Take the bus or hire a car?

Hi,

I have been researching my trip to Charleston in early May for some time now. Originally we did not intend to hire a car until we were due to move on to Hilton Head. We want to visit Middleton Place and found that there was a bus service to the plantation. I would like some advice on how long the bus takes to get to Middleton Place and what the return service might be like but also whether if we hired a car for the day would it be manageable to visit somewhere else (if so where would you recommend)and still get back to Charleston to return the car by 5pm? Also would the plantation be easy to find if we were driving, my navigation skills often cause conflict with my other half!!

Thanks in advance for any help on this.

Take the bus or hire a car?

Let me try...if you were to rent a car in the city for one day and got off to an early start, (let%26#39;s say 8:30am to pick up the car) you could see the following in one day: Middleton Place and Magnolia or Drayton. They are all ';clumped'; together, practically one after another, just outside of town. If you had a hard time finding it I%26#39;d be shocked since the road is straight and there are periodic signs telling you, for example, ';Magnolia Gardens, 6 miles; 4 miles; etc) All of the plantations have large signs at their entrances, and none of the plantation homes can be seen from the road as the homes are on the river side while the fields (of which some are now forests) fill the roadside portion.

From the Visitor%26#39;s Center in Charleston, not making any driving errors, it would probably take you 20-25 minutes maybe to get to the first one (Drayton). All of the plantations do get busy, so if you were to take a tour in each home, you might have to wait is why I doubt you could do three in one day. Return the car by 5pm - is this because you don%26#39;t want to pay the overnight parking? See if they%26#39;ll let you keep the car for the evening. Then you can go out to Shem Creek (no doubt you%26#39;ve read about that) and then leave the car and keys (in a box) at your downtown car rental location before you return to your hotel that night. Or...simply make that the last day you%26#39;re in Charleston, keep the car so you can start packing, and head out the next day to Hilton Head.

I don%26#39;t know how long the tours spend at the plantations but they are either large shuttles - probably seating 25 or more - to large buses - seating about 50? When those shuttles arrive at the plantations, there is a mass of people suddenly descending on the plantations. If you don%26#39;t mind all that, perhaps the bus tour is for you. The car definitely gives you the flexibility of moving on when you want, where you want, with the added benefit of scooting over to Shem Creek.

Hope this helps!

Take the bus or hire a car?

Thanks Culturehound

I think I had already decided that hiring a car was best but you have confirmed this for me. The only reason we don%26#39;t want to drive too much is the stress levels of driving on the opposite side of the road in a strange city - we don%26#39;t want to upset the locals!

I didn%26#39;t realise we could leave keys etc as the website said the car had to be returned by 5pm. We might decide to do this on our last day in Charleston and keep the car for the drive to Hilton Head I don%26#39;t mind paying the parking charge. Is Shem Creek in the same direction as the plantations? I have certainly read quite a lot about the good places to eat there.

Oh, I am not sure about the keys...I have been able to do this with some rental companies but you definitely want to make sure about that while you are making your reservations. :) have fun!

Oops = forgot to answer your Shem Creek question. Shem Creek is not in the same direction as the plantations you%26#39;ve mentioned (it is closer to Boone Hall Plantation) but it is not far at all. If you click on the word ';Map'; in the left column, you%26#39;ll find Shem Creek about where the red number 4 is while the visitor%26#39;s center in Charleston is about where the red number 2 is. I%26#39;d estimate the total distance to be 5 miles and the time is about 10 minutes.

If you move that map over so that more of the left of it is shown, the plantations (which I don%26#39;t believe are marked) are all off of ';Ashley River Road';, which is hwy 61. To say it%26#39;s a highway sounds daunting - it%26#39;s a 2-lane, tree-covered beautiful road (in the plantation sections).

Oh, and I understand your reluctance to drive - we had the hardest time even walking across the street when we were in Australia since we%26#39;re so used to looking left and you really should look right. Of course you look both ways always but it is an adjustment! It is much easier if you just follow traffic.