The Cottages On Charleston Harbor

Hotel · Mount Pleasant

The Cottages On Charleston Harbor

Hotel · Mount Pleasant

16 Patriots Point Rd, Mt Pleasant, SC 29464

Highlights

Waterfront cottages with full kitchens, plus an outdoor pool, a hot tub & free snacks. Set on Charleston Harbor and a 5-minute walk from Patriots Point Links, this waterfront resort comprising 10 cottages is also a 5-minute walk from Patriots Point Naval Museum. Contemporary 2-bedroom and 3-bathroom cottages feature free Wi-Fi and flat-screen TVs, as well as full kitchens, laundry facilities and private screened-in porches. Freebies include parking, as well as coffee, snacks and complimentary continental breakfast. There's a private harborfront beach, an oceanfront pool and a hot tub. Loaner beach cruisers are also available.

16 Patriots Point Rd, Mt Pleasant, SC 29464 Get directions

thecottagesoncharlestonharbor.com

@thecottagesoncharlestonharbor

@cntraveler

"This locale was extremely popular during the pandemic because you get an entire cottage to yourself, right on the marsh overlooking the harbor, socially distanced from your neighbors but close to nature. The beautifully crafted cottages operate more like vacation rentals than full-service hotels, with ample kitchens, and plenty of restaurants, wine shops, and gourmet stores nearby. Relax on your screened porch and watch harbor life unfold from dawn to dusk." - Allston McCrady

The 20 Best Hotels in Charleston, From Harborfront Cottages to Gilded-Age Inns | Condé Nast Traveler

View Postcard for The Cottages On Charleston Harbor

@cntraveler

"How did it strike you on arrival?These cottages are one of Charleston's better kept secrets, right across the harbor from downtown. You park, walk past a cozy, wood-paneled club house with an outdoor pool, past a hedge of blooming pittosporum, beneath rustling palm trees, and you've arrived. Nine of ten cottages line the harbor; the only thing separating you from saltwater is nature's maritime "front lawn" of marsh grass. Before I walked up the front steps to my 2-bedroom cottage, I paused at a freshwater pond to admire dozens of white egrets, wood storks, and herons settling onto live oak branches for the night, and took note of the sign "Do not feed the alligator." (Disclaimer: an alligator has not been seen here in years). What’s the crowd like?Friends and families (these are all multi-bedroom cottages, after all), sometimes wedding parties. The good stuff: Tell us about your room.These cottages are real homes-away-from-home but they feel brand new. A full kitchen opens onto a vaulted living room with gas fireplace. My master bedroom boasted an iron four-poster bed, large jacuzzi soaking tub, walk-in glass shower with a smooth stone floor, and Molton Brown products. The second bedroom had windows facing east for sunrises over the harbor, plus a choice of not one but two additional bathrooms, each with showers. All rooms opened onto a screened porch fronting the harbor with couches, table, and hammock. Just past the marsh, I could see Fort Sumter and Castle Pinckney. How about the little details, any of that worth a mention?I grew very attached to my hammock! A little blue heron hung out by the pool all morning. You really feel close to nature here. Room service: What's the story here?The Cottages function more like vacation rentals than a full-service hotel, so to an extent, you’re on your own, with your own kitchen and lots of breakfast joints on Coleman Boulevard, plus snacks and fresh fruit in the nearby clubhouse. Mt. Pleasant offers up some truly excellent restaurants, like The Post House in the Old Village, NICO’s Oysters + Seafood, Grace & Grit, Page’s Okra Grill, and Community Table, to name a few. The Wreck is a no-frills seafood shack on Shem Creek where you can watch shrimp boats tie up and sort their catch. Sullivan’s Island and Isle of Palms are also a short drive away, for beach walks and many more dining options. And remember: you’ve got a fridge for leftovers, so don’t hold back. Anything we missed?Technically there's no "beach" here on the harbor, but you can arrange for kayaks from Coastal Expeditions who will paddle them directly to your cottage. Bottom line: Why would we love it here?This place is dreamy. All cottages sit right on the harbor, so you can watch pelicans dive-bombing for dinner, and cargo ships moving slow-motion with dolphins surfing bow waves. Relax in utter quiet, or drive the 10-15 minutes downtown. For the adventurous, grab a loaner beach cruiser, pedal it over to the nearby Charleston Water Taxi at Patriots Point, cross the harbor by boat, spend the day biking around historic downtown Charleston, and catch the evening water taxi home. (Or for the seriously ambitious, bike over the bridge!)" - Allston McCrady

