What is the Charleston self-guided walking tour?
The Charleston self-guided walking tour is an audio walk you take on your own with the World City Trail app, which leads you from stop to stop and narrates what happened at each one. Plan on about 3 hours in total; the 3 km between the 10 stops take around 43 minutes on foot. Short, level streets carry the route from Meeting Street down to the harbour.
Outside The Charleston Museum, founded in 1773, the narration starts with the full-size replica of the Hunley, the Confederate submarine that sank a Union warship in 1864. At the City Market you hear about the land given in 1788 and the Gullah sweetgrass baskets still sold under the sheds, and at the Old Slave Mart Museum about Ryan's Mart, believed to be the last surviving slave auction building in South Carolina. At Rainbow Row the story explains that the pastel colours date from restorations begun in 1931, and that the legend about guiding sailors to their lodgings has no evidence behind it. The Old Exchange recalls 1788, when South Carolina ratified the Constitution there, and the British prison in its basement.
- Durationabout 3 hours
- Walkingabout 43 min · 3 km
- Stops10
- LanguagesEnglish, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese
From stop to stop
Stories, legends, facts
Every stop has its own narrated chapter: the history, the local legends and a few surprising facts, with the full text on screen for anyone who prefers reading.
Google Maps in your pocket
The route is 3 km long, about 43 minutes of actual walking, and Google Maps shows the direction each time you move on.
No timetable
There is no meeting point and no group waiting. Step into a café or a museum, then return to the route later or the following day.
Recommendations nearby
The app suggests places to eat and local shops close to the stops, and it lets you pick another starting point or rearrange the stops.
See the route and attractions →
How it works
- Book online Choose the number of people. Your booking reference arrives by email straight away.
- Get the app Download the World City Trail app from the App Store or Google Play and enter your booking reference.
- Walk when you like Start whenever you are ready, walk at your own pace and pause any time. No guide, no fixed schedule.
Who gets most from this walk
First-time visitors
Within a few hours you know where the main sights of Charleston are and what each one stands for.
Independent travellers
No group to keep up with and no guide to wait for: stay longer where you are curious and move on where you are not.
Tight schedules
Around 3 hours is enough for the centre, which leaves the rest of the day for other plans.
Good to know
- Bring a charged smartphone with mobile data; a power bank helps.
- No entry tickets needed: everything happens outside the buildings. Going inside is optional and paid separately.
- Family friendly; children must be accompanied by an adult.
- Not suitable for wheelchair users and difficult with strollers.
- Groups of up to 5 work best; larger groups split up, one ticket per person.
- Every purchase helps support stray cats and dogs in Greece.
Meeting Street to the harbour
10 stops · about 43 min walking · start: The Charleston Museum · finish: Waterfront Park
The Charleston Museum, with the Hunley replica outside, is the first stop and Marion Square, the old parade ground named after the Swamp Fox, the second; from there the walk turns south to the Charleston City Market and the Gibbes Museum of Art. Washington Square, beside City Hall, leads on to the Old Slave Mart Museum on Chalmers Street and the Heyward-Washington House on Church Street. Then come the pastel houses of Rainbow Row and the Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon at the foot of Broad Street, and the walk ends in Waterfront Park on the Cooper River. Another starting stop can be chosen in the app, and no stop requires an admission ticket.
Open the route map ↗
1The Charleston MuseumStart
Founded in 1773, the Charleston Museum is often called America's first museum, and today it occupies a modern building on Meeting Street. Its collections cover the natural and cultural history of the Lowcountry. Outside stands a full-size replica of the Hunley, the Confederate submarine that sank a Union warship off Charleston in 1864.
2Marion Square (329 Meeting Street)
This large green on Meeting Street is named after Francis Marion, the Revolutionary War general known as the Swamp Fox. It began as the parade ground of the state arsenal on its north side, which The Citadel military college occupied from 1843 to 1922. Look for the Holocaust memorial and the obelisk dedicated to Wade Hampton.
3Charleston City Market
In 1788 Charles Cotesworth Pinckney and other landowners gave a strip of land for a public market, and the first sheds went up around 1790. The open sheds run about 380 metres from Market Hall, a temple-fronted building completed in 1841, to East Bay Street. Gullah artisans sell their sweetgrass baskets here.
4Gibbes Museum of Art
The Gibbes opened in 1905 in a Beaux-Arts building by Frank Pierce Milburn, paid for by a bequest from James Shoolbred Gibbes. It belongs to the Carolina Art Association, founded in 1858, and its collection focuses on American art connected to Charleston and the South. Notice the Doric columns of the facade.
5Washington Square
This small park beside City Hall opened in 1818 and was renamed for George Washington in 1881, a century after the victory at Yorktown. At its centre stands the Washington Light Infantry memorial, a granite obelisk modelled on the Washington Monument, and a bronze statue of Washington was added in 1999. Look also for the bust of the poet Henry Timrod.
6Old Slave Mart Museum
This building on Chalmers Street was built in 1859 as part of Ryan's Mart, where enslaved people were sold after Charleston banned public slave auctions. Sales continued until about 1863. It is believed to be the last surviving slave auction building in South Carolina, and today it is a museum about the city's role in the slave trade.
7Heyward-Washington House
This double house on Church Street was built in 1772 for Thomas Heyward Jr., one of South Carolina's four signers of the Declaration of Independence. The city rented it for George Washington's week-long visit in May 1791, which gave the house its name. Today the Charleston Museum shows it with American colonial furniture such as the Holmes Bookcase.
8Rainbow Row
Rainbow Row is a run of thirteen historic houses on East Bay Street, most of them built in the 18th century by merchants who kept shops downstairs and lived above. The pastel colours date from restorations in the 1930s and 1940s, starting with a house painted pink in 1931. Legend says the colours helped sailors find their lodgings, but there is no evidence for it.
9Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon
Built between 1767 and 1771 at the foot of Broad Street, the Exchange was the colonial customs house and meeting hall. In 1788 South Carolina's convention ratified the United States Constitution here, and after the British captured the city in 1780 its basement served as a military prison. George Washington greeted the crowds from its balcony in 1791.
10Waterfront ParkFinish
Waterfront Park opened in 1990 along the Cooper River, a project begun by Mayor Joseph Riley and designed by Sasaki Associates. Its centrepiece is the Pineapple Fountain, the pineapple being a traditional symbol of hospitality. The wooden Vendue Wharf pier reaches into the river and has shaded swings with views across the harbour.
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Practical and informative, exactly what we needed