SAVANNAH GA?

[SandyinMonterey]

Thinking of taking a trip to Savannah, GA. If anyone has been there before, any tips, advice, suggestions (especially where to stay and what to see and do) would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[BridgetBordeaux]

If you can afford to splurge.......stay downtown within a block or two of the historic area.

Regardless of where you stay, we always take one of the trolley (really a modified bus) tours.

Down by the waterfront there are lots of places to eat, people watch, and look at all the trinkets in the shops.

We love it down there.

 

[loves to dive]

If you can afford it, any of the B&Bs are great. Also River Street Inn on the river is nice, converted warehouse not bad rates. http://www.riverstreetinn.com/. Go to the Welcome Center and take the tour then grab a map and do a walking tour of historic houses. You will have to pay to tour the insides but there are some great ones there. Stroll along the river at night, can be lively. Great food all over the historic district and some great bars. It's one of my favorites places to go for a long weekend, Jekyll Island is also a great place. If you have time drive to Fort Pulaski. Don't miss the cemeteries in Savannah, great place to walk around, beautiful grounds and great stories if you read the headstones.

 

[kymom99]

I'm heading there in October for the first time! Can't wait! We are staying in a VRBO house on tybee island

 

[HeatherC]

Savannah is very charming. My parents retired about 20 minutes from there and we visit once or twice a year. When we were there in April, I bought a groupon for a Segway tour. It was great fun for the whole family and gave a nice overview of the city.

 

[ceecee]

A girl I work with said their tour bus guide told them it's a high crime rate and not to walk around alone. I was shocked to hear that as we have always wanted to go. My mom and her friend a few years ago went and loved it!

 

[ajwolfe]

We stayed last year a few nights before hitting Disney's Hilton Head and fell in love with it. We stayed in the historic downtown area so we were walking distance of everything. We did the trolley with on an off privileges during the day and did a ghost tour one evening - which my kids loved! We enjoyed the market area with the live bands and ability to walk around with an open container (loved the peach sangaria!!). I walked by myself with my youngest one evening and still felt safe but I will say I was surprised by the amount of homeless around.
Also, we tried Paula Deen's and enjoyed it!

 

[loves to dive]

A girl I work with said their tour bus guide told them it's a high crime rate and not to walk around alone. I was shocked to hear that as we have always wanted to go. My mom and her friend a few years ago went and loved it!

Like anywhere you have to use a little common sense. I only walk in the well populated areas at night if I'm alone, up and down the river front is fine. Any of the squares that have B&Bs and restaurants are fine. I probably wouldn't walk downtown by myself but have done it many times with my son and even my elderly parents when they were alive. There are a number of hotels/bars and shops across the street from the river and I wouldn't hesitate to walk there alone at night either. During the day, I wander around the entire city alone. Oddly enough, the Welcome Center is located in one of the not nicest areas of the city so I don't think I'd be in area alone at night but no problems during the day.

 

[GrumpyDad1974]

If you are staying downtown, which is well worth it, the Holiday Inn Express on East Bay St is a great location and reasonable rates (comparatively speaking). Things to do walk around all the squares, do a hop on hop off tour (the one with the actors is better, I forgot which color trolleys). Shopping, people watch and walk by the river. Best part if your a drinker you can walk around with an alcoholic beverage in a plastic cup. If you drink go to Wet Willies... 195 proof slushies are the best. Tons of good food everywhere and if you want pizza Vinnie Van Go-Go's is the best. We love this city and we are actually going Friday provided we don't get washed away...

 

[Tanzanite]

We went to Savannah twice last year we took river boat ride ate at Spankys best chicken fingers Leopolds ice cream line up always outside its great. we did budget trip stayed outside main area they had a free shuttle so was good dropped off outside Hyatt very convenient stayed there twice not great part of town but we slept there and had free breakfast .So beautiful there love the squares .

 

[Tanzanite]

I'm heading there in October for the first time! Can't wait! We are staying in a VRBO house on tybee island

Cant wait to hear about your trip enjoy . i would love to go there hear its beautiful.

 

[kymom99]

Cant wait to hear about your trip enjoy . i would love to go there hear its beautiful.

If this thread is still around I'll give a brief report. We are stopping in Asheville on the way home.

 

[Eureka]

Cant wait to hear about your trip enjoy . i would love to go there hear its beautiful.

Me too!

 

[hsmamato2]

years back we stayed at a beachfront condo rental on Tybee, right near a cute little breakfast shop.... it was lovely and lots of fun! We just drove into other areas to sightsee, like the riverfront area (mmmm pralines)

 

[hsmamato2]

yes, they have some gorgeous old cemetaries to wander through, it seems odd but they're like parks..... and we took a dolphin cruise which was a lot of fun,and not too pricey!

 

[NicoleLarson]

I absolutely love Savannah, we used to live about 2 hours away and went all of the time. We actually got married in one of the squares and named our little girl savannah, so yeah, we love it. Stay in the historic district, NOT mid town! I know it looks really close on a map...it's not. It will easily take you 30 minutes. Does savannah have a lot of crime....yes. Really any direction you go from the historic district gets bad very quick. I will say in the past 10 years those areas have gotten much better but it's still there. We've stayed a ton of places, in the fall or winter I like the B&Bs in the summer I prefer the Andaz (prefect location and it has a pool!).
I can't recommend the Savannah Taste Experience tours enough. They're both great.

For food, stay off of river street, very over priced. We love love love Crystal Beer Parlor, Jazz'd tapas, Garibaldis and you can't miss Mrs. Wilkes Boarding House. Skip Paula Deans.....it's not bad, just not worth the wait and definitely not what it used to be.

I could talk all day about Savannah and Tybee is super cute, you feel like you've stepped back into the 1950s. It makes for a great day trip. Or Hilton Head of you've never been.

 

[hoffman1]

I second Mrs. Wilkes! So much better than The Lady & Sons (Paula Dean's)

 

[katclicks]

We were just there in August. We stayed at the Homewood Suites on River St. My parents, who are loyal to Marriott, we jealous of our hotel. It is brand new and opened in late May. It has a rooftop pool with cabanas that have lounge chairs and a tv. The breakfast was large and offered a lot of choices. It was a great location and we could walk to other places quite easily. We really enjoyed our meal at the Treylor Park, it's small, and they don't take reservations, but the food was delicious.

 

[Darcy03231]

We stayed at the Hilton Savannah Desoto and I would highly recommend it. We just loved being in the historic district.

We toured the home where they filmed Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, did an evening ghost tour, an on/off trolley tour, and just walked around a lot. We really enjoyed all the parks and the riverfront area.

 

[missnic]

We snagged the Hyatt Regency for pretty cheap a few years ago through PriceLine, and it was perfect. We LOVED being able to hop on the trolley and grab a drink at Wet Willy's. Spanky's and Vic's were both good, but the Pirate House was pretty awesome for ambiance (food was just okay). We toured the 'touristy' spots - the Forrest Gump bench, the squares, Mercer House.. Make sure to drive out to Bonaventure Cemetery - it is a fantastic piece of history. Oh, and definitely a ghost tour. DH got a photo of a figure that wasn't there in the window of the Lucas Theater.

We keep saying we're going to spend a few days up there, but Disney always wins for long weekends. lol