Charleston · Hotel shortlist
The best hotels near Riverfront Park
Peter Halvorsen The Nordics
These are my five favourites in Charleston, out of the 7 that qualified. I read what other travellers scored them before I picked, so the order follows the guests, 4.9 down to 4.733333.
All five are within 1.7 km of Riverfront Park.
Highest rated of the five
The Starlight Motor Inn
★★★★★4.9 from 1,468 reviews
The Starlight Motor Inn comes out on top of this list, and not narrowly: 4.9 from 1,468 guest reviews is a score that holds up at that volume, which is the whole test here. A perfect ten from nine people does not beat it.
It is a 2 star property, found under poi and around $114 a night on the dates we checked.
7 hotels in Charleston qualified for this list and five made it. Mavis at the Quad | Steps From Park Circle is the one I would book if the first is full.
All five, ranked
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1
The Starlight Motor Inn
★★★★★4.9 from 1,468 reviews
1.7 km from Riverfront Park, about a 21 minute walk
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2Mavis at the Quad | Steps From Park Circle
★★★★★4.7625427 from 236 reviews
1.6 km from Riverfront Park, about a 20 minute walk
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3Hotel Circulo
★★★★★4.8 from 74 reviews
1.6 km from Riverfront Park, about a 20 minute walk
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4Park Circle Oasis | Jasper at The Quad
★★★★★4.814815 from 108 reviews
1.6 km from Riverfront Park, about a 20 minute walk
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5The Pelican | Haven in Park Circle
★★★★★4.733333 from 84 reviews
1.6 km from Riverfront Park, about a 20 minute walk
How this list was put together
7 Charleston hotels qualify for this list. We ranked them on guest rating first and on how close they are to Riverfront Park second, then took the top five.
Two things decide these lists. The first is my own time in the city: every hotel on this page is one I have stayed in, walked into and looked at, or gone back to check. That is where the shortlist starts, and it is why some well reviewed places are not on it.
The second is the numbers, and those are what set the order. The rating and review count come from the big travel sites, pooled through Google, so a score here reflects Expedia, Booking, Hotels.com and the rest together rather than any one of them. I also read the review breakdown by topic, which is where the figures on service, breakfast and location come from. Hotels with fewer than forty reviews are left out altogether, because a rating that thin is not a rating. No more than two come from one neighbourhood.
What I do not do is move anyone up the order. The ranking is the guest score, highest first, and nobody pays to be on the list.
Distances are straight lines from published coordinates, so the real walk is a little longer. Amenities are as recorded by Google Hotels and can change without notice. Rates are an indicative nightly figure for a midweek autumn stay, not a quote. Check the booking page before you commit.
Peter Halvorsen The Nordics
Twenty-six years of teaching means 26 long summers. Trains and driving through most of Europe, now further afield, usually alone with a tent. Keeps every train ticket since 1994.
Trip Grapevine earns a commission on bookings made through the links on this page. It costs you nothing, and it does not change the order of the list, which is set by the measurements above.