Hoboken Family Alliance Archives: January 2002

Family Vacation Review - Kiawah Island, South Carolina (Near Charleston)

If you are looking for a beach/golf family spot from June through September, Kiawah is a great option. It is an easy 45 minute drive from the Charleston airport and about a half hour from Charleston. There are four or five golf courses on the island. They also have what looked like a pretty decent tennis program. The beaches are beautiful and the water is comfortably warm. There is also a kids camp for children three and older.

The island is also very nature oriented, and they are quite proud of their alligators (which sometimes make an appearance on the golf courses.) There are quite a few nature tours, a nature center, canoeing, alligator walks, etc. In addition they offer numerous social family activities.

Kiawah Resort has a hotel and condos (villas) on the island. They also have two pool areas. Both pools have food and drink (alcoholic) available on site and kiddie pools. There was also an adult only pool near the hotel. There are also a lot of vacation homes on the island.

We stayed in one of the villas. It was great because we had a balcony with an ocean view, a full kitchen, VCR and a washer/dryer. The hotel seemed slightly more upscale than the villas.

The one drawback was the food. There were few restaurant options on the island, and most of them were almost New York prices. The pizza place was really the only truly casual option, although even the nicer restaurants seemed pretty kid friendly. (We didn’t go to the one really nice restaurant.) We ended up hitting the Piggly Wiggly and eating on our balcony most nights or ordering pizza.

The website is www.kiawahresort.com

Submitted by Sarah Kreidler