Walking is a terrific exercise for your back. When you walk — even at a leisurely pace — you give your legs and feet a workout. Walking is good for your balance, your muscles and your bones. So a Charleston walking tour is a perfect activity to strengthen your back or recover from a spinal procedure.

As it turns out, many Charleston walking tours already exist. You can choose something leisurely or something invigorating. While the Southeastern Spine Institute (SSI) doesn’t endorse any of these tours, the doctors all agree that anything that gets you up and moving can benefit your health. So choose one the Charleston walking tours or make up your own.

The Many Charleston Walking Tours

• The Free Tours by Foot isn’t really free, but is advertised as “name your own price.” The company provides professional, licensed tour guides to show you around the city. At the end of the tour, you pay whatever you think it was worth! There’s a morning tour and an afternoon tour to choose from.
• Charleston Sole Walking Tours provides two-hour tours that cover an easy 1.5 miles. Charleston Sole helps you get to know the city and its history through stories and legends. They even have scavenger hunts!
• Charleston Footprints Walking Tours puts you in the hands of native Michael Trouche, who’s written two books about the city. He knows the ins and outs of Charleston’s history, architecture, culture and more. On one of his two-hour tours (either in the morning or the afternoon), you’ll learn quite a bit about the Holy City.
• Bulldog Tours offers something for everyone: history tours, ghost tours and food tours! With so many options and so many times, you can fit one of these Charleston walking tours into your schedule.
• Charleston Culinary Tours have tours of two different parts of the city: Downtown Charleston and Upper King Street. Both are two-and-a-half hours and include food and drinks from some of the best local restaurants.
• Historic Walking Tour covers the Holy City’s long past and the historic preservation efforts of today. You’ll come away from the tour with a deep appreciation of the city’s treasures.
• Walks of Charleston has multiple tours, including one that explores Charleston’s alleyways and hidden passages for small groups. Choose a morning or afternoon tour to gain perspective on the city.
• Charleston Perspective Walking Tour is a two-hour stroll through history takes you from the 1670s to the 1780s. You’ll explore the many phases of Charleston’s history, gaining insight along the way. Choose a morning or afternoon tour.
• Charleston Walking Tours with Steve gives you a two-hour tour in the morning or afternoon, beginning at the “Four Corners of Law,” at the intersection of Meeting and Broad Streets. Steve takes you throughout the original walled city.
• Charleston in a Nutshell Walking Tours have multiple tours available, including a candlelight tour at dusk, when the character of the city changes. Tour guide Jeff Zimmerman also offers a Civil War tour that takes you to the sites of actual events.
• Charleston Strolls accommodates school groups and seniors in a leisurely two-hour walk around historic Charleston. Its most unique tour is the tour of the 215-year-old city jail.
• Walking Charleston has multiple entertaining, local tours. Tour guide Skip Evans takes up to 12 people at a time on historical tours, including one that’s kid-friendly and another about the Civil War and slavery.
• Old Charleston Walking Tours has ghost tours to please everyone who likes a jolt of surprise. Charleston’s rich history includes many rumors of ghosts and supernatural phenomenon. Now you can explore them!

The next time you need to visit SSI for a procedure or a checkup, make sure you schedule some extra time to take in the culture and history of nearby Charleston, SC. If you use one of these tour companies, let your friends at SSI know how you liked it!