This Savannah Georgia travel guide starts with the short answer. Give the city two or three full days, sleep inside the Historic District or right beside it so you can walk almost everywhere, book the handful of things that really do sell out, and leave the rest of the schedule loose. Savannah is small, flat and shaded, and its best parts cost nothing: 22 surviving squares, Forsyth Park, the riverfront and block after block of 19th-century houses. When trips here go wrong, it’s rarely for lack of things to do. It’s logistics: the wrong week, a hotel in the wrong place, a car you didn’t need, or a museum that turns out to be closed on the one day you set aside for it.
This guide is for first and second visits, and it puts the whole plan in one place: getting here, when to come, where to base yourself, what things cost, how to get around, what to reserve and the local rules that trip visitors up. The caveat that matters most is geography. A hotel search for “Savannah” can return a room on the squares, a chain hotel by the airport or a beach rental on Tybee Island, which is a separate city 18 miles away. Everything below was checked September 23, 2026 against official sources, and anything that changes often, like parking rates, shuttle hours and festival dates, carries a date.
Savannah Trip Planning at a Glance
| Question | Short answer |
|---|---|
| Time needed | 2 full days for downtown; 3 to add Bonaventure, Wormsloe or Tybee; 4 or more for South Carolina day trips |
| Best months | March to May and October to November. July and August are hot, humid and stormy |
| Getting there | Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport (about 15 to 25 minutes from downtown), I-95 and I-16 by road, or Amtrak |
| Need a car? | Not for downtown. Useful for Tybee, Wormsloe, Fort Pulaski and anything in South Carolina |
| Hotel taxes | 8% city hotel-motel tax and 7% sales tax, plus Georgia’s $5 per night fee |
| Book ahead | Spring and St. Patrick’s Day rooms, Savannah Bananas tickets (by lottery), timed house tours, weekend dinners |
| Watch out for | Monday and Tuesday closures at several museums, St. Patrick’s Day closures, afternoon summer storms, parking meters until 8pm north of Liberty Street |
Where Is Savannah, and What Counts as “Savannah”?
Savannah sits on the south bank of the Savannah River in Georgia’s far southeast corner, a short drive inland from the Atlantic. The river is the state line, so the far bank is South Carolina.
When most visitors say Savannah, they mean the Historic District: the grid of streets and squares laid out from 1733 and running from the river south to Forsyth Park. It became a National Historic Landmark district in 1966. Of the 24 squares in the old plan, 22 survive (Elbert and Liberty were lost, and Ellis Square was restored in 2010). Everything else below is a trip out from that core.
| Area | What it is | From the squares | Need a car? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Historic District | The squares, River Street, City Market, Broughton Street and Forsyth Park | You’re in it | No |
| Victorian District and Starland | Wooden 19th-century houses, galleries and the Starland Yard food-truck lot, south of Forsyth Park | Walkable from the park, a short ride from the river | No, but a ride helps at night |
| Midtown, the Southside and Pooler | Neighborhoods, malls, hotel clusters along I-95 and the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum | About 10 to 25 minutes by car | Yes |
| Tybee Island | A separate beach city with its own parking and beach rules | 18 miles, about 30 minutes on US 80 | Yes, or a tour |
| The South Carolina side | Savannah National Wildlife Refuge, Bluffton, Hilton Head and Beaufort | About 20 minutes to well over an hour | Yes |
Two points confuse people every year. Tybee Island is its own city, with its own parking rates and beach rules and one road on and off the island, US 80, so a summer Saturday can turn into a slow crawl. And Hilton Head isn’t a Savannah suburb: it’s a South Carolina resort island that shares the airport, roughly 45 minutes to an hour away by car. The wildlife refuge just over the Talmadge Bridge is in South Carolina too, whatever its name suggests.
How Do You Get to Savannah?
Flying in
Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport (SAV) sits northwest of the city near I-95. The airport doesn’t publish a drive time to downtown, but 15 to 25 minutes is the usual range outside rush hour. Rideshare pickups are at the north entrance of baggage claim, and nine rental car companies have counters in baggage claim itself. Taxis run on the meter, and the city caps the rates at $6.47 for the first mile, $2.69 for each mile after that and $1 for each extra passenger.
