Had a great time at Charleston Place

[Synonymous]

I sure do love great hotels. We stayed this past Friday through Monday at Charleston Place, using our DVC points. First, we had a very pleasant surprise upon arrival when we were told that we had been upgraded to concierge level. They said this was because of a lack of availability of the Deluxe rooms.

Charleston Place is absolutely beautiful, with a huge curved, double staircase rising from the lobby. Our room was large, maybe a little bit smaller than a DVC studio. The furnishings had a nice antique-style feel, with a huge armoire dominating the room. It had plenty of storage space, as well as holding the TV/VCR combo.

The Concierge level was great to have. We've never stayed at one before, so I can't compare it to others, but the lounge was filled with comfortable places to sit and there was constantly food and drinks available. We had continental breakfast every morning and also enjoyed afternoon tea (scones with cream and jam, mmmm!), evening hor d'ouvres and late snacks. The staff was impeccable. It was so great to have a concierge seated right outside our room, waiting to help us.

On the roof of the hotel was a beautiful pool. It has a sliding glass roof that is open during the day and closed at night (or, I suppose, when the weather is bad). The pool is surrounded by stone tiles. There is a hot tub in a great setting. An exercise room opens off one end of the pool, and there is an outside area for sunbathing, with a tennis court, as well. Sauna, spa and changing rooms are located right by the pool.


The hotel was in walking distance of everything in the historic section of the city, including a multitude of restaurants and shops. Charleston is just dripping in history.

My wife and I took this trip for our tenth anniversary, without our DD. I wouldn't recommend this hotel if you plan to stay with young kids. The atmosphere is very grown up and I would have felt uncomfortable if DD was making noise and running around, as 4-yr olds are wont to do. The pool is 4' deep at its shallowest point, so little ones who can't swim are out of luck. There is a kiddie "pool," but it was no bigger than a hot tub.

I can't remember taking such a relaxing trip before, and I highly recommend Charleston Place for a grown-up get away. We paid 95 points for 3 nights in the deluxe room. I don't recall the cost for concierge level, but if we go back we will most likely pay for that.

I'd be happy to answer any questions about the hotel, or Charleston.

 

[nickglover]

Thanks for the report - we are interested in staying there one day. Don't you just hate it when they upgrade you to concierge? Sounds like you were able to "make do"!

Did you take a tour of the city and would you recommend it? Did you try any on-site restaurants?

Thanks

 

[Synonymous]

We did struggle through and make the most of it, Nick. We certainly didn't let it spoil our trip.

We took two walking tours. The first was a Civil War walking tour, which was excellent, by a man named Thomson (don't recall his first name.) You will find his flyers all over, though. He was recommended to us by the concierge. It was a two-hour tour, but he ended up spending more like 3 hours with us. He said he didn't mind because we asked alot of questions and he was having fun. He is extremely knowledgable (I bought his book, Charleston at War) and was able to answer our questions on many things that weren;t strictly related to the Civil War. HIghly recommended.

We also took a "ghost tour," offered by a company called Charleston's Original Walking Tours. Not so great. It was interesting to hear some strange stories about the City's past, but I can't say we learned much. This company offered several other tours, and I wish we had tried one of those, instead.


We did eat at Clarleston Grill, the main restaurant at Charleston Place. I can't recommend it highly enough. The food was excellent. It was gourmet, but not outlandish (I don't generally like "nouvelle cuisine" type places). I had shrimp and lobster bisque which was delicious, and strips of tenderloin in a wine sauce. Also excellent. You order a separate side dish, and I got potatos with smoked duck. Wonderful. Dessert was amazing, and they gave us some sweets with glasses of champagne because it was our anniversary.

Service- Excellent. Food- Excellent. Price- Whoa!

I think the tab came to just under $200.00. $48 of that was a bottle of wine. This was a CHEAP bottle of wine, compared to the rest of the wine list. The vast majority were over $100, up to $3,300. (Even the sommelier said she would faint if anyone ever ordered that one.)

Excellent choice for a special occasion. There is live jazz every night, as well.

 

[nickglover]

Thanks for the information. The Civil War tour sounds great. We really like Charleston and Savannah, and of course HH is nearby!

 

[downontheBW]

We stayed at Charleston Place on points just for one night last April. It is very nice and upscale. I didn't check out the rooftop pool - sounds like I missed something!

I highly recommend the carriage tour of Charleston. It was the hightlight of our trip. We also visited a plantation outside of town - that was very good, too.

 

[Synonymous]

Heidi, what plantation did you go to? We went to Boone Hall. It has a 1/2 mile avenue lined with 250-year old oak trees. Amazing. But the house was built in 1935. I would have liked to see one with an historic house.

 

[downontheBW]

Synonymous,

We went to Middleton Place (http://www.middletonplace.org/). We only had time to visit one plantation and it was the picture on it's website that made me choose this one. There is a house tour but we skipped it. The main plantation house was burned by Union troops - what a shame! A bit of the ruins are still there. I seem to remember a sign saying that it was done by a New York regiment. Not very nice, I guess it wasn't a good idea to get New Yorkers mad - even back then

I had also considered Boone Hall and Magnolia Plantation. Since we were heading to HHI, Boone Hall would have been in the wrong direction; I did want to see those oak trees, though.

