At one time it was illegal to give a tour in Charleston if the guide wasn’t licensed by the city. That’s no longer true. Today anyone can give a tour. So it’s important to choose a guide that’s licensed. All guides with Historic Charleston Tours are licensed by the city of Charleston.

Today it’s legal to have up to 20 people in a tour. Historic Charleston Tours feels this Is too many both from the standpoint of the tourists and from the standpoint the residents of Charleston. Historic Charleston Tours provides small group tours and caps the number of people in the tour to 10.

This is critical. The best place to take a tour in Charleston is the very southern tip of the peninsula or the Charlestowne neighborhood. It’s the oldest part of Charleston, where the settlers first landed and it’s where the largest homes are. Many of the larger tour companies will not go that far and it’s a shame because many travelers simply don’t know what they are missing.

The big firms in Charleston have many wonderful guides that are highly qualified but like most businesses today they have a high turnover rate. The guides with Historic Charleston Tours have on average 15 years experience and all have lived in the Charlestowne neighborhood for at least 25 years.