Charleston, SC
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No visit to Charleston is complete without a side trip to one of the imposing plantations. Consider the 1740s Drayton Hall, the only extant antebellum mansion along the Ashley River (it's unfurnished, however); and Middleton Place, a 1741 spread whose colorful gardens are the oldest in the country.

Charleston specializes in Lowcountry cuisine, which blends soul, Creole, and traditional Southern recipes and takes advantage of the region's bounty of local seafood. One of the best restaurants in the region, Peninsula Grill recalls the vibe of an elegant, vintage supper club and serves such innovative fare as skillet-seared Carolina mountain trout with mango brown butter sauce and sundried tomato-grits. The same owners operate nearby Hank's, a similarly esteemed restaurant that specializes in delicious retro fare, such as shrimp and grits, plus broiled and fried seafood platters. Head to Slightly North of Broad (aka "S.N.O.B.") for delicious yet relatively affordable New Southern cooking with flawless service and several seats facing directly into the high-tech kitchen.

Another of the city's purveyors of reinvented Southern fare is Anson, which is housed within a handsome former warehouse and serves such revelatory creations as cornmeal-dusted okra with chili oil and goat cheese, and fried double-cut pork chop with potato puree, collard greens, and creamy onion gravy. Set in an intimate 1837 house in the Upper King Street neighborhood, the aptly named Fish serves first-rate seafood at reasonable prices. Try roasted-corn-and-crawfish chowder, followed by mahimahi with butternut squash puree, shiitake-mushroom-and-sherry reduction.

Just down the street, grab dessert at Cupcake, a diminutive storefront that bakes unbelievably rich and moist cupcakes in about 25 tantalizing flavors, including red velvet and banana-butterscotch. A favorite restaurant with the gay community is Vickery's, the Charleston outpost of a popular Atlanta restaurant that serves such tasty and affordable Caribbean, Cuban, and Lowcountry cooking as grilled jerk chicken, black bean cakes, and fried-green-tomato turnovers.

Charleston's gay nightlife is limited, but the few options are friendly and fun. The two main gay nightspots, operated by the same owner, sit a couple of doors from each other, just off the increasingly gentrified upper end of King Street - about a 15-minute walk north of the heart of the historic Market Street area. Of the two, convivial Dudley's Pub is the best spot to mingle with friends or meet new ones. It consists of an attractive little bar up front and a pool room in back. The larger venue is Pantheon, a hopping dance club with go-go dancers, a DJ spinning pulsing music, and drag shows some evenings. The remaining gay option is Patrick's Pub & Grill, a friendly neighborhood spot that's a 15-minute drive from downtown. You'll find all kinds of fun theme nights here, from Disco Inferno Wednesdays to female-impersonation cabarets on Saturdays.
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