A four-day girls getaway built around the places locals actually love - not the ones on a bus tour map.
This is our 6th Girls Getaway to Charleston. Six. And every single time, someone on the trip turns and says, "Why did I wait so long?"
Because here's the thing about Charleston — you can read about it, scroll the gorgeous photos, hear your friends rave about the food. But until you're standing on a cobblestone street at golden hour with a glass of rosé and the smell of jasmine doing something unreasonable to your mood--you don't actually get it.
Charleston has lived large in the American imagination forever — Rhett Butler, Fort Sumter, the fabled Battery, magnolias for absolute days. Some of that story is drop-dead gorgeous. Some of it is genuinely hard to sit with. We don't skip past either one, because the real Charleston is richer than the postcard version — and so are we.
NextTribe Members receive $100 off this and any other trip.
But here's what's gotten us excited all over again: this small Southern city got a serious glow-up. King Street is now ground zero for a new kind of Southern charm — knowing, worldly, a little cheeky, zero saccharine. The restaurant scene alone pulls foodies from around the globe. You can reckon with pivotal history and make a five-star dinner reservation in the same afternoon. That's Charleston now, and I cannot wait to put you in the middle of it.
Love Charleston? Stay for Savannah.. Our Savannah adventure, starts the moment this trip ends--back-to-back Southern magic. Transportation between Charleston and Savannah is included. More details about the Savannah trip here.
~ Small groups—women 45+ ~ Solo travelers welcome
~ Led by a woman our age ~ Aging boldly since 2017
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Am I really the only one coming alone?
Not even close. More than half of NextTribe travelers show up solo. It's less "brave leap" and more "Tuesday" around here.
Will I be stuck with the group every single minute?
No. Day 3 morning is unscheduled on purpose — sleep in, wander King Street alone, or find a coffee shop and disappear into a book. Togetherness is the point of this trip, but so is having room to breathe when you want it.
Do I need to room with a stranger to make this affordable?
Only if you want to. Let us know if you'd like to be paired with another solo traveler to split a room, or if you'd rather book a single (available for a supplement).
1. The food. Charleston, population 130,000, has a concentration of world-class dining you’d expect from a city five times its size. You’ll taste why this town got its groove back.
2. Blooming gardens all around. We’re timing this trip for peak azalea season at America’s oldest landscaped gardens. Come for the history, stay because everything is pink.
3. An intimate gathering in a local’s beautiful home. No hotel ballroom. Just salt marsh views, a locally prepared lunch, and a Low Country woman with a life worth hearing about.
4. A unique beach experience on an uninhabited barrier island. This feels like No ferry schedule, no crowds, no Wi-Fi. Just you, a Lowcountry boil cooked on the sand, and a stretch of ghostly, sun-bleached trees the locals call the boneyard.
5. The women you’ll meet. One of our primary aims in the trips we plan is getting you in touch with local women. They offer a special insider perspective on a destination and its culture that really brings the place to life. Plus, you’ll meet other cool women—your fellow travelers.
These are real women. Real trips. Real friendships that started exactly like this.
I am so glad I spent three days with 11 wonderful, fun women who are now my friends, and I had an incredible experience seeing a fascinating, beautiful city. It's one of the best things I could have done for myself.
–Katherine A.
The group of stellar women on this trip were inspiring and fun. Even though I’d been to Charleston before, I saw it in an entirely different and very personal way. Great insider’s look at a popular destination.
--Ellizabeth Y.
I wanted to get a feel for the history and vibe of Charleston and I got all that and more. We met women entrepreneurs each day who were inspiring and generous and so welcoming.
---Becky R.
Will I know anyone? At the start, probably not. By Day 2, for sure.
Is this trip physically demanding? There’s a fair amount of walking on cobblestones and uneven historic streets, plus getting in and out of a boat for the Capers Island excursion. If you can comfortably walk a few miles over the course of a day with breaks, you’ll be fine.
