Hey Guys!
Savannah, Georgia is one of those cities we never get tired of visiting. We’d previously spent several days exploring Savannah as part of a longer Savannah and Charleston trip, so this time we weren’t trying to see everything.
A Week in Charleston, SC & Savannah, GA – Days 1 & 2 – Dec 2024
Instead, we slowed things down, toured a couple of historic homes, wandered through the Historic District and enjoyed some really good meals.
Click here to see some of the best restaurants in Savannah
If you’ve already visited Savannah — or you’re looking for a relaxed weekend itinerary, then this trip is easy to recreate.
However, if you’re planning your first trip to Savannah, you may want to start with my Savannah & Charleston 7 Day Itinerary, where we packed in many more of Savannah’s major sights. That trip is broken down in a day by day format instead of one blog post.
Day 1: Arriving in Savannah + Dinner at the Pirates House
We arrived in Savannah on New Year’s Eve and checked into the historic Kehoe House, where we would be spending our first night.
Since we’d visited Savannah before, we wanted this trip to be a little different, and staying in one of the city’s historic homes was the perfect way to start our weekend.
Staying at the Historic Kehoe House
Located in Savannah’s Historic District, the Kehoe House is a beautiful historic mansion that has been converted into a bed and breakfast.
This was our first time staying here, and the house itself was just as much a part of the experience as exploring Savannah.
Inside, the historic details and furnishing give the house so much character. 
We stayed in room 303 and our room even had its own balcony!
One of the best parts of our stay happened later that evening. Since it was New Year’s Eve, we were able to step right outside onto our balcony and watch the fireworks over Savannah!
It was such a fun and incredibly convenient way to ring in the New Year without having to fight the crowds!
Read reviews here
New Year’s Eve Dinner at The Pirates House
For Dinner, we had made advanced reservations at the Pirates House, one of Savannah’s most well known historic restaurants.
Read about the history of the restaurant here
We’d eaten here on our previous trip and decided it would be a great place to return to for New Year’s Eve because the food was so good!
My husband ordered a seafood platter and I ordered a steak dinner.
The food was delicious and the service was very good.
Read reviews here & see their menu here
Tip: I strongly recommend you make reservations at most of the restaurants we ate at
After dinner, we made one more stop at Leopold’s Ice Cream for dessert.
No trip to Savannah feels quite complete without a stop at Leopolds, and it was the perfect way to end our New Year’s Even out in the city.
Read reviews here
After our ice cream, we headed back to the Kehoe House, settled in for the night and eventually watched the New Year’s Eve fireworks from our balcony….a pretty perfect ending to our first night back in Savannah.
Day 2 – Exploring Historic Savannah
We started our first morning of the new year with breakfast at the Kehoe House.
Guests can enjoy breakfast downstairs, but we chose to have ours delivered to our room instead.
It was such a relaxing way to start the morning before heading out for a full day of exploring Savannah.
Touring the Sorrel-Weed House
After breakfast, we met up with my sister and bother in law and headed to the historic Sorrel-Weed House for a tour.
The beautiful Greek Revival mansion dates back to the 1800s and is one of Savannah’s many historic homes open for tours.
Since we’d already seen several of Savannah’s attractions on our previous trip, touring some of the historic homes we hadn’t visited before was one of the things we wanted to do this time.
The house was gorgeous and I highly recommend a tour of this house if you are ever visiting Savannah!
Read reviews here
Walking Through Savannah’s Historic District
After our tour, we continued exploring Savannah on foot.
One of our first stops was the Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist, where we stopped to take a few photos of the beautiful exterior.
During our previous trip, we went inside so we decided to skip it this time.
From there, we spent some time walking through Savannah’s South Historic District, admiring and taking way too many pictures of the gorgeous historic homes and buildings along the way.
This is honestly one of my favorite things to do in Savannah.
You don’t necessarily need a destination.
Just walking the streets and seeing the architecture, beautiful squares, and historic homes is an experience in itself.
Since we were visiting just after New year’s, some of the homes and buildings were still decorated for Christmas, which made everything even prettier.
Lunch at Clary’s Cafe
Eventually, we made our way to Clary’s Cafe for lunch.
We were able to get a table outside, which we really enjoyed.
