me. I'll also look up those two books for you.

 

[newtodis]

Book Names:

The book we picked up at Folly Beach is Complete Charleston 2007-2008 A Guide to the Architecture, History, Gardens and Food Here's a link from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Char...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244077271&sr=8-1

We also used Insider's Guide Charleston tenth edition http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&print=all&item=270390130207&category=378

The other one we have is Off the Beaten Path South Carolina Fifth Edition http://www.amazon.com/South-Carolina-Off-Beaten-Path/dp/0762734701

I'm sure there are more recent editions of each of the books but they were all worth the money we spent on them that's for sure (at least for us).

 

[dis-happy]

You can always drive about an hour and a half down here to Hilton Head and check out the Disney resort on the island.

Before you jump in the car and head out for lunch there be aware the the drive from KI to HH-DVC is more like 2 and half hours!

 

[abandcsmom]

I am a Charlestonian. Since you are asking about off the beaten path things to do, I am not going to mention things that everyone does when they come to Charleston (carriage rides, plantations, walking tours, etc.).

Do find a "nature tour". I know of one that leaves from Kiawah (there may be others that I am not aware of). Not sure how it stacks up price-wise with other nature tours. http://www.resortquestkiawah.com/wildlife_and_nature_tours.htm I can actually recommend with confidence Sandlapper Tours which leaves out of Charleston harbor and does several different tours by water (nature, history, ghost, etc.)

Definitely off the beaten path is the Caw Caw Interpretive Center. It is a little distance from Kiawah, but a really nice park that is in the middle of a swamp/marsh and great for bird watching, canoing, etc. They also periodically offer classes on birdwatching, history, etc. Not sure if they would be offering any classes to fit your interests while you are visiting, though. http://sc-charlestoncountyparks.civicplus.com/index.aspx?NID=53


I think one of the restaurants you were talking about is Fish. Awesome. Really great food.

Someone mentioned a dinner cruise earlier. They run about $50/person. The food is decent (not predictably great). www.spiritlinecruises.com

Someone also mentioned Fat Hen. Yummy!

Privateer, like you said. Prices have gone up, quality has gone down.

I will think on this some more.

Editing because I forgot you mentioned you like Indian food. There is a decent Indian restaurant West Ashley called Nirlep. My company contracts with an Indian company for our IT services and the Indian people who work for them say it is pretty authentic.

 

[abandcsmom]

Thanks for the ideas. A lot of them we've done -- Patriot's Point (too many times), Fort Sumter, Charlestown Landing (considering doing that again), the aquarium, etc. I'm sure we'll go to the market, although I'm not particularly a fan of it, and the battery. My boys would think I was torturing them if I took them to gardens -- definitely not their thing. To tell you the truth, I'm ambivalent about gardens myself -- got a brown thumb and consider gardening "work."

I'm intrigued by the ghost tour -- I think that sounds interesting. The cruise also could be fun, but I'm picturing $$$$ for six people.

DH and I would probably enjoy a plantation, but I don't think the guys would. Has anyone been to the tea plantation -- I think that looks promising because it's so different.

Keep the ideas coming. Any restaurants we may have missed?

I don't think your teenage boys would like the tea plantation. It's ok for little kids and for grown ups, but I just don't think it would be up a teenager's alley.

Also, not really "Charleston-y", but there is a small water park at the James Island County Park. They also have a climbing wall there that I know my teenage nephew enjoys.

 

[newtodis]

Before you jump in the car and head out for lunch there be aware the the drive from KI to HH-DVC is more like 2 and half hours!

So true! I was thinking from Charleston - not from the Island...sorry!!

 

[tower_of_terror_luvr]

I would suggest taking a carriage tour. Charleston tour guides actually have to be a historian to do the carriage tour. That is not the case in Beaufort or Savannah.