One of the benefits of days getting shorter in winter, is that it creates plenty of evening hours to enjoy one of the great treats of the season - Christmas light displays.
Checking out holiday lights is a surefire way to catch the Christmas spirit. It’s also a super fun activity that all ages staying in your Charleston beach house can enjoy together. And like the many holiday markets I covered in that last blog, the Lowcountry has some really top tier options.
Here’s a quick rundown of the top five. The first three require tickets, while the last couple are free.
Holiday Festival of Lights
When a light display makes a major national top ten list, you know it’s worth going to see with the fam.
Charleston’s Holiday Festival of Lights has been around long enough to establish itself as a must-do event, where folks who went as children now take their kids to see it. It takes place on the picturesque grounds of James Island County Park, across the Ashley River.
Get set to drive under and among over two million colorful twinkling lights, in more than 750 different light displays of all sorts of themes -- sea life, toys, the holiday classics (trees, elves, Santa, gifts), and my favorites – scenes of the Lowcountry, like Charleston’s beloved Ravenel Bridge reflecting over the water, and a classic historic downtown single house. At the end of the drive is Santa’s Village, where you can climb a wall, ride a holiday train, see a giant sand sculpture and play with interactive light displays, explore Santa’s Sweet Shoppe and make s’mores in the fire pit.
The Holiday Festival of Lights is open every night from mid-November through New Year’s Eve, 5:30 p.m. till 10:00 p.m. Read more about it on our Events page.
Aquarium Aglow
Charleston is blessed to be the home of the South Carolina Aquarium, located downtown on the Harbor overlooking the actual Ravenel Bridge. Not only is it a top-notch aquarium but also the location for the state-of-the-art Sea Turtle Care Center, nursing injured or sick sea turtles like loggerheads back to health.
The SC Aquarium is terrific to visit any time of the year. But when the holiday SEAson rolls around (get it? SEAson), they kick things up a notch - getting festively creative with lights, in dozens of illuminated exhibits, with delicious treats and libations for both kids and adults.
And get this – you can even watch Scuba Claus diving among the sea creatures in the Great Ocean Tank!
Aquarium Aglow happens from 5:30 pm till 9:00 pm on select dates through December, with a special celebration on New Year’s Eve. Read more here, or buy tickets on their website.
Nights of a Thousand Candles
While this third ticketed option involves a bit of a drive up the coast from your Isle of Palms beach house, it’s worth it.
Brookgreen Gardens is a national treasure, one of the largest outdoor sculpture collections in America, situated on more than 9,000 acres of wildlife preserve and botanical gardens.
Each winter they light them up in a most enchanting way, with millions of electric lights and a couple thousand hand-lit candles. Stroll through the grounds while sipping warm libations and listening to live holiday music, from the likes of brass quintets, bagpipes or carolers. These special nights happen from 4:00 p.m. till 9:00 p.m. on select dates through January 4th.
Read more on our Events page, or buy tickets here.
Cougar Light Lights at The Cistern
Downtown Charleston is graced with the presence of The College of Charleston, its picturesque campus right in the midst of the historic district. The heart of campus is The Cistern, a central gathering spot and site of special ceremonies, events and concerts.
At Christmastime, it gets illuminated in a most dramatic way… thanks to one of the College’s very talented alums, John Reynolds, an Emmy-winning designer who’s worked on the Super Bowl, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and movies like The Notebook.
He’s created a dramatic light show that’s synchronized to holiday music. It’s free to stroll through and happens each night from 5:30 p.m. till 9:00 p.m. through January 1st. Read more here.
Isle of Palms & Mount Pleasant
Folks in the Lowcountry love to get in the holiday spirit by decking their halls, houses and streets with lights…. and their palm trees, too! (This is the Isle of Palms, after all.) And it turns out palm trees look especially spiffy when covered with twinkly lights.
If you’re here staying in one of EP’s Isle of Palms villa rentals, you can see a lot just by driving around the island. Be sure to head to IOP’s Front Beach, where you’ll find the City’s official 24-foot Christmas tree in all its glory. Drive down Palm Boulevard and some of the side streets like Forest Trail to get a flavor of Christmas, Isle-style.
Just over the IOP Connector from our Charleston beach rentals, head to Mount Pleasant Towne Centre - all lit up for the holidays, especially the central street leading down Belk Drive. Towne Centre is also the perfect place to do some Christmas shopping for everyone on your list, take a free carriage ride or get photos taken with Santa.
Two neighborhoods in Mount Pleasant are worth trekking to, if you want to see some sparkling local color. Check out Coopers Landing, just off of Whipple Road; head all the way down Hidden Bridge Drive to see some classic dueling neighbors trying to one-up each other. Also be sure to wind through the neighborhood streets of Hidden Cove off of Long Point Road, where you’ll find elaborate displays of animatronics, music and even some snow.
So if you’re here in one of our Isle of Palms luxury beach homes, be sure to see how the Lowcountry locals lights things up around here for the holidays.
All best,
Lowcountry Lisa
your Isle of Palms vacation blogger