Day Trips from Charleston SC

Drive Times and Entry Fees at a Glance

This table pulls the one-way drive, the cheapest adult cost on arrival and, where the catalog has one, the price of a bookable tour that covers the trip. Where two figures are quoted, both are given. Treat the tour prices as fixed catalog prices and the gate fees as current on-site rates.

Full detail for each row follows in the sections below.

The Rule of Thumb

The plantations work as half-day trips. Boone Hall is 20-30 minutes out, McLeod 10-20 minutes, Middleton about 30 minutes and Magnolia 20-30 minutes in normal traffic. Boone Hall, Magnolia and Middleton Place each suggest 3-4 hours on site.

Beaufort at about 1 hour 30 minutes and Savannah at 2 to 2.5 hours are full days. Start early. The only same-day Savannah train leaves North Charleston at 4:51am. Beach days run the same way: Kiawah's 150-spot Beachwalker lot fills by mid-morning in summer, and Folly's 225-space county park lot fills by about 10:30am on summer weekends.

One packing tip from the geography. Magnolia, Middleton Place and Drayton Hall all sit on Ashley River Road a few miles apart, so two of them fit in one day without backtracking. Boone Hall sits the other way, across the Ravenel Bridge in Mount Pleasant, and pairs better with a Sullivan's Island or Shem Creek afternoon.

Magnolia Plantation and Gardens

Magnolia sits at 3550 Ashley River Road, about 13 miles from downtown and 20-30 minutes by car in normal traffic, though one secondary source quotes 40-45 minutes. One ticket covers the gardens, the Audubon Swamp Garden, the Wildlife Center, the house tour and the From Slavery to Freedom tour. Adult admission is about $32 online, with $18 for ages 12-17, $14 for ages 5-11 and free under 5. The grounds run over 200 acres with 6 miles of trails.

Hours are daily, closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. Sources differ on the close: 4pm or 5pm depending on season, with last tickets sold an hour before closing. Budget 3-4 hours. The house tour and the From Slavery to Freedom tour need free same-day tickets from the Welcome Center and capacity is limited, so collect them first. Add-ons cost extra: the 45-minute Nature Train is about $15 per person and the seasonal Wildlife Boat Tour about $15 on site.

The From Slavery to Freedom tour is the site's slavery program. Parking is free and no public bus serves the property. Tip: go early, pick up the free tour tickets at the Welcome Center, then walk the gardens while you wait for your slot. If you would rather not drive, the Magnolia tour with transport costs $96.30 and bundles admission, the house tour and the swamp tram into a 4.5-hour coach trip.

Middleton Place

Middleton Place is at 4300 Ashley River Road, about 16 miles and 30 minutes from downtown. General admission is $35 for adults, $32 for seniors 62+ and military, $20 for college students, $15 for children 6-13 and free under 6. An older review quotes $28, but the 2026 rate is $35. Admission covers 65 acres of landscaped gardens, the Stableyards and guided outdoor tours. The House Museum reopened with the Conversations of Freedom exhibition, open 11am-3pm daily.

Hours are 9am-5pm daily, closed Christmas Day. Parking is free and a full visit takes 3-4 hours. The Stableyards hold Belgian horses, Cashmere goats and water buffalo, and Eliza's House, a freedman's dwelling, comes with general admission.

The slavery program here is Beyond the Fields: Enslavement at Middleton Place, a guided tour offered several times a day. Tip: book the Beyond the Fields time when you arrive, then walk the gardens before it starts. If you want a guide and a driver, the Middleton Place small group tour costs $125 with hotel pickup for up to 6 people, and admission is extra on top.

Drayton Hall

Drayton Hall stands at 3380 Ashley River Road, a few miles from Magnolia and Middleton on the same road. All-inclusive admission is $30 per person online and $35 on site, with youth 7-15 at $15 online and $18 on site and under 7 free. The ticket is called all-inclusive because the one-hour guided house tour and the grounds are one price. House tours run at 10am, 11am, noon, 1pm, 2pm and 3pm. Admission also covers the African American Cemetery, the Stephen & Laura Gates Gallery, the Caretaker's House, Lenhardt Garden and a landscape audio tour.

