Savannah and the coast input

You'll love Savannah! We go often and greatly enjoy The Pink House for a wonderful dinner and love Kevin Barry's Irish Pub for its atmosphere and food. Our best nighttime fun is at Savannah Smiles - dueling piano bar that's great fun! It would be a couple hour hop north on Rt 17 to Charleston, SC. Incredible food there, and take a carriage ride! Definitely take the trip out to Ft. Sumter. Both cities have GREAT walking tours available for very fair prices. They generally take about 2 hours and you can get a real feel for the culture and significance of both places in the process. In Charleston, we love to go to The Griffon on Vendue Range (right near the battery at the harbor) for the very best fish and chips I have ever had!! Enjoy your wandering!

If you come to Jax may as well go down to St Augustine to start. Go on up to Charleston while your at it, it is a Great American City and a lot of fun.

In Savanah in the military history venues arena, there are Old Fort Jackson, Fort McAllister and Fort Pulaski.

As for cultural history, there is the Wormsloe State Historic Site and the Savannah History Museum located next to the Visitor's Center which has lots of parking and shuttle bus and tour bus stops.

On the nature side of things, the Oatland Island Wildlife Center run by the Savannah School District is a good environmental education center that is open to the public. There is Skidaway Island State Park, Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge, Wassaw National Wildlife Refuge, Blackbeard Island National Wildlife Refuge, and the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge.

Lots of Shops along the River Front Plaza.

Between Jaxsonville and Savannah, the Brunswick/St, Marys area has some attractions like: Jekyll Island, Cumberland Island National Seashore, and the Submarine Museum. If you are in that area on a weekend, there is the Woodbine Opry.

Hope you have a Great Trip!!!

We took US-17 North not too long ago and there is much to see and do along this Coastal route: Savannah, Charleston, Georgetown, Myrtle Beach, Wilmington, New Bern, side trip to the Outer Banks, Virginia Beach, side trip to Williamsburg or Cape Charles. Just Google "Things to do" in each city - good food, friendly people, wildlife, history and great scenery all along the way.

Savannah is gorgeous. If you are there, you should really look into going to The Breakfast Club on Tybee Island at least once. It is a great local breakfast spot a block from the beach with amazing food. The only catch is you have to stand outside in line to get in.

If you like seafood, Savannah is a great place to stop. The city is known for its beautiful squares. If you are anything like me you ask... who cares about a square (its a park)? Well, if you are anything like me you will realize how beautiful they are when you see them and you will enjoy walking or biking around the city and enjoying all the beautiful squares. There is a TON of history there too. Lots of forts, museums and historical houses/sites.

I might also suggest you stop in Charleston too. Its about an hour and a half further north and is another exceptionally gorgeous city. In fact, I prefer Charleston to Savannah. Great food, beautiful port city with lots of history.

Both cities have neat little "tourist trap" areas with little shops. If you have never been or haven't been in a while, they are fun to walk through... just don't limit your trip to those areas. Both cities are amazing.

Someone mentioned St Augustine too. We stopped there years ago and I found it very "tourist trap" esque. There were some really cool things to see though... they have an AWESOME pirates museum, some great Spanish style architecture and some cool forts. I didn't properly plan the trip though, it was kind of a last minute decision to stop for a couple of days. I'm sure if I planned better I would have enjoyed it much more. I'll go back one of these days.

Sounds like a great trip, enjoy!

Thanks for input so far. Confirms my worst fears....shopping galore! We love seafood, Creole..eatin and sippin...I usually hunker down in a local while Sharon is doing a block or two. Have found a couple neat looking rentals on Tybee Island.

Please do continue to make suggestions...thank you.


Gary Haupt

If you don't like to shop then you clearly want to avoid MB. Your wife will like it though. But there are plenty of watering holes and park benches. If you enjoy military museums, Patriots Point in Charleston is a nice way to spend some time. You can catch a boat to Ft. Sumter from there as well.

Holy cow, can't believe I forgot the mention Patriots Point!!! That place is AWESOME! They have the WW2 aircraft carrier USS Yorktown along with era appropriate aircraft. They have a WW2 submarine and destroyer as well as a replica Vietnam fire base. We have been twice and LOVE it. The still have some WW2 vets that work there and can tell you all kinds of great info about the war. We usually spend the entire day aboard the carrier though, so I have been on the submarine once, the destroyer once and haven't yet gone through the fire base.

Its a great way to spend an entire day. Your entrance fee and parking are good for the whole day, so you can leave to eat lunch and come back.

Trailertraveler is right on with his info. Highly recommend both Charleston and St Augustine. If camping, James Island county park is one of the best campgrounds. Lots to do and many great places to eat. The Hominy Grill is a must! Savannah is good to. I prefer other places to camp than the campground on Tybee Island. The island itself is a great place with many good places to eat. Paula Deans restaurant is good but you have to get there early. (I heard she closed but opened another location ~ not sure on that) If camping, Skidaway is nice. Jekyll Island is another great place. Love the campground there as well. If you like to bike, the island has 25 miles of bike trails that traverse the island. St Augustine is another must see if you haven't been. Last time, we stayed at the KOA. Not great, but not bad either. The one really good thing was the trolley service made an hourly stop at the campground. Parking space downtown is very limited and expensive. The cost of the trolley service more than paid for itself vs paying for parking. There are several great places to eat in the downtown area as well. If you search thru my blog, you can find a lot of photographs and information about each of the areas or if you have questions, feel free to PM me

I also forgot to suggest Patriot's Point! Awesome as was said. Myrtle Beach is honky-tonk compared to Savannah or Charleston, but there are some great local pubs to visit! Our favorite is called The Barrel on US17 Business (also known as Kings Highway) near 23rd Ave S. Little family owned and operated but very, very friendly. NO great restaurants, but you can get good oysters and shrimp just south of MB in an area called Murrells Inlet, particularly at The Hot Fish Club and Graham's. We also like Wicked Tuna for happy hour specials. Definitely won't go hungry and you won't go broke either! For camping in the MB area, would suggest either State Park (Myrtle Beach SP or Huntington Beach SP just south). There are several HUGE private CGs that are oceanfront in MB but they're too crazy for us. Honestly, the KOA in MB (about 1/4 mile inland from the ocean, right in the middle of MB) is a nice park. Have a fun-filled and safe trip. Happy Camping. Feel free to PM if you have any questions.