Beaches, biking trails, parks, playgrounds, pools with slides, condos instead of hotels, scheduled activities, 30 min drive to Charleston…the list goes on and on when you describe the amazing amenities of a trip to Kiawah Island, South Carolina.
We are a family of 5 from Central Indiana and traveled to Kiawah for the first time in 2024 when our kids were 6, 3.5, and 18 months. We loved it so much we booked a second trip before we left the first one. Below is everything you need to know about planning a trip here and why we love it!
Travel:
We are traveling from Central Indiana which makes it manageable to drive or fly. There are pros and cons to both! The drive is ~12 hours from the Indianapolis area. We drove our first year and broke up the drive in two trips. We stayed at this Knoxviille, TN hotel both ways and it was a great hotel, right off the highway. It’s about half way through the drive. We wished we would have driven farther on the first day when starting our trip and saved a shorter distance for the day 2 drive, but it seemed to work well on the way home.
You will need a car during your vacation in Kiawah. While everything at the resort is walkable/bikeable, if you want to venture into Charleston or another beach nearby, you will want to drive!
You can also fly into the Charleston airport and rent a car to then drive to Kiawah, ~40 min drive. Downside to this is there aren’t any direct flights to Charleston from the Indianapolis airport. We are opting to fly this year and connect in Chicago before heading to Charleston, and then renting a car at the airport.
Where to Stay:
I highly recommend staying at the Kiawah Island Golf Resort and booking directly through their website. Don’t worry if you are not a golfer! We didn’t play a single round of golf this year and it was still the most magical, family friendly vacation spot.
There is a hotel on the resort property called the Sanctuary. It is STUNNING, but I would not recommend staying there as a family. There are lots of Villas/Condos available for rent on their site and you will get the full rental to yourselves. Hello putting the kids to bed and not having to go to bed yourselves!
You can find villas/condos on resort property on AirBnb/VRBO sites, but I’d highly recommend booking directly from the resort website. This is the only way you can guarantee access to the pools, bike rentals, and other amenities.
We like to stay in East Beach near Night Heron Park. The resort is HUGE with over 10 miles of beach front. Night Heron Park is where the pools, playgrounds, and nature center are located. It’s also home to The Nest, which is the CUTEST little market/cafe where we ate breakfast most mornings before heading to the pool.
Things To Do:
Night Heron Park: We spent a lot of time in this area located in East Beach. It’s home to basketball courts, nature center, kids art studio, The Nest Market, and the pools. We stayed in a beachfront villa in the Windswept Condo complex and it was a less than 5 minute walk to Night Heron Park.
Family Pool and Children’s Pool: Night Heron has two pools open for resort guests. The family pool is more of a traditional open pool with a few shallow ends for littles to sit and splash around in. The Children’s pool has a zero entry splash pad, little water slide, and then two big water slides for bigger kids to enjoy. We spent a lot of time here. It was incredible. Read: my husband and I actually got to sit down on vacation and watch the kids play because they were enjoying themselves so much and we could see all 3 of them at the same time. GOLD.
Bike Rentals: The resort is best explored by bike! You can rent bikes at the resort when you arrive and pick them up from the bike depot at the Sanctuary hotel, or you can order them in advance and have them delivered to your villa! They have adult bikes, adult trikes, kids bikes, kids bikes with training wheels, adult bikes with a tag-a-long pedal attachment for one child, AND adult bikes with a two-seater child buggy attached. We rented one adult bike, one child bike for our 6 year old, and another adult bike + a two seater buggy for the 3 and 1 year old to sit in. We biked everywhere–including the beach!
Beach: Kiawah Island Golf Resort is home to over 10 miles of hard packed beaches. They are beautiful and super easy to walk on compared to a loose sand beach (think Florida beaches). Something to note if you are traveling during a traditional Spring Break timeframe, it may only be in the low 70s during your trip, so the beach could be a little chilly. My family likes to be on the go and explore lots of activities, sitting at the beach for hours isn’t really our jam, so the Kiawah set up worked out well for us.
Charleston: The beautiful city of Charleston, SC is only ~35 min from Kiawah! There is incredible food, shopping, boat tours, and more. We went into Charleston for a day, and may do two days this next trip. We plan to explore the Charleston Pirate Tour this year!
Freshfields Village: Freshfields is a picturesque outdoor shopping & restaurant district a few miles from Kiawah Island Golf Resort. There is a grocery store, an incredible coffee shop called Java Java, shopping, and lots of great restaurants. We biked there for coffee and dinners multiple evenings. Highly recommend La Tela Pizzeria for lunch or dinner!
Resort Activities & Restaurants: The resort has an itinerary of activities posted daily with things like art classes at the art studio, archery lessons, dolphin cruises, bird walks, and more. Some activities are included as a resort guest and some you have to pay extra for, all are labeled in the schedule.
On-resort dining: We only dined at one restaurant at the resort during our time there, the The Ryder Cup Bar at the Ocean Course, and I would highly recommend it! The Ocean Course club house is stunning (for my Outer Banks fans, this is where the Kook Country Club scenes from season 1 are filmed) and the Ryder Cup Bar is family friendly with a relaxed environment and great food. You take take your family out to the practice green after dinner where they have balls and putters to play with and stretch your legs. Great spot for a photo opp with the Ocean in the background!
Golf: The resort is home to 5 different, beautiful courses–including the Ocean Course designed by Indiana native Pete Dye and home to the 2021 PGA Championship.
Tennis & Pickleball: Ranked the #1 tennis resort in the world, the facilities for both Tennis and Pickleball are plentiful at the resort.
Why We Love It:
Resort style with private residences to rent, not hotel style.
Lots of “things to do” besides go to the beach.
Pools with slides and activities.
High-end amenities and luxurious feel to property
Close to a big city to explore, but can escape back to quiet and peaceful environment to stay
Vacation destination that can grow with our family. Activities available that are fun for small kids, but others that are better for older kids.
Great food on-site and nearby
If it’s not coming through clear in the post, we LOVE Kiawah! We’ve searched for a vacation spot that checked all the boxes for our family and have struck out in the past. We are so happy to have found this spot and I hope this helps you and your family in your vacation planning! Feel free to email me with any questions you may have—keepingupincarmel@gmail.com.
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