During the seventeen days when the annual Spoleto Festival reigns, art aficionados flock to Charleston for back-to-back premieres of new works of theater, music and dance. However, during the rest of the year, this South Carolina city remains just as much a vibrant cultural destination—it's just a little less crowded.

Twenty years ago, outsiders often dismissed Charleston as a sleepy southern town—a place to drive through on the way to the beach rather than a destination in itself. While Charlestonians knew this to be false, they kept their secret to themselves. These days, tourists are attracted to the city for its food, history and picturesque streets.

Downtown Charleston is situated on a peninsula jutting into Charleston Harbor, sandwiched between the Ashley and Cooper Rivers, meaning its history was tied to its position as a port. Locals, proud of their city, will tell you that Charleston is where the Ashley and Cooper come together to form the Atlantic Ocean. The city had the “fortune” of a slow economy from the post-Civil War years to the late 1970’s, so that urban renewal—which turned many city centers across the United States into jungles of modern cement buildings—passed by the city.

Charleston is at the heart of Low Country—a low-lying costal area running from the Carolinas to Georgia, replete with marshes and swamps and encompassing the barrier island that protects the mainland from the Atlantic’s fierce waters. The Low Country is also home to the Gullah, an African American people whose ancestors arrived with the slave trade and who still retain strong West African cultural traditions—from their language, which is an English-based Creole, to their traditions of storytelling and folk music.

The city is infused with history—South Carolina was a founding colony and played a pivotal role in the Civil War—nearby Fort Sumter was the site of the first skirmish of the Civil War and still sits at the mouth of the harbor. Walking across the peninsula today, you will find houses, hotels and shops that have been restored to their antebellum glory, providing a suitably romantic backdrop to your trip. The streets are lined with elegant homes and narrow alleys connect cobblestone streets, while walkways dead-end at hidden colonial cemeteries.

Charleston is known as the “Holy City” and its church-spire spotted skyline is a testament to its many religious denominations since Charleston was the first colonial city to ensure religious freedom to its residents. Most of the churches are welcoming of visitors but avoid visiting during services. St. Philip’s Church and St. Michael’s Church are two of the oldest in Charleston, though neither are in their original buildings. Walk through the churches’ graveyards and discover buried confederate statesmen and soldiers (open to the public Mon-Fri 10am-12pm and 2pm-4pm). John Rutledge (1739-1800), once a delegate to the Continental Congress, is buried in St. Michael's Churchyard and John C. Calhoun (1782-1850), a former Vice President, is buried at St Philip’s Churchyard.

To understand the role art has played in the city's transformation from a cotton-producing port to what it is today, explore the Gibbes Museum’s collection of Low Country and plantation art (website). Art festivals have also become intrinsic to the city’s cultural fabric. During the Spoleto Festival in late May, hundreds of art, music, theater and dance performances occur. With the success of this internationally renowned event other art festivals have started, such as the MOJA Arts Festival, a celebration of African-American and Caribbean Art, which takes place every fall.

The picturesque, brightly colored houses of 83-107 East Bay Street, dating from the mid-1700s, are on every tour guide’s route, but walk Rainbow Row yourself and take photos of this postcard-worthy street. Charleston is also home to the oldest theater building in the United States, the Dock Street Theater, and one of South Carolina’s oldest community theater groups, The Footlight Players. The Dock Street Theatre was established at its current location in 1736 but is now housed in the shell of an old hotel that the theater took over in 1930. However, the theater is currently under a three-year renovation but should re-open in 2010.

Over the past two decades, Charleston has become a culinary destination. Years ago, the culinary establishment sneered at Low Country food—okra was called slimy, shrimp n’ grits strange, and anything fried was considered lowbrow. But soon outsiders began tasting grits and marveling at their creamy texture. Next, "she-crab soup"—a chowder/bisque made with blue crab meat, crab roe and a requisite shot of sherry—caught the attention of palates outside the region. Soon, top chefs, appreciating the Charlestonians' sophisticated palates and the city’s laidback atmosphere, began moving there and local chefs started using traditional Low Country recipes and elevated them to international gourmet standards. Today visitors now make dinner reservations as quickly as they organize their hotels.

As a coastal city, Charleston has numerous beaches within a half-hour drive. Thirty-five minutes south is Kiawah Island’s Beachwalker Park, with its windblown dune beach and Ocean Course golf course, home of the 2012 PGA Championship, as well as four other Kiawah Resort courses. But look out for alligators as they have been known to wander onto Kiawah’s greens!

Folly Beach's large county park and 1,045 foot fishing pier is just 11 miles from downtown Charleston. Watch the pelicans fly by as you eat at Locklear’s Beach City Grill on the pier, and don’t be surprised to see porpoises swimming by in the ocean.

Sullivan’s Island and Isle of Palms, two other barrier islands, have beautiful beaches and a quieter, residential feel. Mount Pleasant's Patriot’s Point golf course, located near the World War II aircraft carrier, the Yorktown, is a local favorite. And for a more adventurous outdoor pursuit, Charleston Scuba (website) schedules dives off the Atlantic shelf where you’ll swim alongside porpoises, sharks and giant sea turtles.

Charleston is home to many sports teams, and on a hot summer night you'll find locals watching the Battery, a professional soccer team that plays at Blackbaud Stadium, or the River Dogs, a minor league baseball team out of Joseph P. Riley Jr. Park, which overlooks the river. In the winter the Stingrays, an ice hockey team affiliated with the Washington Capitals, plays at the North Charleston Coliseum. And every April, the Family Circle Tennis Cup is played at Daniel Island.

Be seduced by Charleston's historical past and its excitingly vibrant present. With its myriad attractions, from fashion and shopping to beaches and food, every day can be an exploration of something new.