From celebrated golf courses to unspoiled beaches, these destinations have it all.

South Carolina is often referred to as the Palmetto State, so named for the abundance of the trees in the area, but it could just as easily be dubbed the Barrier Island State. With 34 barrier and tidal islands peppering its shoreline (more than any other state except for Florida), South Carolina spills over with natural wonders, beautiful beaches, and unique destinations to explore. In our 2024 South's Best awards, readers voted on some of the very best of them. Here are the best islands in South Carolina, according to our readers.

The South's Best 2024

01 of 10

Hilton Head Island

With 12 miles of public beaches, more than 24 championship golf courses, and around 250 restaurants, Hilton Head's numerical stats alone prove why it's one of the state's most beloved islands. But the real magic, of course, belongs to its community—a mix of transplants and born-and-breds who are sure to make you feel right at home, whether you're sampling local oysters at Hudson's on the Docks or watching the boats come in at Shelter Cove Marina.

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02 of 10

Isle of Palms

There’s nothing sleepy about this mile-wide destination just a short drive from downtown Charleston, where the activity and restaurant offerings belie its small size. Catch a concert at beachfront venue The Windjammer, play golf or tennis at nearby resort Wild Dunes (where you can book a stay in one of the property’s two inns or numerous vacation rentals), or shake out your towel on a sliver of the island’s six miles of sandy beaches for a leisurely day in the sun.

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03 of 10

Kiawah Island

While much of this tree-shaded barrier island is accessible only to those staying at Kiawah Island Golf Resort (either at The Sanctuary hotel or in one of their many rental properties), Beachwalker Park on the island’s west end is home to one of the state’s most beautiful beaches. Here, you’ll find both ocean-fronting shoreline and river views and can rent chairs and umbrellas for a no-fuss beach day. On your way, pick up deli sandwiches from The Station, an old-school convenience store in Freshfields Village, for an easy picnic.

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04 of 10

Edisto Island

This sea island about an hour’s drive from Charleston feels like a throwback in all the best ways. You won’t find high-rise hotels here, and the wildest nights are Tuesdays and Thursdays from the end of May through the beginning of August when the Edisto Island Lions Club hosts bingo (no booze allowed). For seasonally driven fare made with locally sourced ingredients, settle in for a meal at Ella and Ollie's (pictured above). The area’s crowning jewel is Botany Bay, a 4,600-acre nature preserve with nearly three miles of unspoiled shoreline, where erosion has left dead trees in its wake, resulting in a beautiful, otherworldly span referred to as the “boneyard beach.”

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05 of 10

Sullivan’s Island

Just two-and-a-half miles long, Sullivan’s is a secret that Charleston locals are keen to keep. First settled in the late 17th century, the island can claim an embarrassment of riches when it comes to both historical significance and natural beauty. The wide beaches are pristine, and there’s nary a trace of touristy kitsch on Middle Street, the town’s main drag—just a handful of memorable eateries (we’re partial to The Obstinate Daughter’s house-made pastas) and well-curated shops (visit Sandpiper Gallery to peruse the work of local artists). The bitty beach town is big on curb appeal too: thoughtfully maintained historic homes and storybook cottages with flower-swamped trellises line the streets that crawl toward the beach.

06 of 10

Folly Island

About a dozen miles from downtown Charleston, this 12-square-mile barrier island is best known for being home to Folly Beach, a laid-back surf town that departs from the Holy City’s tucked-in approach in favor of flip-flop casual. With the Folly River on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other, there’s no shortage of opportunities for waterfront fun: Paddle through tidal creeks with a local outfitter, stretch out on the sand (there are six miles of beachfront here), or cast a line from the historic Folly Beach Pier, which recently reopened after extensive renovations.

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07 of 10

Hunting Island

Just a 25-minute drive from downtown Beaufort, explore the seaside charmer's wilder side at Hunting Island State Park (South Carolina's most popular state park). Here, five miles of unspoiled beaches unfurl along the Atlantic and sandy trails wind through dense maritime forest.

08 of 10

Daufuskie Island

As the crow flies, the southernmost of South Carolina’s barrier islands is just miles from Savannah and Hilton Head, but it might as well be worlds away. Daufuskie is accessible only by boat (the official ferry offers four shuttles from Bluffton a day, five on Fridays), which is likely one of the reasons its 500 or so residents have been able to so carefully preserve its natural environment and its rich Gullah history. And while the island remains untouched in many ways, that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to see or do here: Tour the island with sixth-generation Daufuskie native Sallie Ann Robinson for an education in Gullah culture; go for a horseback ride on the beach; shop indigo-dyed goods at Daufuskie Blues; and cap off the day with a plate of deviled crab at Old Daufuskie Crab Company.

