A cultural city, Charleston is the home to the Spoleto Festival USA, the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, and the Charleston Ballet Theater.  You can visit the Charleston Museum, the Gibbes Museum of Art, the South Carolina Aquarium or a wonderful 3D IMAX Theater.  Then, there are tours to see historic homes, the history of Charleston, the pirate history of the city, and the haunts of Charleston.  Tours can be done via water, land, horse and carriage or on foot, whatever your mood.

Above all, Charleston is a city rich in military history. Visit Fort Moultrie, which defeated a British fleet in 1776 or take the short boat ride to Fort Sumter and see where the Civil War began.  Jumping forward in time, Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum is the home to the aircraft carrier Yorktown, the submarine Clamagore, the destroyer Laffey, the Coast Guard Cutter Ingham and the National Congressional Medal of Honor Museum.  Scattered throughout the city’s parks are memorials, cannons and other memories of the part that Charleston has played in the history of this country.

This richness in history extends to the cities architecture.  Historic homes include the Aiken-Rhett House which has been virtually unaltered since the 1850s, the Calhoun Mansion featuring one of the largest eclectic collections of Victorian furnishings, the Edmonston-Alston House which is an example of the early 19^th century elegance, style and comfort and the Nathaniel Russell House which is noted for its free-flying staircase which rises three stories.

As you travel just outside the city proper, there are plantations that date back to the 18^th century.  These include Middleton Place, claiming to be the home of  America’s oldest landscaped gardens, Cypress Gardens with beautiful swamp/gardens and a Butterfly House, and Drayton Hall, a masterpiece of Georgian Palladian architecture and the oldest preserved plantation house in America open to the public.

And don’t forget the restaurants.  There is everything from the burger or pizza place on the beach to an elegant night out on the town.  Whether its Mexican, French, Irish, Italian or Asian cuisine, there will be a restaurant to suit your desires.