How many days do you need in Savannah?

Three is the sweet spot. Two days covers the Historic District, Wormsloe and Tybee comfortably; the third day is what lets you add the Mighty Eighth Air Force Heritage Museum and the run north to Beaufort and Hunting Island. Four days if you want a slow beach day on Tybee or a day-drinking crawl through the breweries and distilleries.

What does a trip to Savannah cost?

Outside of airfare, budget roughly ~$400–650 per person per day for a comfortable version: ~$220–450 a night at The Perry Lane, The Marshall House or The Drayton; ~$45–90 a day for the rental car; ~$10–30 per attraction; and ~$80–150 a day on food and tastings. A leaner version runs closer to ~$300 a day. Verify all rates when booking — Savannah's hotel pricing swings hard with the events calendar.

When is the best time to visit Savannah?

Late March through April, when the azaleas bloom and days sit in the 70s, or late October through November for dry, clear, insect-free weather. Avoid mid-June through August unless you're beach-focused — the heat and humidity are serious. Also check dates around St. Patrick's Day in March, when the city is spectacular but hotel rates and crowds spike sharply.

Live Oaks, Sea Islands and a Savannah That Stays Up Late…

Savannah does something no other American city quite manages: it makes 24 public squares feel like a private garden. The live oaks meet overhead, the moss hangs dead still in August and moves like smoke in March, and the whole grid — laid out in 1733 and never seriously rearranged — rewards a traveler who slows to a walking pace. But the mistake most visitors make is treating Savannah as a city break. It isn't. It's the front door to a coastline: barrier-island lighthouses, a Civil War fort with cannon scars still in the brick, an oak avenue that runs a mile and a half, and, an easy drive north, the South Carolina Sea Islands. Three days, a rental car and a willingness to eat grits for breakfast is the whole formula.

Getting there

Fly into Savannah/Hilton Head International (SAV) — a small, civilized airport about fifteen minutes from the Historic District, with a terminal that still feels like a well-kept Georgian house rather than a shopping mall. Fly it in business class. This is a trip that begins the moment you land: you'll want to drop bags, walk to a square and be at a bar on Bull Street by six, not recovering from a middle seat. Lie-flat or recliner seating, a real meal, priority bags off the belt, and you're driving out of the rental lot fully human. Book the outbound early in the day and you buy yourself a full first afternoon.

Business from $467 roundtrip from our cheapest gateway — check fares from your home airport →

Day 1 — Squares, church history, and the river

Start where every Savannah morning should start: Clary's Café, the breakfast-and-lunch institution on Abercorn, homemade everything served all day, walls stacked with local nostalgia and a permanent place in the city's literary mythology. Order big; you're walking. (~$15–30 per person, verify when booking.)

Walk to First African Baptist Church at 23 Montgomery Street — the oldest continuous Black church in North America, constituted in December 1777, with history tours running on a weekday schedule. The building's own hands built it; the floor holds air holes tied to its Underground Railroad history. Take the guided tour, not the self-guided glance. (~$10–20 per person, verify when booking; check tour days and times before you go.)

Afternoon: Forsyth Park Conservatory, the restored Victorian glasshouse with rotating botanical installations, and then the park itself — assemble a Lost Picnic from a Bull Street market and eat it under the oaks near the fountain. (~$0–15 entry, ~$25–45 for picnic provisions, verify when booking.)

Evening splits two ways and you should do both. River Street Brewing Company runs behind-the-scenes production tours and tastings out of a restored 1817 cottage on the riverfront (~$20–35 per person). Then Ghost Coast Distillery for small-batch spirits made with locally sourced ingredients — the tasting room bar is where you'll actually meet Savannahians (~$15–30 per person). Verify tour times when booking; both fill on weekends.

Day 2 — Oak avenue, the coast, and a haunted hotel

Drive south to Wormsloe Historic Site on Skidaway Road for the oak-lined avenue — 1.5 miles of live oaks planted in rows, running toward the tabby ruins of Georgia's oldest colonial estate. Go at opening for the light and the empty road. Walk the nature trails to the marsh edge afterward. (~$10–15 per person, verify when booking.)

Then east to Cockspur Island: Fort Pulaski, where rifled artillery ended the age of masonry forts in 30 hours in 1862, and the Cockspur Island Lighthouse marking the South Channel twelve miles from town. Continue to Tybee Island Lighthouse, climb the 178 steps, and take the beach for an hour. (~$10–20 per site, verify when booking.)

Dinner downtown at Chez Philippe Bistro — family-owned, classic French, rustic-home ambiance, a welcome break from fried green tomatoes on night two (~$45–80 per person). Finish with The Marshall House Paranormal Experience: an immersive guided investigation and history tour through the 1851 building, Civil War hospital history and all. It's theatrical and genuinely well-researched. (~$30–60 per person, verify when booking.)

Day 3 — Bombers, Beaufort, Hunting Island

Head out early to Pooler for the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force at 175 Bourne Avenue — the Eighth Air Force's WWII story told with restored aircraft, a combat mission experience and oral histories that will hold you longer than you planned (~$18–30 per person, verify when booking). Allow two to three hours.

Then point the car north for the Sea Islands: Beaufort's antebellum waterfront for a late lunch, then Hunting Island State Park — five miles of beach, maritime forest, boneyard driftwood and the historic lighthouse you can climb (~$8–15 park entry, verify when booking). It's roughly 75 minutes each way from Savannah. Return over the marsh at golden hour, which is the single best drive on this coast.

Where to stay

The Perry Lane Hotel is the design-forward choice — art-filled, walkable to Forsyth Park, with the best rooftop in town. The Marshall House on Broughton is the historic play: 1851 bones, iron balconies, heart-pine floors, and you're sleeping inside Day 2's ghost tour. The Drayton Hotel sits in the middle of everything for less ceremony and a strong price-to-location ratio. Expect ~$220–450 a night depending on season, verify when booking.

Getting around

Rent a car at SAV. Non-negotiable: Wormsloe, Tybee, Pooler and Beaufort are all drives, and rideshare to Hunting Island is absurd. Expect ~$45–90 a day plus fuel, verify when booking. Downtown, park the car in a garage and leave it — the Historic District is a walking city and street parking rules are enforced with enthusiasm.

What to skip, and when to go

Skip the mass-market trolley-and-ghost combo tours hawked on River Street; the Marshall House experience and the First African Baptist tour give you the same city with actual substance. Skip River Street's souvenir stretch generally — the good bars are two blocks uphill. Go March–April for azaleas and 75°F, or late October–November for clear, dry, mosquito-free days. July and August are genuinely brutal: 95°F with humidity to match, and the marsh does not forgive.