There is a public bus, but it isn’t an airport express. Chatham Area Transit’s Route 3 runs roughly hourly between the airport and the downtown transit center for $1.50, and the ride takes about 36 minutes. It works if you travel light and the timing lines up; otherwise a rideshare is the sane choice. If fares into Savannah look high, compare Jacksonville or Charleston, but both are about two hours’ drive away, and a rental car and parking eat the savings fast.
Driving in
I-95 runs north to south just west of the city. I-16 comes in from Macon and ends downtown, which makes it the direct approach from Atlanta: count on about 250 miles and four hours, more if you leave Atlanta at the wrong time of day. Charleston is about 110 miles and two hours up the coast, and Jacksonville is about 140 miles and a little over two hours to the south. The harder question is what to do with the car once you’re here.
Arriving by train
Amtrak’s East Coast long-distance trains stop at a station on Seaboard Coastline Drive, on the west side of town. It isn’t within walking distance of the squares, only a few trains stop each day and some arrive at awkward hours, so line up a taxi or rideshare before you get there rather than after.
How Many Days Do You Need in Savannah?
Two full days is the right length for a first visit, and three is better if you like to linger. The Historic District is compact enough to cover in a single day at a brisk pace, but Savannah doesn’t reward brisk. The point is the squares and the shade, the long lunch, the house tour you didn’t plan on. One day shows you what the place looks like. Two show you some of its pace.
| Trip length | What fits | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| 1 day | A walk through the squares, River Street, one museum or house tour, dinner downtown | Rushed. Fine as a stop on a road trip, thin as a destination |
| 2 days | Add Forsyth Park, a second house museum, a walking or ghost tour and Bonaventure Cemetery | The sweet spot for a first visit |
| 3 days | Add Wormsloe, Fort Pulaski or an afternoon on Tybee Island | Best if you like slow mornings and full afternoons |
| 4 to 5 days | Add a South Carolina day, a full beach day or a slow museum day | Worth it if you want the coast as well as the city |
If you’re torn between two and three days, ask whether you want anything outside the grid: Bonaventure Cemetery, Wormsloe and Tybee each deserve half a day, not a rushed hour between lunch and dinner. A day-by-day Savannah itinerary is also much easier to build once you know where you’re sleeping and whether you have a car, so settle those two things first.
When Is the Best Time to Visit Savannah?
The best time to visit Savannah, for weather alone, is March through May or October through November. Spring is high season, with warm afternoons, cool nights and the heaviest crowds and room rates. Fall runs a close second and often feels better once the peak of hurricane season has passed. Summer is hot, humid and wet, with a 73.7°F average low in July, so even the nights are warm. Winter is mild by northern standards and the quietest stretch of the year.
“Quiet” is relative. Savannah drew about 12.9 million visitors in 2025, according to a Tourism Economics study the Savannah Area Chamber reported in May 2026, so you’ll never have the squares to yourself, though a January weekday morning comes close.
| Season | Weather (NOAA normals) | Crowds | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spring (March-May) | April averages 78.2°F highs and 55.2°F lows | Highest demand, especially on weekends | St. Patrick’s Day; the Savannah Music Festival runs April 2-17, 2027 |
| Summer (June-August) | July averages 92.3°F highs; June, July and August are the three wettest months | Busy on weekends | Plan outdoor time early and late; afternoon storms are routine |
| Fall (September-November) | October averages 79.0°F highs and 58.6°F lows; November is the driest month | Busy again from October | Hurricane season peaks around September 10; SCAD Savannah Film Festival, October 24-31, 2026 |
| Winter (December-February) | January averages 61.4°F highs and 40.0°F lows | Quietest | Savannah Book Festival, February 4-7, 2027; Mrs. Wilkes’ Dining Room closes January 1 to mid-February |
St. Patrick’s Day: go all in or stay away
St. Patrick’s Day is the city’s signature party, and it changes Savannah for days around the parade. In 2027, March 17 falls on a Wednesday and the parade is set for that day, starting around 10:15am. When the 17th lands on a Sunday, the parade moves to the Saturday before. Expect full hotels, packed streets and a long list of parade-day closures: the three Telfair museums, Ships of the Sea, the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace, the American Prohibition Museum, the Tybee Island Light Station and Mrs. Wilkes’ Dining Room all close. Come for the party, or pick another week. Showing up by accident gets you the worst of both.
