19 Top Things to Do in Savannah – The Ultimate Guide

What are the top things to do in Savannah and why should you visit?

I’ve been to Savannah several times, but for various reasons was never able to spend much time discovering the city. So, I was thrilled to plan a girls’ trip to the Low Country with plenty of time baked in to really pay attention and get to know Savannah better.

As you may know, Savannah is all about the gorgeous homes, built around lovely garden filled squares, and being draped in giant Southern Live Oak trees covered with Spanish Moss. 

What you might not know is that Savannah has a wildly rich and sordid history. The combination of its beauty and past makes you feel like you’re visiting a foreign country. Similar to New Orleans, Savannah has many stories, and not all of them pretty, which makes it a fascinating place to visit.

Today, Savannah is Georgia’s fifth-largest city, a significant Atlantic seaport, (you’ll see plenty of giant cargo ships coming in and out on the river), and one of the busiest tourism destinations in the Southeast.

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Here are the 21 Things to do in Savannah

I’ll give you an important history lesson in a minute, but first let’s talk about the top things to see and do during your visit:

#1 The Savannah Old Town Trolley Tour

Start with the Savannah Old Town Trolley Tour – 16 Stops, Hop On Hop Off, One Day Ticket. Not cheap, but its super fun and the best way to get a feel for the city and all the things you’ll want to explore. Just ride the full loop at first and then you can go back to the spots you’re most interested in. The drivers will give you plenty of info along the way and they tend to be very funny as well.

Click Here to Buy Tickets for the Hop-On-Hop-Off
Savannah Old Town Trolley Tour Here

Savannah’s Famous Architecture, Gardens, & Streets

The architecture and gardens are probably my favorite thing about this city on the river. What’s so interesting to me is that Savannah was in a shambles as historic mansions were being torn down and neglected. Then, in 1955, a group of women began to protest and created the Historic Savannah Foundation.They’re referred to as the “Seven Ladies” who saved the 1820 Isaiah Davenport House from being demolished, and then restored many other homes, squares, and parks.

#2 Savannah’s Historic Squares

Savannah’s layout centers around its beautiful squares that are like small parks. Each one has a statue or a fountain, beautifully groomed gardens, and a story of some kind. The most famous ones are:

• Chippewa Square:
Bull and McDonough Streets
Chippewa Square has a statue of General James Oglethorpe, is where the historic and haunted Savannah Theater is, and was the filming location for Forrest Gump’s bus bench scenes.

• Johnson Square:
Bull and Julian Streets
This square has a monument for General Nathanael Greene and is the city’s oldest square created in 1733.

• Monterey Square:
Bull and Wayne Streets
Known as the prettiest square and is where you’ll find the famous Williams- Mercer House of the  Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil fame. It’s also home to the historic synagogue Congregation Mickve Israel.

• Lafayette Square:
Abercorn and Harris Streets
Lafayette Square has a beautiful fountain and is where you’ll find the Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist and the home where Flannery O’Connor’ grew up.

#3 Forsyth Park

Forsyth Park is Savannah’s 30 acre version of Central Park, just a lot smaller and quieter. I think the best way to explore the park is to walk there and then wander around. You’ll see the famous fountain, the monuments, and the cafe Look for fun happenings like the Saturday Farmer’s Market, the annual Savannah Jazz Festival, food trucks, and seasonal events. We hopped onto the Trolley Tour bus at the stop by the park.

#4 Savannah’s River Street

Savannah sits along the Savannah River. This very historic waterfront is one of the hot tourist spots in the city. There’s a beautiful walkway that stretches along the waterfront, with tons of restaurants, souvenir shops, praline candy shops, and hotels. In the 1700’s the river was the center of the trade industry of cotton. The bluff up to Bay Street required the iron walkways and staircases to be built to descend down to the river. Note all the warning signs to “climb at your own risk” as you navigate these very steep staircases!

Be sure to wander into the J.W. Marriott Lobby on River Street to see the mind blowing gem and rock show.

#5 Owens-Thomas House & Slave Quarters

124 Abercorn Street
Ticket prices range from $10 – $30 – The ticket is good for a couple of days and allows you access into The Children’s Art Museum, the Telfair Academy, and the Telfair Jepson Center Art Museum.

