Experience Mount Pleasant in 2025: Things To Do in Mount Pleasant, SC

Mount Pleasant offers a curious mix: century-old shrimp boats and slick catamaran sails, plantation oaks and boardwalk splash pads, indie marsh sunsets and million-square-foot warships. 

Whether you’re paddling the creek at dawn, hunting Gullah-made baskets on Highway 17, or toasting the harbor from a barstool afloat, there are more things to do in Mount Pleasant, SC than a long weekend can hold.

Looking for things to do while in town? Below is a hometown guide so you know what’s worth the detour and what can wait for next time. Come hungry, come curious, and bring an extra memory card—you’ll need it.

Top Attractions in Mount Pleasant

Exploring Shem Creek

Shem Creek is shrimp-boat central by sunrise and craft-cocktail row after dark. Rent a kayak or hop a sunset dolphin cruise. Coastal Expeditions even runs bird-sanctuary paddles that glide past roosting pelicans before the creek opens into Charleston Harbor.

Walk the boardwalk, snag bar seating at Saltwater Cowboys or Tavern & Table, and watch trawlers unload the day’s pink-shell haul while the Ravenel Bridge lights flicker beyond the marsh. (coastalexpeditions.com)

Visit Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum

This is one of Mount Pleasant’s most popular attractions. You can spot the gray hull of the USS Yorktown from half the city, but climbing aboard is a different story. Patriots Point packs nearly a million square feet of war memorials and history: WWII aircraft carrier, destroyer USS Laffey, a Vietnam river-patrol exhibit complete with incoming-fire audio, and a Medal of Honor Museum that still hushes chatty middle-schoolers. 

Plan at least three hours, grab the flight-sim ride if you like barrel rolls, and bring sunscreen—the flight deck bakes. (patriotspoint.org)

Discover Boone Hall Plantation & Gardens

Live-oak avenue? Check. Gullah cultural shows? Check. Strawberries in spring, pumpkins in fall, Lowcountry Oyster Festival every February where 80,000 pounds vanish by dusk. The 18th-century national historic plantation house tours lean more social-history than mint-julep fantasy, and the butterfly garden perks up the selfie game. 

Pro tip: weekday mornings mean smaller groups, cooler temps, and fewer folks photobombing your avenue-of-oaks shot. (boonehallplantation.com)

Outdoor Activities and Parks

Fun at Mount Pleasant Memorial Waterfront Park

Locals call it the town’s front porch for a reason: hammocks sway under the Ravenel’s cables, shrimpers sell ice-down fresh off the Mount Pleasant Pier, and kids shriek across the brand-new splash pad added in 2025. 

An exercise circuit loops the lawn, and free Thursday concerts bring beach-chair armies as the sun flames out over the Cooper River. Parking fills by 6 p.m., so pedal the Ravenel Bridge path and roll straight onto the pier if you hate circling. (charlestoncitypaper.com)

Adventures at Palmetto Islands County Park

Mount Pleasant is home to 943 acres of Lowcountry jungle without leaving town lines—think biking and walking trails through palmettos, a 50-foot observation tower, and creekside boardwalks where blue crabs skitter underfoot. 

Splash Island Waterpark cools June afternoons, and the dog park wins gold stars for shade.

The kayak dock on Boone Hall Creek means you can chase dolphins without booking a tour, though you will need a salt-water fishing license if you drop a line. (ccprc.com)

Walking Tours in the Old Village

Pitt Street’s pharmacy still scoops cherry cokes like it’s 1958, and front porches wear haint-blue ceilings to keep ghosts away. Stroll narrow sidewalks past antebellum cottages toward Pitt Street Bridge, the retired trolley causeway turned sunset runway.