What if I don’t want to do the plantation visit? We understand — Middleton Place carries real weight. We go with eyes open, to take in both the gardens and the history honestly, not to gloss over it. If you’d rather sit that morning out, talk to us and we’ll help you find something else to do nearby.
What should I pack? March in Charleston is mild but changeable — think layers, comfortable walking shoes for cobblestones, something a bit dressier for our restaurant dinners, and a windbreaker for the boat ride out to Capers Island. We’ll provide a packing list about a month before the trip.
Can I really get $250 off if I do both trips? Yes — book the Savannah trip, which runs directly before this one, and we’ll apply the $250 combined-trip discount.
What if I need to cancel? You’ll receive a full refund up to 60 days before the trip, minus your deposit, which you can apply toward a future NextTribe trip instead. We strongly recommend travel protection insurance for anything that might come up closer to departure — ask us and we’ll point you to some good options.
Do I need to rent a car? No — Charleston’s historic district is walkable, and we’ve got transportation covered for everything on the group itinerary, including the drive out to Middleton Place and the boat to Capers Island.
Need to know more? Click here to schedule a discovery phone call with Jeannie Edmunds, our NextTribe COO.
One of the original members of the NextTribe crew, Ellesor Holder is the energetic, extra-friendly leader of our Charleston, Savannah, Peru, and Colorado trips. When she’s not guiding the women of NextTribe around the world, you’ll find Ellesor hiking, biking, working out, and mastering the latest and greatest apps. (Her current favorites are CapCut, Canva, and Storyluxe.)
Since she was born and raised in South Carolina, it was a no-brainer for her to take the reins of the Charleston trip. Being a lover of nature and adventure, the Colorado trip also called to her. “I had never been to that part of Colorado before leading the trip, and now it’s among my favorite spots,” says Ellesor.
Her hunger to explore new places runs strong: Nowhere is too far-flung. “The world is a big place that can also feel very small once you’ve traveled around enough,” she says.
We’ll kick things off with a walking tour led by a good friend of NextTribe — a local woman with deep roots in this city. She’ll take us through the architectural range south of Broad Street, including the classic “single house” with its side-running porches, past the wrought iron gates of Legare Street, down the brick-paved sliver of Stolls Alley, and along Rainbow Row’s stretch of 18th-century Georgian townhouses in sherbet hues. The narrow, shaded streets eventually open up at the Battery, on the southern tip of the peninsula.
That evening, you’ll get your first taste — literally — of why Charleston is back on the map at a top foodie restaurant.
Included: Dinner
After breakfast, we head to Middleton Place National Historic Landmark on the Ashley River — home to America’s oldest landscaped gardens and once the residence of Arthur Middleton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Former plantations are complicated ground, and we won’t pretend otherwise. We go to take in the azaleas in full bloom, and to sit with the fuller, harder history the gardens, stableyards, and historic structures hold.
Grab a light lunch at Middleton Place or back in the city — we’re eating an early dinner tonight. Mid-afternoon, we start a farm-to-table experience: first picking out fresh Lowcountry produce at a farmers market, then handing it off to a chef who builds dinner around whatever you chose. No two NextTribe groups have ever eaten the same meal here.
We’ll wrap dinner early on purpose, because Charleston sits on a peninsula with water views in nearly every direction, and rooftop bars are a local sport. We’re taking you to our favorite for a drink, dessert, or both, as the sun goes down.
Included: Breakfast, early dinner
Your morning is free. Go deeper into King Street and the surrounding blocks, or don’t — a slow morning with coffee counts as a valid Charleston activity.
At midday, we head to a NextTriber’s home on Sullivan’s Island — a barrier island of classical homes, wide sandy beaches, Revolutionary War history, and neighborhoods where golf carts outnumber cars. Our friend’s house sits right on the Intercoastal Waterway, with views over the salt marshes to the Ravenel Bridge. An accomplished Low Country woman will join us to talk about her life and work here — past guests have included authors, businesswomen, and chefs.