The Owens-Thomas tour is one of the house tours I would definitely recommend. It was built in 1819 and is the only home in Savannah to have intact slave quarters that are open to the public. The fascinating thing about this tour is that you can get a glimpse of both sides of the complicated history. The house and its beauty and opulence alongside the slave quarters in the back is quite a contrast. The tour guides are very informative.

Book A Top Rated Savannah Architectural Tour Here!

#6 Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace – Girl Scouts Founder

10 E Oglethorpe Avenue
Open 7 days a week. Ticket prices range from $10 -$12

Juliette Gordon Low was born and raised in this beautiful mansion. Her father was a wealthy cotton business owner and fought for the confederacy in the Civil War, while her mother was a northerner, a writer, and member of the founding family of Chicago, Illinois. Juliette grew up to become the founding leader of the Girl Scouts of America.

#7 Cathedral of St. John the Baptist

222 East Harris Street
Open Mon – Sat 9AM – 11:45 AM & 12:45PM – 5PM

This church is the seat of the diocese of Savannah. Built in 1873 in the French Gothic style, it has one of the most beautiful interiors of any church in the city. It’s free to the public for self guided tours and holds regular church services.

#8 Jones Street

Jones Street, is said to be the most beautiful street in all of Savannah. My unpopular opinion is that yes, it’s very beautiful, but so are many of the other streets! You’ll see lots of historic homes, Greek architecture, and of course, Live Oaks with Spanish Moss.

#9 Savannah’s City Market

Jefferson & W Saint Julian Streets
If you want shopping opportunities, head to the 1755 historic City Market area, which was once a gathering place for fishermen and farmers. You can hop on the Trolley Tour here, or take a horse and buggy ride. The whole area is worth walking around if you’re in the mood for some art galleries, treats, or souvenirs.

#10 Broughton Street

Broughton Street is a main strip filled with restaurants and shops, most notably the famous Leopold’s Ice Cream and Byrd’s Famous Cookies. Stroll here day or evening for a feel of quaint downtown Savannah.

#11 The Candler Oak

516 Drayton St (outside SCAD’s Ruskin Hall)
There are a lot of amazing oaks in Savannah, but this tree is said to be Savannah’s oldest oak, rooted in the early 1700’s. You’ll find it near Forsyth Park, standing 54 feet tall. It is so cherished that an easement was built around it to protect it.

Savannah’s Cemeteries & Haunted History

Savannah has a very active paranormal, supernatural, haunted sub-culture. From ghost sightings, to voodoo, there are plenty of wild stories. I love me a fun ghost tour, and I can recommend the one I was gifted by the USGhost Tours company. It was called the “Savannah Terrors, Sinister Sins, and Shadows Ghost Tour” Our guide was full of plenty of personal experiences with the paranormal, as well as being able to share the tales of ghost sightings all around the city. Here are some of spots to be-aware of.

Click Here for a US Ghost Tour in Savannah’s Historic & Haunted District

#12 Bonaventure Cemetery

330 Bonaventure Road
Free guided tours are available on the weekends at 1PM.

Named the most beautiful cemetery, You may know of Bonaventure cemetery from the Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil story. I suggest visiting in the daylight! It’s about 3 miles from the center of town. This Southern Gothic cemetery is a beautiful resting place for many famous people, such as military generals, poet Conrad Aiken, songwriter Johnny Mercer, and Georgia’s first governor, Edward Telfair.

#13 Colonial Park Cemetery

201 Abercorn Street
Open 8AM – 5PM Nov – March, 8AM – 8PM March – Nov

This is Savannah’s oldest cemetery, established in 1750. There are over 9000 people buried here. While it may not have the stunning beauty of Bonaventure, it has a lot of fascinating history. Including a mass grave for those who died of yellow fever, and a grave for those who died in a duel. This includes Button Gwinnett, who signed the Declaration of Independence and then died in a notorious 1777 duel.

#14 Sorrel-Weed House

6 W Harris Street
Open daily from 11AM – 11PM. Historical architecture tours run from 11AM to 4PM. Ghost tours run between 7PM and 10PM. Paranormal investigations require advance reservations.

This house is not only considered the most haunted in Savannah, but also in the country! It’s especially popular because visitors are allowed to tour, even with nighttime lock-in tours! The story is that Matilda Sorrel committed suicide by jumping from a balcony when she learned that her husband had an affair with an enslaved woman named Molly. Then Molly was found hung in the carriage house. Also, hundreds of soldiers died in that square before the house was even built. AND, the basement of the mansion was used as a hospital during the civil war, adding to the deaths in the home. Tour at your own risk!

