South Carolina

South Carolina's busiest national park site can be reached only by boat. Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park, two forts at the entrance of Charleston Harbor, counted 814,658 recreation visits in 2025. Inland, Congaree National Park keeps an old-growth floodplain forest 19 miles from Columbia, and the coast holds Hunting Island, Hilton Head and Myrtle Beach.

None of the state's eight Park Service units adds the surcharge for visitors from abroad, and Congaree is free. We read the figures below on 27 October 2026 on the National Park Service's pages, the Fort Sumter ferry operator's, South Carolina State Parks' and the state Department of Revenue's. We also used Charleston International Airport's own list, the house museums' sites, the National Hurricane Center's pages and NOAA's normals.

Which Charleston fort charges entry, and which only a ferry fare?

Fort Moultrie is the Charleston fort that charges entry, $10 an adult aged 16 or over. Fort Sumter has no entrance fee, and its cost is the ferry. Fort Moultrie takes credit, debit or contactless cards only, and so has the ferry since 1 December 2025. None of the state's eight Park Service units is on the 2026 list of eleven parks that add $100 for each visitor from abroad.

The fort pair's count of 814,658 compares with 384,308 in 2024. Every month roughly doubled, and no Park Service page we read explains why, so we do not read it as a trend. The other units are Cowpens, Kings Mountain, Ninety Six, Overmountain Victory and Reconstruction Era. Kings Mountain had 175,511 visits in 2025, Cowpens 175,020 and Ninety Six 122,732.

Two adults from abroad visiting both forts pay $20 at Fort Moultrie and $86 for the ferry, $106 in all. A federal pass could cover only the $20, so the $250 non-resident America the Beautiful pass does not pay for itself in South Carolina. The national fee-free days, 27 October among them, are for US residents only from 2026. Our guide to national park fees for international visitors explains the 2026 rules.

What does the Fort Sumter ferry cost if the fort itself is free?

The Fort Sumter ferry costs $43 for an adult, $39 for seniors and active military and $26 for children aged 4 to 11; under-4s go free. The Park Service charges no entrance fee to the fort, and the operator says its prices are approved by the Park Service. Fort Sumter Tours is the only ferry the Park Service authorizes, and private boats may not dock.

The America the Beautiful pass does not apply to the ferry fare, whether annual, senior, access or military. The whole trip takes 2¼ hours, with about an hour on the fort. The Park Service warns of fraudulent websites selling invalid tickets, and the operator's own site is fortsumtertours.com. Tickets are fully refundable if cancelled two hours before departure.

No ferries run on Thanksgiving, 25 December or 1 January. The Fort Sumter Visitor Center at Liberty Square is free and open daily until 4:30 p.m. The City of Charleston's garage at 24 Calhoun Street has a 7-foot height limit, and the Park Service suggests that RVs use Patriots Point.

Fort Sumter's mobility lifts were out of order on 27 October 2026, by a Park Service alert dated 28 September. The fort's parade ground stays wheelchair accessible.

The operator's tour page still said "There is a lift at Fort Sumter" that day, while its home page said there is no elevator service. That alert was gone from the Park Service's feed on 3 November, so ask the operator before relying on a lift. The Liberty Square ramp takes wheelchairs and scooters except at extreme tides, and the Patriots Point boats cannot carry them.

What do Charleston's Aiken-Rhett and Nathaniel Russell houses charge?

The Aiken-Rhett House and the Nathaniel Russell House each charge $16 for an adult, or $24 for both, in the Historic Charleston Foundation's prices. Children aged 6 to 16 pay $7, or $12 for both, and under-6s go free. A ticket stays valid for six months.

The Aiken-Rhett House stands at 48 Elizabeth Street and the Nathaniel Russell House at 51 Meeting Street, south of Broad. The two houses open Monday from 1 to 4 p.m. and Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. They close on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Drayton Hall opens Wednesday to Monday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and its front gate closes at 3 p.m. and takes no cash. Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum, home to the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown, opens daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. We could not read the prices of either, nor anything for Middleton Place, Magnolia Plantation or McLeod Plantation.

Charles Pinckney National Historic Site, in Mount Pleasant, interprets "a principal author and signer of the United States Constitution" and the people he enslaved. Its house, the visitor centre, closed for the season on 27 September 2026. The grounds and a 0.25-mile loop trail stay open Wednesday to Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

How often does Congaree flood the boardwalk?

Congaree National Park floods "approximately ten times each year", in the Park Service's words, and almost 80% of the park lies in the Congaree River floodplain. High water can close the backcountry trails and even parts of the boardwalk. The park warns that flooding can happen with little or no warning.

The Boardwalk Loop is 2.6 miles long, flat and accessible, by the park's boardwalk page of August 2025. An older page from 2020 gives 2.4 miles of boardwalk, and no page explains the difference. The Park Service has been replacing the low boardwalk sections since January 2025 and expected to finish in summer 2026; its trail page of 10 July 2026 lists the boardwalk open, and we found no notice that the work is finished.

The park calls itself "the largest intact expanse of old growth bottomland hardwood forest remaining in the southeastern United States". Its canopy averages over 100 feet, and its tallest tree, a loblolly pine, measured 170 feet when last checked.

