Looking to take a week’s vacation at the end of May.
Planning on two days in historic Savannah (unless someone tells me that’s way too long or way too short!) and then about 4-5 days at a nearby beach town.
Looking for fun in the sun-- beach lounging, boogie boarding, kayaking, sailing, mini-golf, etc.
Am thinking Hilton Head Island is probably the best choice but am also looking at Tybee Island and would love other recommendations. It’s been a VERY long time since I was in the area – decades and decades.
DH and myself, and a couple of young adults. Might be including 2 fairly active grandparents.
That is a good balance with Savannah and the beach.
Hilton Head offers more hotels and options than Tybee. Tybee offers a small beach town vibe. Hilton Head is more resort vibe, but you can day trip into Beaufort for more small town beauty.
In Savannah, stay in the downtown area where you can enjoy walking around and popping into shops and museums. You want need a car there and hotel parking has become expensive there. Look at that when pricing hotels. You could forego a rental car those couple days and then grab one when you head to the beach.
We had fun for a week in Hilton Head. We went to Savannah for 1 day, and didn’t feel the need to go back.
I think I like Charleston better than Savannah too, but I haven’t spent a ton of time in either.
We split a week between Savannah and Charleston. We visited some small beach towns at each including Tybee. If you go to Tybee, be very careful about parking. They are known for giving a lot of parking tickets. I received a ticket while walking from my car to the pay station in the lot. The city waived it for me when they saw the time stamps on the ticket and my credit card were identical, but it was a headache I didn’t need.
Another vote for Charleston over Savannah. If you do go to Savannah, I think one full day is plenty for exploring the historic downtown, and here’s a fabulous restaurant recommendation: https://www.bmatthewseatery.com/
And there are TONS of evening ghost tours. When I was there on a work trip I couldn’t do touristy things during the day, but found a ghost tour that included the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace Museum as one of its stops.
I’ve spent 4 nights in Savannah and two 3-nighters in Charleston. Yes, much more to do in Charleston, but I’d give that more than 2 days. I’d go ahead and do 2 days in Savannah, it’s so quaint and so lovely. 2 nights is enough. Go back when you can spend a bit more time in Charleston.
Take a 90 minute architectural tour, extremely interesting with lots of tidbits about the history of the area
Go on the hoho bus. We enjoyed seeing the squares and one of the stops is a quaint little shopping area. It was nice to relax. You won’t have time to see all the squares by walking.
Make reservations at The Pink House. We also had lunch at The Pirate house, actually place where pirates would steal people for their boats
We had dinner one night at the restaurant (the six pence) in the Julia Roberts movie, Something to Talk About”.
Loved Savannah and have been to HH several times usually in April. A couple days in Savannah is all you need. We did a bike tour around the city which was really fun, found places to go back to and shop/eat/drink. Definitely get some dinner reservations- really liked The Olde Pink House.
Also enjoyed the Juliette Low house tour mentioned above. We walked everywhere and had no problem getting an Uber at night.
Did a ghost tour, it was fine but kind of cheesy.
In HH we’ve rented a condo in Sea Pines. Would get beach bikes delivered.
I really enjoyed Savannah, especially the historic homes. I went with my H, who was invited by a group with whom he did much business. I’m not sure which tour, but there’s a wealth of historic house tours and if you enjoy that, you’ll love Savannah.
Instead of Hilton Head, I’d go to Sea island. We went for a week to get away from the New England winter. We stayed at the Cloisters, but there are lots of options.
Also wanted to say I had never had fried green tomatoes before. Got them at The Pirate House and boy were they something. The alioli sauce was to die for.n
We love Hilton Head. Took the kids several times when they were little and just went back for a weekend with no kids. We had so much fun we decided to take the “kids”, 18, 21 & 22 back for a week this summer. I would suggest renting a condo near Coligny Circle as that is where lot of the action is. It’s fun for the kids to just be able to walk over there, lots of restaurants and shops. You can bike on the beach which is so much fun and there are miles and miles of bike paths. We didn’t move our car once in the 3 days we were there.
I was looking at beach houses in Hilton Head and Tybee and…it doesn’t look like the beaches there are particularly good for boogie-boarding or body surfing, based on surf reports and photos that I’ve seen. Am hoping for 2-3 foot swells most of the time.
Can anyone tell me if I’m wrong? And if I’m right…any suggestions for the kind of beach I’m looking for within a few hours drive of Savannah?
For context, I’m from Philly and spent most of my summers on the Jersey shore…looking to kind of recreate that if possible – just further south. (Have already bought tickets to Savannah so that’s my starting point).
I second the Amelia Island suggestion. We are in Atlanta and go to either Hilton Head or Amelia every summer. Amelia is about two hours from Savannah - but the reality if you are checking in on Hilton Head on a Saturday during the summer, you will be sitting in a traffic jam. Amelia has the same low country charm and feel of Hilton Head without the crowds. It’s like Hilton Head was 30 years ago. The surf is better for boogie boarding. Hilton Head usually has adequate waves for small children. The only times there is really good surf there is when there is a storm off shore and then you would be dealing with rip currents.
On Amelia, we usually rent a place in the Omni Amelia Resort (formerly Amelia Island Plantation). I highly recommend doing a nature tour out to Cumberland Island - either by boat, kayak or you can rent sea racers which my college age kids loved. Last time we saw manatees, dolphins, alligators,sea turtles and of course the wild horses. Added bonus is that the rentals on Amelia are quite a bit less expensive than Hilton Head. We also find it much better for biking - especially on the beach because of lower crowd levels.
Thank you everyone! Reservations have been made and we’ve booked a couple of days in historic Savannah and then a beach house in Hilton Head.
This is all planned for immediately after DS 25’s college graduation, to take advantage of being on the East Coast but somewhere we haven’t been before. Really looking forward to it!