United States · first visit
First Time in Savannah: What to See & Do — Trip Planner
Planning this trip in Savannah? Here’s how to decide what’s worth your time. The essential first-timer's hit list for Savannah — the tours, tickets and experiences worth your limited days, all bookable in one place.
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Top experiences in Savannah
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What first-timers get wrong in Savannah
Traffic must circle the squares rather than cut through them, so driving downtown is far slower than the map suggests; walk instead. Meters run into the evening six days a week and take app payment. Sand gnats bite hardest in spring and shrug off most repellent. Book anything for the week around March 17 months ahead, because St. Patrick's Day is the largest event on the city calendar.
What's actually worth your time in Savannah
Savannah's draw is the plan itself: Oglethorpe's grid of squares, twenty-two of the original twenty-four still shaded by live oaks, and walking Bull Street through Chippewa, Madison and Monterey costs nothing. Forsyth Park's 1858 fountain and the sculpted plots of Bonaventure Cemetery repay the trip out. River Street is a candy-and-souvenir gauntlet on ballast stone; go once at dusk, then leave. Wormsloe sells an avenue of oaks and little else.
What things cost in Savannah
Thirty dollars buys seven days across all three Telfair museums, the best value downtown by some distance. Mrs. Wilkes charges a flat cash price around thirty for lunch. A scoop at Leopold's is a few dollars, a ghost tour usually thirty to forty, and metered street parking a couple of dollars an hour. The DOT shuttle and the Savannah Belles Ferry cost nothing at all.
Savannah's museums, and which one to pick
One thirty-dollar ticket covers all three Telfair sites for seven days, and they close Mondays plus St. Patrick's Day, when the city belongs to the parade. Telfair Academy is a Regency mansion holding the Bird Girl statue lifted from Bonaventure. The Jepson Center, by Moshe Safdie, handles contemporary work and a children's wing. Owens-Thomas House keeps intact urban slave quarters with haint-blue ceilings and no lift.
What to eat in Savannah
Shrimp and grits, low country boil and crab stew are the register here. Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room serves fried chicken family-style at communal tables, weekday lunch only, cash only, with a queue down Jones Street. Mashama Bailey cooks at The Grey inside a restored Greyhound bus terminal on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Leopold's has scooped ice cream since 1919; Byrd's sells cookies by the tin.
When to go to Savannah
| Best months for first-timer guide | Avg daily high | Rain days |
|---|---|---|
| October | 25°C / 77°F | 6 days |
| April | 24°C / 75°F | 8 days |
| December | 17°C / 63°F | 7 days |
The month to avoid is July — around 32°C (90°F) with roughly 19 rain days. Prices and crowds track the weather here: October is the sweet spot, July the month most people skip.
Pack for peak season: Summer clothes, plus one light layer for air-con and evenings, Comfortable walking shoes — every guide on this site assumes you'll use them.
Where to base yourself in Savannah
- Historic District — Squares grid — Spanish moss, antebellum mansions, the Cathedral of St. John.
- River Street — Cobblestone waterfront — restaurants, river-cruise dock, candy shops.
- Starland — Hip south district — coffee shops, breweries, the SCAD art scene.