Searching for how to spend three days in Savannah, Georgia? In summer 2021, my husband and I were lucky enough to do so. And now I am sharing my tips with you so you can enjoy your time in this lovely city too!

I had been seeing photos of this historic city for years and knew eventually I was going to have to see it for myself.

When I started this blog, I wanted to attend a large blogging conference in Atlanta I had heard about. So when the Covid pandemic cancelled all conferences in 2020, I was pretty bummed.

Luckily in the summer of 2021, conferences were slowly coming back – including my Atlanta bloggers conference.

So once the conference was over, I had my husband fly into Atlanta to meet me and together we drove straight to Savannah, Georgia for a magical three days of exploring in this romantic city.

After Savannah, we continued our adventures in Hilton Head, SC and Outer Banks, NC for another week (but this post will only be focused on what we did in this Spanish moss covered southern city).

While we spent three days in this pleasant (yet hot and humid FYI!) city, you could easily do everything we did in just two days.

And honestly, our days were not packed with to-do’s. We slept in and took air conditioning breaks.

And yet, we still felt we got the full vibe of everything this lovely town had to offer (minus a night-life – we are not big night-lifers so that was just not our scene 🤪).

We are also BIG walkers and wanderers… that is our favorite part of our empty-nesting adventures! We like to get lost and just wander the local streets checking out how the residents live.

Are you aware we are supposed to be getting a minimum of 10,000 steps a day in order to stay healthy?

Traveling is when it is easiest to get those daily steps if you use walking as your mode of transportation ☺️. Most of my itineraries involve very little modes of transportation besides walking and will easily get you around 20-25,000 steps a day – so don’t wear those heels if following my itinerary suggestions!! 😂

Savannah is an extremely walkable city! Seriously – you will not need your car for your entire visit!

In a rush?

Day One

Chippewa Square

Savannah, Georgia is home to 22 distinct squares within the one-square mile downtown area.

The squares are from the original city plan now known as the Oglethorpe Plan.

Chippewa Square is also known as Forrest Gump Square as this is where Tom Hanks sat waiting for the bus. The famous line “Life is Like a Box of Chocolates” comes from this scene ;).

You can find this square at the corner of Bull and McDonough Streets…

Stroll the Charming Streets in the Historic District

Every single street in Savannah, Georgia screams Insta-worthy!

You could spend an entire day just wandering the streets admiring the Spanish moss on the trees and the historical homes.

Streets of special note are Barnard Street and the corner of Bull and Macon (if you are looking for a picture perfect spot that is!).

Jones Street is known as the prettiest street in Savannah – so much so that I mention it separately below!

St John the Baptist Cathedral

The cathedral is an iconic symbol of the city with its towering steeples and is listed as one of the top ten historic sites to visit in the US. 100% a must see on your visit to this fascinating destination!

Fancy Parkers Market

I know – you are probably thinking a market??? But I am telling you – this is a great place to stop for a quick treat!

They pretty much have anything you are craving – ice cream, smoothies, salads, sandwiches, fried chicken, crackers, sweets, cakes… do I need to keep going???

Also – it is just a fun place to browse (and take an AC break from the heat and humidity if you are visiting in summer time!).

Congress Street and Riverfront District

Did ya’ll know Paula Deen lives in Savannah, Georgia? Or am I the only one that did not know that???

Her cute flagship country shop has lots of fun kitchen items to peruse and is another great get out of the heat stop!

River Street is a tad too touristy for our taste – and filled with lots of souvenir shops that we did not venture into.

However… it is still listed on every Savannah tourist guide as a “To Do”. So we did a quick walk down the street, took photos of the Georgia Queen riverboat, and then headed out!

Dinner at Olde Pink House

Olde Pink House is one of the best places to eat in Savannah, Georgia!

We did not make a reservation in advance which is HIGHLY recommended as they fill up weeks in advance – which made me pretty bummed.

Then we called the restaurant and they told us that at 4:45pm every night, they take walk-ins on a first come first served basis.

We got into the line outside right around 4:30pm and I think others got there about 15-20 minutes before us.

What we didn’t know is there are actually TWO walk-in lines:

One on the side of the building to be seated at the sidewalk bar and the other line is in the front of the building to be seated in the basement tavern.

Both options have the same food and drink menus. And the waitstaff is sooo cordial and polite!