Hours are Wednesday to Monday 9am-4:30pm, with the front gate closing at 3pm. Drayton Hall is closed Tuesdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Day, and New Year's Eve and Day. No cash is taken at the gate, so it is card only, and buying online saves $5 per ticket.

Admission includes the African American Cemetery, where people enslaved at Drayton Hall and their descendants are buried. Tip: time your arrival to a 10am or 11am house tour and do the audio tour of the grounds after it. Drayton Hall has no bookable tour in the catalog, so it is a drive-it-yourself day.

Boone Hall

Boone Hall is at 1235 Long Point Road in Mount Pleasant, 8 miles from downtown and about 20 minutes by car over the Ravenel Bridge on US-17. Adult admission is $30, seniors, military and AAA $27, children 6-12 $12 and 5 and under free. Parking is free and the ticket is valid for one day. Admission includes the oak-lined entrance, a first-floor guided house tour, covered wagon tours of the grounds, live cultural presentations, exhibits in the historic cabins, the gardens, stable tours and the gin house museum.

Hours are Monday to Saturday 9am-5pm and Sunday noon-5pm, closed Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. The site also closes fully for a few events such as the late-January Lowcountry Oyster Festival. Allow 3-4 hours, or about 2 for the essentials.

Boone Hall teaches slavery on site in two ways. The Black History in America exhibit fills nine original brick cabins built between 1790 and 1810, and the Gullah culture presentation is performed live several times a day by descendants of Gullah people. The Avenue of Oaks is a three-quarter-mile corridor of roughly 88 live oaks. Tip: catch the first Gullah presentation of the day, then ride the wagon tour before the grounds get busy. If you have no car, the Boone Hall entry with transfers costs $71 and includes admission plus round-trip bus transport from the Visitors Center.

McLeod Plantation Historic Site

McLeod is at 325 Country Club Drive on James Island, about 4.6 miles and 10-20 minutes by car from City Market, the closest plantation to downtown. Admission is $20 for ages 13+, $15 for 60+, $6 for ages 3-12 and free under 3, and it includes a 45-minute guided tour. Hours are Tuesday to Sunday 9am-4pm, closed Mondays plus Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's Day.

McLeod is built differently from the others. The interpretation centers on the enslaved people and their descendants, and the main house is deliberately left largely unfurnished. Six Transition Row cabins were lived in continuously from the late 1700s to the 1980s. The site lies inside the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor designated by Congress in 2006 and reserves ten acres for sweetgrass. Charleston County Parks took it into public hands in 2011.

Tip: this is the plantation to choose if you want a visit centered on the people who lived and worked there, and at $20 it is also the cheapest entry. There is no bookable McLeod tour in the catalog, so drive yourself or ride a car service.

Wadmalaw Island: Tea and Wine

Wadmalaw Island lies south of downtown and makes an easy half day with two stops. The Charleston Tea Garden at 6617 Maybank Highway runs a free factory tour that starts every 15 minutes from the gift shop. The site is open Monday to Saturday 10am-4pm and Sunday noon-4pm. A 35-40-minute trolley tour of the fields starts at $16 for adults and $8.50 for children 4-11, quoted from a listing rather than the official price page.

Deep Water Vineyard at 6775 Bears Bluff Road pours tastings Tuesday to Saturday 10am-5pm, last tasting about 4pm, at $15 per person with a souvenir glass. There is no entrance fee outside its four festival days. Pair the two, and add Angel Oak on Johns Island: the tree is free, open 9am-5pm Monday to Saturday and 1-5pm Sunday, with free but limited parking at 3688 Angel Oak Road.

If you would rather leave the car in Charleston, the Wadmalaw tea garden and wine tasting trip costs $149, runs 5.5 hours in a Sprinter van limited to 10 people and includes the Angel Tree Park stop, the tea garden, the vineyard tasting, snacks and water. Lunch and tips are not included.

