Kiawah Island

Travel and leisure magazines continually laud exclusive Kiawah Island as one of the U.S.’s top golf and tennis resorts. The island, a gorgeous barrier island about 30 minutes south of Charleston, is almost entirely occupied by the Kiawah Island Resort. Enter the gates and you’ll find five championship golf courses, hard and clay tennis courts and some of the most spectacular coastline on the Atlantic. In addition to golf and tennis, the resort arranges paddling and fishing tours, boat charters, wildlife education programs and an array of family activities. Loggerhead turtles nest here from mid May through August, and the island is also home ...

Travel and leisure magazines continually laud exclusive Kiawah Island as one of the U.S.’s top golf and tennis resorts. The island, a gorgeous barrier island about 30 minutes south of Charleston, is almost entirely occupied by the Kiawah Island Resort. Enter the gates and you’ll find five championship golf courses, hard and clay tennis courts and some of the most spectacular coastline on the Atlantic. In addition to golf and tennis, the resort arranges paddling and fishing tours, boat charters, wildlife education programs and an array of family activities. Loggerhead turtles nest here from mid May through August, and the island is also home to bobcats, white-tailed deer and an ornithologist’s delight of shorebirds. Visitors can stay in a range of rental properties – from villas and houses to the luxurious The Sanctuary Hotel, a sprawling oceanfront mansion with glorious rooms overlooking the sea.

About the Expert

Debra Landau has written eight Lonely Planet guidebooks, including books on the USA, Caribbean, and the South.