What's a good 3-day itinerary for Charleston?

August mornings in Charleston register 25°C by sunrise but feel closer to 30°C with 89% humidity. Day 1 starts at 8:30am below Broad Street, where the air still carries salt off the harbor. Walk Rainbow Row on East Bay Street first, when morning light catches the 13 pastel facades and the 9am tour groups haven't arrived. Cut south to White Point Garden and the Battery seawall by 9:30, where the breeze off the water is the coolest you'll feel all day. Head north to the Charleston Museum at 360 Meeting Street, $15 general admission. It opened in 1773, making it the oldest museum in North America. Lunch at Rodney Scott's BBQ on King Street by noon. The whole-hog pulled pork plate runs $16, and the vinegar-pepper sauce is sharp enough to cut through the fat. Spend the late afternoon at Dock Street Theatre on Church Street, free to walk through most days.

Day 2 shifts north to the Market area and upper King Street. City Market opens at 9:30am across four blocks between Meeting and East Bay. Skip the souvenir stalls and go to the eastern end, where Gullah sweetgrass basket weavers work by hand. A small basket starts around $40. Emanuel AME Church at 110 Calhoun Street, founded in 1816, is the oldest AME congregation in the Deep South. Sunday services run at 7:30am and 11am, and visitors are welcome, but this is an active congregation, not a tour stop. Lunch at 167 Raw on East Bay, where the lobster roll costs $28 and the peel-and-eat shrimp arrive warm and dusted in Old Bay. The Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist on Broad Street, completed in 1907, has the best stained glass on the peninsula. Huguenot Church nearby dates to 1844, one of the few remaining French Protestant churches in the country.

Day 3 crosses the water. The Fort Sumter ferry leaves Liberty Square at 9:30am, $30 for adults, 30 minutes each way. Construction on the fort began in 1811, and Confederate batteries opened fire there on April 12, 1861. Exposed brick and iron cannon emplacements absorb the full August sun, so carry water. You return to the mainland by noon. Drive or rideshare 15 minutes to Patriots Point in Mount Pleasant for the USS Yorktown, a 1943 Essex-class carrier that needs a solid 2 hours below deck, where the engine rooms still smell like grease and warm metal. The USS Laffey, a 1943 Sumner-class destroyer, is moored beside it. Dinner back on the peninsula at Leon's Oyster Shop on upper King Street, where the fried chicken sandwich and a cold beer run about $22.

The peninsula measures roughly 3 km by 1.5 km, so Days 1 and 2 are entirely walkable if you start early and take a midday break during the worst heat. The air on the peninsula turns to warm, wet cotton by 2pm, and afternoon thunderstorms roll in 3 or 4 days a week in August. CARTA buses cover downtown, but rideshare is faster and rarely tops $8 within the peninsula. Metered parking runs $2 per hour. Day 3 requires crossing the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge to Mount Pleasant, about 6 km from downtown. Expect roughly 8 km of walking on each of the first two days and 5 km on the harbor day, totaling around 21 km across all three.