A family-friendly guide to Seabrook Island & Charleston

We visit Florida and California throughout the year to see family, so when it came to planning a spring break vacation that fit our vibes, I found myself starting from scratch. I stumbled on Seabrook Island completely by accident — just scrolling Airbnb one night looking for beach houses — and we have since fallen in love with this special little island. We liked it so much (and its proximity to Charleston - one of my favorite cities) we booked it two spring breaks in a row. And yes, I would absolutely do it again - with some caveats!

📆 A note on timing

This year we went in early April, and while it was magical, I'll be honest: the Atlantic wind can be quite chilly, and the outdoor pools at Seabrook are unheated which was not ideal for our 3 and 6 year old. We managed to make the best of it but If you want guaranteed pool weather, aim for late April through May (I was told summer is very hot and muggy) or fall — September and October where air and pools are warm, and crowds are down. So will we be back? Yes! But we likely won’t return for spring break unless it’s late April.

✈️ Getting there

The flight from Chicago is under two hours, which makes this ideal for traveling with little ones and why it’s one of my favorite family destinations from Chicago. We took a 9AM flight out of O’Hare, flew into Charleston airport (CHS) and were there eating lunch by 12:30.

🚗 You will need a rental car. I always book Enterprise, even if they're a tiny bit more expensive. The lines are consistently shorter than Budget/Alamo, etc. and it’s always rough to start a trip with a long rental car line when everyone just wants to get the vacation rolling.