The day ends the best possible way: a sunset boat ride out to uninhabited Capers Island. Our boat captain talks flora, fauna, and salt marsh ecology along the way, and pulls a crab trap so you can see how the locals actually get their seafood — with any luck, some porpoises will show up too. While our guide cooks a Lowcountry boil (shrimp, sausage, corn, potatoes) right on the beach, you’re free to wander.
Capers is known for the “boneyard” — a stretch of dead, sun-bleached oak trees swallowed by the encroaching saltwater long ago. The effect is eerie and beautiful, like you’ve wandered into a different world entirely.
Included: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
This morning, you’ve got options.
Option A: Explore the tip of the peninsula on your own before an early lunch at one of Charleston’s most celebrated restaurants, hosted by NextTribe founder Jeannie Ralston. If you’ve got a late flight, spend the afternoon at the Charleston Museum or the Gibbes Museum of Art.
Option B: If you’ve signed up for our Savannah trip, which begins today, you’ll head south with Ellesor Holder instead — stopping for lunch in Beaufort, the second-oldest town in South Carolina, before arriving in Savannah to meet the rest of that group and start an entirely new adventure.
Included: Breakfast and lunch
Arrival: Tuesday, March 9th
Fly into Charleston Intl. Airport (CHS)
Arrive by 1:30 PM so you can enjoy the full itinerary.
Airport transfers are not inluded but we can advise you. Once you get to the hotel you won't need a vehicle.
Departure: Friday, March 12 th
Fly out of Charleston Intl. Airport (CHS)
Depart after 2:00 PM so you can enjoy the full itinerary.
NOTE: If you are combining this trip with our Savannah trip immediately after this one, you will depart out of Savannah (SAV) on March 15th.
Cancellation: The last day to cancel this trip and receive a refund is Janurary 9 th, 2027. Your deposit is non-refundable but can be applied to another NextTribe trip booked within one year.
Insurance: NextTribe recommends travel insurance for our dometic trips. We strongly encourage you to add trip protection as well, just in case! Scroll down for more details about insurance.
Legal Stuff: For complete terms of service, see below
Inclusions:
3 Nights Lodging
3 Dinners
2 Lunches
3 Breakfasts
All Ground Transportation
All Activities Noted on the Itinerary
A specially curated Enrichment Guide to help you prepare for the trip.
Exclusions:
Airfare
Airport Transfers
Alcoholic Beverages
Personal expenses such as laundry etc.
Travel insurance
Tips to drivers, maids and hotel staff - NextTribe covers most other tips and we will provide more details closer to the trip.
Final note
We reserve the right to change the itinerary due to weather or other unforeseen conditions.
Travel insurance is highly recommended for our domestic trips. It can be a helpful and valuable resource to pack! It can protect the investment of your trip and you while traveling.
We partner with Wanderwell, a Certified B Corporation travel insurance provider that makes it as simple as possible by not overwhelming you with options.
They offer just a few modern, benefit-packed trip protection plans that can cover the most common travel perils related to trip cancellation, trip interruption, trip delay, travel Medical Expenses, baggage & personal effects, Emergency Medical Evacuation, and more.
Click Here to create quotes and purchase a plan through Wanderwell from our partner page.
If you prefer to talk to someone, please email support@gowanderwell.com. They will set up a phone call with you and can answer your questions.
For most of history, women past child-bearing years were basically put out to pasture. This was happening even in our mothers’ time. We call bullshit on that. We believe we are at a peak in so many ways and are devoted to helping women our age live the richest, most kick-ass lives possible.
We do that by informing, promoting and connecting women–through our magazine, through our member community and through the transformative experiences of travel.
So many travel choices…so little time. You could spend days and days trying to put together just the right combination of destination, activities, and price.
Or you could stop shopping and start traveling with us for something that feels like the greatest girlfriend trip ever–even if you come solo. We specialize in experiences that deeply connect you to other women–travelers and locals–and create life-lasting memories. Experiences you can’t get on your own. And do it all with flexible payment options.
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