48 Hours in Charleston with Kids

Frugal Travel: Enjoy Charleston without Blowing the Budget

I love Charleston! The previous (and first) time I traveled to Charleston was with my husband only. We did an historic walking tour, visited old mansions, feasted on a variety of delicious cuisines, lingered in lounges, and snapped dozens of photos of the gorgeous homes, especially their front doors.

When we decided to bring our children back to visit, we knew they would not appreciate Charleston the same way we did. It had to include their type of fun… and had to be our type of affordable.

Charleston is a unique city, historically and culturally, and it offers the best of almost every type of vacation. If you prefer to learn about history, Charleston has several Civil War sites, colonial mansions and plantations kept in their original style, historical markers, and museums. If you’re a foodie and want to taste unique cuisines, Charleston will satisfy your palette, from seafood to French bakery and BBQ to vegan. If you want nightlife and live music, that can be found along King Street or at one of the numerous concert venues. And if you want to relax on or by the water, there are plenty of beaches, coastlines, creeks, and marshes just a short walk or drive from anywhere you stay.

With so much to do and see, it’s actually quite difficult to do it all in 48 hours, and it can be even more difficult to stay on a budget. So, we set a goal of giving the kids a glimpse into multiple aspects of Charleston, so that they’ll want to come back again to explore their favorites even further.

Mission accomplished!

Transportation

Airfare – Thankfully, we had reward miles, so airfare wasn’t a big factor in our budget, but even if it was, I love using the Google Airfare search tool to find great fares. All you have to do is type in “flight from _______________ to Charleston” in the Google search bar, and you will be provided a calendar of fare prices for multiple airlines.

We used Rapid Rewards with Southwest, but it would have cost us less that $250 to fly round-trip from Austin to Charleston in the middle of summer.

If airfare isn’t in the budget, the drive to Charleston isn’t too bad from most of the eastern United States.

*Additional Savings Tip: If you want 3 full days for your trip, book an outbound flight first thing in the morning and a return flight late in the evening with 2 nights stay in between. The airfare is usually cheaper at these times, and you get 3 full days while only paying for 2 nights of hotel.

Getting Around the City – Unless you stay in downtown and intend to spend all your time in the heart of the city, it’s best to get a rental car. Street or lot parking in the downtown tourist areas of Charleston costs anywhere from $2 – $8/hour.

Hotel

There are several hotels in the French Quarter and King Street areas that are close to most restaurants, bars, and museums. However, I cannot recommend Embassy Suites in Mt. Pleasant enough! It has a very high review rating, and it’s in a safe, beautiful, and convenient location (if you have a car). The additional amenities are worth the resort fee and $30 for parking. They have a big free breakfast buffet with hot and cold offerings, as well as a free nightly reception with cocktails and snacks, sometimes accompanied by live music in the shaded courtyard. Other bonuses of this hotel are mini fridge and microwave in the rooms, a separate living room and bedroom in the suites, stunning lobby with restaurant and bar (including room service), and fully shaded, well-kept, relaxing yet fun pool area. It is also walking distance to Patriots Point, where the USS Yorktown is docked, to the College of Charleston Athletic Fields, and to the Arthur Ravenel Jr bridge. You can get a view of all of these sites, as well as the steeples above downtown Charleston, either from your hotel room or while on a quick stroll outside the hotel doors.

And the best news of all is that we could use our Hilton points to book a 2 nights’ stay at this lovely hotel!

*Additional Savings Tip: When I find a great option at a decent price, I book… but only at the free-cancellation rate. Then, I set an alert/reminder in my phone to go back and check hotels again just before the final cancellation date. I usually re-do my hotel search about 3-4 days before we depart to see if the hotel I love has reduced its price or if there is a comparable option for cheaper.

Food

You can definitely eat your way through Charleston, and in doing so, you can eat away all of your extra cash too. My husband and I splurged on one night out at Coast Bar & Grill. The food was delicious, and we were able to keep costs down by sharing the Surf and Turf, as well as a Ceviche appetizer. There was a very generous amount of shrimp in the app, and we were comfortably full after finishing the steak and salmon in the entree.

For most of our stay, though, we fed ourselves at family-friendly options, such as Jimmy John’s and Playa Bowl, as well as at the hotel restaurant. The kids’ meals at the hotel had large portions, enough to satisfy my teens, and cost $10 or less.

*Additional Savings Tip: Ask locals about the best happy hours. Several of the seafood restaurants along Shem Creek, as well as options on King Street, such as Prohibition, have excellent happy hours that can fill you up for dinner or at least keep you going for a few extra hours of sightseeing.

Total amount of money we spent on food and drinks for the whole 48 hours was $270 for all 6 of us! (We also had snacks from home in a backpack at all times.)

Entertainment and Exploring

Here is a list of my top FREE things to do in Charleston (based on our visit).

