COLUMBIA, S.C. — One of the nation’s hottest travel destinations for 2022 is in South Carolina, a new report finds.
The tourist town of Charleston ranks No. 2 on a list of up-and-coming places to visit. It’s also the third-best place in the United States for food lovers, according to findings from Tripadvisor.
To come up with the list, the website studied travelers’ ratings and reviews to determine year-over-year growth. Using data from Nov. 1, 2020, to Oct. 31, 2021, Tripadvisor also considered restaurants, activities and places to stay in destinations around the world, according to results published in January.
The results were divided into several lists, including the most trendy and popular locations as well as those that are best suited for people who enjoy food, big cities, sunshine, skiing and the outdoors.
Charleston made the lists of trending U.S. destinations and foodie hotspots, becoming the only Palmetto State destination to crack the top 10 in those categories. Tripadvisor gave the city a nod for having a setting that takes visitors back in time.
“Historic Charleston is bursting with Southern charm and hospitality,” the travel website said in its report.
In Charleston, when you’re not checking out Waterfront Park and other attractions, Tripadvisor recommends going on a food tour or taking a cooking class. It may not be a bad decision in a place that’s home to several top-ranking restaurants.
In 2021, a Charleston ice cream shop was named the state’s best place to grab dessert, and The New York Times said one of the city’s soul food restaurants was among the U.S. eateries it’s “excited about right now.”
More recently, the restaurant review website Yelp named two restaurants in nearby North Charleston among the best in the nation, McClatchy News reported.
But the Charleston area was snubbed on another recent food list. A Hilton Head Island bistro was the only one in the state to make it onto OpenTable’s list of top U.S. places to get a meal.
This time around, Tripadvisor said New York was the best city for food lovers. Rounding out the top five were New Orleans; Miami Beach, Florida; and Savannah, Georgia.
Also, rankings show the hottest travel destination in the country was the Big Island in Hawaii. Other places in the top five for that category were Branson, Missouri; Moab, Utah; and Fort Myers Beach, Florida.
On a global scale, the highest honor for food went to Rome, and the top-trending place was Majorca, an island off the coast of Spain.
While no other South Carolina city earned a top 10 spot, Hilton Head Island made it further down in the rankings. It was named No. 21 on a list of the most popular U.S. destinations, a measure of places that are “most loved” and receive high ratings, Tripadvisor said.
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