Top 10 Sights To See In Savannah
Should you plan for a vacation, Here’s my list of the top 10 sights to see in Savannah which definitely will make you feel excited about.
#10 Rocks on the Roof – is a rooftop bar where you can watch the sunset from a perfect vantage point. If you’re lucky you can get a table outside and enjoy the views of the beautiful city lit up at night. To get there walk into the lobby of the Grand Bohemian Hotel on River Street. Walk past the front desk and over to the elevators. Punch the R to go to the rooftop and enjoy!
If this doesn’t sound like fun to you then I would recommend you check out The Pirate House for lunch or dinner. Kids would get a big kick out of a visit here because they can learn all about the pirates who brought their business and money to Savannah in the 1700s.
#9 Tour a mansion – there are several that offer tours. We visited the Davenport House Museum because I found it on Groupon. It was built in 1820 for Isaiah Davenport. It was opened as a Museum in 1963 in an effort to prevent it from being torn down. The Historic Savannah Foundation started out with a group of ladies who didn’t want to see the historical part of Savannah be demolished.
This group went on to raise funds to save many of the mansions around Savannah’s Historic District during a time when many cities were tearing down the old to build new. Other Mansion tours are Owens-Thomas House, Mercer Williams House Museum, and Juliette Gordon Low’s Birthplace (who founded the Girl Scouts of America).
#8 Tour a Fort – there are three to choose from: Jackson, McAllister, or Pulaski (which is a National Monument and part of the US National Park Service). Fort Jackson is the oldest standing brick fort in Georgia with river views, daily cannon firings, and other interactive programs. Fort McAllister State Park is located along the Ogeechee River and features the best preserved earthen fortification of the Confederacy.
There are cannons, a hot shot furnace, palisades, barracks, and a museum. Fort Pulaski was a masonry fortification built to protect Savannah from any attacks. It was under siege during the Civil War and was penetrated after a 30 hour bombardment by the Union forces until the Confederate commander surrendered. Fort Pulaski was declared a National Monument in 1924.
#7 Take a Ghost Tour! Again – there are several offerors in Savannah. They have walking tours as well as Trolley and Hearse tours. Personally – why not go with the Hearse tour? It looked like a lot of fun – I will definitely try that one the next time I am visiting. The ghost tours go around to various buildings in the area where there have been sightings.
With Savannah being one of the oldest cities in our country – there are plenty of ghost sightings reported. Depending on your guide – this can be very interesting and entertaining.
#6 Leopold’s Ice Cream is a must experience. It’s an old-fashioned ice cream/soda shop and has been around since 1919 serving up delicious ice cream and other cool treats. Don’t be swayed by the line – it goes fast and they have a guest attendant providing cold water in little plastic cups as you wait as well as passing around the menu to expedite ordering. It’s worth it – just do it, at least once.
#5 City Market is an area about 2 city blocks long where the street is closed all the time for street vendors, cafes, stores, galleries, and street performers. It’s easy to find if you are using the hop on hop off trolleys, they all stop here at Trolley Stop Gifts. It’s also next to Ellis Square and there are plenty of places to sit and do some serious people watching. This area has a lot of nightlife if you don’t want to go to River Street.
#4 Just by doing #3 you will see amazing architecture and many beautiful parks. But you must see Forsyth Park because it’s Savannah’s version of Central Park, surrounded by very old but beautiful mansions. The park has 30 acres in the center of the city featuring playgrounds, basketball courts, tennis courts and large fields for flying kites. There are also monuments along with an incredible two-tiered, white cast iron fountain.
#3 Visit some or all of the 22 squares in the city. There were originally 24 squares but two have been sacrificed to city development. Interestingly the statues in the middle of the square do not necessarily go with the square. As an example the towering monument of General Casimir Pulaski does not reside in Pulaski Square, it is located in Monterey Square.
This is the same square where the Mercer House, featured in the movie “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” where the murder took place. Also be sure to check out Chippewa Square – the square made famous by Forrest Gump. It’s in the center of the historic area surrounded by theaters and restaurants. There are a couple of ways to tour the city.
We have found when visiting cities for the first time – using the hop-on hop-off tours are great because you get familiar with the lay of the land, so to speak. I always have a map on my lap and snap pics of places I see on the tour that I want to go back to. If we do this the first day we are visiting – we are oriented with the city.
We have recently started taking Segway tours – they are so much fun to ride! This is another great way to get familiar with the area and you get history with the tour. We used Adventure Motion Tours in Savannah when we visited two weeks ago.
#2 The Olde Pink House is the only 18th century mansion in Savannah and is now a beautiful restaurant with a ballroom. How many restaurants have you eaten at that has a ballroom? Naturally I had to go up and check that out – it has mirrored walls and crystal chandeliers. When we were there it was setup for a wedding reception later that day.
The house was built in 1771 for James Habersham, Jr., one of Savannah’s most important businessmen due to his family-owned cotton empire. The outside architecture is Georgian but features Colonial décor inside.
This is one of the few buildings to survive the fire of 1796. It’s an expensive restaurant so we chose to go for lunch, which was very reasonable. Our waitress gave us some of the histories and encouraged us to walk around so we could see the ballroom and the tavern.
The tavern was really impressive because the bar is original from the prohibition era. At one point the mansion was used to house the first bank of Georgia, Planters Bank, in 1865. So there is a vault in the cellar that is now used to house their wine inventory and you can also reserve it for a private dinner for two!
#1 River Street along the Savannah River is a must see – even if you’re not into nightlife. The street is over 200 years old. It was originally lined with cotton warehouses. After the yellow-fever epidemic in 1818 it was closed for quarantine and sat abandoned for over a century! In the mid-70s a group of landowners and urban planners put a plan in place to revive the waterfront street. By 1978 there were already shops and businesses thriving along the street.
Today the street a popular area that draws visitors from all over the globe and there are more than 70 shops, inns, and restaurants. On the weekend there are tents and entertainment – giving it a festival atmosphere. From here you can take the ferry over to Hutchinson Island and get some great pics of riverfront Savannah.
The ferry is free so you can ride it round trip or get off and walk around the beautiful Westin hotel riverfront boardwalk. This is also where the Savannah International Trade and Convention Center is located.
Savannah is fun for a weekend trip or longer. So much to do and so many amazing restaurants to try.
