Charleston is a walking town if ever there was one! Bring comfortable shoes and be prepared to park the car and leave it until you are ready to leave. Consider just taking a cab from the airport - there’s really no need for a car if you plan to stay in Charleston for your trip. There are several plantations out side the city worth visiting, but organizaed tours can be arranged.

Downtown Charleston has quaint shops, lots of old homes to tour, museums, aquarium and walking tours of both the Civil War and the Revolutionary war.

Charleston is quite compact and easy to navigate. There is a public transportation system offering buses if you are headed to outlying areas. Might be worth taking one if you plan to visit The Citadel , for example, which is in Charleston but on the outskirts.

One of the newest transportation additions to Charleston is our water taxi service which goes between the Aquarium area and Patriot’s Point (home of USS Yorktown). The one-way fare is $5 and the roundtrip fare is $8. This is a great service for visitors who wish to go to Mt. Pleasant but do not have a car.

The other new form of transportation is a fleet of black taxi cabs resembling those in London. It is quite fun to see them around town and I look forward to taking a ride in one shortly.

We also have the Charleston Pedicab Company here in town...the modern version of the Chinese custom. It is a great way to get around town.

For those staying in the area for a longer period of time, it would be a shame to miss the outlying islands. The beaches and marshes are beautiful, but you need a rental car to get to them.