What Does a Savannah Trip Cost?
Your bed is the biggest cost and the most variable one, and three things drive the price: the date, the location and the parking. Spring weekends and event weeks cost the most, and rooms inside the Historic District cost more than rooms by the interstate. Taxes are the part people forget. The City of Savannah’s hotel-motel tax has been 8 percent since September 1, 2023, sales tax adds 7 percent, and Georgia charges a flat $5 per room per night on top. Add roughly 15 percent plus $5 a night to any quoted rate that doesn’t already include taxes.
Almost everything else can be cheap: the shuttle, the ferry, the squares, Forsyth Park and Bonaventure Cemetery are all free. What adds up is admissions, tours, parking and food. These are verified prices for the things visitors pay for most often.
| Item | Price (checked September 2026) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| DOT Express Shuttle | Free | Two downtown loops, a bus about every 10 minutes |
| Savannah Belles Ferry | Free | Daily 7am to 10pm across the river |
| City garage (Bryan Street, Robinson, State Street) | $2 an hour, $20 weekday maximum, $5 flat on weekends | Open 24/7, cards only |
| Visitor Day Pass for street parking | $15 for 24 hours, $24 for 48 hours | Not valid in garages or street-sweeping zones |
| Telfair Museums (all three sites) | $30 adult | Unlimited visits for 7 days; no single-site ticket |
| Pioneers in Preservation Pass | $36 plus tax | Ships of the Sea, the Davenport House and the Andrew Low House, valid 7 days |
| Coastal Heritage Society “See 3” | $30 adult | Any three CHS sites, valid 3 days once used |
| Mercer Williams House | $14.95 plus 7% tax | Tours first come, first served |
| Hop-on hop-off trolley, 1 day | About $36.55 to $39.91 online | Price varies by date |
| Narrated harbor cruise, 1.5 hours | $37.95 adult, $24.95 ages 5-12 | Savannah Riverboat Cruises |
| Fort Pulaski National Monument | $10 per person 16 and older | Valid 7 days; card only |
| Tybee Island parking | $4 an hour, $25 a day | 8am to 8pm every day; no cash |
| Mrs. Wilkes’ Dining Room lunch | $35 ages 13 and up, tax included | Cash or check only |
A lean trip leans on the free stuff: the squares, the shuttle and ferry, one paid house tour and a picnic from the Forsyth Farmers’ Market (Saturdays, 9am to 1pm, at the south end of the park). A comfortable trip adds a combination ticket, a guided tour and dinners out. The gap between the two is mostly lodging and restaurants, not sightseeing, so price your nights with taxes first and treat the rest as small change until the restaurant bills arrive.
Where Should You Stay in Savannah?
Stay where you’ll spend your days. For most visitors that’s the Historic District, and the real question is which end of it. The north end, around River Street, Bay Street and City Market, puts you closest to restaurants, bars and the river, along with the late-night noise and weekend crowds that come with them. The south end, from about Liberty Street down to Forsyth Park, is quieter and leafier, with more inns and bed-and-breakfasts in converted houses. The tradeoff is the walk to the river, which is about a mile from the park.
| Base | Best for | Tradeoffs |
|---|---|---|
| North Historic District (River Street, Bay Street, City Market) | First-timers, nightlife, walking everywhere | Highest rates, noise and event crowds |
| South Historic District (Liberty Street to Forsyth Park) | Couples, inn and B&B stays, quieter nights | A longer walk to the river; old houses mean stairs |
| Victorian District and Starland | Rentals, a more local feel, longer stays | A ride helps at night |
| Hutchinson Island | Resort facilities and river views | You depend on the ferry (7am to 10pm) or a drive over the bridge |
| Midtown, Southside, Pooler and the airport | Lower rates, easy parking, early flights | You drive in and pay to park downtown every day |
Before you book, check the nightly parking charge, the stairs (plenty of historic buildings have no elevator), the cancellation terms in hurricane season and whether a festival is in town that week. A cheap room 20 minutes out stops being cheap once you add daily parking and drive time. Where to stay in Savannah shapes every other part of the trip, so settle it before you book a single tour.
How Do You Get Around Savannah?