Savannah, Georgia

Charleston to Savannah is about 106-110 miles via I-95 and takes roughly 2 to 2.5 hours one way, with no tolls on I-95 or US-17. By train, the only same-day pairing is the Silver Meteor, which leaves North Charleston at 4:51am and reaches Savannah at 6:34am, then departs Savannah at 7:31pm and gets back to North Charleston at 9:17pm. The ride takes about 1 hour 45 minutes with fares from about $28 each way. The Palmetto arrives too late at 9:04pm southbound to work. North Charleston station is at 4565 Gaynor Avenue, about 8 miles from downtown, with the ticket counter open 4am-11:45am and 4pm-11:45pm. Savannah's station at 2611 Seaboard Coastline Drive sits 3-4 miles west of the Historic District.

Most of the city's sights are free. Of the original 24 squares, 23 remain, and all the squares and parks are free. Forsyth Park covers 30 acres with a one-mile perimeter and a cast-iron fountain from 1858. River Street is the cobblestone riverfront strip along the Savannah River, free to walk. Chippewa Square holds the Oglethorpe statue and the Forrest Gump bench location. The free dot Express Shuttle runs every 15-20 minutes, 7am-10pm daily, on a Downtown route and a Forsyth Park route with about 20 stops. The Savannah Belles Ferry crosses the river free every 20-30 minutes.

Park at the Savannah Visitor Center, 301 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard: 298 spaces, first hour free then $1 per hour, open Monday to Saturday 8am-6:30pm, no overnight. The visitor center itself is open 9am-4pm. A one-day visitor parking pass costs $15 at 100 East Bryan Street, and parking is free all day Sunday in most city lots.

For orientation once there, the Old Savannah trolley tour costs $37 for a 75-minute narrated loop from the Welcome Center at 217 W. Boundary Street. It starts in Savannah, not Charleston, so it is something to book after you arrive. The full day plan, train details and drive stops are in the Charleston to Savannah guide.

Beaufort and Hunting Island

Charleston to Beaufort is about 70 miles via US-17 and takes roughly 1 hour 25-40 minutes. Start at the Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park, free and open 6am-9pm in summer and 6am-6pm in winter, with riverside swings, an amphitheater lawn and views of the Beaufort River and Woods Memorial Bridge. The historic district runs between the river and Bladen, Hamar and Boundary Streets. The Beaufort Visitor Center in the Historic Arsenal at 713 Craven Street opens Monday to Friday 10am-4pm and Saturday 10am-3pm, closed Sundays, with free maps and parking out front.

Add Hunting Island State Park at 2555 Sea Island Parkway. Admission is $8 for adults, $5 for SC seniors, $4 for children 6-15 and free for 5 and under. Hours are 6am-6pm daily, extended to 9pm during Daylight Saving Time. Climbing the lighthouse costs $5 per person, climbs every 30 minutes from 9:30am to 4:30pm weather permitting, climbers must be at least 44 inches tall, groups are capped at 12 and tickets sell at the climb first come first served.

On St. Helena Island, Penn Center at 16 Penn Center Circle West is a 50-acre National Historic Landmark District that preserves and interprets Gullah Geechee culture on the Sea Islands. The self-guided tour is $10, the docent-led tour with documentary $15, a campus map $5, children 5 and under free. The York W. Bailey Museum opens Tuesday to Saturday 10am-4pm with guided tours at 10am, noon and 3pm, and the Welcome Center opens Tuesday to Saturday 9am-4pm with free parking. Penn Center holds its Heritage Days celebration every November.

Once in Beaufort, the Beaufort historic city tour by bus costs $37 for a 100-minute narrated loop from 930 Bay Street. It starts in Beaufort, so you need your own way to get there.

Wadmalaw Island: Tea and Wine in One Afternoon

Wadmalaw Island lies southwest of downtown. The Charleston Tea Garden at 6617 Maybank Highway runs a free factory tour that starts every 15 minutes from the gift shop. The garden is open Monday to Saturday 10am-4pm and Sunday noon-4pm. To see the fields themselves, the trolley tour lasts 35-40 minutes and starts at $16 adults, $8.50 children 4-11.

Deep Water Vineyard at 6775 Bears Bluff Road pours tastings Tuesday to Saturday 10am-5pm at $15 per person with a souvenir glass, last tasting around 4pm. There is no entrance fee outside its four festival days. Put Angel Oak on the drive out: the tree is free, open 9-5 Monday to Saturday and 1-5 Sunday, with free but limited parking at 3688 Angel Oak Road.