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09 of 10

Fripp Island

About 20 miles from Beaufort, Fripp Island is a 3,000-acre designated wildlife sanctuary, home to more than 175 species of birds, plus endangered loggerhead turtles who use its beach as a nesting ground. The private island is accessible only to homeowners and those staying in vacation rentals, but once you're here, there's plenty to do, from guided kayak eco-tours to pickleball and golf.

10 of 10

Seabrook Island

Right next door to Kiawah Island, Seabrook has stunning saltmarsh vistas and celebrated golf courses, along with a full-service equestrian center that offers guided horseback rides. Its nearly four miles of beaches are private, accessible only to residents and those renting, though Bohicket Marina (just before the property’s gates) welcomes anyone and everyone to enjoy its river views. Snag a table on the upper deck of Salty Dog Cafe to tuck into fresh seafood with one of the area’s most memorable sunsets.

Everyone who cares about southern Johns Island should be pleased that a controversial annexation was pulled from the Seabrook Island Town Council's agenda last week in the face of mounting opposition over what the annexation would help create — a new boat dock, private clubhouse, boathouse, pool house and 10 rental cottages — and the likelihood that it would add more traffic and pollution to the rural side of Charleston County's urban growth boundary.

But those same folks, particularly leaders on Kiawah and Seabrook islands and Charleston County Council, should not get complacent. Instead, they need to work together on better planning to guide development in and around where those two sea islands meet up with southern Johns Island.

It's unclear when, or if, the developer's annexation request might resurface. Even if it doesn't, there undoubtedly will be other development plans that will expose the tensions between those living on rural Johns Island and those living beyond the gates at Kiawah and Seabrook. This moment offers an important reset, one that should begin with getting all these local governments to recommit to the vision of an urban growth boundary — a line past which suburban development would not be supported through zoning, infrastructure or other local policies.

Such a recommitment wouldn't bind future councils any more than their respective comprehensive plans do, but it would send a unified message about their mutual commitment to respect the natural beauty and environmental sensitivity of the area.

It's clear that development pressures at Kiawah's and Seabrook's doorstep are increasing. A fresh series of new developments, including a senior living facility and an emergency medical facility, is cropping up. Elected officials, neighborhood leaders and county planners need to come up with a mutually agreed-upon zoning overlay for the area, one that would guide future development to ensure new uses and the size and scale of new buildings are appropriate. Such an overlay also would prevent developers from trying to play one jurisdiction against another to get the permits they seek, a tactic sometimes used in other parts of the tri-county area.

The mutual interests of everyone became clear during this recent annexation controversy, as the mayor of Kiawah Island took the unusual step of sending a letter to Seabrook's mayor and council urging them to reject the annexation and respect the urban growth boundary, which Mayor John Labriola noted "serves as a guide to direct appropriate urban and suburban development while preserving and cherishing the rural charm of the Sea Islands that we all hold dear."

Given what we've seen this summer, the existing urban growth boundary line may not continue to be enough on its own, and we believe a joint planning effort could help pin down the following: to what extent commercial development in the greater Freshfields area should be allowed to inch its way north on Betsy Kerrison; whether the towns should annex any more of Johns Island; whether any upzoning in the area might be appropriate; and how new building would affect the net traffic and drainage needs around Kiawah and Seabrook. While residents live only on Kiawah or Seabrook or in the unincorporated area, they have a stake in the answers to all those questions. This area deserves a new zoning overlay and conservation goals that offer a shared vision of how the southern part of Johns Island will — and will not — change.

Regional planning needs to take place on a large scale — such as our greater metro area from Seabrook to Awendaw to Summerville and Moncks Corner — but it's also necessary on a smaller scale, especially in those places such as southern Johns Island where multiple local governmental jurisdictions meet.

Decades ago, the city of Charleston and Charleston County came up with the urban growth boundary across Johns Island and other areas where the suburbs ended to ensure their zoning and other policies worked together to protect rural areas that residents wanted to remain rural. Kiawah and Seabrook were once seen as too distant to bring into the conversation about that line. That's not the case any more.

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There are several powerful reasons why Seabrook Island Town Council should reject a proposed annexation that would pave the way for a new boat dock, private clubhouse, boathouse, pool house and 10 rental cottages near the town's northern limits.

The additional boat and car traffic would create more congestion on Betsy Kerrison Parkway in particular and Johns Island in general, as well as more pollution to the otherwise pristine Bohicket Creek. But the biggest reason Town Council should reject the 18-acre annexation is the dangerous precedent it would set, a precedent that would erode the rural character of southern Johns Island.

Decades ago, local governments, led by the city of Charleston and Charleston County, agreed on an urban growth boundary across Johns Island and other areas. The big idea was to ensure their zoning and other policies were synchronized to allow suburban development to continue to spread, but only up to a point, beyond which the existing rural nature would be preserved. The boundary has generally worked well, but as with so much other conservation work, it needs to be embraced and reaffirmed by each new generation.