Entry to Congaree is free, and the park is open 24 hours a day. The Harry Hampton Visitor Center, at 100 National Park Road, Hopkins, opens from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, except on five federal holidays. On 27 October 2026 the park's alerts listed no boardwalk or flood closure. Mosquitoes are out from mid-spring to mid-autumn, and March to May were the busiest months of 2025.

Congaree is hard to leave without a car. The park's alert says taxis and rideshares do not often come out, and that the COMET bus on route 47 may be unavailable. Columbia Metropolitan Airport is about 30 minutes away in the Park Service's figure. Nobody may sleep in a vehicle anywhere in the park.

How do you get a pass for the Congaree fireflies?

The Congaree fireflies are seen only with a Recreation.gov event pass, won in a lottery held weeks ahead. In 2026 the lottery ran from 7 to 14 April for an event from 13 to 20 May. Each household could enter once, for $1, and paid $24 more if awarded, $25 in all.

The park releases 145 passes for each event night, and a pass admits one standard vehicle with up to 8 people. RVs, vans and buses are not allowed. Gates open from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m., and the best viewing is about 9 to 10 p.m. Only red light is allowed, and phones may not be used for light or photographs in the viewing area. The Park Service had not published the 2027 dates on 27 October 2026.

Can you climb the Hunting Island lighthouse again?

The Hunting Island Lighthouse reopened for climbing at 11 a.m. on Tuesday 26 May 2026, after a restoration that began in 2022. A climb costs $5 a person on top of park admission, sold first come, first served at the oil house opposite. The first climb is at 9:30 a.m. and the last at 4:30 p.m., in groups of up to 12 for 30 minutes each.

The tower has 167 steps, and climbers must be at least 44 inches tall. State Parks calls it "the only publicly accessible lighthouse in South Carolina". The lighthouse was built in 1859, rebuilt in 1875 and moved 1.3 miles inland in 1889.

Hunting Island State Park has 5 miles of beach and draws more than a million visitors a year, by its own count. On 27 October 2026 its page said the bridge to Little Hunting Island and Boneyard Beach was temporarily closed because of high tides. The notice gave no date for reopening. The park opens from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., and until 9 p.m. during daylight saving time.

Which South Carolina state parks charge by the head?

South Carolina's state parks charge admission per person rather than per car. The only reduced adult rate printed is for South Carolina seniors, so a visitor from abroad should expect the full adult price. Children under 6 go free.

The All Park Passport costs $99 for a year and admits everyone in the holder's vehicle to every South Carolina state park. Table Rock State Park gives access to the 76-mile Foothills Trail, with trails to the tops of Pinnacle and Table Rock mountains. While construction lasts, hikers there register at the Concessions Area and follow arrows to a temporary trail access. Myrtle Beach State Park's parking is limited and can close when full.

Why do flights from Europe to Charleston need a change of plane?

Charleston International Airport has no transatlantic route: its own list of 57 nonstop destinations includes one international airport, Cancún, served by Breeze less than daily. A visitor from abroad therefore connects at a US hub. Among the daily nonstops from Charleston are Atlanta on Delta, Charlotte on American and New York JFK on Delta and jetBlue. United flies daily to Newark and Washington Dulles, and American to Washington Reagan and Chicago O'Hare.

The airport is about 11 miles from Marion Square in downtown Charleston, some 17 minutes by our own routing. For Congaree, Columbia Metropolitan Airport is about 30 minutes from the park, and Charleston's is about two hours, in the Park Service's figures.

How far apart are Charleston, Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head?

Charleston is about 97 miles from Myrtle Beach and 106 miles from Hilton Head Island by road. Savannah, in Georgia, is about 108 miles away. Greenville is under an hour and a half from Asheville in North Carolina.

The distances are our own routing without traffic, which put Charlotte to Congaree at 110.7 miles against about 108 in the Park Service's directions. All of South Carolina is on Eastern Time, and daylight saving time ended on 1 November 2026.

Is Columbia or Charleston hotter in July?

Columbia is hotter than Charleston in July, with an average high of 93°F against 91°F, on NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals. Columbia averages 80.8 days a year at or above 90°F and Charleston 64.3. Greer, the Greenville-Spartanburg airport, averages 47.6 such days.

The table gives NOAA's average highs and lows. Charleston records 52.51 inches of precipitation a year, and August is its wettest month, with 6.97 inches. Greer gets 3.9 inches of snow in an average winter, against 0.3 in Charleston.

The Atlantic hurricane season runs from 1 June to 30 November, according to the National Hurricane Center, and peaks on 10 September. Most activity falls between mid-August and mid-October. An average season brings 14 named storms and 7 hurricanes.

What does a Charleston hotel room pay in tax?

A hotel room in Charleston pays 10% in taxes collected by the South Carolina Department of Revenue: 5% sales tax, 2% state accommodations tax and the local sales taxes. Any city and county accommodations taxes come on top, and the department's table leaves out any tax that a city or county collects itself. Local governments may add up to 3% in accommodations tax, in the department's words. We could not read Charleston's own pages, so this page gives no total.

The state's own sales tax is 6%, and counties may add local taxes with voter approval. The table comes from the Department of Revenue's ST-575 rate table, revised on 5 February 2026. We could not confirm the local accommodations taxes in Myrtle Beach or on Hilton Head Island either. Our guide to sales tax in the USA explains why the price on the tag is not what you pay.