The Best Girls Weekend Guide To Charleston ~ A Good Time Guaranteed

I recently returned from the “Best” girls weekend in Charleston, South Carolina and you need to know how we made it so amazing!  This trip was planned about 6 months ahead of time to celebrate my, ummm, hummm, birthday!  Suffice it to say it was a “big” birthday.  Long before the big day I knew that #1, I wanted to celebrate in style and #2, I wanted to be with my BFF’S.  I live in North Carolina and most of my friends – longest – bestest – closest – live far away.  Once I had a committed group I began to investigate how it could be the best girls weekend EVER!

Here’s a key factor to ensuring a wonderful time for everyone.  Consider what your girls like to do or not do.  I knew we would all enjoy eating great food, easy to do in Charleston.  I accounted for the fact that my girls hadn’t been to Charleston had visited briefly – like overnight and would want to see a few of the highlights of the city. Most importantly I knew that we would want to have ample down time to relax and talk and laugh.  I kept a group text message going and offered up ideas until about 2 weeks before we would arrive. Having my friends weigh in on what appealed to them established how we’d all enjoy our time together.  Planning a couple of activities and leaving the remainder of time for spontaneity worked best for us – nobody ever got their panties in a wad!

Choosing a place to stay is simple with Air BnB and Home Away.  We ended up choosing an apartment on Air BnB.  I did the leg work and narrowed it down to 3 places that would comfortably accommodate all of us.  3 big beds, 2 bathrooms with a comfy and well designed living space.  We voted and all agreed on Banksy Suite in the Cannonborough neighborhood.  One concept Air BnB offers that simplifies the whole booking process is each person can send in their portion of the rent so no one person has to cough up the total and then be paid back.  Super simple!

There were 5 of us total for all but one afternoon and evening when a friend from GSO joined us to help celebrate my big birthday dinner!  Working out sleeping arrangements was a breeze.  Taking into account that two friends knew each other from our former days of modeling, one asked to have a room to herself (due to snoring- I won’t mention who) leaving one friend who knew nobody but me – it made choosing room mates painless.  We were all perfectly comfortable with our roomie and as you can see more than half of us do makeup out of the bathroom!

On the first day I arrived with one friend who made her way to N.C. to drive down with me.  Knowing that all the other girls would be spending their day maneuvering airports and Uber rides we decided to stay in that night.  It was the best decision ever.  I brought down a case of booze, a little something for everyone.  White and Rose wines, Champagne for our first night toast, Vodka and mixers.  We put together a beautiful charcuterie platter, turned on some music and settled in.  This allowed everyone to relax, get reacquainted and exchange stories about our lives together – how we met, why we stay friends, stuff like that.  The best part?  Laughter!  We all laughed till… well our sides were splitting!

For our first full day we chose to book a private tour to see bit of Charleston.  There are many tour companies to choose from but I stumbled across a guide who offers private garden tours.  Charleston Tea Party Private Tours is led by the lovely Laura Wickman Hipp, a native of the city.  The tour begins in Laura’s beautiful home where she offers her knowledge of Charleston’s history as well as information on furniture, china, silver, paintings ~ and an abundance of personal anecdotes.  Meeting Laura and hearing her stories started our first morning off on the right foot! Literally, as she and her trusty pup walked us through her neighborhood, into private gardens, one with a bevy of beehives, returning to her home for the most delightful “tea party”.

We were lucky enough to enjoy seeing inside one of the BIG houses on Meeting Street, owned by a relative of our guide.  With a breathtaking view of the water and Ft. Sumter it was easy to imagine living here if only briefly.

This tour is worth your time and money, and it’s reasonably priced. Laura serves tea from her silver service accompanied by tiny tea sandwiches, lobster, pimento cheese and of course what would a tea party be without a cucumber sandwich?  She exudes southern charm and made us feel as if we were “all” old friends!  She even baked a special pear and blueberry sponge cake, added a candle and everyone sang Happy Birthday to me!  That my friends, is southern hospitality!

