9 Charleston Hotels South of Broad, Among the Houses

Charleston's peninsula narrows toward its southern tip, and Broad Street is the line that separates two versions of the city. North of it is the commercial old town: King Street shopping, the market, the restaurants, the bars and most of the hotels. South of Broad is residential, and has been continuously since the eighteenth century.

Locals use the phrase South of Broad as a shorthand for old Charleston money, and the streets there are the reason: pastel single houses turned sideways to the lot with two-storey piazzas facing the prevailing breeze, walled gardens, iron gates and no commerce at all.

Why the geography matters more than usual here

Charleston is a small city and everything is walkable, so this is not about distance. It is about what you step out into.

North of Broad, and particularly around Upper King, is where the city's restaurant scene has exploded over the last fifteen years, and it is also where the bachelorette and wedding traffic concentrates on weekends. Loud on a Saturday night in a way that surprises people.

South of Broad and the French Quarter, the blocks below the market, are quiet at night, architecturally intact and about ten minutes' walk from everything.

The nine below are grouped by which side.

The French Quarter and South of Broad

The quiet end. Historic houses, walled gardens and the Battery at the tip.

Planters Inn occupies a converted 1804 building on Church Street with a courtyard, a garden and a restaurant that has been among the best in the South for decades. It is the most complete small hotel in Charleston.

Zero George sits on a residential street in a set of restored houses with a walled garden, sixteen rooms and no lobby to speak of. It is the quietest stay in the city.

John Rutledge House Inn occupies a 1763 house on Broad Street, built by a signer of the Declaration of Independence, with the original woodwork intact and a small room count.

French Quarter Inn sits in the French Quarter with a courtyard, a rooftop and a personal operation. It is the best value below the market.

Around the market and Meeting Street

The middle of the peninsula, between the two halves.

The Charleston Place occupies a full block near the market with a rooftop pool, a spa, a shopping arcade and the deepest service bench in South Carolina. It is the largest luxury hotel in the city.

Hotel Emeline sits on Meeting Street in a converted building with a rooftop bar, a good restaurant and a design-led interior.

Upper King and the north end

Where the restaurants are and where the weekends are loudest.

Hotel Bennett occupies a marble-clad building on Marion Square with a rooftop pool, a spa and the most opulent public rooms in Charleston.

Wentworth Mansion sits in a nineteenth-century mansion in Harleston Village with a spa, a tower with a rooftop view over the peninsula and considerable Victorian detail.

The Restoration occupies a converted building on Calhoun Street with a courtyard, a rooftop and rates below the historic-district hotels.

What we have left off

The beach resorts on Kiawah, Isle of Palms and Sullivan's Island are excluded. They have the golf, the sand and the space, and they sit thirty to fifty minutes from a peninsula that is the entire reason to come to Charleston.

What to do

Walk South of Broad in the early evening. Church Street, Tradd Street, Rainbow Row and along the Battery, when the light is low and the gas lamps come on.

Do one house museum properly: the Nathaniel Russell House or the Aiken-Rhett House, which is preserved rather than restored and includes the intact urban slave quarters. Charleston's history is inseparable from slavery and the better museums say so directly.

Take the ferry to Fort Sumter, and visit the Old Slave Mart Museum on Chalmers Street.

Eat. Charleston is one of the best food cities in America for its size and the good restaurants book weeks ahead.

Drive out to Middleton Place or Magnolia Plantation for the gardens, forty minutes up the Ashley river.

Practical notes

Charleston's airport is 20 minutes from downtown.

March to May and September to November are ideal, and spring is when the gardens are at their best. Summer is very hot and humid and it is hurricane season from June to November. Winter is mild and quiet.

The peninsula is entirely walkable. Parking is difficult and a car is only useful for the plantations and the beaches.

Questions people actually ask

South of Broad or Upper King?

South of Broad for quiet and architecture, Upper King for restaurants and nightlife. They are a fifteen-minute walk apart.

Is Charleston loud at weekends?

Upper King is, particularly in spring and autumn wedding season. The lower peninsula is not.

Beach or peninsula?

Peninsula. The beaches are a day trip and the historic city is the reason to come.

How many nights?

Three. Two for the city and a third for a plantation garden or a beach.

If you only book one

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