The Cottages on Charleston Harbor

View Postcard for The Cottages On Charleston Harbor

Joyce Wells

Google

Even from before we arrived, our hosts, Lisa & Betty went above and beyond to ensure our time at The Cottages was perfect. We stayed in Sweet Blessings (cottage #3) which is the closest cottage to the water and has the most spectacular setting, along with its two bedrooms, three full bathrooms, high ceilings, and tons of natural light. It was hard to leave our sprawling back porch, which offered serenity and beauty, including the sights and sounds of local wildlife (countless birds and dolphins!), along with huge cargo ships that enter and exit the harbor with barely a sound. During our stay, we enjoyed downtown Charleston, which was a convenient water taxi ride away, as well as all the activities and history Mount Pleasant offers. Checking out Pitt Street, and kayaking and dining along Shem Creek were highlights for us, not to mention the USS Yorktown, just around the corner on Patriots Point. On a more lazy day, we enjoyed the lovely onsite pool, bicycles, and clubhouse available to all guests. If you are searching for a place to stay during your visit to this area, look no further than The Cottages on Charleston Harbor. We are already looking forward to when we can return. Thank you, Lisa & Betty and the entire Cottages staff! Yours is a truly special place.

Thomas Kohn

Google

The view is the best in Charleston! Great porch view, pool and just magical! THE STAFF very welcoming and the snacks and pool house were perfect

Alexandrea Sumuel Groves

Google

Our family absolutely loved The Cottages on Charleston Harbor! Spacious, clean, oversized screened in porches, gorgeous views, free bike rentals, nice pool, and super friendly staff! Great location as it was easy to get to downtown Charleston and the Shem Creek area. Highly recommended for families and friend groups because you can stay all together in one place vs separate hotel rooms! Enjoy!

Kasey King

Google

I am a Charleston based wedding officiant and I LOVE having ceremonies here. The privacy and view that the back lawn provide is very unique to the Charleston area. The cottages are very clean and nicely decorated. If you're looking to have a small, intimate wedding, this is a great place to have your ceremony. Thank you, Kasey King, Wedding Officiant

JSPBTSJ

Google

My wife and I stayed here for a week with our young grandchildren and their parents. The experience exceeded our expectations. The cottages were perfect for our needs. We really enjoyed the large screened porch, the quiet atmosphere, the wonderful view, and the constant sound of waves lapping the shore. The Cottages are walking distance to the Maritime Museum. Charleston is a 10 minute drive across the bridge, or also available by hourly water taxi. Our cottage was spotlessly clean, with all amenities we might need. We also enjoyed meeting Lisa, the General Manager who made sure everything was in good shape. We will definitely return.

Cory Marshman

Google

So I’ve seen a few negative reviews on here and honestly they need to chill the $&@# out. Cottages on Charleston Harbor are amazing. The staff are some of the nicest people I’ve met. I told them we were coming to stay for my wife’s birthday and not only did they put up a “Happy Birthday” banner but they left us some Prosecco, and dropped off two small cakes. I’ll also add THEY’RE DOG FRIENDLY. Just give them a heads up before and they’re amazingly accommodating. There’s even a cottage with a little puppy run. I could not recommend these guys more. Amazing staff, immaculately clean, and so close to the water that we literally saw a dolphin 5 feet from the shoreline.

D. O

Google

Stayed at the cottages on Charleston Harbor for our family vacation about 2 weeks ago. What a beautiful cottage , seaside cozy decorated , very clean, spectacular view, my boys loved seeing the cargo ships passing by in the harbor off the screened in back porch as did I in the mornings. Also, the staff were friendly and wonderful especially with reccomendations of things to do while visiting. We did a kayaking expedition and booked through the cottage loved our survival bag, even came with hats! Also, we did a beach lunch, they found a restaurant and packed our family picnic lunch , I asked if they had a beach umbrella that we could borrow, well the morning of our beach lunch, not only was a cooler outside our door with our lunch, there was a beach umbrella, beach chairs for the whole family, and sand toys, they really go above and beyond. Thank you so much to the Cottages on Charleston Harbor and your amazing and hard working staff- Octavia, Lisa, Alice, and Ryan for making our vacation a wonderful and memorable one. Thank you! It was a great trip we didn't even want to leave!