Considering the number of restaurants with rave reviews in Charleston overwhelming it can be challenging to narrow down the ones to visit on any trip.  We wanted one fancy dinner for my birthday night and one a tad more relaxed for Thursday evening.  We chose Edmund’s Oast a unique combination of brewery, seasonally-focused kitchen, and in-depth bar program.  It turned out to be amazing and perfect for a chill evening.  We shared a variety of appetizers and each ordered our own entree.  I found that every restaurant where we dined was happy to split bills in any fashion a party such as ours requested.  Cheers to that!

Friday morning, my actual birthday, began with a drive out to Isle of Palms for our private sailing tour.  Aqua Safaris offers private sailing tours of the barrier islands on a 50′ sloop.  It can be booked for 2 or 3 hours.  When I suggested this idea my friends all said, “YES” in a matter of minutes.  We chose the 3 hour tour and set sail at 10:00 a.m. sharp.  Cool breeze, comfy boat chairs, great music, beautiful scenery, bald eagles, dolphins swimming alongside the Serena, a bottle of Rose and your best friends.  DO THIS!  Captain John filled us in on the barrier islands as well as pointed out birds and wildlife because we were interested.  He aims to please and I would book his tour again in a heartbeat.

I had my heart set on downing a few oysters on the half shell at 167 Raw but with a 2 hour wait we chose to take a stroll down East Bay and passed by Amen Street Fish & Raw Bar.   Jenny and her husband had spent one evening in Charleston this summer and as we passed by she stopped and said, “this looks familiar”.  Turns out it was the place they’d eaten on their one day in the Holy City.  Our timing was perfect and we were seated in a large round booth in the front window.  Again we ordered a variety of appetizers for all to enjoy and chose separate lunch entrees.  This is where girlfriend #6 joined the party.  I never gave another thought to 167 Raw because Amen was delish and so much fun!

With the smell of salt air in our hair and bellies full of seafood we took a short stroll around the corner to Charleston Tobacco and Wine where several of us picked up a few cigars for our husbands back home.  A few footsteps away from Waterfront Park down a cobblestone street one is afforded a beautiful view of the Arthur Ravenel bridge and the WWll Aircraft Carrier USS Yorktown.

From the park we called for a couple of Rickshaw rides.  Charleston Rickshaw is but a phone call away, with door to door service.  They even rode through the park and picked us up where we sat on a wall to take in the view.  3 girls per trike and off we went for an excursion down East Bay street past Rainbow Row, alongside the battery with views of Charleston’s waterfront mansions, on to Trade street and so on.  Our strong and cute guides gave us lots of info as we passed by Charleston’s historic homes, wrought iron gates and churches.

Friday night, my birthday dinner night.  We had reservations at FIG (food is good) for 9:00 p.m.  Getting reservations here is not difficult if you follow their rules.  I did however call only minutes from the opening of the reservations lines and had a choice of 5 p.m. or 9 p.m.  No matter, we weren’t to be rushed at any time and a late dinner was perfect since we’d had a later than usual lunch.  There seems to be a short list of “THE” restaurants to dine at when in Charleston.  Fig of course is on this list along with Husk, Magnolia, SNOB and depending on who’s list you’re reading a few others.  I studied the menus of all these, narrowed it down to FIG and Husk and chose FIG as the menu called to me.  It did not disappoint!  Our waiter should’ve been an actor but he made a damn good waiter!  The food-fabulous, the cocktails-delightful and the company priceless!

Sadly, Saturday morning we all packed and prepared to head back to our homes and families.  I could easily have spent another day with these girls exploring the nooks and crannies of this legendary town.  All good things must end  – but not for long.  We’ve already chosen the destination for next year.  We will converge on Maine and enjoy all that laughing in cooler temperatures!

To surmise:
1. consider what your group enjoys as a whole and give everyone the opportunity to speak up
2. plan for down time and impromptu ideas
3. book something private just for your group
4. make sure there are plentiful potties in your accommodations
5. laugh – a lot – till your sides split – it is how the best memories are made!

Questions or thoughts?  Please leave me a comment – I’m already planning Maine and would love to hear your suggestions!!