There’s quite a small-town charm to Charleston, despite being South Carolina’s largest city. In fact, it’s one of the friendliest places in the US, with locals who embody that famous southern hospitality.

It’s also a city of deep-rooted history, one that stretches beyond the Civil War to its founding in 1670. Every building, street and home in Charleston has a story to tell, especially in the romantic, cobbled French Quarter with its pastel-painted antebellum houses, horse-drawn carriages and spired churches. You can also wander America’s oldest public gardens at the historic Magnolia Plantation or ride the ferry over to Fort Sumter, where the first shots of the American Civil War were fired.