Lisa Scott

Google

We had the most wonderful stay at The Cottages. The Cottage was so very welcoming and clean. The attention to detail was apparent, nothing was forgotten. The kitchen was very well equipped. The view from the back porch/veranda was exquisite. A short walk to the water taxi on Saturday, lots on the doorstep. The office so very accommodating, both checking in and out. We will most definitely be back again, I’m already looking at dates

Eric F.

Yelp

If we could spend most of the time out on the porch and on the lawn, then this would be 5 stars. The Cottage is well decorated. albeit dated- this is fine. The issues arise when you further jump into the cleanliness. Upon arrival, there was dust, dead flies, and smudges of dirt or unknown stains throughout the unit. The bathroom light switches were particularly bad. I can live with primed and unpainted surfaces, but the real kicker is that the floors were filthy. Absolutely filthy. They turned our daughter's socks black after an hour of arrival. I went through 6 swiffer pads to no avail. We let management know the next morning after our arrival and hoped to come home to a unit that had been mopped after a day out in Charleston. Unfortunately, the floors are still filthy, the shower did not seemed to be cleaned from a previous guest and I am just lifting up heavy prayers on the cleanliness of everything else. We let management know of the situation and still they seemed to not be concerned. Hopefully, someone will take some initiative and put a good faith effort into cleaning this unit and providing a stay worth the money. UPDATE:After speaking to management, no one came to address issues. We still have dead flies, roach hatchlings and other debris spread throughout the filthy cottage. If you are concerned about relaxing in a sanitary space, please avoid. The fixtures are caked in dust, there seems to be a bit of mold growing in certain areas, the soap scum from previous guests still remains in the bathroom areas. We spoke with management again and they comped one night, which did not change the fact that we went three nights before any legitimate attempt at addressing any issue was made. They were surprisingly defensive and stated that floors were unsealed so they would stain your socks. We have unsealed floors at our personal home and are able to keep them clean. After being argumentative about the existence of filth, management hinted that we should let it go since she comped one night. All I would've appreciated was them sending someone to clean on the first day that we made them aware of the issues. if you are dead set on staying here, bring your own cleaning crew. The views are great and Charleston is too. I don't know if this is the treatment that most guests receive, but I know we stood out on one characteristic. I cannot imagine why sending a cleaning crew to address the issues was so difficult. On the penultimate day of our stay, they sent someone to "clean". The floors were a bit better, but all of the other issues remained. There also seemed to be some sort of dead animal under the fireplace section of the cottage. Proceed with caution. It was a wonderful location and I would love to stay there after an actual cleaning crew comes in.

Kristen B.

