Accompanying husband on business trip, downtown Charleston. Evenings set with business dinners, etc. On my own during two days - have read info, but trying to narrow it down. Any advice on what not to miss in only 2 days? Like architecture, museums, galleries, non-chain shopping, antiques, any suggestions for lunches? Want to walk, not rent car. Thanks.

Tons of info on this site for Charleston; for antiques, however, King Street is it.

An astounding number of shops, from the very exclusive where you ring a door bell (Golden and Associates, whom Olde Charleston summon first when dispersing their ancestral holdings), to the bric a brac (very little of that) Some art galleries there as well. Start at the 500 block and work your way down -- you can amuse yourself for hours.

SNOB is my personal favorite for lunch.

Taking a carriage tour may be hokey, but it's a great way to get yourself oriented, and can save you wear and tear especially if you get the Battery. Several routes are "lotted" by chance as carriages from different companies pull up so you never know which area you will get, but they're all about architecture, decorative ironworks and glimpses of gardens and porches. Never noticed any difference between the companies either.

I like the Charleston Museum, but no one is ever that impressed with the Exchange and Provost Dungeon.

Enjoy your days!

B/

Hello escargot, Charleston is certainly a city that was made for walking, just be careful with the sidewalks, there are a lot of bumps and cracks. Two days to explore it on your own will be perfect. And the carriage tour is a good idea as birgator suggested. I had dinner at SNOB's and thought it was fantastic. And if you like architecture you will be in seventh heaven. You might want to see if you can pull up GoTravel's report on Charleston that she wrote sometime the first part of 2005. She is a native of there and played tourist for a weekend. She really gave us a lot of information. If you can't find it on the search engine just click on her name when you see it on one of threads and scroll down and it should show up. Have fun, I know you will!

Oh thank you ! I found GoTravel's report on Charleston and am printing it out, and many other Charleston reports/questions popped up at same time so I will go back and read those too. Nice when you see tons of recommendations for the same places, easier to cross out other things where I only have two days - but I'm a fast walker! Thanks again.

I would recommend sweetgrass basket shopping at the Old Market. A good lunch spot would be The Mistral or the cafe at Charleston Place Hotel.

We just returned from Charleston and I postted a trip report today. You might want to read it. We loved the narrated carriage ride pulled by mules. Be sure to take a rickshaw ride to see the beautiful homes in the Battery if they go that far. We enjoyed the food at S.N.O.B. but don't know if they are open for lunch.If a tour company will take you to the plantations we loved Middleton Place and Boone Plantation.

Sorry for the typo error, posted was spelled incorrectly in previous message.

Haney20 thank you - I found your trip report. Reading through the other Charleston postings and trying to narrow things down, thank you for your input -the mansions/rickshaw and plantation sound perfect for me.

On Saturdays mornings there is a market across from the Francis marion. Don't know if you'll be there then but it's worth checking out.
Sermat's is one of my favorite places on King Street. Yummy calamari.

yes I will be there on a Saturday - thanks for the Sat morning market activity - that is something I would love

Apologies for piggy backing someone else's question, but my wife and I are planning a trip to SC next year. What is "Gotravel"?

I'm GoTravel! I wrote an extensive trip report from Valentines weekend and updated a couple of weeks ago. I'll try and find the link.