Savannah, GA
Weekend Vacation Getaway
Destination Overview
Just two hours south of Charleston, Savannah seems years apart from its neighbor to the north in their leap into the 21st century. While Charleston has charged into the new millennium, Savannah seems content to walk there, at its own pace. A stroll down its main street reveals store signs that haven’t changed in 50 years. And the locals are quite happy with the state of things. Nevertheless, Savannah’s quiet dignity and welcoming hospitality make it an ideal choice for a weekend getaway.
Georgia’s “first city” may just be one of the country’s most beautiful towns. Founded in 1733 by James Oglethorpe on the banks of the Savannah River, the city was planned with a series of orderly grids around 24 squares. The squares today are delightful parks with benches, fountains, flowers and stately oaks dripping with Spanish moss. The parks are surrounded by magnificent, restored mansions reflecting a variety of architectural styles from the 18th and 19th centuries. There’s even a section in one of the parks’ for the blind to experience the wonderful scents of the flowers.
Savannah is a true southern city that has retained its old charm despite the world around it. The pace is leisurely, the people hospitable and friendly. Sitting on a bench in one of the parks, inhaling the aromas of the flowers around you and watching the horse drawn carriages slide by is one of life’s real pleasures. It just feels right to be here.
The locals will tell you that Savannah is the most haunted city in America. Ghost Tour director Christine Troxell claims 80% of the homes in the historic district are haunted. In fact, one local restaurant is haunted by a “ladies man” who supposedly pinches women’s behinds!
The town got a boost in 1994 from the publication of the book and the subsequent movie, “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,” the tale of a local sex and murder case involving voodoo, drag queens and assorted other characters. The notorious “Lady Chablis” still entertains a few times a year in a local club.
Savannah’s St. Patrick’s Day celebration is legendary and rivals other Irish enclaves like New York, Boston and Chicago. Unlike those cities, however, the weather cooperates with temperatures in the 70’s and sometimes the 80’s. Perfect for outdoor partying. And, the party is wild, fueled by Savannah’s open container law allowing people to walk around with drinks in their hands. It’s a day everyone should try once.
Making Your Travel Plans
Getting There
When To Go
Getting Around
Accommodations/Dining
There’s no longer any need to roll the dice on where you stay or to settle and stay at a “safe” national chain. BestWeekends Travel Advance Team takes the worry out of where to stay when you go away.
The BestWeekends Travel Advance Team does
all the work for you. We research each destination by scouring the guidebooks, articles,
blogs, reviews and rating systems. Then we visit the destination and stay in
the properties. Finally, we talk to the locals to be sure we didn’t miss
anything. The result: we post on our site only the best of what we experienced.
You can book with confidence knowing that “we’ve been there” and that no one
pays us for a review. Inside see our Featured Properties.
When you are away on vacation, there’s few things worse than
a bad dining experience. We agree, so we follow the same process for identifying
restaurants as we do for accommodations, but with an extra step. We believe that
the best dining experience has the strongest combination of food, ambiance and
service. Good food is a given in our recommendations, but the best food in the
world just doesn’t taste as good in a poor setting and the best setting with
poor service just doesn’t cut it for us. The BestWeekends Travel Advance Team only
presents those restaurants that meet our strict criteria. Mangia….enjoy! See our Favorite Restaurants.
Things To Do
BestWeekend' s Exclusives
After selecting our favorite places to stay and eat, we
sat down and made a list of all the other things that would save you
time and make your stay more enjoyable. The result is “Special Things”
and “Good To Know, Good To Go,” BestWeekends Exclusives.
Special Things identifies unique, fun and romantic things for couples to do together in a particular destination. Good to Know
is our list of the “best” of everything from breakfast to burgers,
cocktails to after dinner fun and much, much more. Why stumble around
trying to find the “best”….we’ve already done it for you!

Don't Miss
- Breakfast at Clary's
- The River Walk
- Forsyth Park
- City Market
- Mercer House
- Lady Chablis
- Inn at Palmetto Bluff
- Dinner at Elizabeth on 37th.