Charleston is the ultimate cruise port as it has it all – beauty, history, and southern hospitality. Now that Carnival offers year-round cruising from the city it will introduce many travelers to the wonders of Charleston.

Charleston is a city meant to meander around and get lost and it’s worth spending a few extra days to explore before or after a cruise. Oak-ringed parks with beautiful gardens and memorial plaques and statues are everywhere and are inviting to relax in on a hot day. The city’s historic homes and churches are a highlight of any walk and are perfectly preserved making it easy to imagine what life was like here 150 years ago. St. John’s Lutheran Church dates back to 1817, and St. Philip’s Church whose steeple was once used as a lighthouse. A walk along the waterfront will carry you past grand mansions to White Point Gardens where townspeople watched the first shots fired on nearby Fort Sumter in 1861.

At the corner of Meeting and Market Streets is the Market Hall, a Greek Revival temple built in 1841 that now houses a wonderful open-air market. The northern end has a number of small, enclosed shops that sell hats, jewelry, perfume, and Christmas ornaments, while the southern end is filled with more jewelers, painters, potters and weavers who make sweetgrass baskets — an African-American art form that is South Carolina’s official handicraft.

Good food is plentiful in Charleston – Hyman’s Seafood offers a huge menu of fresh from the sea fare along with numerous landlubber options. Sticky Fingers barbeque is hog heaven for rib lovers and Toast is a great place to start the morning off with a hearty breakfast.