Travel Guide: Charleston, South Carolina

These past few weeks I’ve been lucky enough to travel somewhere new each weekend, and I’ve fallen in love with the cities in the south. I have never been there before, so this past month I spent time learning about the southern states, starting with Charleston, South Carolina. I spent the forth of July weekend in Charleston, going to amazing restaurants, laying on the beach and shopping King Street. As a born and raised Chicagoan, I was not used to the small city feel that Charleston had. It is a super small town, so much of the visit was dedicated to sight-seeing and eating. The architecture in Charleston resembles a classic old town to the point where it almost looks like a paper town, something out of a movie. Although there is old history behind it, the city is fairly new. Just recently they built Charleston up to the city it is today, with expensive stores and restaurants, but keeping its historic buildings. I really loved all the buildings there, they really use the city history as their focal point, and kept all the classic bright colors everywhere.

Travel Guide: Charleston, South Carolina

Travel Guide: Charleston, South Carolina

Travel Guide: Charleston, South Carolina

Travel Guide: Charleston, South Carolina

Of course my favorite part was the food, it was i c r e d i b l e. I’m listing all the must-try restaurants below!

Belmond Charleston Place is a gorgeous five star hotel with several hundred locations all over the world. I am so happy we found it so we can try the other hotels on different vacations. The service was great, the rooms and hotel itself was especially clean and the people were so nice.  Inside the Belmond we dined in one of the restaurants The Palmetto Cafe for lunch and twice for breakfast… because it was just so yummy.

Travel Guide: Charleston, South Carolina

Travel Guide: Charleston, South Carolina

Travel Guide: Charleston, South Carolina

Travel Guide: Charleston, South Carolina

Eleve Restaurant and Rooftop Bar was a swanky bar in the Grand Bohemian Charleston hotel, it was so beautiful there. The hotel itself was covered in art pieces, just like a gallery and had a very edgy design to it, so their rooftop was a reflection of that. I wish I could have gotten pictures of it, but the bar was lined with different neon lights and there was chandeliers everywhere and large mirrors. I would highly recommend going there for a cocktail!

Travel Guide: Charleston, South Carolina

Blossom was a local restaurant that was crazy packed when we first walked in, and for good reason. The food was amazing, we did the damage at this one. Ordered four different appetizers, each of us had our own meal and kept the wine coming. Everything we tried was great! Since we were on the East Coast, we ordered a lot of seafood and anything with a Charleston twist. We tried the oysters, crab cakes, fried artichokes and clams. SO GOOD! For my meal I had seared scallops on a bed of spinach and roasted potatoes, and it was amazing. The service was great as well, they were very accommodating. Definitely a must try, any of the locals will agree.

Travel Guide: Charleston, South Carolina
(YES MY SCALLOP IS FLIPPED OVER!)

Le Farfalle Charleston was a great modern Italian restaurant, by the end of the trip we were in desperate need of pasta and this place totally delivered. We actually went with the chef special, so we ordered an appetizer, a pasta, and a main dish. I had a super tasty salad, followed by a very small, yet incredibly yummy bolognese pasta and the Branzino fish. I really loved everything I had here, I would go back again.

Travel Guide: Charleston, South Carolina
 Besides the food… We did a lot of shopping obviously, and we went to visit a plantation which was interesting to learn about. Boone Hall Plantation is where they filmed several movies, like The Notebook, it was fabulous and all to stand where Ali did waiting for Noah but there is actually a lot of history behind the plantation! There was several museums where the salves used to live, explaining the history of their past and their roles on the plantation, and a tour around the estate showing the land that they use for farming.

Travel Guide: Charleston, South Carolina

Travel Guide: Charleston, South Carolina

Travel Guide: Charleston, South Carolina