 

[Synonymous]

The oak trees were very impressive, the rest of it less so. Still a nice place to visit, though.

 

[sweetp0618]

Thanks for the info on Charleston Place. We are planning to stay there for 3 nights over President's weekend in Feb. using points for conceirge.

I have 2 questions...

Is there a charge for parking at the hotel?

Where else did you eat?

Thanks!
sweetp0618

 

[Synonymous]

Yes, there is a charge for parking. I believe it was $10.00/day for self-parking and $15.00/day for valet (plus tips, of course).

We had another excellent meal at Beaumont's, a French Restaurant within walking distance of the hotel. It was recommended by the concierge. This is also highly recommended. We sat in a small, outdoor courtyard, next to a fountain. Don't know if that will be possible in February, but the inside was very nice, as well. There was a live harpsichordist playing, something I've never heard before. The waitress was French and gave very good service. Some small appetizers were served complimentary and the bread was excellent. I can't remember what I ordered for an appetizer, I'm afraid. My entree was a duck breast in a currant sauce which was very good. My wife had seafood in a cheese sauce. She thought the sauce was too heavy, but I liked it. Desserts were wonderful. Cost, with a bottle of wine, was about $150.00.

For lunch, I highly recommend Poogan's Porch. I know the concierge can direct you to it, I don't remember the street. We had she-crab soup and crab cake sandwiches, all of which was great. It was in an historic house that made a nice setting for lunch.

I don't really recommend Bubbagump Shrimp Co., located on North Market. This is a very commercialized chain (based on Forrest Gump) and the food was just okay. Better to try local places, I think.

There was a better seafood place for lunch farther up North Market. Unfortunately, I can't remember the name. It was also recommended by the concierge. It was a casual place, good for lunch and not too expensive.

Hope this helps. I'd be happy to answer any other questions.

 

[downontheBW]

Sorry but I can't remember the names of the restaurants we ate at. One was lunch at a microbrewery in a restored building 5 blocks north of the battery - probably on East Bay St; it was good. We would have liked to eat at the Palmetto Cafe for dinner but it was closed that night for some reason. We then decided against having a big meal so ended up at a small rib/pizza type place a couple of blocks from the hotel - probably on Meeting St. Not much open on a Saturday night but we stopped at a jewelery store near there that had some custom made jewelery at reasonable prices. Mostly casual jewelery, sterling, etc. If you walk around Meeting St, you may find it.

Breakfast was interesting - on King street a block or two south of the hotel there is a little restaurant that I think may only serve breakfast or breakfast and lunch. It's in store front. On a Sunday morning around 10am we had to wait about 10 minutes for a table. They had very southern-type breakfasts, poached eggs with cornbread, etc. What we had was excellent and every other dish we saw go by us looked just as good.

We just stayed at Charleston Place for one night at the beginning of our HHI trip. Since we didn't need a car while in Charleston, we took a shuttle from the airport to Charleston Place and left our luggage with the valet while we did some sightseeing. We picked up our luggage around dinner time. The next day after we checked out, we left our luggage with the valet again and walked to a rental car agency - I think it was Budget, there's one a mile or two north on Meeting Street (we should have taken a taxi, it was a bit further than I had estimated). Then we picked up our luggage and drove to the plantation then onto HHI. Three days later we drove back to the airport from HHI and dropped our car off there. It worked out well, we didn't have to deal with driving from the airport, finding the hotel, paying for parking and saved on 1 day's car rental. Every place we wanted to see in Charleston was withing walking distance.

 

[RellingTwin]

It is so wonderful to hear that you all enjoyed Charleston. We live here and think it is a fantastic city.You could spend 2 weeks here, eat at a different resturant everynight and still have not scratched the surface! I love 82 Queen for lunch!Also California Dreaming is very nice with a wonderful view of the city.

 

[Synonymous]

I agree entirely. We really didn't need to make any reservations. Just strolling down the street we passed so many great restaurants that we would have loved to try. I'm sure we'll be back sometime, probably in combination with a stay at HHI.

 

[JonHM]

Carolina's is a *fantastic* gourmet restaurant off of East Bay Street, I believe. Very very good, we've eaten there a number of times.

There is also a buffalo wing place to die for on one edge of the market, towards the back.

The only thing that bugs me about restaurants in Charleston, as someone who has severe reactions to cigarette smoke, is that when you ask for 'non-smoking' they look at you like you're an ALIEN, and then say, 'ummmmmmm, sir, our entire restaurant is smoking' - A few of the restaurants have non-smoking sections, but MANY don't - here ALL of the restaurants offer non-smoking sections, and many are non-smoking entirely. Again, I completely recognize the rights of smokers to have a place to smoke, BUT I get really sick around cigarette smoke and thus REALLY appreciate a place that I can avoid it while I eat.

But that's nitpickety - Charleston is fantastic!

 

[nickglover]

We really enjoyed Sticky Fingers BBQ when we were there - also California Dreaming. One thing I have noticed about DVCer's, we like to talk about (and sample) food!