Charleston Historic District

Charleston has been perfecting its manners since 1670, and the historic district south of Broad Street is the result: block after block of antebellum mansions with side-facing piazzas built for the sea breeze, gas lanterns still flickering at dusk, and the steeples that earned the Holy City its nickname rising over cobbled lanes. Rainbow Row lines East Bay Street with its thirteen pastel Georgian houses, the Battery promenade rounds the peninsula's tip past White Point Garden's oaks and its grandest facades, and the City Market runs its long sheds of stalls where Gullah artisans weave sweetgrass baskets as their families have for generations. House museums like the Nathaniel Russell House open their flying staircases and formal gardens, carriage tours clop their regulated loops, and the whole district rewards the slowest possible pace - this is a city built for lingering.

What you actually see

• Rainbow Row - thirteen pastel Georgian houses along East Bay Street.
• The Battery - the waterfront promenade past White Point Garden's mansions.
• The City Market - long market sheds with sweetgrass basket weavers.
• The house museums - Nathaniel Russell and its peers, piazzas and gardens open.

When to go

March to May brings azaleas and perfect walking weather; September to November repeats the trick without the pollen. Summer is hot, humid and thunderstorm-prone, and late summer sits in hurricane season.

Honest expectations

Charleston's charm is no secret - spring weekends pack the narrow sidewalks and dinner tables book out well ahead. House museum tickets add up quickly, cobblestones and brick sidewalks punish thin soles, and parking on the lower peninsula is scarce - garage early and walk everything.

Nearby

Folly Beach, Sullivan's Island and the vast Angel Oak on Johns Island.