Mostly on foot. The Historic District is flat and laid out on a grid, with a square every couple of blocks. Walk from City Hall on Bay Street to the Forsyth Park fountain along Bull Street and you’ll cover about a mile and pass through five squares. When your feet give out, there are two free rides.
DOT Express Shuttle (free)
Chatham Area Transit runs the free DOT Express Shuttle on two loops, Forsyth and Downtown, with 18 stops and a bus about every 10 minutes. It runs from 7am to 7pm on weekdays, 10am to 6pm on weekends and 10am to 6:30pm on holidays, with no service on Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year’s Day. The buses are ADA compliant, and the shuttle is also the answer when it starts pouring halfway to Forsyth Park.
Savannah Belles Ferry (free)
The ferry crosses the river daily from 7am to 10pm, except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. It links three landings: City Hall on the Riverwalk, the Waving Girl landing in Morrell Park at the east end of River Street, and the Westin and convention center on Hutchinson Island. The ferry’s own page says it runs every 10 minutes, but the posted schedule shows departures from City Hall every 20 to 30 minutes, and the Waving Girl landing is served only from about 8:20am to 6:20pm. Bikes, luggage and leashed dogs are allowed, and the boats are ADA accessible. Even with no business on Hutchinson Island, the round trip is a free river view.
Driving and parking
If you bring a car, park it once and walk. Street meters cost up to $2.50 an hour in Zone 1 and up to $1.50 in Zone 2, with no time limit. North of Liberty Street they’re enforced Monday to Saturday from 8am to 8pm; south of Liberty Street, Monday to Friday from 8am to 5pm. Sundays are free, and so are city holidays, including New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. You pay through the ParkSavannah app or parksav.net, the Flowbird app or a kiosk.
City garages are open around the clock and take cards only. The Bryan Street, Robinson and State Street garages charge $2 an hour with a $20 weekday maximum and a flat $5 on weekends, and Liberty Street charges $1 an hour with a $14 maximum. If you’d rather park on the street for a whole day, the city’s Visitor Day Pass costs $15 for 24 hours or $24 for 48 hours. It covers on-street parking only, not garages or street-sweeping zones. You buy it with your plate number at Mobility and Parking Services in the Bryan Street Garage, 100 E. Bryan Street. Check the city’s parking page before counting on one particular garage, since garages close for repairs from time to time.
Rideshare, taxis and a rental car
Uber and Lyft are the practical choice at night, for Starland and for the airport. For Tybee, Wormsloe, Fort Pulaski or South Carolina, you’ll want your own car or a tour. Getting around Savannah without a car is easy inside the grid and awkward beyond it, and that split should decide whether you rent one.
| Option | Cost | Best for | Limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walking | Free | Everything inside the Historic District | Heat, humidity and uneven brick sidewalks |
| DOT Express Shuttle | Free | River Street to Forsyth Park without the walk | Starts at 10am on weekends and ends at 6pm or 7pm |
| Savannah Belles Ferry | Free | Hutchinson Island, the east end of River Street, a river view | Every 20 to 30 minutes, 7am to 10pm |
| Rental car | Daily rate plus parking | Tybee, Wormsloe, Fort Pulaski, South Carolina | Garage and meter costs downtown |
What Should You See First?
Start with the squares. They’re free, they’re the reason the city looks the way it does, and they organize everything else. Forsyth Park’s 1858 fountain has been running again since December 19, 2025, after its first major restoration since 1988, and the Forsyth Farmers’ Market fills the south end of the park every Saturday morning. Our full rundown of the best things to do in Savannah ranks the rest with prices and hours. Here’s the short version.
House museums
The house museums are Savannah’s strongest attractions, and the best of them tell the whole story. The Owens-Thomas House and Slave Quarters, run by Telfair Museums, includes the quarters where enslaved people lived and worked behind the main house, and it’s the clearest place downtown to see who paid for the city’s elegance. The Davenport House, the Mercer Williams House and the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace, childhood home of the Girl Scouts’ founder, round out the usual shortlist; the booking section below says which ones you can reserve.
