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A historic city with modern touches, Charleston boasts an incredible culinary and bar scene, high-end shopping along King Street, and endless historic tours to keep the history buffs in your group entertained. It’s an exciting city to visit any time of year, especially in the Fall. As the summer season winds down, the weather cools, and the crowds return home. While you won’t see traditional fall foliage, you’ll love the mild temperatures that allow exploration without the heat of summer. Charleston is such a great place for walking tours and strolling down historic streets, and it’s much more comfortable to do that with slightly cooler weather.
At night, it’s perfect sweater weather. There’s just something about strolling through cobblestone streets on a crisp evening, admiring the pumpkins and fall decor gracing the stoops of Charleston’s historic homes before returning to your own Charleston vacation rental. In fact, with such a storied history of haunting in Charleston, the fun and spooky Halloween decorations around the city add a little extra autumnal magic.
During fall in Charleston, SC, there are so many fun events. From culinary to cultural, consider planning trips around these popular festivals.
For 10 days in September, the finest restaurants in Charleston and its neighboring communities offer special menus, three-course meals, deals, and discounts. If you’re a self-proclaimed foodie, you won’t want to miss Restaurant Week. Whether you want to sample Lowcountry, seafood, Thai, Mexican, American, Italian, or Southern cuisine, there will be a menu that suits your fancy. If you’re visiting Charleston in September, be sure to check out menus and make reservations in advance. If you’re staying in a Charleston vacation rental with Stay Duvet, we'll help point you in the right direction.
Held at St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church on King Street, Oktoberfest Charleston is hosted each year in mid-October. The highly anticipated event is filled with live music, authentic German cuisine, a biergarten with local craft beers, and a kids’ zone. You’ll love the beer, brats, and dancing, while the little ones can enjoy soft pretzels and free activities, including a bounce castle, corn hole, yard games, and face painting.
Live at Riverfront Park in October, Riverfront Revival is an incredible two-day music festival featuring live music from over 15 different artists and tons of delicious regional eats. Paying homage to country music and South Carolina’s Lowcountry, the event is curated (and, for the last two years, has been headlined) by country music superstar, Darius Rucker. The festival runs for two days across two stages in North Charleston with the goal of inspiring love for music and the community.
In early November, Johns Island County Park serves as the location for Harvest Festival, a one-day-only opportunity to dance to live music from local bluegrass bands, decorate pumpkins, take a hayride, try your hand at archery, stroll through the crafters market, and enjoy old fashioned Southern festival foods like barbeque, kettle korn, and more. It’s such a fun family event – and free for kids 12 and under. Johns Island is conveniently located near our Kiawah Island, Seabrook Island, and Folly Beach vacation rentals.
If you’re not in town during a festival, don’t worry. If you’re staying in a Charleston, SC vacation rental at almost any time during the fall, you’ll be able to take advantage of these fun activities happening throughout the season.
One of Charleston’s favorite traditions is a visit to Boone Hall Plantation and Gardens during the fall. For more than 25 years, the Boone Hall Pumpkin Patch has been one of the largest fall festivals in the state.
During the day, you’ll be able to take a family-friendly tractor tour, find your way through an 8-acre corn maze, and participate in all kinds of family fun activities on the farm, like a petting zoo, pig races, inflatables, wings, rubber duck races, and more. And of course, pumpkins! Grab some tasty treats, go on a pony ride, get your face painted, and pick your favorite pumpkin to take home with you.
At night, Boone Hall transforms into a spooky haunted attraction, so if you’re looking to get in the Halloween spirit and you’re up for something a bit more frightening, Boone Hall Fright Nights is worth a visit. Just note that this attraction is full of special effects designed to frighten, so it’s best for adults and older children who enjoy a good scare.
Founded in 1670, before the Revolutionary War, Charleston is rich in history. As one of the oldest cities in America, it’s also considered one of the most haunted. That means there’s no better place to take a ghost tour than in Charleston. Ghost tours in Charleston are fun no matter the time of year, but they’re extra spooky during October.
There are many tours to choose from, whether you’d like to hear haunted tales while walking through graveyards after dark, be escorted down alleyways via carriage, or learn about pirates and sunken ships on a cruise in Charleston Harbor.
Need more spooky in your life after the ghost tour? Test your fear factor at a haunted house. During nights in October, Holy City Brewery in North Charleston becomes a frightening haunted attraction, presented by Southern Screams. Grab a burger and a beer, and then prepare to jump out of your skin as you enter the haunted asylum.
