There is no beach in Charleston. Not one grain of it on the peninsula, which is the single most useful thing a visitor can learn before booking a hotel on Meeting Street and expecting to walk to the ocean. The beaches near Charleston SC are all on barrier islands, six of them worth your time, ranging from twelve minutes to a full hour from downtown.
Which one you pick decides your whole day: whether you park in eight minutes or ninety, whether you can bring the dog, whether you are eating a burger at a bar with a band playing or eating a sandwich you packed because there is nowhere to buy one.