Museums
One Telfair Museums ticket ($30 for adults) covers the Telfair Academy, the Jepson Center and the Owens-Thomas House for seven days, and all three close on Mondays. The Bird Girl statue from the cover of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is inside the Telfair Academy now, not in Bonaventure Cemetery. The SCAD Museum of Art closes on Tuesdays. The Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum, open Tuesday to Saturday, tells the story of Savannah’s civil rights movement, and the Savannah History Museum, in the old railroad station on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, displays the bench from Forrest Gump.
Beyond the grid
Bonaventure Cemetery, a short drive east of downtown, is free to enter and worth an unhurried hour or two under the oaks. Wormsloe State Historic Site changed how visitors reach its famous oak avenue in 2024, so check the state park’s current access rules before you drive out. Fort Pulaski National Monument, about 15 miles east on US 80, charges $10 per person 16 and older. Keep going and you reach Tybee Island, with its beach, its lighthouse and its own rules.
A few things older guides still recommend aren’t there to find. Paula Deen’s The Lady & Sons closed on July 31, 2025. The Cockspur Island Lighthouse near Fort Pulaski has been closed to the public since 2015, though you can see it from the Lighthouse Overlook Trail. If a list you’re reading sends you to either one, check how old it is before you trust the rest.
What Should You Book Ahead, and What Can Wait?
Very little in Savannah needs booking weeks out, but the few things that do will sell out without you. Book the bed first, then the items below. Several of the best-known experiences can’t be booked at all; for those, the answer is to arrive early.
| What | When to book | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Hotel for a spring weekend, St. Patrick’s Day or a festival week | As soon as your dates are fixed | Demand and rates peak, and the best-located rooms go first |
| Savannah Bananas at Historic Grayson Stadium | The fall before the season, through the ticket lottery | Home-game tickets are allocated by random lottery |
| Davenport House | Book a timed tour | Tours run at set times with up to 15 people |
| Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace | Online, in advance, especially June, July and school holidays | Tours sell out |
| Sorrel-Weed House ghost tour | Reserve ahead ($35, ages 10 and up) | Reservations are required |
| Owens-Thomas House, Mercer Williams House | Can’t be booked | First come, first served, so arrive early in busy seasons |
| Mrs. Wilkes’ Dining Room | Can’t be booked | No reservations; the line forms around 9:30am for lunch at 11am |
What can wait: the hop-on hop-off trolleys, harbor cruises on ordinary weekdays, the Telfair museums and nearly every restaurant that isn’t a special-occasion dinner. For the big-name dinner spots on a Friday or Saturday night, reserve when you book the room. That’s the one restaurant rule worth following.
Local Rules That Trip Visitors Up
To-go cups
Savannah lets adults carry an alcoholic drink outdoors, within limits written into the city code. You get one drink per person, in a paper, plastic or aluminum cup of 16 ounces or less, with no cans, bottles or glass, and you have to be 21 or older. The zone runs from the river south to Jones Street, west to the Talmadge Bridge and West Boundary Street, and east to the railroad line east of Savannah River Landing, plus the city’s part of Hutchinson Island. Monterey Square and Forsyth Park are outside it. The same rules apply during festivals.
Tybee Island’s rules are Tybee’s
Tybee charges $4 an hour for parking from 8am to 8pm every day, holidays included, or $25 for a day pass and $175 for seven days, and it takes no cash; you pay through ParkMobile, the Park TYB app or a kiosk. On the beach, glass is banned (the fine is $300), dogs aren’t allowed on the beach or the crossovers, smoking and vaping are banned, and the dunes are off limits. Savannah’s to-go cup rules don’t apply on Tybee.
Squares, cemeteries and private homes
The squares are public parks, but most of the houses around them are private homes, so admire the ironwork from the sidewalk and stay off the stoops. Bonaventure is an active city cemetery: stay on the paths, give funerals room and treat it as a place where people still grieve, however good the ghost story.
Is Savannah Safe for Tourists?
Most visits here are uneventful, and the everyday risks are the ones you’d plan for in any mid-sized American city: keep to lit, busy streets late at night, leave nothing visible in a parked car, and take a rideshare rather than walking long, empty blocks after the bars close. For many visitors the bigger hazard is the climate. A July afternoon, with a 92°F average high and heavy humidity, will flatten you if you try to walk the whole district at noon, so carry water and save the hottest hours for museums and lunch.
