We are hoping to travel to Charleston this March. Trying to decide if we (4ladies) should stay at the Aloft hotel near the airport and rent a car to get to town each day or stay in town and not rent a car. Deciding based on if there is available and ample parking. Any advice?

Do NOT stay near airport. You will hate the need to drive into town each day. And it will force you to stay in town ALL day since you sure aren't going to want to drive back and forth twice [rest up in late after in hotel, go back for dinner].

We stayed here. They do charge for parking but if you are "seniors" they have a senior rate if you make reservations over the phone - it doesn't show on webpage.

They have a really nice breakfast included and afternoon wine and hors d'ovres.

Great location. Clean. Nice folks. And you will want a car to drive to planation or other sites.

http://www.indigoinn.com/

I agree with DebitNM that you will be better off staying downtown but you do pay for the convenience. Parking downtown will be easily available and not extremely expensive. CIty parking garages charge $2 an hour and $16 per day.

If you park at the garage near the visitor's center (corner of Ann and Meeting Sts), you can use the Downtown Trolley ("DASH") which is free transportation around downtown. Here is a link to more information about the trolley and a map of where the parking garages are:

http://www.ridecarta.com/wp-content/...rolleyMaps.pdf

You can also park for free on the street around the Battery, especially near the Cooper river side (ie on East Bay Street, below Broad Street).

There is also a kind of funky option of staying at the "round" Holiday Inn which is across the Ashley River from downtown but has a shuttle that will take you pretty much anywhere downtown you want to go and pick you up pretty much when you want to be picked up. When I have friends visiting on a strict budget, that's where they stay.

http://www.ihg.com/holidayinn/hotels...rv/hoteldetail

It's kind of a weird place, though. The elevator goes up the center and the rooms all come off the hallway that makes a small circle around the elevators and they are shaped like triangular pieces of pie.

We stayed on the other side of the river, which was less expensive. You'll want a car to visit some of the plantations. If you want to take a look t my trip report, click on my name to find it.

You've gotten good advice. I agree that staying out near the airport without a car is not your best option. The traffic during rush hours can be brutal, and there are times when it's noisy.

I know it's tempting to want to save money, but as booksw stated, you pay for convenience. You will be doing a lot of walking ( the home and garden tours are excellent), and you might want to go back to your hotel for breaks.

Definitely stay downtown and if you want to spend a day at the plantations or other places, it's very easy to just rent a car for the day. We've used enterprise and they're located very close to the tourism center.

And Enterprise delivers.

Thanks all. One thing that is pulling me to the airport is if we stay at the aLoft hotel we can stay on points. Can't beat that price. That's why I am torn.

Pound wise, penny foolish. Save the points for another trip. Great rates at hotel linked in my post above.

You will HATE driving into Charleston from the airport and you will not enjoy the charm and ambience of the city. I have stayed at the Holiday Inn I think folks are talking about and it is pleasant, and the drive across the bridge is not bad.

I agree that you'll miss much by staying by the airport. It can be noisy out there if there's a concert at the PAC and/or the C-17s are taking off at the AF base.

The traffic during rush hours can be bumper to bumper.