I will be staying at the Embassy Suites Hotel Charleston 12/21 and 12/22. First, has anyone stayed here? Is it a good hotel? Would like to know of any moderate-priced restaurants. Also, any suggestions on what we should see and do. Thank you in advance

Hi Connie,

Have heard really great things from those who have stayed at the Embassy Suites. Excellent location.

As for things to do during the Christmas season, check out the following:

http://www.christmasincharleston.com/

Enjoy... If you want to contact me, email at:

[email protected]

would be happy to answer any questions.

The Embassy Suites should be nice. As far as restaurants, we love California Dreaming. It's right on the water, and is nice but reasonable. Go early, they pack up fast, and they don't take reservations.

My wife and I went to Charleston last October for the first time and absolutely loved it. Lots of great restaurants, but our absolute favorite was called 82 Queens. On of the most romantic and scrumptious meals we've had. http://www.82queen.com/ We spent a lot of time just walking around the old neighborhoods near the water. We also took a couple of walking tours that were fun and informative. We also visited a couple of plantations and had a great dinner at one of them.

I've stayed at the Embassy before...nice choice. I assume it is the one in town and not the one by the airport...think there are two of them.

You can just park the car and walk around the whole town. There are a lot of little eateries right around the hotel and a number of shops. My favorite restaurant is the Penninsula Grill at the intersection of Market and Meeting. It's in one of the hotels, forget which one. Enjoy!

Peninsula Grill is at Charleston Place. Quite expensive, but worth the splurge now and then. But, I went there with some friends a few months ago for their Sunday brunch and it was not quite up to par. I'd avoid it for the Sunday brunch.

The other night we ate at Slightly Up the Creek which is on Shem Creek in Mt. Pleasant. Fantastic meals!!! I also recommend California Dreamin', but mostly for lunch. The Cal. Dreamin salad will feed 2 along with an appetizer to share. The best part of it is that the restaurant is close to downtown and every table has a water view.

To support another poster, whenever we have company in town I love to take them to 82 Queen. The ambiance is incomparable. We live on Isle of Palms and our favorite restaurant is the Boat House (at Breach Inlet). The freshest seafood, pretty reasonable. There's one downtown also, but the one on IOP has the best water views anywhere.

At Christmas time there is an outstanding light display over on James Island in the County Park.

Have fun!