Visitor Centers, Maps and Restrooms
Visit Savannah runs several staffed visitor centers, open every day except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. They’re the easiest place to pick up a paper map, ask about tours and get your bearings on day one.
| Center | Where | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| MLK Visitor Information Center | 301 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., beside the Savannah History Museum | Daily 9am-4pm |
| River Street Visitor Information Center | 1 W. River St. | Daily 10am-6pm |
| City Market Visitor Information Center | 307 W. Julian St. | Daily 10am-5pm |
| Airport visitor center | 400 Airways Ave., at the airport | Daily 8:30am-midnight |
| Tybee Island Visitor Information Center | Campbell Ave. and US 80, Tybee Island | Daily 9am-4pm |
| Georgia Visitor Welcome Center (state-run) | I-95 mile marker 111, Port Wentworth | Daily 9am-5pm |
Don’t count on finding restrooms in the squares; plan breaks around museums, visitor centers and cafes where you’re buying something. And if you’re parking on the street, note that the MLK center no longer sells the Visitor Day Pass. Buy it at the Bryan Street Garage instead.
Mistakes, Tourist Traps and What Can Go Wrong
Savannah’s traps are mostly about timing, not scams. Here are the usual failures and the fix for each.
| Problem | What happens | The fix |
|---|---|---|
| A museum day on a Monday | All three Telfair sites are closed, and so is the Civil Rights Museum | Walk the squares and Bonaventure on Monday; save museums for Tuesday to Saturday |
| Tybee on a Tuesday | The lighthouse and the Marine Science Center are both closed | Go any other day |
| St. Patrick’s Day by accident | Full hotels, packed streets, closed museums | Check the date before you book, then go all in or pick another week |
| Noon in July | Heat, humidity and a good chance of an afternoon storm | Walk early and late; museums and a long lunch in between |
| A trolley pass and a walking tour on the same day | Two tours covering much of the same ground | Pick one overview tour, then a themed walk later in the trip |
| Mrs. Wilkes’ in January | Closed from January 1 to mid-February; cash or check only the rest of the year | Check the dates, bring cash and line up early |
| Eating only on River Street | You pay for the view and miss most of the city’s cooking | Walk a few blocks south for lunch and dinner |
As for tourist traps, the paid attractions in Savannah are mostly fair value. The overpriced part of a trip is usually convenience: the closest parking space, the riverfront table, the room with a view you’re never in. Spend on the house tours and a good guide, and save on everything you can walk to.
How to Plan Your Savannah Trip, Step by Step
This is the planning order the rest of this Savannah Georgia travel guide builds toward, and it avoids most of the problems above. Each step depends on the one before it, so resist the urge to book a ghost tour before you know which night you’re free.
- Check the calendar before the weather. Look up St. Patrick’s Day, the festival dates in the seasons table above and any Savannah Bananas home series, then pick a week that has what you want and avoids what you don’t.
- Decide about the car. If you’ll stay downtown and your list is mostly the Historic District, skip it or rent one for a single day. If Tybee, Wormsloe, Fort Pulaski or South Carolina are on the list, you’ll need wheels on those days.
- Book the bed. Choose the location first and the property second, then check the parking charge, the stairs and the cancellation terms.
- Lock in the few sellouts. Timed house tours, the ghost tour you care about, a weekend dinner reservation and any ticket tied to a date.
- Sketch your days by geography. Put the river, City Market and the northern squares on one day; the southern squares, Forsyth Park and the Victorian District on another; and the trip east along US 80 (Bonaventure, Fort Pulaski, Tybee) on a third.
- Match your days to opening days. The Telfair museums close Mondays; the SCAD Museum of Art, the Tybee lighthouse and the Marine Science Center close Tuesdays; the Davenport House and the Massie Heritage Center close Sundays; and the Pin Point Heritage Museum opens only Thursday to Saturday.
- Pack for heat, rain and brick. Comfortable walking shoes, a light rain layer and sun protection in any month, plus warm layers from December to February.
- Run the week-of checks. The forecast (and the tropics from June to November), holiday closures, and the hours of anything you’ve built a day around.
- On day one, get your bearings. Pick up a map at a visitor center, buy a Visitor Day Pass if you’re parking on the street, and walk Bull Street end to end before you do anything else.