Savannah’s Art Museums

To know me is to know I love finding art museums in any place I visit. Well, Savannah is famous for its thriving art scene. The Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) was founded in 1978 with a tiny group of students and has grown to be one of the most prestigious art schools in the country. It’s enormous success has allowed the school to purchase and restore buildings all over the city. This has hugely affected the success of the “rebirth” of Savannah and making it one of the top tourist destinations in the country.

#15 Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD) Museum of Art

601 Turner Blvd
Open Mon & Wed – Sat 10AM – 5PM, Sun 12PM – 5PM

This museum has a fantastic reputation for its  fabulous permanent collection of 45,000 works on rotation as well as ongoing exhibits featuring SCAD graduates and current students. Sadly, unknown to us, the permanent collection was closed due to renovation when we were there! So we saw a tiny exhibit and had to simply admire the building itself, which is beautiful.

#16 The Telfair Academy, The Jepson Center, and the Children’s Museum

207 W. York Street
Wednesday – Friday 12 – 8PM, Saturday – Sunday 10AM -5PM
Admission is Free

The Telfair was the first public art museum in the Southern U.S., founded in 1886. We were so happy to find it open after our failed SCAD experience, and we had our tix from the Owen House tour, so it was really a win. It’s filled with both contemporary and classic art and is a lovely building as well.

Day Trips

You could spend your entire visit in the historic center of Savannah and along the Riverwalk, but I recommend you take a day or at least a morning to leave the city and explore the Pin Point and Wormsloe sites, or perhaps a beach day at Tybee. We took an uber from Pin Point to Wormsloe and spent about a short time walking the trails and were so happy we did. And we were still back in Savannah in time for a late lunch.

#17 Pin Point Heritage Museum

9924 Pin Point Avenue
Just a 20 minute drive from Savannah’s center is Pin Point, a Gullah-Geechee community. Gullah Culture was formed by the trans-Atlantic African Americans who were brought to the south as enslaved people. After being freed, the coastal areas were purchased by the formerly enslaved. Pin Point housed a successful oyster and crab factory that employed the Gullah people of the area. It now is a fascinating museum dedicated to preserving the culture, language, and history of the Gullah people who still speak Geechee. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was raised in Pin Point and spoke Geechee.

#18 Wormsloe Historic Site 

About a 25 minute drive from downtown Savannah is the former Wormsloe Plantation. It is now a state park, most known for its 1.5 mile entrance of Live Oaks. The park offers an open air shuttle from the visitor center on the entrance road. They provide educational tours, reenactments, and demonstrations of colonial life on the plantation. There are trails to walk and explore the areas by the water. Visitors cannot see the mansion however, because family members continue to live there.

Get Tix for a Tour of Wormsloe State Park and Bonaventure Cemetery Here!

#19 Tybee Island

People say that a trip to Savannah would not be complete without visiting Tybee, however, I did not have time to go to Tybee and I still felt like my trip was complete! I’m sure it’s very beautiful and worth the trip to see the charming beach town, the famous red-and-white striped lighthouse, and have lunch or a full beach day!

Have a Tybee Island Beach Day Tour! Book it Here!

Where should I eat in Savanah?

Savannah has a reputation as a foodie’s heaven. There are many very well known restaurants, pubs, and rooftop bars, as well as a ton of spots that cater more toward the tourists. On this trip, we weren’t in the mood for some of the more fancy/pricey menus. So, here’s a list of some of my favorites that we tried and some others that are supposed to be great.

• Estia Kitchen – 8 E Broughton St Mediterranean food and was the best dinner we had in Savannah!

• The Olde Pink House – 23 Abercorn St A beautiful and historic dining experience, reservations are required.

• Collins Quarter – 151 Bull St We loved this lunch! Go to this location because the Forsyth park location food was pretty mediocre, but the Bull Street food was excellent.

• The Pirates’ House – 20 E Broad St This is a popular tourist spot for pirates and others!

• Café M – 128 E Bay St My favorite breakfast spot in Savannah. I went back several times!

• Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room – 107 W Jones St This is a very famous dining experience in which you sit family style with strangers and are served whatever Mrs. Wilkes is serving that day! I’ve heard from people who did this and said it was wonderful and memorable.

