First Timers 3-Day Savannah GA Itinerary
Last Updated on November 6, 2024 by Erin Donahue
Short on time, but want to visit a beautiful city full of history, views, and good eats? Then a thorough Savannah GA itinerary is all you need! Savannah has been on my list of locations to visit for a while, and it did not disappoint. It’s quick and easy to get to from New York City. Since Savannah is relatively small, you can explore all of it within three days. The best part to me is that Savannah is super walkable since it’s only about 25 square blocks. I literally walked the whole grid my second time back!
After I quit my corporate job in 2021, I took the following month off to travel to a bunch of destinations since I never had a long break in between job changes. During this time I went to Albania, Lisbon, Miami, Hawaii, and Savannah.
To be honest, I don’t do a heavy amount of research before my trips anymore. That’s not to say I don’t do any research. I typically will make sure I have a list of locations to pick from and take pictures at, but for the rest, I prefer to wing it. I have this knack where I really want to try and fit in with the locals as much as possible. If you’re reading this you may not like the sound of that, but have no fear, I have detailed information below!
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Getting to Savannah
A flight to Savannah is only two hours, and Jetblue has direct flights every day. The name of the game whenever I travel is to figure out how to travel hack a flight or hotel in order to spend as little as possible. The first time I went to Savannah in 2021 I used points to cover my costs, and then in 2023 I used a mix of points and paying out of pocket.
The main aspect of being able to travel hack is to be flexible with locations and dates. Jetblue frequently has $49 one-way deals around the country. This is when I’ll typically nab a flight to go to Savannah. That being said, I’m not sure what goes into the decision-making of which flight routes get the newer or older planes, but JetBlue’s JFK to Savannah route definitely gets the older Airbus A320 planes.
Where to stay in Savannah
Usually, I do have to pay for a hotel or Airbnb when traveling, but on my first trip, I got a double whammy of savings and was able to use my points to book the hotel as well. A lot of the time, the research of finding the best deal is basically just comparing platforms. First, I compared if it would be less to book a hotel through the Ultimate Rewards portal or transfer to a partner. A quick search yielded that transferring to Hyatt, a Chase partner, would give me the best bang for my points.
Transferring to the Hyatt website would be 12,000 points/night = 48,000 points with no fees/taxes
Booking via the Chase portal would be 15,320/night = 61,280 points + excluded fees and taxes
The first time I went to Savannah I stayed at the Hyatt Regency. I try to stay away from chain hotels, so I didn’t initially have a World of Hyatt account, but it was quick to sign up and thankfully transferring points was instant! Since I’m out most of the day, this hotel gets the job done. It’s comfortable and has enough space.
When I went back to Savannah a couple of years later, I ended up working with Andaz Savannah to create content for them in exchange for a hosted stay. As a travel content creator, I always pitch hotels and tourism boards to let them know I’ll be in town in order to lower my expenses. The trade-off is I’m technically working on the trip. What goes into that as a one-person production house is that I create high-quality photos and videos that they can use as assets for their marketing.
Best Photo Locations In Savannah
As a professional photographer and content creator, I plan my trips around photo locations that I want to take pictures of and make content from. My Savannah, GA itinerary included the following:
- Wormsloe Historic Site ($10 entrance fee): known for its famous tree tunnel, it made for a great example to showcase camera lens compression
- Forsyth Park
- River Street Waterfront
- Jones Street: one of the most beautiful streets in the USA
- Peregrin Rooftop bar on top of Perry Lane Hotel
- Bar Julian on top of Thompson Savannah, the city’s tallest building
Things to do in Savannah
As mentioned earlier in this article, Savannah is a super walkable city and there are many activities to do outside. Including all the spots listed in the photo locations section, make sure to do these too!
Visit Chippewa Square if you’re a Forrest Gump fan
This must be the year that I lived the Forrest Gump movie. When I was in Arizona a few months earlier, I accidentally stumbled upon Forrest Gump Point on the way to Goosenecks State Park. Since it was the middle of the day in dry summer heat, I foolishly didn’t remake the scene there, so I made sure to do so in Chippewa Square. Fun fact: the famous bench Tom Hanks sat on the majority of the film isn’t actually in the square. It was only brought in for the movie and now resides in the Savannah History Museum. My boyfriend and I both had fun filming this scene together. Watch the clip above!
Go on a ghost tour
Savannah is allegedly one of the most haunted cities (besides NOLA) in the US. I can be fairly superstitious so I get the biggest heebie-jeebies, but it was a must-do! There are a ton of touring organizations advertising all over town and on the internet, but we decided to go with Ghosts and Gravestones because of their trolley cars.
Eats in Savannah
It wouldn’t be a trip to the south without eating some amazing southern food. These places didn’t disappoint!
- Tubby’s Seafood: Seafood straight from the sea. We ate here on our first night and ordered a bunch of fried food
- Leopold’s Ice Cream: oldest ice cream shop in Savannah (maybe even in the country?)
- Maple Biscuit Company: hands down THE BEST biscuits and gravy I’ve ever had
- The Little Crown by Pie Society: probably the best pies and savory pastries I’ve ever had as well. We kept going back!
- A.Lure: The fanciest restaurant we went to. People like to dress up when going out to eat in Savannah, and we showed up in our casual clothes
- Cha Bella: Farm to table restaurant
- Treylor Park Sandwiches
- Huey’s On The River: NOLA styled food. It wasn’t that impressive, but if you leave feedback on their yelp page you get free beignets!
- The Wilkes House: didn’t get to go because we didn’t have cash, but it’s southern cooking where the menu changes everyday. Cash only.
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