Let Your Fave Bravolebs Plan Your Charleston Itinerary

If, in the words of Shep Rose, leisure is what you’re passionate about, there’s no better place to plan your next vacation than Charleston, South Carolina. The harbor city is famous for its mix of colorful architecture, comfort food, and sunny weather. You can lounge on the beach one day and do a historic ghost tour the next, all while eating oysters, cornbread, and shrimp and grits to your heart’s content.

Bravo fans also know Charleston as the setting for hit reality series like Southern Charm and Southern Hospitality. If you’ve been watching, you probably already have local spots on your list, but the shows’ cast members can take your itinerary further. Below, a roster of Bravolebs share their favorite places with Elite Daily, so you can make the most of your trip while embracing some main-character energy along the way.

Mia Alario’s Recs For Best Bars

The Southern Hospitality star has lived in Charleston since college, so she’s had time to get familiar with the city’s nightlife. First on her list: Citrus Club, the rooftop bar atop the Dewberry hotel. “It is one of the cutest rooftop bars,” she says. “You have views of the Ravenel Bridge, views of the water, and beautiful views of the city. The cocktails are banging.” They might run a little expensive, but Alario says it’s worth it: “You have two, and you’re walking sideways.”

For sultrier vibes, she points to Bar Vauté, a basement speakeasy in the French Quarter. “The service is really good, and it just sets the mood. Let’s say the dinner went well and you want to go get a drink somewhere else. That’s where the night should lead you.” Republic is her pick for dancing, and Leva Bonaparte’s newest venture, On Air Live, is the all-in-one. “It’s like a honky-tonk bar downstairs, but a little bit more elevated, and upstairs is this really cool house-music vibe with a rooftop. It kind of scratches all the spots. You can dance a little bit, shake your booty. It’s really fun.”

Dive bar King Street Dispensary is another go-to, and Alario says you can often spot Southern Charm’s Salley Carson hanging out there. Alario also frequents Bellerose Hotel Bar and name-checks a bartender named DJ: “You tell him what you like, and he’ll create something fun. It always hits.”

For big groups, she recommends Henry’s on the Market downtown. “The place is humongous. It’s like a fun-house mansion, and each room has a different band with a different vibe.”

Olivia Flowers’ Guide To Date Night

Olivia Flowers may have recently moved away from Charleston, but the former Southern Charm star has spent much of her life there, and she knows how varied the dining scene is for date night. “When people ask where to go, I’m always like, ‘Well, what’s the mood?’” she says. “Do you want to be downtown and grab a fancy drink at Bourbon N’ Bubbles, or do you want more casual beach feels?”

For a downtown experience, she’s going with 167 Raw and its “really creative, fresh seafood.” For laid-back first-date energy, she points to the Shem Creek area. “It’s got restaurants along the waterway, and you can sit outside and watch the sunset,” she says, recommending Tavern & Table’s outdoor deck specifically.

Flowers cosigns Citrus Club as a date night spot and recommends staying at the Dewberry for a romantic weekend. If you’re dating a meat lover, Hall’s Chophouse is a “Charleston staple” for steak. “Sit at the bar. It’s just a lively vibe and really fun to people-watch. It’s owned by the Hall family, and they’re very involved and will come in. It’s the type of place where they’ll ask you how school’s going.”

Finally, Flowers shouts out Chubby Fish, which made The New York Times’ list of Best Restaurants in America last year. “If you ask any of the Southern Charm people where to go, everyone would put this on their list,” she says. “But it’s really hard to get in. You have to have someone go and wait in line for you.” The locally sourced food hot spot doesn’t take reservations. Flowers’ work-around: “We’d pay a college kid over at College of Charleston to go sit there and wait for us.”

Maddi Reese’s Outdoorsy Favorites

Maddi Reese, Southern Hospitality’s resident DJ, has a new reason to take advantage of Charleston’s outdoor scene: a puppy. Lately she’s been walking him at Daniel Island Waterfront Park. “There are greenways that go throughout the whole island, and it’s super scenic, so I’m always there,” she says. Nearby, Kingstide and DIME café are good for coffee or a bite on the patio.

Her favorite downtown option, located conveniently close to boyfriend Joe Bradley’s apartment, is Hampton Park. “It’s a beautiful park with a walking trail, and it’s also not as crowded and touristy as others,” Reese says. She’ll pick up a bev from Sightsee coffee and take the dog to the Park & Grove restaurant for a post-walk meal. She also recommends walking along the Battery to take photos. “You can see all the mansions and the multimillion-dollar homes, and they have a greenway path as well,” Reese says. “It’s right by Rainbow Row, which is all the houses that are different colors.”

Charleston is full of beaches, and Reese is a fan of all of them. “It’s free therapy for me,” she says. “I love people-watching, I love the ocean, and the beaches are dog-friendly, so I’m definitely going a lot. I just love nature and being outdoors. It’s important to touch grass.”

Lake Rucker’s Shopping Spots

Another Gen Z queen on Southern Hospitality, Lake Rucker stays on top of where to shop. “Stylexchange, aka SHOPSXC, is really good for a quick, fun, going-out outfit or girl dinner outfit,” she says. “They even have bathing suits in there from Frankies Bikinis. When your girls are like, ‘Let’s go out tonight on a whim,’ and you don’t have an outfit, you can get something cute for under a hundred bucks.”

While downtown, she’ll stop in to Reformation, which Rucker loves even if it’s not unique to Charleston: “I like it for the balance between casual and formal attire, and I love their jeans.” She’ll hit Anthropologie, too. “It smells amazing in that store,” Rucker says. “When you walk in, you feel the aura, and you can pick out an outfit while picking out a candle.”

Several blocks up is Bobbles and Lace, which has “very light-material clothing that’s cute for walking around Charleston” in the summer heat. There’s also Alfred & Lu, a boutique owned by Bonaparte, where Rucker works. “We sell a little bit of art and a little bit of clothing, like sweatshirts and T-shirts,” she says. Her personal favorite: the graphic hats. “We have one that says ‘Somebody else’s problem’ and another that says ‘Put it on my dad’s tab,’” she says. “I love a good hat to disguise a messy hair day.”

Ally Lewber’s Witchy Girl Essentials

Ally Lewber is new to Charleston, having moved from Los Angeles in January. The Vanderpump Rules and Perfect Match star, who has made cameos on Southern Hospitality, is enjoying playing tourist in her new home. As an astrologer, she’s drawn to anything spooky or mystical, and Charleston delivers. “They have amazing ghost tours,” Lewber says. “I’ve done a few of them. There’s a tour guide with a lamp, and she walks you around and tells you fun ghost stories.”

Her favorite so far has been a ghost tour pub crawl she did with friends last summer. “We started at a really old dive-y bar on the water, on cobblestones and lit up by candles. You meet your tour guide, and she gives you a little rundown of the history, and then you walk to the next bar, and then she gives you the history there.” Lewber recalls learning about a ghost named Anne Bonny, who lived in the early 1700s and left her husband for a pirate. “There are lots of really cool women-centered stories,” she says. “There’s something to the city that feels like such a mystery to me, and I think it’s so fascinating.”

If you find yourself at Blind Tiger, a popular bar frequented by Bravolebs, pay attention. There’s said to be a ghost in the bathroom. “Apparently she hates brunettes, and she’ll pull brunettes’ hair while they’re washing their hands,” Lewber says. “Hasn’t happened to me yet, but you know I’m trying.”