HarbourView Inn

Despite the name, it’s not really about the view. The Harbourview’s location at the heart of Charleston’s exceedingly picturesque historic district is the key to its appeal, and the fact that you can see the harbor from most of the hotel’s spaces — the atrium, the roof terrace, many of the rooms — is just a bonus. The eminently walkable Waterfront Park is just outside, those postcard-worthy townhouses in the South of Broad neighborhood are a short walk away, and a few streets in the other direction are the galleries and antique shops and inventive Southern restaurants that combine to make Charleston the cultural capital of the region.

Inside, the atmosphere is more or less what you’d expect from tradition-worshipping Charleston. The lobby is soaring, full of natural light by day and the glow of a fireplace in the evening. Rich wood furnishings fill the guest rooms, with triple-sheeted four-poster beds and custom armoires by a local master craftsman. In the Historic Wing, fourteen-foot ceilings cap original brick walls from the 1830s, while whirlpool tubs in the bathrooms add some welcome new-fashioned comfort to the old. Expect breakfast delivered to your room (if you so choose), all-day snacks and a selection of iced teas in the lobby, an afternoon wine and cheese reception, freshly baked cookies and milk each evening, and, to cap it all off, a sweet waiting on your pillow when you return from dinner.