A 5-day Charleston plan for families (kids ~6 & 9)

Around them, the aquarium runs from Blue Ridge mountain streams down to the two-storey Great Ocean Tank, where sharks and a loggerhead cruise past and a diver answers questions through the glass. The touch tank of rays and small sharks is made for the six-year-old. Half a day covers it, which is right for a first day. Buy tickets online, and check the day's programme on arrival so you catch the feeds and turtle talks.

Free, shaded by live oaks and ten minutes' walk south along the harbour, Waterfront Park has two things kids reliably love: the Pineapple Fountain, which they will get wet in, and a long covered pier with porch swings over the water. It's the low-effort afternoon when nobody wants another ticket.

Self-guided routes lead across the USS Yorktown's flight deck between real aircraft, down through the hangar bay, onto the bridge and into the mess decks and sleeping quarters, with a submarine and a destroyer alongside. It's also the most physical day, all steep ladders, high hatch coamings and long narrow passages. Pick two or three of the marked tours, and skip the lowest decks with a small child.

Right beside Patriots Point, this free, breezy park has a long fishing pier with swings, a playground and lawns directly under the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge. The sweetgrass basket stands along the road are a Lowcountry craft worth stopping for.

Fort Sumter sits on an artificial island in the harbour, reached only by ferry from Liberty Square or Patriots Point. Ashore you get about an hour of brick casemates, cannon to stand beside, a ranger talk and a small museum. This is where the Civil War began; the six-year-old will keep the cannons and boats, the nine-year-old a good deal more. Sailings sell out in summer and at weekends, so book a morning departure well ahead.

If the ferry is full or the harbour is rough, browse the Charleston City Market instead: a covered hall running four blocks through the historic district, with local makers, sweetgrass basket weavers and small bites. Rain and heat barely touch it, and you can leave the minute the kids are done.

Where the English first settled the Carolina colony in 1670, a large, shaded state historic site now spreads along the Ashley River. Walk the Animal Forest trail past bison, black bears, otters, pumas and bald eagles, climb aboard the Adventure, a full-size replica 17th-century trading ketch, and let the kids loose on miles of flat paths through live oaks and marsh. An exhibit hall covers a rainy spell. Budget three hours at least: no queues, no timed tickets, no crowds.

The Angel Oak on Johns Island, a live oak estimated at several hundred years old, is free and genuinely astonishing, a 20-minute stop rather than an afternoon. The site closes some days, so check its hours before the drive.

About 25 minutes from downtown past Mount Pleasant, Sullivan's Island has a wide, gently shelving beach calm enough for small swimmers, and a compact village of restaurants and ice cream a couple of blocks back from the sand. It's quieter and less commercial than the other local beaches. If anyone still wants history, Fort Moultrie on the island, part of the same national park as Fort Sumter, has ramparts, gun emplacements and a view straight out to Sumter, with no boat and no reservation.

Ten minutes further, Isle of Palms County Park has a proper car park, lifeguards in season, restrooms, showers, a playground and a beachfront snack bar. Less charm, far less friction, and with kids that trade usually wins.