South Carolina, United States

The Dunlin

Price per night from$525.62

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (inclusive of taxes and fees) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (USD525.62), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

The Dunlin Photos

Style

Pretty as a peach

Setting

Naturalists’ nirvana

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Despite its Lowcountry locale, The Dunlin hits all the high notes. Idyllically set along the 2,000-acre Kiawah Riverfront, this Auberge-helmed hotel has all the trappings for an adventurous Sea Islands sojourn, including fine-tuned itineraries that tailor activities to you. But calming, coastal interiors, a soul-soothing spa, cabana-flanked pool and clutch of farm-to-fork restaurants put R’n’R high on the priority list, too. 

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Facilities

Photos The Dunlin facilities

Need to know

Rooms

72, including 20 suites.

Check–Out

4pm, and check-in is at 11am. Both are flexible, on request and subject to availability.

More details

Rates don’t include breakfast, but à la carte options are available at Linette’s for an extra charge.

Also

Some of the Riverfront King and Dunlin Double Queen rooms and a Saltgrass Suite have all been adapted for guests with limited hearing and mobility. Rooms are equipped with roll-in showers, grab bars, visual fire alarms, door bell and knocking indicators, and flashing TTY phones. There’s elevator access; the hotel’s communal spaces (including the spa and swimming pool), entrances and walkways are all accessible, and there are disabled restrooms throughout.

At the hotel

Public beach nearby, private dock, bikes to borrow, farm, relaxation gardens, tennis and pickleball courts, charged laundry service and free WiFi throughout. In rooms: TV, Bluetooth speaker, minibar, Nespresso coffee machine, tea-making kit, free bottled water and bespoke bath products.

Our favourite rooms

All picks come with private porches or terraces, and most are framed with boundless views of the Kiawah River. But our eyes are firmly on the Saltgrass and Seabrook Suites with Tubs for their in-room soaking spots that invite amatory evenings à deux. If you aren’t here to honeymoon, the two-bedroom suites are sprawling options for families.

Poolside

Dosed in the balmy South Carolina sun come May, the outdoor swimming pool and hot tub are set-up for idling with private cabanas, mint-green loungers and riverfront panoramas.

Spa

Naturalists will be in their element at the Aster Spa (open from 9am to 6pm), where locally made honey is the central ingredient in all restorative offerings. There are full-body scrubs, deep tissue massages and age-defying facials; as well as a relaxation lounge with organic snacks and detoxifying teas. There’s also a sauna and steam room over at the fitness-focused Spring House.

Packing tips

Leave space to bring a local South Carolina cook book back, you won’t want to forget these flavors.

Also

The Spring House hosts a tricked-out gym, as well as a daily roster of yoga, pilates and mat classes — just check the morning’s schedule for timings.

Pet‐friendly

Up to two pups are allowed for a flat fee of $150 each. See more pet-friendly hotels in South Carolina.

Children

Welcome; Camp Dunby — the hotel’s kids’ club — can be booked on request, and most of the hotel’s rooms and suites can interconnect to accommodate larger groups.

Sustainability efforts

With its setting on South Carolina’s bioactive Sea Islands, it was essential that everything at The Dunlin be designed with the environment in mind. The architecture was built to co-exist peacefully with local wildlife; there’s no single-use plastic on-site, and rigorous recycling schemes are in place throughout. All three eateries source their produce from local suppliers, and guests are encouraged to take part in activities that offer insights into the preservation of Johns Island’s habitat.

Food and Drink

Photos The Dunlin food and drink

Top Table

Score an alfresco table at Linette’s during the summer, and one at the window-watching banquette come colder months. Private cabanas at the Cove make for idyllic afternoons, too.

Dress Code

Take cues from your natural surroundings and go for greens.

Hotel restaurant

Named for one of the marshes’ shore birds, it’s only apt that dining at The Dunlin tells a tale of Lowcountry cuisine. Linnette’s starts days off with honey-dressed cornbread, whipped yogurts and all-sorts-of eggs; dinner showcases the morning’s catch, paired with the Sea Islands’ signature red peas and ethically sourced sides. There’s fresh coffee and pastries over in the lounge-like Willet Room, and sharing plates of wood-fired oysters flow into the evening. If you’re taking your sunbathing seriously, have light lunches delivered straight to your poolside lounger from the Cove.

