Kiawah Island with Kids

Looking for the perfect Carolinas family beach vacation? Here's what you need to know about visiting Kiawah Island with kids!

One of our very very favorite places to go for a staycation here in Charleston South Carolina is Kiawah Island. It is about 30 minutes from our house but it feels like a whole different world.

If you are looking for a beach destination in the Carolinas that feels like you are deep in nature, and not just in another one of those strip towns on the ocean up and down the coast, I cannot recommend Kiawah enough.

It is a higher cost destination, but oh my goodness is it lovely. Here's everything that you need to know about visiting Kiawah with kids.

Kiawah Island with Kids

Here are our best tips for visiting Kiawah with kids!

Where to Stay

You have a few options when you stay at Kiawah.

Maybe the easiest is to stay at the Sanctuary Hotel. This is just like a traditional hotel, but very high-end and very luxurious.

We have never actually stayed there because the cost is, in my opinion, outrageous per night.

The other option is to rent a home for your stay. This could be anything from a one bedroom condo, to a small cottage, to a large house. There is really something for everybody and any group size.

We find it much more cost-effective and we get a lot more space to rent a home. We have rented both condos on Night Heron Park and the cottages at Night Heron Park.

We personally prefer the cottages when they are available, but the condos are totally fine too, especially if you can get an upstairs unit.

Another benefit is that there are a lot of pet friendly rentals available. You can rent through Kiawah resort directly.

The benefit of this is that you get access to all of the Kiawah amenities, including the pools and water park if you rent through them.

If you are staying at Night Heron Park during the spring summer or fall when the pools are open and will be traveling with kids, I highly recommend booking directly through Kiawah.

The first time we visited, we did not, and our kids were begging to go to the waterpark, and though we tried to buy our way in, they literally would not let us in.

If you're traveling in the off-season, or don't care about the pools in water park, there are several other companies that do rentals in Kiawah, including Akers Ellis, and of course, Airbnb or VRBO.

Do research and compare prices and assess the benefits to you!

The Beach

One of my favorite parts about visiting Kiawah is the beach. The beach is generally very deep and very flat. It's lovely!

Because the entire resort is gated, there are not a ton of people on the beach. I love how calm and not-crowded it feels.

Very few of the rental units are located beachfront. The majority of them you will have to walk to the beach. We always pack our bikes and prefer to bike usually.

There are lots of beach access, points, and some of the more popular ones even have bathrooms and foot wash areas.

We love going to the beach, digging in the sand, playing in the water. Kiawah typically does not have a lot of seashells, but you can find some sometimes and you never know what will wash up.

The Pools

Kiawah has a few pools available to rental guests who rent through Kiawah directly. Most notably, there is a pool area at Night Heron park. It includes a lap pool with a small baby type area as well as the waterpark.

The waterpark has a lot of splash pad type squirters and dumpers, a small alligator slide, and two large slides for the big kids. My kids could stay there all day! Typically we do beach in the morning, pool in the afternoon.

There is also a restaurant at the pool where you can get pool-bar type food including chicken fingers, sandwiches, salads, french fries, and lots of frozen drinks.

Night Heron Park

In addition to the pool area, there are a lot of fun things for kids at Night Heron Park.

There's a really big and nice playground that my kids love. There is a frisbee golf course, basketball court, and a few other very niche sports courts.

There's also cornhole and ping-pong.

In addition to the outdoor activities, there is a nature center with native animals on display. The nature center has a rotating scavenger hunt for kids that can be a lot of fun.

There's also the Nest which is a little grocery store that has some ready to cook food and also does breakfast and lunch. It is quite pricey, but it is an option.

Kiawah is also building a brand new recreation building right next to the pool. It is going to have bowling lanes, a golf simulator, an art studio, and a new larger nature center. I can't wait for it to open!

Outdoor Activities

Outside of Night Heron Park, our favorite outdoor activity at Kiawah is biking. There are miles and miles of biking trails and so much to see.

Grab a map at the gate when you check in and you can see that there are several lookout towers around the island. We love to bike to them and see the beautiful marsh views.

Then of course there is also golf and tennis. I don't play golf or tennis so I cannot comment, that my husband has played the Ocean Course with his dad. They are beautiful courses just get your teetime early if you want to play!

Where to Eat

There are a few restaurants on Kiawah.

The golf course clubhouses all have restaurants.

We love to take the kids to the restaurant at Osprey point clubhouse. It's barbecue and we sit outside on the covered deck. We have sat there in the hot sun and in the pouring rain, and it is always comfortable. The mac & cheese there is one of my son's favorite foods in the whole world.

There's also a restaurant at the hotel, and as I mentioned the nest at night heron park for more casual food.

If you were staying for a while, I recommend venturing outside of Kiawah and eating.

Freshfields is the shopping center right outside the gate. They have a Harris Teeter grocery store in addition to several restaurants and an ice cream place.

This is going to be your best option for convenient, but cheaper food compared to eating in actual Kiawah Resort.

You also could of course drive downtown Charleston to eat, but it is quite the drive. I do not recommend it unless you really really want to go.