Looking for recommendations for nice day trip, or possibly overnight trip, beaches in the Charleston SC area. I’m moving to central SC this summer, (Columbia area) and I’m SO excited about being so much closer to the coast! I miss real ocean beaches.
My preference is for non-touristy, medium to medium-high end areas. I’m not a fan of crowds and chain restaurants and kid-friendly junk shops. I don’t need stuff to do, I need a place to maybe get a sandwich and a drink, and a quiet-ish beach on which to plunk myself and my book.
North of Charleston there’s Sullivan’s Island and Isle of Palms. (Of course, even farther north there’s the Grand Strand, but that’s where “everyone” goes.) South there’s Folly Beach. Both are short on chain restaurants, which should appeal to you. During the summer, expect lots of people, regardless. Outside of that, enjoy yourself. (But,yeah, don’t be surprised to run into a “kid-friendly junk shop.”
We visit in-laws in Mt. Pleasant several times each year and always go to Isle of Palms. It is about 20-30 minutes from Charleston proper, depending on traffic, but has plenty of parking (usually), easy access and a nice beach. There is a qurter mile strip of shops and restaurants near the beach, but a short walk puts you outside of that area and into a long string of rental houses. The beach gets less crowded the farther you walk. Walk a mile and you are likely to be all alone. To me, it’s a good place for the best of both worlds.
Folly is where all the college kids go to surf. For medium to medium-high end you probably want to look at Kiawah Island or Hilton Head. Although HH is a goodly drive south of Charleston proper, from Columbia it isn’t too much of a difference.