Hotel bar

Craft concoctions at Linnette’s bird-shaped bar take flight with punchy spirits and creative combinations. There’s live music, cocktails and a lengthy list of whiskeys to sample at the Willet Room, and the Cove is your hangout for fresh smoothies and poolside palomas.

Last orders

Brunch at Linnette’s is 7am to 2pm, and dinner is 5pm to 10pm. The Willet Room opens from 6am till 10pm (11pm, Friday to Saturday), and the Cove serves from noon till 4pm.

Room service

Available from a separate menu between 7am and 10pm.

Location

Photos The Dunlin location
Address
The Dunlin
6000 Kiawah River Drive
Johns Island
29455
United States

The Dunlin sits along the 2,000-acre stretch of Kiawah Riverfront on South Carolina’s Johns Island, just outside Charleston.

Planes

Most major hubs fly to Charleston International Airport, which is around 45 minutes away from the hotel by car. Private transfers can be arranged from $240 each way.

Automobiles

A car won’t be essential on the island, but if you’re planning on exploring its corner, then a set of wheels will be handy, and the hotel has a fleet of Mercedes to rent from. There’s also free valet parking on-site.

Worth getting out of bed for

The Dunlin’s location along the Kiawah Riverfront puts back-to-nature pursuits at the forefront of daily activities. Bespoke programmes will be tailored to you, but options include cycling and hiking along the wooded trails, birdwatching on the tidal flats, and guided river safaris through the salt marshes. Pick up a canoe or paddleboard, or charter a boat, if you’d rather be at one with the water; and instructors are on call for those who want to try their hand at fishing. Sunrise kayaking is a scenic way to start mornings, and picnic baskets can be made up for secluded, post-paddle brunches. Night owls may prefer the once-monthly evening kayaking sessions that coincide with the full moon.

Back at the hotel, pastimes take a slower pace with flower foraging and arranging, candle-making classes, yoga, open-to-all games of Mahjong and visits to the hotel farm’s resident goats, chickens, cows and pigs. There are tennis and pickleball courts, too, for those who’d rather unwind with a match. 

Local restaurants

For dinner out, you’ll have to make the 20-minute drive to the island's happening center, where Wild Olive plates homemade pasta and wood-flamed pizzas with a biblical pick of wine pairings. For super-fresh local seafood, secure a table at the Royal Tern — a family-run restaurant that draws habitués for its flavor-packed platters of oysters, shrimp and scallops.

Local cafés

In Freshfields Village, Café Eugenia prioritizes provenance in its laidback, all-American menus, featuring brimming-with-bacon sandwiches, avocado toast and a sugar-sweet selection of handmade pastries.

Reviews

Photos The Dunlin reviews

Anonymous review

By Mr & Mrs Smith

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this Sea Islands hotel in South Carolina and unpacked their wicker finds and walking boots, a full account of their riverfront break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside The Dunlin on Johns Island…

Way out yonder, where the crawdads sing might be the stand-out from a certain Delia Owens tale, but its meaning encompasses life at The Dunlin with equal aptitude. 

Set on Johns Island, in South Carolina’s Lowcountry, this all-frills hotel beams bright, with a clutch of trad rooms and suites imbued by your Southern setting. But cheerful colour schemes and coastal accents aren’t all that nod to your Earth-kind locale, as the trio of revered restaurants puts island-made produce first, healing treatments at the standalone spa spotlight freshly harvested honey, and an alfresco pool keeps one eye on the Kiawah River. Bespoke programming puts you close to the action, filling itineraries with on-the-water excursions and ashore adventures for all ages. If creative pursuits come more naturally, there’s an abundance of workshops back at base and punchy elixirs to get the ideas flowing. 

Gather around the fire pits come evening — marshmallows toasting, and you too, might catch the crawdads’ gentle tune...

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