That last step sounds too simple to matter, but after an hour on Bull Street you’ll know how the squares connect and how long a mile feels in this humidity.
Savannah Travel Guide FAQ
Do I need a car in Savannah?
Not for the Historic District, where a car is mostly a parking bill. You’ll want one, or a tour, for Tybee Island, Wormsloe, Fort Pulaski and anything in South Carolina. A good compromise is renting for a single day mid-trip and relying on your feet, the free shuttle and the ferry the rest of the time.
How far is Tybee Island from downtown Savannah?
About 18 miles, or roughly 30 minutes by car on US 80, the only road on and off the island. Tybee is a separate city with its own rules: parking costs $4 an hour from 8am to 8pm every day, no cash is accepted, and glass, dogs and smoking are banned on the beach. Allow extra time on summer weekends.
Can you walk around Savannah with an alcoholic drink?
Yes, inside a defined downtown zone. Adults 21 and over can carry one drink in a paper, plastic or aluminum cup of 16 ounces or less, with no glass, cans or bottles. The zone runs from the river south to Jones Street, so Forsyth Park and Monterey Square are outside it. Ask the bar for a to-go cup when you leave.
What is the rainiest time of year in Savannah?
Summer. NOAA’s 1991-2020 normals put June at 6.65 inches of rain, followed by July and August, and much of it falls in short, heavy afternoon storms. November is the driest month, at 2.39 inches. Hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30 and peaks around September 10, so late-summer and fall bookings deserve flexible cancellation terms.
Is Hilton Head part of Savannah?
No. Hilton Head Island is in South Carolina, roughly 45 minutes to an hour away by car depending on traffic and where you’re going on the island. It shares Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport, which is why the two get lumped together. Bluffton, Beaufort and the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge are across the state line too.
Related Savannah Guides
- Things to Do in Savannah, GA: the ranked list of attractions, with prices, hours, time needed and honest verdicts.
Sources and How We Checked
We checked this guide on September 23, 2026. It’s compiled from the operators and public agencies listed below, not from other travel lists, and it doesn’t claim first-hand visits. Prices, hours and schedules change, so confirm anything time-sensitive with the operator before you go.
- City of Savannah: Visitors, parking meters, parking garages, Mobility and Parking Services, hotel-motel tax resolution, City Code on to-go cups
- Chatham Area Transit: DOT Express Shuttle, Savannah Belles Ferry, current schedules
- Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport: ground transportation
- Amtrak: Savannah station
- Visit Savannah: visitor information centers, getting around, accessibility
- Georgia Department of Revenue: State Hotel-Motel Fee
- NOAA: 1991-2020 climate normals for the Savannah airport, National Hurricane Center climatology
- National Park Service: Savannah Historic District documentation, Fort Pulaski fees, Fort Pulaski trails
- City of Tybee Island: parking services, beach rules; Visit Tybee: getting here
- Museums and historic houses: Telfair Museums, Telfair Academy, Davenport House, Mercer Williams House, Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace, Coastal Heritage Society, Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum, Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum, American Prohibition Museum, Massie Heritage Center, Tybee Island Light Station, Tybee Island Marine Science Center
- Tours, dining and markets: Old Town Trolley Tours, Savannah Riverboat Cruises, Sorrel-Weed House, Mrs. Wilkes’ Dining Room, Forsyth Farmers’ Market
- Events: Savannah Music Festival, SCAD Savannah Film Festival, Savannah Book Festival, Savannah Bananas tickets
- Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce: 2025 visitor economy study
- News reports: WTOC on St. Patrick’s Day 2027, WTOC on the Forsyth Park fountain, WTOC on Taylor Square, CBS News on The Lady & Sons closing
Savannah Tourism Guide is an independent publication. We are not affiliated with Visit Savannah, the City of Savannah or any attraction listed here, and no one paid to be included.
Photo Credits
- Historic District townhouse: photo by Jrozwado, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Madison Square: photo by Jrozwado, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Savannah City Hall: photo by Stephen Rahn from Macon, GA, USA, Wikimedia Commons (CC0)
- Pedicab at Chippewa Square: photo by Michael Rivera, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Savannah Belles Ferry Susie King Taylor: photo by Jami430, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Savannah Visitor Center: photo by Myotus, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)
- Kress Building, Broughton Street: photo by Myotus, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)