Isle of Palms

Absolutely amazing place to bring children. Beach is clean and at low tide you can see things like starfish, crabs and if your lucky, some Dolphins. Sadly i saw many people taking the alive starfish off the beach. Please don’t take living animals. The only problem is the beach is pretty much the only thing to do as much of the island is residential. Will be going again.

I took 2 hours to find a parking space. And that was all the way up by the marina. Then it took 2 hours to get over the bridge. Not cool. Only three bars for the whole place?

This is my favorite beach in the Charleston area. Ample free parking, tons of beach access points, and some of the best restaurants in the area

Love this beach! Covenient parking. Great county park for the necessities. A great mix of families and all other ages. Dog are welcome too!

Great weekend so far! Many shops and places for great eats. The house in which we are staying is right across the street from the beach and is the perfect size for 4 people. However, I wish there was easier parking this is difficult since we are all from different areas and need our cars. I can’t wait to see what else is in store!

Just a great quiet place during Christmas ! We been here for Christmas twice ! The town is quiet and the beach is clean and private ! Several good local restaurants and two chain pizza places !

I’m a Folly Beach girl and make no bones about it. It’s worth the drive even from Mount Pleasant. Living on this side of town though, I do still go to IOP and Sullivan’s a lot out of convenience.
Isle of Palms is my jam during the off season. Parking is free. There are several decent ocean front bars and restaurants open year-​round. Most importantly though, Isle of Palms has the least restrictive leash laws for dogs. There is nothing better than taking Madeline out for a long leash-​free walk on the beach. Well, technically a long romantic walk on the beach with a boyfriend would be a lot better, but that’s another story. Isle of Palms offers miles of beaches and beautiful houses. Being here at sunset reminds you that life is good.
During the summer, Isle of Palms is certainly the most touristy, family beach scene and I avoid it at all costs. For the winter months though, it is a perfect place to visit. I highly recommend checking it out during the off-​season.

Beaches are not a specialty of mine since this is the first one I’ve been to since I was a kid still living with my parents. However, I can now say I would like all my vacations to be on a beach, by a beach, near a beach anywhere as long as there is a beach.
We were staying on the Isle of Palms so parking was not an issue. We were able to walk right to the beach from where we were staying and stroll the beach in either direction for the best looking spot.
The sand is soft and compact which makes it fairly easy to walk on the beach or even take a bike ride. The beach is also K9 friendly and it’s a joy watching the dogs play in the ocean like it’s the first time they’ve ever seen water. I would plan excursions to the beach during low tide so you have more options, at high tide a large portion of the beach disappears and can make it difficult to walk portions of the beach. Make sure you wear sunscreen and bring some bug spray, depending on your location the flies can be plentiful and they like to bite (ouch!). There’s plenty of beach for everyone, take a walk and pick the best spot for you and your family.
I absolutely loved splashing around in the ocean and enjoying watching the waves coming in. My idea of the perfect beach day is grabbing a towel and book and rotate swimming in the ocean and sunbathing on the beach while reading. Isle of Palms is an excellent beach for couples and families and was the perfect spot for our vacation, we definitely plan on coming back.

Umm it’s a beach. There’s sand and water… parking available adjacent to the beach and it’s reasonable at $ 1 per hour. Rental rates for chairs and umbrellas were reasonable and even the refreshments weren’t as steeply priced as I expected. The only thing that I thought was kinda goofy was that after renting a chair and umbrella the staff won’t help you carry the items (their own Umbrella and chair) but will follow you to help set it up. The beach and restrooms were clean. This is the only beach in the area that I have visited but I certainly plan to visit this one again.

Awesome that you can bring the dogs here ! We love it. Plenty of actually beach which is nice. We are here on 4^th of July and it’s not even that crowded. They have showers, change rooms, refreshments and toilets. Parking can be hard to find but we’ve never had a problem. Love it here.

Amazing views, a clean beach to spend time with family and friends. Hotels and resorts close by. Clean restrooms, lovely place. So many star fish and sea creatures to see and observe. Great staff, places to park and facilities! A must visit!

I love IOP beach. Extends for 7+ miles. Hard packed sand that you can jog, ride bikes, etc. I’ve never found a beach where you can easily ride bikes right on the sand for miles.

Maybe I am biased. Or maybe just honest. IOP is overrated.
This is pretty much the La Jolla Beach of South Carolina. Brimming with tourists, expensive and difficult to find parking, inflated prices at restaurants that deem themselves 5 star but serve only 3 star food.
The beach is, like all South Carolina beaches, beautiful. But if you are looking for a good time at the beach with the family, friends or significant other, I recommend perhaps looking to Sullivan’s or Folly.