Day Two

Breakfast at Mirabelle’s Coffee Shop

The peach cobbler waffle was amazing at this tiny breakfast cafe (which is also right across from St John’s Cathedral btw!).

My husband got the breakfast sammie panini and said it was absolutely delicious!

Lafayette Square and Hamilton Turner Inn

Lafayette Square is literally surrounded by many other iconic Savannah sights including the Hamilton Turner Inn which has been voted one of the most romantic hotels in the US by USA Today.

Some of those sights are St. John the Baptist Cathedral, author Flannery O’Connor’s childhood home, and the Andrew Low house (former home of the founder of Girl Scouts).

Two blocks away is the Colonial Park Cemetery which is the oldest cemetery in the city…

E. Shaver Bookstore

Are you a bookstore lover? Especially old small bookstores?

The character in this cute corner shop was worthy of an hour of our time.

And even though I am not a cat person – I truly adored the resident cats and their attitudes :).

E. Shaver Bookstore is located at 326 Bull Street (yes – at the corner of what I listed as one of the photo-worthy streets in the city!).

Stroll Through City Market

Another rather touristy area of Savannah but on many a what to see list… plenty of restaurants and souvenir shops on this street but we never ate here or went in any of the shops.

Just did a quick walk-through ;).

Tour of Benedetto Jazz Guitars

My husband has been playing guitar since he was ten years old. In fact, he is pretty dang good at it (but no – it is not his full time job 🤪).

Guitars relax him and bring him joy so when he saw the Benedetto guitar in the lobby of our hotel, Perry Lane Hotel, he started a conversation with the concierge and learned a perk of staying at the hotel is tours of the guitar headquarters…

Needless to say – we scheduled this tour for the very next day.

Now I am NOT a guitar player or lover for that matter but I was excited to see my husband’s happiness on this tour.

Oh – and I actually learned quite a bit about guitar making ;).

Be sure to check out my post about our stay at the Perry Lane Hotel and book your stay at this incredible Savannah hotel!

The Paris Market and Broughton Street Shopping

100% the cutest store in all of Savannah! They also have a cute coffee and pastry cafe in the store (but we did not get anything there…).

The Paris Market is located at 36 West Broughton Street.

Broughton Street was under construction when we were there July 2021 so we didn’t get the full affect of their main shopping street.

However, we did pop our heads in to LuluLemon and a couple other shops to get my husband some cooler (i.e. not cotton) shirts as he wasn’t prepared for the humidity and heat we found in Georgia!

Dinner from Sisters of the New South

I googled best fried chicken in Savannah, Georgia and this local spot got rave reviews.

And when you are in Georgia, you are supposed to eat as much fried food as possible – tomatoes, pickles, shrimp, and CHICKEN!

And yes – THIS FRIED CHICKEN WAS DELICIOUS!

We took an Uber to the restaurant but decided to just pick up our food and bring it back to our rooftop pool area/bar at the Perry Lane Hotel (once again – check out my review post on this place to stay in Savannah, Georgia!).

I know this place will deliver via Uber Eats or GrubHub but we were kinda happy to see what a local haunt looks like!

Day Three

Flytographer Photo Shoot

MY FAVORITE MEMENTO FROM MY TRAVELS!

We have been doing a Flytographer photo shoot since our 25th anniversary trip to Europe back in 2018. And I hope to schedule at least one shoot a year from now on!

I will actually be writing an entire blog post showcasing the reasons you should schedule your own shoot BECAUSE THEY ARE ALWAYS WORTH IT!

We adored our time with our photographer Amia – she is also an amazing wedding photographer in the area with an incredible story! You can find her on her own website too ;).

You can get $25 off your first shoot with code PASHAISHOME.

Click here to go to the website to schedule!

Alex Raskins Antiques

Okay – truth be told?? We didn’t hit this place up… I meant to but I got confused with the actual name of the place when we were wandering and forgot to look it up!! 😂

But supposedly – it was right next door to the Mercer Williams House below 🤪.

Mercer Williams House Museum

We walked in to buy tickets to tour this historic house in Savannah but when we found out we would have to wait a few hours for the next tour (and that the tours are only 30 minutes long anyway)… we decided to pass on the tour.

However, the outside of this historic Savannah house is certainly Insta-worthy (or photo-worthy if you don’t have an Instagram account 😂).

You can find this house at 429 Bull Street ;).

Jones Street

As mentioned above – Jones Street is known as the prettiest street in Savannah.