Seabrook Island's potential move would mark one of the first and most dramatic annexations by a municipality into the rural portion of the island; if it succeeds, it almost assuredly wouldn't be the last, and it could hasten the unraveling of the boundary line — and increase development pressures on the shrinking amount of land on the rural side of the boundary.

Robby Maynor of the Coastal Conservation League agrees that annexing and rezoning this property on the rural side of the urban growth boundary would set a disastrous precedent on the county's Sea Islands and could lead to annexation battles such as those that are playing out along the most rural stretches of the upper Ashley River, whose rural historic district remains in jeopardy from encroaching homes, stores and the traffic they bring. Approving the marina project would be "like kicking an anthill and hoping you don't get bit," he says.

The case that the property's owner and other supporters have made for the annexation is that it would give Seabrook Island future control of the site and limit future development there, according to reporter Warren Wise. But the proposal appears to us as designed to facilitate development, not to curb it. Annexing the site, which is next to Bohicket Marina, would allow it to tie into the town's sewer system.

Unfortunately, Seabrook Island's Planning Commission has recommended annexing the site and rezoning it for a mixed-used development. We urge Town Council members to reject that move when they consider the matter Aug. 22.

As Mr. Wise noted, the project is a scaled-down version of a 30-year-old Andell Harbor project that state environmental regulators rightly and mercifully rejected. While this is smaller, with only about 4 acres of development near the creek and the rest set aside for open space, it still would represent an unwelcome and disturbing encroachment into the rural area between the barrier islands of Kiawah and Seabrook and the suburban growth from the city of Charleston.

Last year, we urged elected officials, neighborhood leaders and planners with Charleston County and the two beach towns to come up with a mutually agreed-upon overlay for their shared area at the southern tip of Johns Island. That overlay should guide future development toward the kinds of uses — and the sizes and scale — residents of all three jurisdictions would most like to see, and help address growing real estate pressures in a way residents prefer. We repeat the call for regional cooperation, and Seabrook Island's rejection of this annexation would be an important first step.

SEABROOK ISLAND, S.C. (WCSC) - The debate on short-term rentals continues on Seabrook Island as the special committee met with code enforcement and the property owner’s association to see how much of a burden short-term rentals are causing them.

The purpose of the committee is to study short-term rental activities and trends within the town. This could involve limiting the number of short-term rentals, limiting the ownership of multiple short-term rentals, what fees are reasonable, etc.

Seabrook Island is home to 2,345 family homes and villas and 588 of those are short-term rentals, according to the town.

Town councilman Darryl May, who’s also the chair of the committee, said they have heard over 450 comments both written and at the public forums.

He said they show how divided the island really is over whether or not to cap the number or push any more enforcement.

“There probably should be better enforcement of our rules, nuisance-type rules, on the island,” May said. “More understandable enforcement. Things of that nature.”

Town of Seabrook Island Mayor Bruce Kleinman said one of the main takeaways for him was that people are assuming what they want is the opposite of what they think the committee will do. However, he said there’s just no way of knowing that without an outcome and people need to be patient with the process.

“The process is working,” Kleinman said. “I think people in the town need to be a little patient.”

Members of the town’s code enforcement team presented their findings over the last nine months of alleged and identified violations during Wednesday’s meeting.

They found that only 7% of the identified coming from STRs. However, town administrator Joseph Cronin says some of the nuisance violations could overlap.

“There’s probably more violations that are out there,” Cronin said. “But if it’s not reported to us, it’s not observed by us, it’s obviously not going to be reflected in our data.”

Short-term rentals have 27 out of the 378 total found violations. Out of those, just over half came from vehicles parked in a yard or landscape area. The next most were overnight occupancy exceeding the permitted amount. Three violations were found for advertising a non-permitted short-term rental unit.

The team said if they discover a short-term rental has three violations, which they either admitted to or were found guilty in court, they can be suspended. Only then can the town revoke its short-term rental license.

“We felt like that was a little too lenient,” Cronin said. “...A couple incidences where we thought it may be more appropriate to be able to take more dramatic action earlier.”

He said there’s another idea.

“Three violations could be immediate revocation,” Cronin said.

May say he’s heard the argument that STRs lead to people wanting to move full-time to the island. But both he and Kleinman also understand that nuisances, like trash and noise, can be a big deterrent.

The committee has several more meetings before they take their recommendations to the town council which gives the final approval. The goal is to wrap this up by the end of June.

“Even if it isn’t what each Seabrooker hoped for, it will at least be a result that they perceive was reached in a fair way,” Kleinman said.

For the full list of code enforcement violations over the past nine months, read below.

STR Committee Information - 03-20-2023 by Live 5 News on Scribd

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