Rainbow Row

How can you not love the famous Rainbow Row? This is a great spot to take some photos– especially of the homes that have beautiful window boxes full of flowers! I wish I could have knocked on doors and asked people to move their cars so I could get a car-​free picture of all houses but c’est la vie!

Such a picturesque and much photographed row of homes! Definitely stop by and take some pictures of your own — especially it’s your first trip to Charleston! I’d start in White Point Garden and walk along Battery until it turns into Bay Street — where Rainbow Row is! You’ll see so many beautiful, beautiful homes!

Rainbow Row is a must-​see in Charleston, simply because it’s «famous,» but the row itself definitely isn’t the most jaw-​dropping of homes in the town. The Battery neighborhood is something to behold – gorgeous, well-​kept mansions on cobblestone streets, complete with manicured lawns, trees and shrubs, right along the bay.
Totally different architecture and vibe, but reminiscent of The Painted Ladies in San Francisco.

A must see! Walk along the battery and take in the history.

Great place to see while you’re in Charleston. It’s quiet and the history and architecture is wonderful to look out. The thrill of it did not last that long after we arrived, but I’m glad I am now able to say I’ve been there and have pictures. If you’re going to be in Charleston for any amount of time, make this a place you stop and see.

Cute set of row homes but honestly, the homes from the Battery up King Street are more charming. These kind of look like brightly painted condos.

Quaint doesn’t begin to cover it. To me it’s the best thing to see in Charleston, and it’s free.

This is a great place to walk by when going to Waterfront Park and then the Battery in Charleston. The iconic house are truly beautiful and are a great piece of historic Charleston. You don’t need to spend a ton of time here but it is worth walking by.

Not much to it but I’d recommend the walk or drive by on the historic sense. I enjoyed reading about not only rainbow row but all of the various homes nearby. It is also very close to beautiful battery and water.

Entirely attractive and so very short. I wish it went on forever. Step across the street and set those cameras to panoramic view!

Alway’s enjoy taking a stroll down rainbow row anytime i’m in Charleston, SC and always attempting to get «the shot» that i really like but i typically don’t actaully get the picture i really hoped for. Neat piece of history to walk by, Don’t forget though you’re looking at people’s homes so don’t get too nosey.

It’s really pretty. Not just the houses but everything around it also. it definitely was a nice pit stop to get out of the car and walk around and take some pictures.

It is such a pretty little strip to walk/​drive by. The houses are beautiful and very unique to Charleston. It certainly would be considered a tourist attraction, but I am a tourist. I agree with others that it isn’t a «must see» but it is something to do while in Charleston.

Drove past them… missed them. Drove back… missed them again. Finally saw them and said, «Huh?» These same type houses (and colors) aren’t necessarily unique. Perhaps there is something I am missing… it’s a landmark for the street, at best.

Each and every house along Rainbow Row is nicer and more impressive than the next… simply put, it’s quite impressive, but I don’t think most people even know where Rainbow Row starts and ends (no worries, I’ll explain).
They (and by «they» I mean locals) say Rainbow Row is the most photographed street in Charleston. Technically Rainbow Row is limited to just 13 buildings (houses) along East Bay Street (between Tradd Street and Elliott Street)… anything north and south of these historic streets is not Rainbow Row.
People seem to walk up and down East Bay Street thinking it’s all Rainbow Row… kinda amusing. I even met some tourists walking south all the way down to where East Bay Street becomes East Battery (lovely raised walkway along the Charleston Harbor) and they commented how lovely Rainbow Row is (I pointed them back to the corrected location).
So I just took a moment to see some of the pictures posted on Unilocal of Rainbow Row and guess what… there are at least 3 pictures that ARE NOT Rainbow Row. One of them is exactly the mistake I noted above (the raised walkway along the bay); a couple others are just great homes but they aren’t Rainbow Row.
With all this being said… YES, I photographed Rainbow Row too.

Rainbow Row was a fairly pretty place. There wasn’t really much to do here besides look at the quaint scene of the buildings. I wouldn’t say it’s a must see but I would recommend it to those who aren’t sure what to do in Charleston. Good thing it’s right by the battery and harbor.

Definitely touristy but worth a look!

There’s not much to Rainbow Row outside of the obligatory picture while you’re in Charleston. Start your walk from Waterfront Park, Rainbow Row is at the midpoint, and proceed to White Point Gardens AKA The Battery at the tail end.
The best way to photograph Rainbow Row is to start from 99 East Bay Street and take an angled picture of the block (pink /​light blue /​green house with the street lamp).

A block of houses all in different colors. We didn’t take a tour so can’t tell you too much about the history of it but we learned interesting tidbits from some of the other Unilocal reviews. This is an icon of Charleston so it is a must see from that sense but not terribly interesting otherwise.

Many of the homes are crooked, THICK with paint and have visible repair to their stucco and foundations… but after a city tour we discovered why. These homes and building suffered great damage during the 1886 earthquake. It was interesting to learn about the earthquake bolts (you can easy see) that were installed on many of these historic homes after that event. It was also interesting to learn about the city ordinance that will not allow you to change the color of your home or why the homes are narrow, but very deep in length. Influences like government taxes of the period charged you more for your homes frontage, which made owning wider homes more expensive. Living on a corner indicated you had more wealth (or so our tour guide told us).
I personally couldn’t imagine spending millions of dollars to own one of these homes, simply because they require tremendous upkeep and repair. My symmetrical personality would not allow me to live in a home with creaky, severly unlevel floors or porches that appear to be leaning. But then again, I don’t have millions of dollars to spare, so what do I know. Overall, Rainbow Row and the surrounding area make for an interesting day of «touristy» things to do.
Charleston is best visited with some sort of guide or facts sheet to help bring to life the history you might not appreciate by just walking it’s streets. Every inch of it has you crossing footsteps with former Presidents, signers of the Declaration of Independence, merchant giants, tv personalities, famous writers and even the owners of the Piggly Wiggly stores… yet you would never know by it’s appearance.