Photos of this street are very likely a big reason why you are visiting this charming southern city even. I know they certainly convinced me!!

Dinner at The Pirates House

I read about this restaurant on another blogger’s Savannah post and was excited to have a meal here myself.

Reservations are a must here and I was lucky enough to get a 2:45pm reservation the day before (maybe a cancellation – who knows?).

So same as Olde Pink House – plan ahead and make a reservation so you don’t miss having one of your meals here!

The building is one of the original Savannah inns for pirates and visiting sailors from the mid 1700’s. Oh- and it is said to be haunted… 😱

It is also another place where the fried food is delicious but honestly my favorite food here was the free biscuits that were served before our meal!

Rainbow Row

A VERY mini version of the Charleston Rainbow row.

In fact, if it wasn’t right down the street from the Pirate’s House, we might not have ventured over this way…

You can actually stay in one of these houses as rentals. They are located right off of Washington Square.

However, it is in a cute neighborhood and after our heavy meal at the restaurant, we definitely needed some exercise!

So we walked along these streets to the River Front area one more time.

But after making it back to the River Front – we decided, nope – let’s go find the Gingerbread House instead on the other side of the park!

Remember when I said we sometimes get between 20-25k steps on our adventures? Well this day we hit 30k… just made us feel we deserved those fried foods earlier though!

Stroll Through Forsyth Park

By the time we made it to the park it was right around 5pm and that was truly the perfect time to take an evening summer stroll through the park.

We even had the famous fountain all to ourselves for the first 30 minutes!

By the time we turned around about 6pm – the park was packed with everyone else with the same evening plans ;).

Gingerbread House

Okay – truth be told on this one… I bought a Christmas ornament the day before with this house on it.

So I felt obligated to see it in person.

What I didn’t realize is that it was a good 20 minutes further PAST Forsyth Park.

And it’s just a wedding venue.

That was closed when we got there.

Soooooo – that said, the exercise was worth it and we saw a whole different part of town that we would not have seen had I not bought that ornament…

Buuuuttttt… I am pretty much letting you know we walked here and saw it and then just turned right around… well and we may have gotten ice cream on the walk back ;).

Day Four (on our way out of town to Hilton Head)

Wormsloe State Historic Site

This site is listed on every single list of what to do in Savannah, Georgia.

We were on our way out of town to Hilton Head and since this park is about 20 minutes out of town we figured let’s stop here since we are in our car anyway!

That said – all we did was take photos of the gorgeous Spanish moss lined driveway and entrance and read the history posters that were in the small visitors center.

I know there is plenty of hiking in this park but in the middle of July around noon, that was 100% not of any interest to us 😂.

Other Options on Where to Eat

Cafe Collins Quarter at Forsyth

Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room

Just an FYI on this one – lines form early in the morning and when the food is gone, the food is gone…

We did not eat here but saw the line and were just waaaaayyy too hungry to wait!!

We got salads (and cake) at Fancy Parkers instead ;).

Maple Street Biscuit Company

The Lady and Sons

Paula Deen’s restaurant! Supposedly has some of the best fried chicken in town :)!

The Grey Restaurant

An old Greyhound station – it was still closed from the pandemic when we visited but we walked by and it looked pretty fun!

Where to Stay

Perry Lane Hotel

My absolute recommendation on where to stay in Savannah, Georgia! Truly a perfect home base for your southern adventures.

Be sure to read my post about Perry Lane Hotel and all you can expect from this incredible boutique hotel!

Andaz Savannah Hotel

This hotel is pretty close to the River Front area of the city which would not be my first choice of neighborhoods to stay in in Savannah however I am a fan of this chain so it earned a spot on my list ;).

Hamilton Turner Inn

Being one of the most historic houses in the city AND in a perfect location – I would 100% stay here on a return visit!

Eliza Thompson House

Other Chain Options on the Riverfront

There are many options for chain and boutique hotels on the Savannah Riverfront – including Hiltons, Marriotts, and Hyatts. You can see a list of options here!

This brings me to the end of what I hope will be a helpful itinerary of how to spend three days in Savannah, Georgia.

Use this guide as you see fit for your interests. My hope is that it will relieve a great deal of stress from your trip planning process ;).

Savannah is such an alluring southern city with an abundance of charm worthy of a top spot on everyone’s travel list!

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Life is short, the world is wide.

I want to make some memories.

~Mamma Mia

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Have a wonderful day my friend! I hope something makes you smile today ;).