I’ve said before that one of the greatest characteristics of Charleston is the breadth of its history. Charleston has been shaped by so many people from all over the world as they’ve uprooted and moved to this small peninsula. A few weeks ago we decided to spend an entire day downtown focusing on just one contributor to Charleston’s elaborate tapestry: the French! You can follow along in our footsteps to plan out your own French inspired day downtown…

French Pastries & Coffee

We started our day with French pastries and coffee at La Pâtisserie on King Street where we always feel as if we’ve stepped into a true Parisian cafè.

A Walk Through the Park & Market

After breakfast we headed south down King Street to Marion Square for a leisurely walk and play through the park. If you have kids or a dog with you, this is a great spot to let them run while you enjoy some sunshine.

Spend as much time here as you like. The French are far better at just enjoying life without rush than we Americans can be. So just soak in some time, read a book in the grass, listen to the chatter of people wandering past. When we were ready to move on, we head to the opposite corner of the park at Meeting and Calhoun, and continued south on Meeting until it intersected with the City Market on Market St.

We had a nice wander through the market – and the French love their markets so this was a very French-inspired activity indeed! The market is full of great artisans and goodies so you’re sure to find something to remind you of your day in downtown Charleston.

A Visit to the French Huguenot Church

The market ends at East Bay St., so we exited there and turned right down East Bay and then right on Queen St. At the corner of Queen and Church sits the pretty pink church we had set out to see. The French Huguenot Church that you see today remains completely unaltered from its building in 1845, and it’s pink outer walls and iron details make it beautifully unique (and a great spot for pictures).

The church offers tours of the inside from 10 – 4pm Monday through Thursday, and from 10 – 1pm on Fridays, so if you’re visiting on a week day you should plan to walk through.

Lunch at Gaulart & Malicet

After visiting the church we cut over to Broad Street and stopped in for lunch at the best little French café. The inside of Gaulart & Malicet has the perfect close and casual feel for a French café and the bar is always buzzing with conversation. But when the weather is nice, sitting outside under their large purple and white striped umbrellas, people watching, and taking in the sounds of the town is always a treat. So that’s what we did!

I recommend one of the daily lunch special options. It comes with a main bite, side salad or cup of soup, and a glass of house wine for $14. It’s the perfect amount!

Taking in Some Art

Broad Street is also known as Gallery Row, so after lunch we wandered in and out of some of our favorite galleries on Broad and eventually to a few on King Street as well. This area is town is absolutely full of gorgeous galleries so find some that speak to you and enjoy! Some of our favorites are: Edward Dare Gallery and Ella Walton Richardson Fine Art on Broad, and then Rick Reinert’s impressionist gallery on King. You can often catch Rick in his gallery while he’s working on a piece and he is wonderful to talk to.

You’re also very close to the Gibbes Museum of Art at this point. We didn’t go in on this particular day, but it is absolutely worth the visit if you have the time.

Shop, Sip, & Snack on King

King Street is the place to go for shopping in downtown Charleston. Some of our stops included: etúHome, a French-inspired home store, and Candlefish where you can find a library of 100 one-of-a-kind scents created in Charleston.

We turned just off of King onto Society Street to grab a mid-day coffee and snack from Christophe’s Chocolatier & Café. They have the best French pressed coffee, pastries, macarons, chocolate, etc. And there’s a small, tucked away and nicely shaded little courtyard in the back where you can rest your legs and eat your treats. So so good.

Finishing With a French Dinner

After our snack we filled the rest of the day with a wander through the neighborhoods and parks of downtown, and then finished the day with the best French dinner at 39 Rue de Jean. My personal recommendations: the French onion soup, duck tartine, or seared foie gras for a starter, and the steak frite for the main (although absolutely everything looks amazing). Our food looked so good when they brought it to the table that I completely forgot to take any pictures of it, but here’s a photo from 39 Rue de Jean’s Instagram page to drool over:

Our French-inspired day was such a beautiful and intentional way to spend a day downtown. I highly recommend this particular adventure if you find yourself in Charleston, but obviously this is such a great way to put together a day in any city. Savourer the day!