I was so excited when JetBlue invited me to enjoy a weekend in Charleston so I could explore the amazing flight + hotel packages available through #JetBlueVacations! I had heard amazing things about the city from everyone who has visited, and from the looks of instagram, the colorful and charming homes looked very FH! Well, the trip was truly incredible and one I highly recommend you guys take ASAP! Charleston really has Southern Charm… the food is delicious {yes, we ate our way through the city!}… and the Hotel was one of the nicest I have stayed in {especially the Club Level perks!}. So I wanted to share my itinerary because I really felt we covered a lot of ground in 48 hours, ate the best meals, and had the best time… you could and should copy all of below!!

We traveled from Fort Lauderdale to Charleston and it’s only an hour and a half flight, so we decided to get in a full work day and take the evening 8:30 PM flight, arriving a little after 10 pm! We took an uber to our Hotel the Belmond Charleston Place. The Hotel is beautiful, the service is fantastic, there is a spa and gym, fabulous restaurants and bars downstairs, and even good shops. But the best part was that they put us on the Club Level which meant we had access to breakfasts, tea time, happy hour {with a lavish spread of food – even oysters and lobster!}, and late night dessert. We headed to bed that night in anticipation of a busy Saturday.

Saturday we woke up and wanted todo some shopping so we walked outside of our hotel to the main shopping street called King Street. King Street has well-known brands like Billy Reid, Madewell, Vineyard Vines, and J Crew, but also has lots of local shops like Peyton William {where I got jewelry that is hand-made in Charleston} and Ben Silver {where my husband got a super preppy jacket}, Sugar Snap Pea {where we got Reese and Brooks little tees}, and Moon and Lola {where I browsed the girliest bar cart accessories like below!}.

For brunch we headed to a place called the Rarebit for a classic Southern lunch of chicken and waffles, fried okra, huevos racheros, and the best Moscow mule I have ever had. We had heard they make their own ginger beer {and it was incredible!!}. As for the decor of the restaurant… I would describe it as speakeasy meets Brooklyn hipster. After cleaning our plates, we headed back down King Street to take it easy in our hotel room.

For dinner that night we wanted to stop by some of the hottest drink spots in Charleston, so hopped around before a late dinner reservation. The first stop was Eleve rooftop inside the Grand Bohemian Hotel, a swanky “club” vibe with lots of mis-matched chandeliers and two large bars. Daniel ordered a dirty martini and I ordered the Matador which was a vodka drink with home-made juice… delicious but very sweet. Next we headed to the cocktail lounge in the Dewberry Hotel which was very cool. A total Mad Men vibe and they have real mixologists that wear the white coats! Daniel requested “a spicy tequila drink” and they whipped it up right from scratch, while I ordered a Sauvignon Blanc. By that point we were swaying to dinner which was nearby at FIG. FIG is a locals spot and much more simple in ambiance, but the food is truly incredibly… a must for serious foodies! We ordered the snapper crudo, the homemade gnocchi with lamb bolognese, the snowy grouper, and the tilefish. The fish were each incredible… so fresh and light. We barely made it home before passing out in bed.

Sunday we woke up and hit the hotel gym… we had to make space for the day’s meals!! Then we went to the most beautiful restaurant I have ever been to. Seriously, though! I had heard Cannon Green was the “prettiest restaurant in Charleston”, but from the moment I walked in I was taken a-back, it was probably one of the prettiest I have been to, ever. Imagine half indoor, half outdoor open space, very organic looking, but then a cool bar element. I am not doing it justice in my description but let’s just say it is Instagram heaven in there so you must go, and you must go during the day!! For brunch we ordered a Baby Beat Salad, Diabla Roja {chorizo, eggs scrambled, roasted potatoes, cilantro, queso fresco, salsa roja}, French toast {brioche, brandy, cinnamon apples, and caramel}, and fontina grits.

Afterward we hopped in an uber to Rainbow Row, the street along the water with all of the beautiful candy colored houses. I had heard there isn’t really a “wrong turn” when you walk this area… and actually it is encouraged to just get lost, so that’s what we did for hours. Just walking and walking, of course taking 100 photos. Next up was a quick ride to the Harbour to Patriots Point to see the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier. We actually hadn’t planned on doing anything too touristy but the ship was incredible, the history we learned was amazing, and the day on the water couldn’t have been prettier.

It was hard to believe that by this point we had worked up an appetite… or maybe it was that football was on and my husband needed to be watching… but we stumbled across the coolest indoor/outdoor biergarten, Bay Street Biergarten, on on our way back {that was hopping!!} so we decided to park at the bar and order wings. By the way, if you are headed to Charleston for a Bachelor or Bachelorette party I imagine this place would be a really fun spot for a few afternoon drinks :).

We headed back to change and then headed for dinner at The Ordinary, an old bank transformed into a super cool seafood restaurant. And I mean seafood… envision gorgeous over-flowing seafood towers. We ordered oysters, lobster cocktail, vermillion snapper with lemon, horseradish and caviar, smoked fish pate, bay scallop ceviche, and smoked VA oysters. The best part for sure was the dessert, a mason jar filled with chocolate pudding, caramel on bottom and whipped cream on top.

The next morning we boarded our JetBlue Flight back to Fort Lauderdale bright and early at 7:30 am which was actually really nice because we then had a full day with the kids!!

If you guys have any more questions about our trip, please email me: Amanda@FashionableHostess.com!

Thank you to JetBlue for sponsoring this post.

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