Wander the French Quarter and King Street – Visit souvenir shops, cafes, the City Market, and pocket parks, including Waterfront Park and the famous Pineapple Fountain. Be sure to dress in clothes that can get wet bc you can wade in the Pineapple Fountain or let your kids get fully soaked in the fountain at the north entrance. You can also enjoy the porch swings on the pier as you watch for dolphins and sailboats. Continue your walk to Rainbow Row and along the Concord Street water wall.

Splurge: Stop for a leisurely lunch, buy a woven grass basket, or take a last-minute harbor cruise.

Peruse the Fort Sumter Visitor Center – There are free exhibits about Charlestown before and during the Civil War, as well as an observation deck out back.

Splurge: Visit the South Carolina Aquarium next door. If you know your kids cannot pass an aquarium without going in, book tickets online in advance. They cost less the further out you book. We allowed our 17-year-old to walk the aquarium on her own because she was dying to see the otters and experience the touch tanks. It cost $42, and she saw the whole aquarium in a little over an hour.

Stroll Patriot’s Point – This is an easy walk along the waterfront from the Embassy Suites. You can see the battleship and the aircrafts parked on top. The walk will also take you past The Cold War Submarine Memorial and to the Hog Island Lookout Point.

Splurge: Tour USS Yorktown and/or take the ferry to Fort Sumter. You can also buy tickets to a Charleston Battery soccer game if you’re there on the right night.

Check out Outer Banks film locations – You can drive by plantations used as the homes of specific characters, walk or drive across the Ravenel Bridge, stroll down Pitt Street Pier, and go fishing off the Shem Creek Boardwalk. My teens enjoyed pulling up clips of episodes that featured the locations we visited.

Splurge: Rent a paddle board or kayak to paddle through Shem Creek, the location of many of the boating scenes in Outer Banks. It’s also an opportunity to see dolphins in the water with you. My older two and I rented kayaks during “happy hour” (after 2 pm) at Nature Adventures and received a discount for booking later in the day.

Play at the other Waterfront Park (in Mt. Pleasant) – This is a beloved park right under the beautiful Ravenel Bridge . It was even crowded at 10 am on a Thursday morning. Not only is the park sprinkled with sea-inspired art and historical markers, but it has a unique playground and a 1250-foot pier.

Splurge: Grab lunch at the little park cafe and a souvenir from the gift shop.

Soak up the sun and sand at the beach – You’re on the coast, so there’s definitely a beach nearby! You could check out Sullivan’s Island, Folly Beach, or Isle of Palms for saltwater swimming, sand-castle sculpting, and happy hour happenings.

Splurge: Rent bikes to cruise the boardwalks, nature trails, and beaches.

Learn a lot on an Historic Walking Tour – IF your kids love history, interesting facts, and lots of walking, reserve a free walking tour through the heart of the historic district in downtown Charleston. (Be sure to have some cash for a tip at the end.)

Splurge: Tour the Nathaniel Russel House + Aiken Rhett House. If you go to one and decide to go to the other, save your receipt, and the 2nd house will give 1/2 off admission.

NOT free but worth the small entrance fee…

Visit Cypress Gardens – You can walk the gardens, view animals from alligators to anacondas, stroll through the butterfly house, play on the playground, and take a canoe ride through the swamp just like Allie and Noah did in The Notebook. These gardens and the swamp are the sites of several scenes in popular movies, like The Notebook, Cold Mountain, and The Patriot, and shows, such as Outer Banks. The canoe ride was a highlight of our whole trip, especially spotting an alligator swimming nearby. We also got to witness an alligator-feeding.

There’s just so much to do in Charleston, and I’m sure I just skimmed the surface. We definitely need to return to check off a few more sights and adventures.

Here is the exact itinerary of our most recent 48-hour trip, and it covered a lot!

Day 1, from 3:30 pm – bedtime:

Browse shops on King Street
Snack at Playa Bowl
Hotel for check in, swimming, and free happy hour reception
Sunset walk around Patriot Point
Room service at hotel

Day 2 (Wednesday):

Huge, free hotel breakfast
Cypress Gardens
Lunch from Jimmy John’s and Wendy’s in Mt. Pleasant
Kayaking at Shem Creek
Milkshakes from Pitt Street Pharmacy in Mt. Pleasant Old Village Historic District
Quick visit to Pitt Street Bridge (“bridge to nowhere”)
Hotel for swimming, free happy hour reception, and live music
Date night at Coast, room service for kids

Day 3, morning – 3:30 pm:

Huge, free hotel breakfast
Quick stop at Waterfront Memorial Park in Mt. Pleasant
Aquarium and Ft. Sumter Visitor Center
Walk to Pineapple Fountain, pier swings at Waterfront Park, and Rainbow Row in French Quarter
Stroll through shops, bakeries, and City Market
Hit the road for Hilton Head

We hope you found a few options here for your visit to Charleston with your family. Our kids truly enjoyed the city and are already asking to go back. They requested that we stay on a yacht during our next visit. We’ll see…

Looking for other budget- and kid-friendly travel options? Check out our itineraries in Boston, Waco, Dripping Springs, and Southwest Houston!