My first visit to Charleston. And I definitely choose this beach as my favorite. I swam here, watched sunrise, ran… I’ll back

what a wonderful beach. certainly one of charleston’s best.
+1 for cheap entry ($ 7 per car)
+1 for easy parking
+1 for clean facilities. changing areas, outdoor showers, and indoor restrooms.
+1 for beautiful beach.
+1 for plenty of room to spread out. lots of people on a tuesday morning/​afternoon, but easy to move downshore to find some quiet.
recommended.

This was our first official trip to the beach since we’ve moved to the Charleston area. The temperature hit 70 and we hit the sand. Parking at the IOP county park was super easy and had great access to the beach. From what I could tell, they also have a concessions area, as well as bathrooms. The area was very family friendly– including dogs! So many people had their dogs, it made me sad we didn’t bring ours.
This is going to be our go-​to beach spot as the weather keeps getting better!

This is a beautiful, easy-​to-​find beach that is 20 minutes from Charleston.
Even without a GPS I was able to find the beach, parallel park on Palm Blvd. and walk a 200 yard access path to the beach.
Parking gets tougher later in the day. However, there are access points all along the road, so if you can’t park in the first area of parking close to the pier, don’t worry. There are many access points between the homes all the way down Palm Blvd.
The beach itself is lovely and lively, but not terribly crowded in early fall. The water temperature was perfect in early October. Even got to see dolphins playing off shore.

Beautiful beach located 20 – 30 minutes from Charleston. It was very hard to find parking at 1pm on a Memorial Day weekend. All the parking lots were full and we took about 30 – 40 minutes to find a spot. Luckily we did and our stay at the beach was short. The beach was clean and the air was fresh and breezy.
A short walk away there were plenty of ice cream shops and food shacks nearby. We got french fries and picked up a mint ice cream cone! Perfectly ended our beach day correctly!

This is an ABSOLUTELY NO ALCOHOL beach. I hear they can fine you up to $ 1000 if they catch you. That being said, just put some sweet tea vodka in your mason jar and get on with it. They sell water, hats, and ice cream at the public beach. We did not go back the second day but opted for a space in front of one of the hotels because it seemed fine to the public beach goers (and the life guards) to leave trash in the sand and dirty diapers (*YUCK*) in the shower area. The beach in front of the hotels was not as dirty, though there were more food kiosks and people there. I found that odd.
It’s a budget vacation place for us. We made sure not to stay at one of the hotels right along the beach because we knew it would not be as «family friendly.» The Comfort Suites Isle of Palms Connector in Mt. Pleasant is just 3 miles down the road and much cheaper. I highly recommend it as an alternative to the rooms on the beach itself, which I have heard are often rather run down.
The «public beach» area has umbrellas for rent but the teenagers with summer jobs who have not yet developed common sense or basic social skills refused to carry the umbrella and chair (apparently this is a rule that they are «reconsidering») we rented to the beach area despite the fact that my daughter was basically in a wheelchair and I was alone with her and could not leave her to walk back and forth to carry all of it down. Only after a problem arose (with me nearly losing my shit from throwing out my neck trying to haul everything) did the people who worked there step forward to be helpful. Solution: rent from the commercial umbrella people in front of the hotels. It is more expensive, but they will carry the umbrella and chairs out for you.
It is a *GREAT* beach in that the water is shallow pretty far out and the waves are not too large. It’s not a place for surfing. It’s a place for families to sit around and build sandcastles. For our first time vacationing on an East Coast beach, I give it a B+. Charleston is just over the bridge and we had fun going to have seafood over there one night. Helpful to know is that there is a Whole Foods in Mt. Pleasant.

What a beautiful area. Established in 1953, it has been a bustling area of beach and beach property ever since. It is the primary tourist spot for Charleston visitors to come and enjoy the sun and catch some waves. It is located near a bunch of restaurants that are walkable from the beach with both fine dining and quick stop restaurants with rooftop patios to overlook the water.
I really enjoyed my time here. It was not as hectic when I visited since the tourist season has not hit peak yet, but in the mean time I quite enjoyed mingling with the locals and enjoying my little space I had to enjoy without disruption. Everyone seems to keep to themselves and is more of a family friendly environment above everything else. People were enjoying the beach just as much as they were getting in the water.