Charleston or Nashville? And what else?

November 18, 2008 9:55 AM

My wife and I are looking to travel from Friday to Sunday this weekend to either Nashville or Charleston. Help us sort through the madness!

We're leaving from Athens, GA, and we can't sort heads from tails on what to do. From her research, Charleston seems a bit more outdoors-friendly, which is less cost-prohibitive for us. The advantage of Nashville is an Iron & Wine concert Sunday night at the Ryman Auditorium, which sounds heavenly.

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About us:
Both of us enjoy the outdoors as well as the city. We aren't big into the bar scene or the club scene, although we certainly wouldn't be opposed to some local music in Nashville. And economically, we ride the line between "too broke to take this trip" and "just able to afford this trip." So our budget will be somewhere around $300, kind of as a Christmas gift to ourselves. And our open window is from 3:30pm Friday until 7:00am Monday.

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Plans we've considered:
Spend two nights in Charleston, and spend the days roaming around the city, drinking hot chocolate, learning a bit more about the history of Charleston, throwing the frisbee and relaxing.

Spend two nights in Nashville, and spend the days visiting historic sites, roaming around the city, drinking hot chocolate, listening to classic country music and checking out the interesting aspects of a downtown small town that's also a big town (record stores, used book stores, etc).

Some sort of combination of Chattanooga and Nashville.

Some sort of combination of Savannah and Charleston.

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We aren't opposed to camping, as long as we have somewhere to shower up over the weekend. We'd like to spend at least one night in a hotel or bed and breakfast. We'd rather stay somewhere of a decent quality.

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I know I'm not giving much direction, but I'm looking for some good ideas of things to do/places to stay that will help us make a good decision with our free weekend. Thanks!

posted by jpcody to Travel & Transportation (9 answers total)

I didn't really find Nashville that interesting and I lived for nearly two years in Charleston, so I'm a bit biased, but I'd say go for the latter. The historical district of the city itself is fairly compact, beautiful, and walkable. Most of the attractions outside the city center (i.e. anything beyond the Aquarium) are pretty beach-y (OK, except the Hunley and Ft. Sumter), which is not so great in winter, so don't worry about roaming farther afield.

As great as Savannah is, I'd honestly say rushing to hit both cities in one weekend (they're a few hours apart) is not going to be fun.
posted by kittyprecious at 11:10 AM on November 18, 2008

If you're into the outdoorsy, I'd recommend driving Hwy 17 from Savannah to Charleston. There's a lot of nice state parks and small towns on the barrier islands in SC, and all have great walkable beaches, camping right on the beach and historic sights. Specific points of interest: The lighthouse on Hunting Island, the fort on Sullivan's Island.

I don't have any specific recommendations for B&B's but there are a metric ton of them in Beaufort and Charleston if you desire a roof and hot shower.

This trip has been mentioned before on AskMe, do a search on Charleston or US 17.
posted by 1f2frfbf at 11:19 AM on November 18, 2008 [1 favorite]

If you are into the outdoors you might just stop along the way to Nashvile. You certainly aren't going to get anything like the Cumberland Plateau on your way to Charleston.
posted by Pollomacho at 1:09 PM on November 18, 2008

Let me just say that the Ryman Auditorium is a heavenly place. It's the original home of the Grand Ole Opry. It's a holy place to worship at the alter of music. I've seen a couple of shows there, and hope to see more. Iron & Wine would be perfectly suited for for that space. I've a soft spot for Nashville, since I lived there for 7 years. It's not a pretty as Charleston, but there are some cool places to hear great music. Heck, on a Friday and Saturday night pretty much any dive bar you go into will have free live music.

There are plenty of beautiful outdoor places around Nashville. And there's also a giant Athena and the Nun Bun.
posted by kimdog at 3:20 PM on November 18, 2008

Charleston is a much more interesting city than Nashville, in my opinion. If you are all about the live music, Nashville will be tough to beat (although your hometown is no slouch in that department, either). But for a nice weekend away, Charleston has it over most cities, and it especially has it over Nashville, which I was surprised to find out when I visited a few times in 2004 has a strong ethos of run-down-ness hanging about it (or did in 2004). I was particularly disappointed by downtown Nashville. Charleston, on the other hand, is an absolute gem of a city.
posted by isogloss at 5:35 PM on November 18, 2008

Charleston has all the islands and beaches around the harbor, since you mentioned outdoors stuff. Sullivan's Island and Isle of Palms have public beaches and I think you can rent kyaks from the marina on Isle of Palms and paddle up the Intercoastal Waterway. Edisto Beach around the other way is pretty good for finding shells and shark teeth and stuff. There's loads of great food in Charleston proper and on the islands. Lots of window shopping in town, and even gelato on John Street (with the Venetian owner behind the counter).

I've never been to Nashville.
posted by ersatzkat at 5:41 PM on November 18, 2008 [1 favorite]

My husband suggested I pop back in here and mention Cypress Gardens in Moncks Corner (a bit north of Charleston). You can rent a canoe and get REALLY close to alligators.
posted by ersatzkat at 5:46 PM on November 18, 2008 [1 favorite]

I spent a week at the NotSo Hostel in Charleston last month; you can get a private room for two for $60 a night (and they have some available this weekend, acc. to the reservations page). It was very clean and friendly, centrally located and just a great experience all around. Charleston itself is absolutely fascinating, fun to just walk around and with tons of excellent lunch places, stunning museum/historical sites and at least two great nearby beaches, Folly and Isle of Palms, and Frances Marion National Forest just to the north. The Old Slave Mart museum is a must, and the harbor tour out to Fort Sumter was surprisingly interesting.

Seriously, there's a reason Charleston is consistently ranked one of the top cities to visit in the U.S; there's really no contest between it and Nashville. You won't need to go to Savannah; there's way too much great stuff to see and do in Charleston for a weekend.
posted by mediareport at 8:10 PM on November 18, 2008 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks all, looks like we've settled on Charleston, and we've put Nashville down for the next time we can take a trip. Certainly people passionate about both sides. Thanks for all of your help!
posted by jpcody at 9:41 AM on November 20, 2008