Charleston or Hilton Head (Folly Beach, Seabrook Island: credit, homes, living)

[Theresejenkins]

Charleston - Charleston - Charleston! hands down is awesome! Beach, culture, diversity, golf, tennis, close to airport, and Savannah, Fripp and Kiawah can be a daytrip.

[Island_Guy]

HHI has many more Golf courses, more restaurants, better beach, much cleaner, much more elegant, peaceful, tons and tons of things to do. HHI lacks the Charleston city character but hey if you live in HHI you can get that in Savannah or Beaufort. I just find Charleston to be extremley boring. Lot's to eat there but enjoying life is all about eating. Depending on your personality. If you like beauty,beaches and a gorgeous residential area with tons of restaurants, bars, Bluffton, etc. HHI wins hands down. If you're stuck on the Charleston name and like the city and restaurants then Charleston is for you. I would never choose living in Charleston over HHI. No way. Visiting Charleston once a year from HHI, maybe, but not a must for me. Charleston just didn't do it for my wife and I.

[sunnybunny0726]

Originally from Dallas/Ft. Worth area, lived in Sarasota, FL for three years. I have lived in Hilton Head for 6 months now and I find it bores me to tears. If you are used to a large city being close to you, you may not care for this area and find that Savannah doesn't exactly give you what you are used to in a city. Charleston is a couple of hours away and the closest thing to what I am used to in a city. Unfortunately, two hours is a long way to drive very often to get my "city needs"!
I enjoy the beach (although not nearly as much as Sarasota) and if you like golf and gated neighborhood after gated neighborhood with a small town atmosphere, you will LOVE it here!

[scjj]

For starters I would never even compare Hilton Head to Charleston in the first place. Hilton Head is a gated island resort. Charleston is a small historic city. It would be fair to compare Charleston to either Savannah or maybe even Beaufort if you wanted to push it, but not Hilton Head. Outside of Hilton Head you have Bluffton which I would compare to Mount Pleasant. Hilton Head itself I would compare more to Kiawah Island, but even that isn't apples to apples. Hilton Head has much more to offer activity wise, shopping and restaurants than Kiawah does.

sunnybunny, do you ever go to Jacksonville for your "city needs"? It is pretty much the same distance from Hilton Head and Jacksonville offers much more city wise than Charleston in my opinion. The shopping alone would be worth it.

[fisher33]

I wouldn't call Charleston small, but I agree that HH and Charleston are night and day different. I love HH but couldn't picture living there full time unless I was retired wanted to relax, play golf and tennis, and sit by the beach all day (which isn't sounding too bad!!). More restaurants in Charleston, more life in Charleston. Visit HH on the weekends when you live in Charleston, I consider it a getaway place.

[Island_Guy]

Not to get on my Hilton Head "soap box" but I've been living here for a year and here's some misconceptions:

Hilton Head Island is not totally gated. I live in Palmetto Dunes and it's not totally gated. I take advantage of using the amenities at the Marriott and Hilton.

Boring, lol, you're kiddin me. What most people don't understand is that there are over 100 restaurants on HHI, lol. The island preserves its natural beauty by regulating signs and neon lights.

Bored, there are so many things to do it's incredible. Boating, Golf, tennis, swimming, shopping bar hopping, we got it all. It's not just a getaway. It's a lifestyle here.


And I always crack up when people say, "Oh the people that live on HHI are snobby and closed to visitors". Are you kiddin me ??? LOL. I met some of the nicest people ever here. From millionaires to bartenders. Everyone is totally cool and very friendly. And if you need some city I just go to Savannah about an hour away. And Savannah is awesome!

So yes it's a getaway but offers much much, more than that. I don't wanna be anywhere else. So if you think you will bored living on HHI, you just don't know how to have fun.

[Buckeye in SC]

Originally Posted by scjj

For starters I would never even compare Hilton Head to Charleston in the first place. Hilton Head is a gated island resort. Charleston is a small historic city. It would be fair to compare Charleston to either Savannah or maybe even Beaufort if you wanted to push it, but not Hilton Head. Outside of Hilton Head you have Bluffton which I would compare to Mount Pleasant. Hilton Head itself I would compare more to Kiawah Island, but even that isn't apples to apples. Hilton Head has much more to offer activity wise, shopping and restaurants than Kiawah does.

sunnybunny, do you ever go to Jacksonville for your "city needs"? It is pretty much the same distance from Hilton Head and Jacksonville offers much more city wise than Charleston in my opinion. The shopping alone would be worth it.

I agree in the point that it's not really apples to apples comparison between Charleston & Hilton Head. I think generally speaking, if you are 40 and under w/young or no children - Charleston will be more fitting for you, but if you are over 40 w/older children or empty nesters, probably go to Hilton Head. I think both have a lot to offer. Charleston has more than beaches, a great scenic downtown that you could spend days alone checking out the attractions, Ft. Sumter, a lot to do for entertainment and the list goes on. HHI on the other hand will offer more of an R&R type of getaway, golf, swimming, beach, etc.

As for Jacksonville being the same distance as Charleston from HHI - not sure where you got that from, Jville is about 75 miles further - and w/gas at $3.50/gallon, that's a decent cost to be adding to your trip just for shopping opportunities. The only thing I can think of is you go out to I-95 to I-26 get back to Charleston which would add a lot of miles to your trip instead of just taking US-17. J-ville should offer more on the basis alone that it's metro is about 3 times as big as Charleston's.

[scjj]

We can get to Jacksonville from Summerville via 95 in 3.5 hours, Bluffton is 90 minutes and no we do not take 26. I do it multiple times a year for the last 5 years. And that my friend is where I got that from The Avenues Mall there is really nice.

[Buckeye in SC]

Originally Posted by scjj

We can get to Jacksonville from Summerville via 95 in 3.5 hours, Bluffton is 90 minutes and no we do not take 26. I do it multiple times a year for the last 5 years. And that my friend is where I got that from The Avenues Mall there is really nice.

You must be a fast driver, b/c Bluffton to Jville is about 170 miles, even going 80 MPH the entire time (10 over the speed limit), it would still take over 2 hours to get there. Bluffton to Summerville is about 100 miles, my point was to drive an extra 140 miles round-trip even in a fuel effiecient vehicle (30 MPG), is going to cost close to $20 in gas alone. I guess some people might find the extra 1 1/2 - 2 hours in the car & $20 on gas worth the extra shopping opportunities, but not me . I think Charleston has a lot to offer in shopping opportunities - what stores does JVille have that they don't that makes the trip worthwhile to you?

[Manoella]

I am living in Hilton Head and it is pretty boring. I will recomend you Savannah or Charleston before this bubble island. Nothing to do and very expensive for living. There are just three kind of people full time workers (a big amount in hospitality services), turists and rich people. Thats it!!! Cultural life? Mhhh we dont have so much farther than our Gullah festival each year...