After spending the morning walking around Savannah, it was nice to sit outside, relax and enjoy lunch before continuing our day.
Clary’s Cafe is one those classic paces that has a lot more history than you might realize just from eating there.
Its roots go back to 1903, when the location began as a neighborhood drugstore and soda fountain before evolving into the old fashioned breakfast and lunch cafe it is today.
What really made Clary’s famous outside Savannah is its connection to Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Author John Berendt spent time there while getting to know Savannah and its colorful residents, and Clary’s appears in the book as the neighborhood gathering place.
The cafe was also later used as a filming location for Clint Eastwood’s 1997 movie adaption.
In the movie, John Cusack’s character, John Kelso, uses the diner as his morning hub to drink coffee, eat breakfast, and observe the eccentricities of the local Savannah residents.
The cafe is known for breakfast, which is served all day.
The food was delicious!
Read reviews here
Forsyth Park
After lunch, we continued walking through the Historic District and passed lots more historic homes and buildings.
We eventually made our way to Forsyth Park.
Of course, we had to stop as the famous Forsyth Fountain.
The fountain is one of Savannah’s most recognizable landmarks and has been a centerpiece of the park since the 1800s.
The trees in Forsyth Park are amazing!
We continued wandering through Savannah afterward, stopping whenever another beautiful historic building caught our attention ….which happens a lot in Savannah!
Along the way, we passed the Green-Meldrim House, another of the city’s impressive historic mansions.
Read about the history of the house here
Checking into the Olde Harbour Inn
Later that afternoon, we checked into the Olde Harbour Inn. Unlike the Kehoe House, this wasn’t our first stay here.
We stayed at the Olde Harbor Inn during our first trip to Savannah and absolutely loved it, so we were excited to come back.
The best thing about the rooms was it had two bedrooms which worked perfectly since my sister and brother in law were staying with us. 
One of our favorite things about staying here is the location right along the river.
From our balcony, we could sit and watch the enormous cargo ships make their way along the Savannah River.
Seeing how huge these ships are when they pass right in front of you is pretty incredible!
Read reviews here
Dinner at Poe’s Tavern and an Evening Along the River
That evening, we had dinner at Poe’s Tavern.
We had first eaten at Poe’s Tavern during our trip to Charleston and we really enjoyed it so we thought we would try the one in Savannah.
However, we weren’t overly impressed with the food.
Read reviews here
After dinner, we walked along Savannah’s riverfront near our hotel.
Since we were visiting just after New Year’s, many of the Christmas decorations were still up, including a beautiful Christmas tree along the riverfront.
We spent some time walking around, taking pictures and enjoying the lights before making one more unexpected stop.
An Unexpected Stop at the JW Marriott
While exploring the riverfront, we wandered into the JW Marriott Savannah Plant Riverside District — and I’m so glad we did!
The inside of this hotel is almost like a museum.
We found incredible displays filled with fossils, dinosaur bones, beautiful rocks, minerals and gemstones!
It was such an unexpected find and definitely worth walking inside to see, even if you aren’t staying at the hotel.
We spent at least 30-45 mins here going through the exhibits.
We walked up to the 3rd floor to take pictures of the exhibits below.
Read reviews here
After exploring the displays, we headed back to the Olde Harbor Inn and relaxed for a while on our balcony before calling it a night.
Day 3 – River Street, The Olde Pink House, & Another Historic Home Tour
We started our third day in Savannah right outside our hotel along the riverfront.
One of the great things about staying at the Olde Harbour Inn is having so much historic Savannah within walking distance.
Exploring Savannah’s Historic Riverfront
Our first stop was the Waving Girl Statue, located along the riverfront near our hotel.
The statue honors Florence Martus, who became known as Savannah’s Waving Girl after reportedly greeting ships entering and leaving the Savannah harbor for decades.
From there, we made our way up from the river and continued walking through the historic area above River Street.
We stopped to see the Old City Exchange Bell and the historic Cotton Exchange before snapping a few photos of the historic Savannah City Hall and its beautiful gold dome.
This is another thing I love about Savannah – there is history and beautiful architecture almost everywhere you look, so even walking from one place to another becomes part of the sightseeing.
Lunch at The Olde Pink House
For lunch, we headed to The Olde Pink House, one of Savannah’s most famous historic restaurants.