If you would rather not drive between tastings, the Wadmalaw Tea Garden and Wine Tasting Trip does the loop by Mercedes Sprinter van for $149. The ticket includes the Angel Tree Park stop, the tea garden trolley and factory tour, all-you-can-drink fresh brewed tea, the Deep Water Vineyard tasting, local snacks and bottled water. Lunch and tips are not included.

Kiawah Island: Beachwalker Park

Kiawah is about 25-30 miles and 35-45 minutes from downtown, up to about 55 minutes on peak summer weekends. The island's only public beach access is Kiawah Beachwalker Park at 8 Beachwalker Drive, run by Charleston County Parks. It has 150 parking spots that fill by mid-morning in summer.

Parking is seasonal and costs more on summer weekends and holidays, so check the county parks page for the current rate. Walk-ins and cyclists enter free. Hours shift by season, from 10-5 in winter to 9-7 from May through Labor Day. Because the park is the only way onto the sand, arriving before mid-morning in summer is the difference between parking and turning around.

Edisto Beach: The Quiet State Park Day

Edisto Beach is about 50 miles and an hour from Charleston. Edisto Beach State Park charges $8 adults, $5 SC seniors, $4 ages 6-15 and nothing for 5 and under. It is open 7am-6pm, extended to 8pm during Daylight Saving Time.

The entry fee is the main cost if you bring your own chairs and cooler.

Hilton Head: A Longer Haul with a Lighthouse

Hilton Head is about 98 miles and roughly 2 hours from Charleston by car, longer on peak weekends, so it works best as a long day with an early start. The classic destination is Harbour Town.

Non-residents pay a $10 gate fee to enter Sea Pines, where Harbour Town sits. If 2 hours each way feels like too much for one day, Beaufort is closer at about 70 miles and roughly 1 hour 25-40 minutes, and the Beaufort section above covers it.

Skipping the Driving Entirely

For readers without a car or a designated driver, one bookable option covers this whole section. The Wadmalaw Tea Garden and Wine Tasting Trip costs $149 for a 5.5-hour day, limited to 10 participants, leaving from the bus shed behind the Charleston Visitor Center at 375 Meeting Street. Free cancellation runs 24 hours ahead. It is the only one of the island and vineyard trips on this page that includes transport, and the van lets everyone in the group taste the wine.

Eight Steps That Keep the Day on Track

These steps use figures from the sections above, so you can match each rule to the trip it protects.

• Pick the destination by drive time first. Boone Hall is 20-30 minutes, the Ashley River plantations 30-45 minutes, Beaufort about 1 hour 25-40 minutes, Savannah 2 to 2.5 hours and Hilton Head about 2 hours.
• Leave before traffic. Beachwalker Park's 150 spots fill by mid-morning in summer and Folly Beach County Park's 225 spaces fill by about 10:30 a.m. on summer weekends.
• Check closed days before you route the day. McLeod closes Mondays, Drayton Hall closes Tuesdays, Deep Water Vineyard pours only Tuesday to Saturday and the Charleston Tea Garden opens at noon on Sundays.
• Collect Magnolia's tour tickets early. The house tour and From Slavery to Freedom tour need free same-day tickets from the Welcome Center and capacity is limited, and the Nature Train costs about $15 extra.
• Carry water in summer. Charleston's July average high is 91.3 F, and Hunting Island and Edisto state parks close at 6pm, so heat and closing times squeeze the same afternoon.
• Buy online where the discount is real. Drayton Hall charges $30 online against $35 on site, a $5 saving per ticket.
• Watch the last entry times. Middleton Place, Magnolia and Boone Hall all suggest 3-4 hours, so a 2pm arrival shortchanges a full visit.
• Check the last train or plan the drive back. The only same-day Savannah rail pairing is the Silver Meteor out of North Charleston at 4:51am and back at 7:31pm.

Matching the Trip to the Mood

The table below condenses this page into one choice per row. Drive times and prices come from the sections above.