Yelp

We are sharing our experience to protect other couples from the despair and frustration we experienced. We booked our September 29, 2018 wedding at the Cottages on Charleston Harbor in February 2018. We live in Texas and were very excited about our destination wedding in Charleston! We contracted with the venue for more than $8,000 worth of accommodations, including the event space fee. We also signed a room block contract with the neighboring resort - The Charleston Harbor Resort and Marina - for our guests of $4,000. Our contract with the Cottages also required a catering commitment of $6,500 minimum and a tent rental fee of at least $1,000. We were fully committed to our wedding and this venue, to say the least. In August 2018, I asked the Cottages to confirm if the dock between our reception space and the Charleston Harbor Resort had been fully repaired (I had seen guests on Instagram taking photos) and if we could use it for our photos. I was told that we could use the dock for photos before 4 p.m. because a concert would be taking place on the beach... That's how we discovered a national touring indie rock concert had been booked, a double-header, at the exact same time and 10 feet away from our wedding. The Charleston Harbor Resort booked Moon Taxi with Ripe as an opener in July 2018 with Ears for Music (a concert promoter) and did not consult our wedding venue prior to booking. The Cottages and Charleston Harbor Resort are two separate companies. There's nothing keeping each property from throwing a carnival the day of your wedding. They had no written agreement in place, we had no legal opportunity to fight back. The "partnership" is extremely irresponsible. We were told that they would surely solve the situation and waited a full week before being informed that they would not move or cancel the concert. They were able to come up with a "solution" of shuttling our guests to the neighboring golf course for the reception... not sure how they were going to pull that off with 800+ concert guests milling around at the same time. We lost all faith and trust in both the Cottages and the Charleston Harbor Resort at this time. Both properties offered to release us from our contract and we left. Forty days from our wedding and the amazing staff at the Citadel Beach Club took us in (they even matched the amount just due to our awful situation!) When I asked Lisa Crowley, general manager of the Cottages, to reimburse us for new wedding invitations and for the time spent moving 11 vendors, she directed me to the Charleston Harbor Resort as it was "completely their fault." When I asked the Charleston Harbor Resort for a reimbursement of $700 (minimal to what our actual costs were), we were offered an anniversary stay or an upgrade for a guest room... this is where we really, really want you to understand the multiple layers of empathy missing from the general manager, Nick Saltmarsh. HE OFFERED US AN ANNIVERSARY STAY. Because that's what we want to do... stay with you on the anniversary of the day you ruined. Delusional is an understatement. We can't emphasize enough, keep your wedding or special event far, far away from these folks. They caused irreparable damage and refuse to reimburse us in a meaningful way. They value greed over doing the right thing, they run a shoddy, disorganized group and have an absolutely pathetic idea of what customer service means. We are grateful we moved our wedding away from these hacks - that's the only positive we can share.

Gloria Z.

Yelp

A bit of a disappointment for the money. Porch view was beautiful but the cottage itself was a bit run down and dirty. Floors were filthy as was shower and toilets. No bathroom cleaning supplies to be found, had to request. Faucets on bathroom sink were very loose as well as shower door. Light bulb in bathroom also burned out. You would think they would check these things to keep things up. The concierge was the worst. Emailed 3 times before we got there asking for restaurant suggestions- never got a response. Was advised that a rental was not needed but seemed surprised we didn't have one. Offered no help in how to get a cab or transportation to get places. Also not interested in helping us set up tours or offering suggestions. I definitely wouldn't go back for that kind of money!

Chandani C.

Yelp

Absolutely LOVE this place! A group of 5 friends and I stayed last week for 3 nights. We couldn't have asked for a more comfortable stay! The cottages are clean, spacious, and beautifully decorated. The kitchen is fully equipped with any dishes/utensils you could possibly need. The office and cleaning staff are super friendly and helpful. The cottages itself and the service are amazing, but the best part in my opinion is the patio at the back of the cottages and the view. The cottages are right by the water and the view is breathtaking! The patios are fully enclosed with net so I didn't have to worry about mosquitos. There's fans out there too so we were able to enjoy the view without burning up in the heat. I also love the location in terms of distance to local attractions and downtown Charleston. It's the perfect spot for a weekend (or longer!) getaway. Highly recommend to anyone visiting Charleston! P.S. The check in staff is in the office until 10pm. If you plan to arrive later than that - you'll need to make prior arrangements to check-in/get your key.

Tj A.

Yelp

5-Star location and concierge staff is very friendly. If you are in cottages 1-6, the hotel next door is very noisy due to some mechanical equipment that runs 24/7. The morning breakfasts are disappointing. The food and snacks are costco bulk style items. Which is a shame, since Charleston produces some of the best pastries and breads at all the local bakeries. During my stay the southern style treats never appeared. The exterior grounds need some serious attention to detail. Mold was growing in the hot tub, another disappointment. It is a wonderful location and a whole cottage for the family is amazing. However, it's a far cry from 5-Star, but you will pay the 5-star price.

Kathy J.

Yelp

We had a terrific time at the Cottages Miss Kim is absolutely the best! Our cottage was everything we expected and more. Beautiful accommodations, neat clean and charming. I would highly recommend staying here I look forward to my next visit !!!