Along the way, look for sweetgrass basket stands—Mount Pleasant is the craft’s homeland—and note the absence of chain anything. Cameras love the live-oak arches; your calves won’t love the brick sidewalks, so leave the stilettos in the car. (tripadvisor.com)

Unique Experiences in Charleston

Cultural Insights at the Charleston Museum

Ten minutes over the bridge sits America’s first museum—founded in 1773 and still unpacking attic treasures. The natural-history wing shows a giant sloth that once roamed the Carolinas; upstairs, indigo-dyed gowns share space with Civil War relics. Temporary exhibits rotate quarterly—2025’s headliner is “Rice & Resistance,” pairing Lowcountry agriculture with Gullah storytelling. It’s air-conditioned, rarely crowded, and pairs well with a lunch wander down nearby King Street. (charlestonmuseum.org)

Catamaran Tours and Coastal Adventures

If Shem Creek kayaks feel too DIY, step aboard the 50-foot Palmetto Breeze catamaran. With room for 100, a barefoot bar, and sunset routes that glide past Fort Sumter before angling under the Ravenel, it’s basically a floating patio.

Two-hour public sails run about forty bucks; private charters book up for weddings months out. Arrive early—free spots on the boardwalk lot go fast, and the first to board score the cushioned nets up front. (palmettobreeze.com)

Pitt Street Bridge: A Scenic Spot

Locals swear the best Ravenel photos come from the end of this long-retired trolley line. The bridge now doubles as a narrow park where fishermen trade crab lines for gossip, herons stalk the pluff mud, and dog walkers time their strolls to the pastel twilight.

Bring binoculars—bottlenose dolphins cruise the channel on slack tide.

Parking’s slim, but that scarcity keeps the vibe hushed, especially at dawn when marsh fog blurs the skyline. (charlestoncvb.com)

Planning Your Visit to Mount Pleasant in 2025

Get Your Free Travel Planner

The town’s tourism bureau drops a fat, photo-heavy planner every spring—free PDF or snail-mail copy if you prefer dog-eared pages. Beyond the usual maps and festival dates, the 2025 edition flags kayak launches, electric-vehicle chargers, and updated FEMA flood-zone changes. (experiencemountpleasant.com)

Best Times to Visit Mount Pleasant

Late March through early May nails the Goldilocks combo: azaleas pop, humidity hasn’t hit swamp levels, and hotel rates dip between spring-breakers and summer wedding packs.

October’s runner-up: hurricane season’s final gasp but perfect shrimping weather—watch trawlers parade Shem Creek with nets flying teal ribbons for Blessing of the Fleet. 

Visitor Information

Safety-wise, Mount Pleasant posts a violent-crime rate of just 1 per 1,000 residents and property-crime odds of roughly 1 in 76—far under downtown Charleston numbers and comfortably below the national median. (neighborhoodscout.com)

CARTA buses stop shy of suburban cul-de-sacs, so rideshares or rental cars make life easier.

Parking is free almost everywhere except Shem Creek after 4 p.m. and Waterfront Park’s deck during events.

Most restaurants still close by 10 on weeknights—grab last call snacks downtown if you’re a midnight-munchies type.

Things to Do in Mount Pleasant, SC FAQs

Is Mount Pleasant walkable, or do I need a car?

Coleman Boulevard and Old Village are strollable; everything north of Highway 17 sprawls. A car means beach runs and plantation tours without pricey rideshares.

What’s the real chance of running into crime as a visitor?

Statistics give you about a one-in-685 shot of violent trouble and one-in-76 odds of petty theft. (neighborhoodscout.com)

Can I visit Patriots Point and Boone Hall in the same day?

Yes—plan three hours aboard the Yorktown, grab lunch on Shem Creek (it’s on the way), then head twelve minutes up Highway 17 to Boone Hall for a late-afternoon Gullah show and garden stroll.

Where’s the best sunset in Mount Pleasant?

Pitt Street Bridge edges out Shem Creek by a hair: fewer crowds, 360-degree marsh views, and the Ravenel’s silhouette glowing gold. Get there thirty minutes before sundown to snag rail space.