This was our second time eating here, but my sister and brother in law’s first visit.
The restaurant is located inside a beautiful 18th century mansion, and since the Christmas decorations were still up, we spent some time walking around and taking pictures of the interior before our meal.
Not only is The Olde Pink House beautiful, but dining here feels like you’re getting to experience another piece of Savannah’s history at the same time.
The food is delicious and the service is top notch!
Read reviews here
Touring the Green-Meldrin House
After lunch, we toured the Green Meldrin House.
We had actually passed the mansion during our walk the previous day, so this time we got to step inside and see it for ourselves.
This was the second historic home we toured during this trip and another opportunity to see some of Savannah’s incredible architecture and history up close.
The house is absolutely beautiful!
You definitely need to tour some of these homes when visiting Savannah….it takes back in time!
Read reviews here
Leopold’s Ice Cream & a Little More Savannah History
After our tour, we continued walking through the Historic District and eventually made our way back to Leopold’s Ice Cream.
This place is so good!
Read reviews here…there are over 12,000 of them!
As we continued exploring, we came across a historic marker commemorating the site where James Oglethorpe, the founder of the Georgia colony, reportedly pitched his tent and rested on the day Georgia was settled.
It was one of those little pieces of Savannah history that we weren’t necessarily looking for but happened to discover just by walking around the city.
Shopping & Dinner Along River Street
Later, we headed back towards the riverfront and spent some time browsing the shops along River Street.
For dinner, we stopped at the Broken Keel, where both the food and service were very good.
Read reviews here
After dinner, we continued checking out some of the popular shops along the riverfront, including one of Savannah’s candy shops, where of course we couldn’t leave without buying some candy. 😉
We also stopped at Vic’s Coffee Bar for coffee. This one wasn’t quite as much of a hit for us –but you can’t win them all!
Read reviews here
Afterward, we headed back to the Olde Harbour Inn and ended our last evening in Savannah watching the massive cargo ships pass right by our balcony.
It was a relaxing way to finish another day exploring one of our favorite Southern cities!
Day 4 – Breakfast at Forsyth Park & Heading Home
On our last morning in Savannah, we headed to Collins Quarter at Forsyth Park for breakfast before starting the long drive home.
Breakfast at Collins Quarter
Located right in Forsyth Park, Collins Quarter was the perfect spot for one last meal in Savannah.
The food and service were both excellent, and after being a little disappointed with our coffee the night before, I’m happy to say the coffee here was delicious!
Read reviews here
After breakfast, it was time to say goodbye to Savannah and start the drive home.
It had been a short trip, but we packed in plenty of good food, beautiful historic architecture and a couple of historic home tours — and once again, Savannah didn’t disappoint.
We passed this beautiful house as we were leaving. 
Is 3 Days Enough in Savannah?
Three days can be plenty of time to enjoy Savannah, especially if you’ve visited before or you’re looking for a more relaxed weekend getaway.
Since this was our second trip to Savannah, we weren’t trying to fit all of the city’s major attractions into this visit.
Instead, we slowed down, toured a couple of historic homes we hadn’t seen before, enjoyed some great restaurants, and spent plenty of time simply walking through the Historic District and along the riverfront.
If you’re visiting Savannah for the first time, however, there’s much more to see and do than included on this trip. On our first visit, we spent considerably more time exploring Savannah as part of a seven day Savannah and Charleston trip.
If you have the extra time, I’d definitely recommend checking out that itinerary for even more historic sites, attractions and things to do in Savannah.
Final Thoughts on Our Savannah Weekend
Savannah is one of those places we don’t mind visiting again and again.
Even a after spending much more time here on our first trip, we still found new historic homes to tour, new restaurants to try and plenty of beautiful streets and buildings to photograph.
Staying at the historic Kehoe House on New Year’s Eve and watching the fireworks from our balcony made this trip especially memorable, and returning to the Olde Harbour Inn reminded us why we loved staying there so much the first time.
This trip was much more relaxed than our previous visit, and that was exactly the way we wanted.
Savannah is a city where you don’t necessarily need a packed itinerary –sometimes simply walking the historic streets, enjoying a good meal and taking in all that beautiful Southern architecture is enough.
And I’m pretty sure this won’t be our last trip to Savannah!
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