If Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara were to celebrate an anniversary, the Inn at Palmetto Bluff would surely be their destination. Oozing Southern hospitality at every turn, this property weaves luxury into a 20,000-acre nature preserve, requiring guests to wrestle with the humidity in order to appreciate its Spanish moss, blooming magnolias, azaleas, camellias, and rolling verdant hills.

Built on the ruins of the original Palmetto Lodge, the inn is a getaway in the truest sense. It's located between Charleston and Savannah in South Carolina's Lowcountry, just a short drive to the Hilton Head beaches. The property extends from the May River, which snakes through Bull and Daufuskie islands, through ancient freshwater rice fields, and offers sighting of herons, armadillos, 'gators, and a slew of migrating birds.

Once guests deposit their cars, they rarely use them until it's time to leave. In fact, guests are given a bicycle to explore the trails and lush flora

If Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara were to celebrate an anniversary, the Inn at Palmetto Bluff would surely be their destination. Oozing Southern hospitality at every turn, this property weaves luxury into a 20,000-acre nature preserve, requiring guests to wrestle with the humidity in order to appreciate its Spanish moss, blooming magnolias, azaleas, camellias, and rolling verdant hills.

Built on the ruins of the original Palmetto Lodge, the inn is a getaway in the truest sense. It's located between Charleston and Savannah in South Carolina's Lowcountry, just a short drive to the Hilton Head beaches. The property extends from the May River, which snakes through Bull and Daufuskie islands, through ancient freshwater rice fields, and offers sighting of herons, armadillos, 'gators, and a slew of migrating birds.

Once guests deposit their cars, they rarely use them until it's time to leave. In fact, guests are given a bicycle to explore the trails and lush flora along the riverbanks. But the Southern hospitality doesn't end there. The staff seems to have thought of everything, from bug spray and binoculars on the porch to chilled water bottles in your car on departure.

The 50 charming cottages and suites appear to have jumped off the pages of Architectural Digest. Surrounded with white picket fences and topped with brick chimneys, the white cottages are more like sanctuaries lining the riverbank than mere places to sleep. Lounge on a large screened porch with a mint julep, snuggle up with plush linens by the fireplace, or soak in a clawfoot tub by candlelight. And if a Southern rain starts pattering on the metal roof, mark the rhythmic beat as you would count sheep. All cottages offer sloped ceilings, pine-planked floors, rich mahogany beds with white duvets, and lots of light. To really spread out, suites offer a separate living area, while the multi-bedroom vacation houses boast a kitchen and riverfront patio dining room.

Outdoors, you can wade in an adult-only pool (there's a separate one for kids), cycle along the river, jog through rice fields, challenge your partner to a game of tennis, or use the riverfront fire pit to roast s'mores well beyond sunset.

Dine at three restaurants (or in your cottage). To pop the question, head to the elegant River House Restaurant and toast Chef Jordan's divine seafood stew (after you've toasted an affirmative answer to your question, of course!). After a game of golf, dine in the decidedly masculine May River Grill, which serves the best mint julep in these here parts. And when you want to kick back with something casual, the country diner, Buffalo's, has pastries and pizza prepared in the wood oven.

Kim Grant has been writing about the best places to stay in North America since the day after graduating college in 1984. Since then she has written over 35 guidebooks and for countless websites and print publications. She is also the editorial director of a forthcoming website on the best places to stay and the travel acquisitions editor for Countryman Press.