Just returned from spending 2 1/2 great days in Charleston and wanted to say thanks for excellent information received from GoTravel's Most Excellent Weekend In Charleston trip report, as well as other excellent advice contained in these posts.
If you have not been to Charleston, go. It is an excellent 2-3 day vacation location with great food, beautiful historic and photographic buildings. If its not within walking distance in the historic district, its not far by car, shuttle bus or by water.
We stayed at the Best Western King Charles Inn and was underinpressed. If you want to walk the historic area and the waterfront park/Battery area, I would definitely recommend staying closer to the Waterfront or nearer the Battery/White Point Garden area. Our main meals were at (1) Sticky Fingers, 235 Meeting Street. The DW reports her smoked pork was excellent as was my chicken tenders. A reasonably priced good meal with an excellent service, however was not impressed with the peach cobbler (DW has me spoiled). (2) Andolinis Pizzza on Wentworth, where we made a slight mistake and ordered a large pepperoni pizza for just the two of us. It was huge......but very tasty. This is not your uptown Italian pizza parlor, and is apparently a preference for College students, but since they were out of town for the holiday, we had it almost to ourselves. We would go again. (3) To top off our stay, we had a fine traditional Thanksgiving dinner at Poogan's Porch, which we would highly recommend. The athosphere in the historic building was great, the meal was excellent, and the service was fine. The DW's pumpking pie was small, but excellent, while my bread pudding w/white sauce was OK (again, spoiled by the DW). Highly recommend Poogans Porch. We walked all around the historic district from Meeting Street to the Waterfront Park, along East Bay Street and to the White Point gardens at the Battery. The historical houses along East Bay Street from the waterfront park to the battery are fanstatic and a photographers dream. We visited two historical houses with different styles. Loved the Victorian Calhoun Mansion, 16 Meeting Place with all its art and artifacts, which made the Adams style Nathaniel Russell House, at 51 Meeting Street, seem rather dull in comparsion (DW says I have no taste, so you might ignore this comment). Of the three major plantations near Charleston, only one, the Middleton Place plantation was open on Thanksgiving Day. It as worth the visit for the photographs taken of the grounds, river and small lake. I was extremely lucky to get a close up of a "red shouldered" hawk sitting in an old oak tree draped with spanish moss. A great way to end a visit to Charleston.
Charleston Thanksgiving Trip Report
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Glad to see you had a good time.
We stayed a block or two from where you did, at the Andrew Pinkney Inn and I was out early each morning (as my wife slept in) taking photos.
This is the only place we've ever made reservations for dinners in advance. In Charleston and Savannah food is part of the event.
It sounds like you had a nice trip. I love looking at historical houses. I'm glad you had great photo opportunities, and it sounds like your wife has you spoiled!
Thanks Toucan2 and Myer we had a great time and yes the wife does have me spoiled, especially with her desserts. We will return and spend some time on the Mount Pleasant area. So much to do and so many places to go.......
Mt Pleasant is great. That's where I live. I highly recommend spending time there.
Please tell me what you didn't like about BW King Charles. I recommend it to visitors often and if there's something undesirable going on I need to know. It's the only place in the HD with free parking. Was it just the location?
Suewoo: why do you think the parking there is free? we just stayed there and the parking right behind the hotel and in the garage down the block were both $9 a day. Is there something we missed?
Also to Suewoo: when we were checking into the hotel, there was a very irate guest checking out saying something to the effect that she was very unhappy with the hotel and the service. We weren't paying much attention so I don't know any details, but I wonder if the hotel has changed management or something to make it less desirable. I, myself, would not recommend it based on our experience there.
That must be brand new. They've been the only ones for years that didn't charge for parking. It's $20 a day at other places.
According to their website, parking is still free. It's directly under the hotel. It's not a high end hotel where people should expect a lot in the way of service, but it's well located, recently renovated and usually a great value.
I think gailw may be confusing the parking situation at the King Charles Inn with the hotel she stayed at in Savannah per her recent trip report.
suewoo, we normallly don't utilize hotel facilities except for the room, complimentary breadfast, which they do not have, and the hotel parking area. So I can't comment on all parts of the hotel. Lobby staff were okay, so no complaints. Parking was free, but being in an open area under the inn and open to the street at the entry and exits, I was a little leery going to and from the car. Even though I saw no policemen on or patroling the streets, I'm sure this is probably a low crime area. We were on the 3rd floor in the middle of a fairly long somewhat narrow hallway. The hallway decor seemed a little "tired" and dim. The ice machine on the floor was not working the morning we left. We were able to get ice for our small cold lunch container from the dinning area. The room was a double deluxe and again I felt the decor was just a little tired. The main issue for me was the location. There was nothing "wrong" with the hotel, I just prefer a brighter and/or cheerful decor. We did change our reservations from Thurs-Fri-Sat nights to Tues-Wed and Thurs due to the price difference and happy we did. I would have been more underinpressed if we had paid the higher weekend rates. I know this may not answer your questions and sometimes its all in the eyes of the beholder.
Au contraire, that is VERY helpful. I don't stay in hotels, so feedback from visitors like you is great.
It is a low crime area, but your instincts are best in those situations. And tired is not okay. Rates fluctuate wildly depending on demand, so good thing you changed your dates.
For something a little brighter, try the Harborview. It's newer and some of the rooms have views of the harbor (right? lol) but you'll need to request that. It's more expensive though and parking will cost you.
Post again when you plan to return. If you can come in the spring, you can attend the Blessing of the Fleet in Mt Pleasant. It's always a good time. It will be on April 29, 2012.
Suewoo, you are right, spring should be a great time to visit. Charleston should have great gardens. Is Apr or May the better time for catching spring flowering in the gardens and is there one of two you might recommend for us photo hounds?