If you’re visiting Charleston in the fall, it’s a perfect time to venture beyond the gates and tour some of the most beautiful homes and gardens in America. Each fall, The Preservation Society of Charleston hosts its Fall Tours, where you’ll learn about the city’s rich horticultural history.
A visit to Middleton Place will allow you to experience America’s oldest landscaped gardens and take a look at 18th and 19th-century plantation life. Middleton Place offers daily guided garden tours, and on select Wednesdays in October, the Fall Garden Strolls and Wine Tastings is an opportunity to explore the gardens with a glass of wine in hand.
And of course, a drive along the moss-draped Avenue of Oaks at Boone Hall Plantation is a must. The entrance to this historic plantation is unlike any other and symbolizes 300 years of southern heritage and beauty.
If fall and football are synonymous in your mind, you can catch a Citadel Bulldogs game (Division I Southern Conference) in downtown Charleston, or watch the Charleston Southern University Bucs (Division I Big South Conference) in North Charleston.
If you’d rather watch your favorite teams on a big screen, there are many sports bars and breweries where you can catch a game and grab delicious food and drinks while you’re at it.
One of the best ways to see Charleston and learn about the seaside city’s maritime history is by boat. Cruise the harbor on a relaxing narrated sightseeing tour, enjoy a romantic sunset sail or themed dinner cruise, or sail across the harbor to visit historic Fort Sumter, where the first shots of the Civil War were fired.
The off-season may just be one of the best times to visit the stunning beaches near Charleston. With fewer crowds, it’s easier to stroll along the sand, search for shells, build sandcastles with the family, or go fishing. You may even see loggerhead turtles nesting along the coast during this time of year.
Within twenty miles of Charleston, you’ll find Kiawah Island with its unspoiled natural beauty, renowned southern hospitality, and championship golf. And just 15 miles from Charleston is Folly Beach, with wide beaches where you may spy surfers braving the waves. Stay Duvet’s Folly Beach rentals are perfect for getting you maximum beach time.
Even closer are Sullivan’s Island and the neighboring Isle of Palms, where the beautiful beaches are accompanied by charming beach towns filled with local restaurants and shops. A visit to Charleston beaches in the fall will have you feeling rested and rejuvenated in no time.
With mild weather year-round and almost 40 golf courses within twenty miles, Charleston is a dream location for a golf getaway. With seven golf courses in Charleston itself and over thirty in the surrounding area, many of them public, there are plenty of courses to choose from. When planning your itinerary, consider selecting courses designed by legends and golf course architects like Arnold Palmer and Tom Fazio. And because Charleston is full of history, culture, restaurants, and nightlife, there’s so much to do beyond the course, making it an ideal location for a golf weekend.
Or venture to Kiawah Island, a two-time host of the PGA Championship. Located on South Carolina’s pristine coastline, the renowned golf paradise boasts five championship courses with legendary fairways and breathtaking natural beauty. Stay with us in one of our Charleson luxury vacation rentals on Kiawah, spend your days golfing on the island’s world-famous courses, and easily travel to downtown Charleston to experience all the city has to offer.
Due to its many salt marshes, tidal creeks, and fishing charters, the fishing in Charleston is spectacular. You can catch a great variety of fish, from Mahi Mahi to Spotted Seatrout. Whether you want to venture out on a fishing charter, try your hand at surf casting from the beach, or fish from the pier, there’s a spot for you to cast a line.
If you’re visiting in the fall (or spring), you may want to enter or watch the Cast Off Fishing Tournaments taking place off of Folly Beach and Mount Pleasant Piers. It’s a fun family event, with prize categories including Biggest 3 by Weight, Biggest Youth Catch, and Best 5 Fish Total Weight. If you’re not a Fishing Pass Member, tournament fees are between $8-10, so it’s an inexpensive way to have some family fun.
At Stay Duvet, we have a variety of properties to choose from. If you want to be in the center of the action, our downtown Charleston vacation rentals are a great choice, and if you’re visiting the Holy City on a romantic getaway, our Charleston luxury vacation rentals may suit your fancy.
We also have spacious Charleston, Mount Pleasant, Kiawah, Isle of Palms, Sullivan’s Island, and Folly Beach rentals perfect for accommodating groups. Whether traveling for a bachelor or bachelorette party, golf trip, weekend getaway, or beach vacation, you’re sure to have an unforgettable trip when you visit Charleston in the fall.
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