OT: Charleston SC

[Clydesdale]

I'll be there this week with my wife. Does anyone have any must do/sees while we are there? Thanks

PS - very outside chance I'll get to ride there, but suggested routes are welcomed.

[bikerboy337]

My favorite place out there... love it down there. I know we have a few forum members that live in the area and I'm sure others will chime in but here are a few of my thoughts

1) Do a historic tour, they're fun. We did Tommy Dews tour and thought it was fun, some good historical perspective. Anyways, there are quite a few good ones, do a little research on Yelp and pick one...

2) Eat and Drink - Lots of amazing places to eat: We love Fig, Magnolias, Poogans Porch, SNOB (slightly north of broad), HOminy Grill... all were great...

For drinks, we loved The Gin Joint, great mixed drinks, nice little patio, have some good memories from there... tons of bourbon, whiskey and Scotch... which is why i liked it :beer:

[FlashUNC]

Charleston is an amazing city. Fantastic food, great bars, interesting (if complicated) history.

Line up outside Jestine's Kitchen for the fried chicken. Its worth dying for. I'm not kidding.

[blilrat]

Love Charleston, my wife and I go there at least once a year. Another vote for Jestine's Kitchen and Poogan's Porch, Husk is right next door to Poogan's and is another good place to eat. It's a great city to walk and just take in the atmosphere - historicwalkingtour.com has a pretty cool app for the city. The Fort Sumter tour is one of the more interesting forts to tour if you're into that kind of thing.

[earlfoss]

There's a little place to eat outside of Charleston called Seewee. I highly recommend that place.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/seewee-restaurant-awendaw-3

[rnhood]

Just walking around the Battery is nice, and very historic. In fact you can walk the nearby streets and feel like you are stepping back in time. A great southern city. I lived there for 3 years back in the 70's and always loved the area. Plenty to see as well. But I recommend a walk in and around the Battery area.

[rab]

Agree with previous posts, get out and walk around the downtown, particularly the southern tip of the peninsula, take in the historical houses, can be good in the day or the evening when the lights start coming on. Lots of history.
Lived there for years and actually never did the Sumter tour but heard its good.
Did find Fort Moultrie on Sullivans Island to be kind of cool. History on the beach!

Charleston has apparently become a BIG food destination in recent years, tons of good places to check out. Heard from a friend who was there recently that Husk has decent classic southern food. Hominy Grill is good to. Honestly just a ton of good places, probably won't go wrong with a little research.

I wouldn't go out of my way to ride there, personally found the riding to be a bit lackluster. Riding along the beach is a novelty but can be annoying during the summer months when crowds are heavy. In hindsight I wish I would have explored more of the backroads in the Marion Natl Forest.

Fun town for sure, hope you have a great trip!

[jvp]

I brought an upright city bike when we went, it was nice to cruise about the historic district, side streets, waterfront, etc. Even found the all important craft beer store! (beer exchange)

[awdwon]

Eating and drinking is top notch as most others have mentioned. My sister lives there so I spend a fair bit of time down there. Beaches at fawley and Sullivan's island are nice. The first time I was there my wife and I had a great time at their aquarium, really nice facility. King St is where the majority of folks would go for shopping outings and there is a market downtown which is near although quite touristy.

[miksibis]

palmetto brewing company Friday night concert and food truck, revelry brewing, deallessandro's pizza, desano's pizza, leon's oysters and chicken. all are downtown but slightly removed from the tourist crowd. tattooed moose amazing food in a dive bar setting. kudu coffee and craft beer in the courtyard. the griffon is a great old dive bar best fish and chips in town. the guys at affordabike on king can rent you a cruiser and lead you to some other cool places. pearlz oyster bar. rooftop bar on top of the vendue in for a great view of the harbor. 167 raw for lobster roll and 5 star seafood.

[bcroslin]

Hominy Grill for breakfast and Fig for dinner. Husk is also solid and SNOB is a little more casual if you're not a foodie. Take the big bridge over to Sullivan's Island and go to the beach and check out Fort Moultrie. There's also a few good restaurants on the island. King St for shopping and then walk down to the water and over to Rainbow Row.

[Bob Ross]

Does anyone have any must do/sees while we are there?

If a former coworker of mine is to be believed, retire.

[Joachim]

Hominy Grill for breakfast and Fig for dinner. Husk is also solid and SNOB is a little more casual if you're not a foodie. Take the big bridge over to Sullivan's Island and go to the beach and check out Fort Moultrie. There's also a few good restaurants on the island. King St for shopping and then walk down to the water and over to Rainbow Row.

I live in Charleston. FIG is currently running at a 4 week booking in advance for dinner. Cypress is good and Jasmine's Porch on Kiawah Island for Sunday brunch is fantastic. Hominy Grill is very touristy and not necessarily where locals would go. trattoria lucca for Sunday italian style family lunch. Calhoun Mansion is a must see as well as a local downtown carriage ride. Fort Sumter for history. Folly's for a nice beach day together with Isle of Palms and Sullivan's Island.

[Force]

Great thread! Charleston is my favorite place - lived there previously. Lots of great suggestions already. Definitely walk downtown South of Broad and near the Battery. My wife and I did some night riding there and it was fantastic exploring back alleys and side streets. At night, you can look up to see into the homes to get a feel for what they look like inside.

If you want to go to the beach, Sullivan's Island is worth a look.

Another suggestion would be to visit the plantations on Ashley River Road, particularly Drayton Hall and Middleton Place.

Enjoy!

[rzthomas]

Riding is OK. I was there last year at the Isle of Palm and brought my 29er to try the gravel roads in Marion NF. Never actually got over to the forest, so I just did road rides with the MTB, which was fun just the same.

This is basically the route from Charleston over to Isle of Palms: https://www.strava.com/activities/176834794

Didn't have any problems with that route ––·there are trails, bike lanes, and good-enough shoulders along it.

There's lots of exploring to do over in the mainland and I wish I did more of it via bike while I was there, but by foot, it's even more fun. Bring an appetite.

[Clydesdale]

So far so good. Hit Jestines yesterday and it was great. Fort Sumpter today and seafood somewhere. Probably giving up on riding as too much else to do but hotel has a decent fitness room and lots of places to run so hopefully I can work of a few of the calories. Thanks for the advice.

[earlfoss]

I brought my bike to IOP and rode once. The area didn't really seem very bike friendly (especially during tourist season). Traffic was kind of nuts. I felt like there were probably ok roads around there somewhere but I'd have had to drive from IOP to get to them.

Any group rides in the Charleston area? I'm going back next summer and would like to take another crack at some good rides there.

[Joachim]

I brought my bike to IOP and rode once. The area didn't really seem very bike friendly (especially during tourist season). Traffic was kind of nuts. I felt like there were probably ok roads around there somewhere but I'd have had to drive from IOP to get to them.

Any group rides in the Charleston area? I'm going back next summer and would like to take another crack at some good rides there.

Tons. Leave your small chainring at home. I can direct you to some that will make your eyeballs pop out. I can ask my cat1 and cat 2 riders to take you out on a few rides. I'm a big fan of the rural roads just 30min outside Charleston. For those you are welcome to join me on a ride(s). I leave the 28mph+ rides to my riders I coach. From IOP you can go over the connector to Mount Pleasant and join the group rides there or hit the rural roads out to Marion Forest with no cars.

[earlfoss]

I will definitely hit you up when I am in the area next! I figured there had to be good riding around there somewhere!