• Gryphon Tea Room – 337 Bull St This atmosphere and lunch was so lovely. It’s a charming former pharmacy turned tea room with vintage decor and excellent food. I had great lunch sitting amongst the books in the tea room.

• Myrtle & Rose – 500 River Street This is a crowded rooftop bar with expensive drinks, but great views!

Where to Stay In Savannah?

The Hotel Indigo Savannah Historic District is in an excellent location and I was very happy with the stay. Nothing fancy but very reasonable and the accommodations and staff were quite nice. And they gave us free cocktails!

The River Street Inn is where I wished I had stayed because its in a historic building overlooking the river and seemed very charming. It’s billed as “upscale historic.”

The Hotel Bardo is a luxury hotel at reasonable prices in a Victorian mansion overlooking Forsyth Park.

Savannah FAQ’s

How many days do you need in Savannah?

I think three days is enough to see the historic district, walk through several squares, visit a house museum or two, and eat well. Add a day if you want to fit in Tybee Island, Wormsloe, or Pin Point.

Is Savannah walkable?

Yes, the historic district is very walkable, and it’s honestly the best way to see the squares and architecture up close. The Old Town Trolley is worth it for your first loop around the city, then walk back to the spots that caught your eye.

Is Savannah a good trip for a girls’ getaway?

Absolutely. Between the restaurants, the art museums, house tours, the shopping, and the number of pretty spots for photos, it’s an easy city to explore with friends.

Do you need a car in Savannah?

Not for the historic district. You’ll only want one, or an Uber, for day trips out to Wormsloe, Pin Point, or Tybee Island.

What is Savannah known for?

Its historic squares, Southern architecture, Spanish moss-covered oak trees, and a genuinely wild history that includes fires, yellow fever outbreaks, and more ghost stories than you can fit into one visit.

Is the Bonaventure Cemetery worth visiting?

Yes, it’s one of the most beautiful cemeteries in the country and the resting place of Johnny Mercer and several other notable Savannah figures. Go during the day, since it’s quite large and worth taking your time to explore.

What’s the best neighborhood to stay in for first-time visitors?

Staying within the historic district puts you in walking distance of the squares, River Street, and most of the restaurants on this list.

Is Savannah a haunted city?

By reputation, yes. Savannah leans hard into its haunted history, and it’s a very fun part of the culture to get to know.

Savannah Fun Facts

• Johnny Mercer, born in Savannah, wrote Moon River (and many others). He’s buried in the Bonaventure Cemetery. His great grandfather owned the Mercer House, but died before ever moving in.
• The Mercer-Williams House is where the famous antiques dealer shot his young companion, the main focus of the famous book & movie “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.”
• The Bird Girl sculpture was moved from her home in the Bonaventure Cemetery to the Telfair Museum because she became too popular after being the cover for the book.
• The Colonial Cemetery has a mass grave of about 700 victims of Yellow Fever.
• General Sherman found Savannah so beautiful during his famous March to the Sea, so he spared the city from being burned, and gifted it to Lincoln.
• Despite the name, Spanish Moss is neither Spanish nor a moss. It’s a plant in the pineapple family that uses trees for support while it gets nutrients from the air.
• The Olde Pink House is an 18th-century mansion turned restaurant known to be one of Savannah’s most haunted buildings.
• The big hotel on the river, JW Marriott, is a converted 1912 power plant and has a massive mineral and fossil museum in its lobby. Giant geodes, an Ice Age bear skeleton, and a massive dinosaur replica hanging overhead.

Now You’ve Got The Dish on All The Things To Do In Savannah

In a nutshell…

I spent 4 days in Savannah and every one of them was full. We wandered through the historic district and its squares, rested on benches by the river, ate plenty, and spent a day exploring Pin Point and Wormsloe. The Trolley Tour and ghost tour turned out to be some of the best parts of the trip. I became obsessed with Savannah history and promptly came home reading Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and watched the movie!

Savannah has a way of making you slow down. Between the oak trees, the old homes, and the number of good places to sit and drink and eat, it’s a city built for wandering rather than checking things off a list.

If you’re planning your own visit, use this list as a starting point and leave room to get a little lost. Some of our best moments in Savannah weren’t planned at all.

xx,
Carrie