A Guide to Charleston Tours & Experiences

There is something fitting about discovering Charleston at the pace of a horse-drawn carriage.

Palmetto Carriage Works offers guided carriage tours through Charleston’s historic streets, pairing views of centuries-old architecture with stories about the people and events that shaped the city.

Because Charleston regulates carriage routes through the historic district, the route of a public tour is assigned after departure. Rather than knowing exactly where you’re headed, part of the experience is seeing which corner of Charleston you’ll discover that day.

A carriage tour can be especially worthwhile near the beginning of your stay. It gives you a sense of the city’s layout—and you may spot a street, garden, or building you want to return to later on foot.

Charleston’s history isn’t contained within museums. It lives along its streets, inside old buildings, and in stories that have been passed down for generations.

Bulldog Tours offers several ways to explore those stories with a guide, from history-focused walking tours to some of Charleston’s best-known ghost tours.

If you prefer history, spend part of the day learning more about the events and people that shaped Charleston. If you’re curious about the city’s more mysterious side, wait until evening and explore after dark.

Either way, walking with someone who knows where to look can reveal details you might otherwise pass without noticing.

After exploring Charleston on foot, see what happens when you look back at it from the water.

Charleston Harbor Tours offers sightseeing cruises through Charleston Harbor, while sailing excursions aboard the Schooner Pride trade a traditional narrated tour for the experience of being under sail.

From the harbor, familiar landmarks take on a different perspective. You’ll see the Charleston peninsula from the water and pass sites connected to the city’s maritime and military history, with the possibility of spotting dolphins along the way.

Choose a daytime cruise when you want to learn more about the harbor, or let a sunset sail become part of the evening itself.

Some Charleston history can only be fully understood by leaving the peninsula behind.

Fort Sumter Tours provides ferry transportation to Fort Sumter, where the first shots of the American Civil War were fired in April 1861.

The journey begins with a boat ride across Charleston Harbor before arriving at the fort, now part of Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park. Once there, visitors can explore the historic site, museum exhibits, and grounds while learning more about the events that unfolded here and their place within the larger history of the United States.

The harbor crossing is part of the experience. Charleston gradually recedes behind you as Fort Sumter comes into view, offering a perspective that simply can’t be experienced from shore.

Across the Cooper River in Mount Pleasant, Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum offers the chance to step aboard the USS Yorktown, a World War II-era aircraft carrier.

The museum complex explores American naval and military history through the ship itself, historic aircraft, exhibits, and the Vietnam Experience.

This is one attraction where you’ll want to allow yourself time. Exploring an aircraft carrier is very different from viewing one from a distance, and the scale becomes apparent only once you’re aboard.

As a bonus, the flight deck offers another memorable vantage point across Charleston Harbor.

Charleston’s story isn’t only about what happened here. It’s also about the landscape and wildlife that surround the city.

At the South Carolina Aquarium, exhibits follow the state’s habitats from the mountains to the coast, introducing visitors to animals and ecosystems found throughout South Carolina.

The experience culminates in the Great Ocean Tank, while the aquarium’s Sea Turtle Care Center offers a closer look at its work rescuing and rehabilitating sick and injured sea turtles.

Located along Charleston Harbor, the aquarium is particularly appealing for families, but it’s equally worthwhile for anyone interested in understanding the natural environment beyond the city’s historic streets.

It’s also a good experience to keep in mind for a rainy afternoon or one of Charleston’s warmer days.

Sometimes a single building can tell an extraordinarily complicated story.

The Old Exchange & Provost Dungeon stands near Charleston’s waterfront on a site connected to centuries of the city’s history. Completed in 1771, the building has served numerous purposes over its lifetime, including as a commercial exchange, customs house, post office, and meeting place.

Today, visitors can tour the building and explore stories spanning Charleston’s colonial and Revolutionary eras and beyond.

Its East Bay Street location also makes it easy to pair with a walk through the French Quarter or along Charleston’s waterfront.

Not every Charleston experience requires a ticket or a tour.

The Charleston City Market stretches through the heart of downtown and has served as a commercial gathering place since the early 19th century.

Today, its open-air sheds and Great Hall are filled with local and regional vendors selling artwork, jewelry, food, gifts, and handcrafted goods. Among the market’s most important traditions is sweetgrass basketry, a centuries-old African art form carried forward in the Lowcountry by generations of Gullah artisans.

From Fulton Lane Inn, the market is an easy walk through downtown, making it less of a destination you need to schedule and more of a place to wander through whenever the mood strikes.

Take your time. Talk with the makers. And if something catches your eye, stop for a closer look.

The best Charleston itinerary doesn’t have to fit everything into a single day.

Take a carriage ride in the morning and spend the afternoon wandering on your own. Cross the harbor one day and explore beneath its surface the next. Follow a guide through centuries of history, then leave yourself a few hours with no guide at all.

At the end of it, return to Fulton Lane Inn.

Tucked just beyond King Street, the Inn gives you a quiet place to come home to without taking you away from the city you’ve come to experience. Settle into your room, enjoy complimentary afternoon wine and hors d’oeuvres next door at Kings Courtyard Inn, or head back onto King Street when you’re ready for whatever comes next.

Because in Charleston, there is always more to discover.