Where to Stay on Daufuskie Island

Daufuskie Island Hotels: Why There Are None

Daufuskie has never had a town big enough for a hotel. About 550 people live here, and everything arrives by boat. The island’s one resort, at Melrose, closed its inn years ago, and a new resort planned for the same land has not opened. So a search for a hotel on Daufuskie turns up rental homes, the cottages at Freeport Marina and the guest rooms at Haig Point, which are for members’ guests. If you want a hotel with a front desk, stay on Hilton Head: our Hilton Head resorts and hotels list is a short drive from the ferry landing.

Daufuskie Island Vacation Rentals

Most overnight visitors rent a whole house or cottage. They are spread across the island: beach houses at Melrose and Bloody Point, homes inside Haig Point on the north end, and older cottages along the sandy roads of the historic district. Condos are few on Daufuskie Island, so expect a house with a porch rather than a unit in a complex.

Daufuskie Island Rental Homes and Cottages

Most Daufuskie Island house rentals sleep a family or two, and many come with a golf cart, bikes or both, because that is how you get to the beach and to dinner. Cottage rentals on Daufuskie Island run smaller and plainer, often a porch and a couple of bedrooms under the oaks. Before you book, check three things with the owner or manager: which dock is closest (the public ferry lands at Melrose Landing, the day-trip boats at Freeport Marina), whether a cart comes with the house, and how your luggage gets from the boat to the door.

Daufuskie Island Airbnb and Vrbo Listings

Almost everything for rent here is listed on Airbnb or Vrbo, sometimes through a small island rental company. The button at the top of this page opens a Vrbo search of the whole island, so you can compare Melrose, Bloody Point and Haig Point side by side. Read each listing for the dock it is near, the cart and the check-in time, because a late ferry can mean arriving after dark on unlit roads.

Daufuskie Island Cabins at Freeport Marina

The simplest overnight on the island is one of the five painted cottages at Freeport Marina. They sleep two to six, and they sit a few steps from the dock where the Harbour Town and Broad Creek boats land, the Old Daufuskie Crab Company and the general store, so you can come over on a day-trip boat and stay without a cart. They are booked on Airbnb, or call the marina’s office at (843) 342-8687. The Daufuskie Island ferry page has the boats that land at Freeport.

Haig Point Rentals and Guest Stays

Haig Point is the private, member-owned community on the island’s north end, with its own ferry from Hilton Head, a golf course, an equestrian center and a beach club. Its gates are closed to the public, so a visitor stays there in one of three ways.

• As a member’s guest. Members can put guests up in the Strachan Mansion, a 1910 house moved to Haig Point by barge, which has four guest suites.

• On a discovery visit. If you are thinking of buying or joining, the club offers stays of up to three nights in the Strachan Mansion or the 1873 Haig Point Lighthouse, with the ferry, water taxi and a golf cart included. Call the club at (800) 686-3441.

• In an owner’s home. Some Haig Point owners rent their houses on Vrbo and similar sites. Ask the owner how you will get onto the Haig Point ferry and what the stay includes before you book.

For golf without staying over, see Haig Point Club, which takes a limited number of day guests.

Melrose, the Old Daufuskie Island Resort

Melrose, on the beach facing Hilton Head across Calibogue Sound, was the island’s resort for decades, with an inn, a beach club and a Jack Nicklaus golf course. The inn and the course closed, and the property changed hands several times; the course is planned to reopen in phases but is still shut. In 2024 its new owners announced a Six Senses resort for the land, with guests checking in on Hilton Head and crossing by boat, but it is not open or taking bookings yet. Until it is, Melrose is a neighborhood of beach houses, many of them for rent, with The Sportsman and Corakko Beach Club nearby. Melrose Landing, where the public ferry docks, is not here despite the name: it is on the Cooper River by Freeport Marina, a golf cart ride away.

Before You Book: Boats, Bags and Carts

Plan the stay around the boats. The public ferry runs four round trips a day from the C.C. Haigh Jr. Boat Landing on Hilton Head, with free parking there, and allows one carry-on and one personal item per ticket; extra bags cost more, and bigger loads go over on the county’s daily luggage barge. Ask your host how bags get from the dock to the house. Every schedule, fare and luggage rule is on the Daufuskie Island ferry page.

Once you land, a golf cart does the work of a car. Reserve one before you cross, especially in summer, unless your rental includes it. Bring groceries for the first night from Hilton Head or Bluffton: the Freeport General Store sells basics, beer and wine, and the island’s few restaurants keep hours that change with the seasons. The Daufuskie Island guide covers the rest of the island.

Renting Out a Daufuskie Island Home

Daufuskie is unincorporated Beaufort County, so the county, not a town, licenses short-term rentals here. A home rented for short stays needs a county short-term rental zoning permit and a county business license, and in the island’s residential zones a new rental needs a special use permit, which goes to a public hearing before the county’s Zoning Board of Appeals. Inside Haig Point and Melrose, the community’s own rental rules apply too. Beaufort County’s short-term rental page has the application.

The work is also different from renting on Hilton Head: guests need their ferry, bags, cart and groceries sorted before they arrive, and someone on the island to call. Thinking of buying one? See Daufuskie Island real estate.