Luxury hotels in Savannah

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.

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.

Savannah after dark

Open containers are legal inside the Historic District if the drink is in a plastic cup under sixteen ounces, which sets the tone: people drift between City Market, Congress Street and the Bohemian's rooftop with a to-go cocktail in hand. Bars serve until three. Ghost tours, candlelit and slightly silly, are the other evening industry. River Street after ten belongs to bachelorette parties and cover bands.

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.

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.

When to go to Savannah

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.