Savannah

Savannah is a city in Chatham County, Georgia, laid out in 1733 around its squares, and 22 of the original 24 survive by the National Park Service's count. The things to do in Savannah fall into three groups: the squares and house museums downtown, the free river ferry, and the fort and the beach to the east.

Downtown needs no car, thanks to a free shuttle and a free ferry, but the fort does. We read the figures below on 3 November 2026 on National Park Service, transit, airport, museum, Georgia state and NOAA pages. The City of Savannah's, Tybee Island's and Amtrak's sites could not be read from where we checked, so this page prints no open-container rule, no Forsyth Park or Bonaventure hours, no Tybee parking price, no beach rules and no train times.

How many of the 24 original squares survive?

Of the 24 original squares, 22 survive, by the Park Service's Fort Pulaski site page, last updated in December 2020. That page calls Savannah "America's first planned city". Chatham Area Transit also counts 22 green squares. Another Park Service page, updated in 2023 from the National Register file, still says twenty-four, which counts the original squares rather than the survivors.

Johnson Square is a sensible place to start, and it is where we measure our own road distances. Chippewa Square holds the statue of Oglethorpe, among live oaks and azalea beds. Madison Square and Emmet Park appeared on the 2026 St. Patrick's programme: the first for a ceremony to Sergeant William Jasper, the second for the Celtic Cross monument.

Forsyth Park is 0.9 road miles from Johnson Square by our own routing, and the Park Service dates its ornate fountain to 1858. The St. Patrick's committee greened that fountain at noon on 6 March 2026. One of the free shuttle's two loops is called Forsyth.

What do the Telfair museums and the Mercer Williams House charge?

Telfair Museums charge $30 for an adult ticket covering three sites for seven days, and the Mercer Williams House charges $14.95 plus tax for one tour. Each price below comes from that museum's own page, read on 3 November 2026. Telfair's page was last modified on 23 March 2026, and the Mercer page carries no date.

Telfair's three sites are the Owens-Thomas House & Slave Quarters at 124 Abercorn Street, the Telfair Academy at 121 Barnard Street and the Jepson Center at 207 West York Street. All three close on Mondays and open Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The museums also close on New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.

The Owens-Thomas House was built in 1819 to a design by the English architect William Jay, and it is seen by tour. Groups hold up to 12 people, leave at 15-minute intervals and take around 45 minutes to an hour. The last tour starts at 4 p.m., and there is no elevator. Check in on site for a tour time, even with a ticket bought online or at another Telfair site.

The Mercer Williams House adds tax to its prices: its page says "All ticket prices are subject to 7% Georgia Sales Tax." Telfair prints its prices with no tax line. Mercer tours last 35 minutes and are first come, first served. The entrance is behind the main house, at 430 Whitaker Street, rather than at 429 Bull Street.

The Mercer house opens every day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with the first tour at 10:30 and the last at 4:10. On Sundays it opens at 11:30, with the first tour at noon and the last at 4:00. The house says it is not licensed as handicap accessible, and its parking is metered on the street.

Why do you need a card and a car for Fort Pulaski?

Fort Pulaski National Monument takes no cash and cannot be reached by public transit, so a card and a car are the simple way there. The fee is $10 a person aged 16 or over, valid for seven consecutive days, and anyone 15 or under enters free. The fee is charged per person rather than per car, so four adults in one car pay $40. You pay at the entrance station.

Fort Pulaski is not on the 2026 list of 11 parks that charge a $100 non-resident fee. The $35 annual pass is for US citizens and residents only. Our guide to national park fees for international visitors covers the rest.

The gate is about 14 road miles from Johnson Square by our own routing. The Park Service's directions give 13 miles on US-80 East from the I-516 junction, and 101 Fort Pulaski Road or 101 Cockspur Island Road for GPS. A ride share or taxi must go on to the Visitor Center, because anyone dropped at the entrance walks about a mile. The fee applies to those passengers too.

The last entrance is at 4:30. The park's hours page printed no opening time when we read it, so plan on the last entrance alone. Fort Pulaski recorded 320,926 visits in 2025. March was the busiest month, at 37,807, and October recorded none, because of the government shutdown.

Three closures were listed on the park's alerts on 3 November 2026. The north shoreline is closed permanently. McQueen's Island Trail has been closed since 3 August 2026 for a Chatham County restoration project, with no end date given. Preservation closures on the Gorge Wall began in September 2026, also with no end date, and the park asks visitors not to cross the barricades.

How far out are Bonaventure Cemetery and Tybee Island?

Bonaventure Cemetery is about 6 road miles from Johnson Square and Tybee Island's pier about 18, by our own routing. The airport's site puts Tybee 27 miles from the airport. The pier is also about 6 road miles past the Fort Pulaski gate, so the fort and the island fit one trip by car.

The Chatham Area Transit pages we read name no route to Tybee Island, and we did not open its schedule files. Read the cemetery's hours and Tybee's parking prices and beach rules on the two cities' own sites before setting out.

What do the free dot shuttle and Belles Ferry cover?

The dot shuttle and the Savannah Belles Ferry are the free downtown system run by Chatham Area Transit, linking visitor centres, parking, attractions and hotels. The hours below are the authority's own.

The shuttle runs from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Memorial Day, the 4th of July, Labor Day, Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. The ferry lands at the Riverwalk at City Hall, at Waving Girl in Morrell Park, and at the Savannah Convention Center on Hutchinson Island.

Ordinary Chatham Area Transit buses cost $1.50 one way, with transfers valid for 90 minutes, and a day pass costs $3. On the bus you pay exact change in cash; passes also come through the Token Transit app. Greyhound stops at the Joe Murray Rivers, Jr. Intermodal Transit Center, 610 West Oglethorpe Avenue. For Amtrak, the authority points riders to the 29 West Gwinnett bus.

Can you fly straight to Savannah/Hilton Head from abroad?

Savannah/Hilton Head International lists no scheduled route from abroad: its page shows 32 nonstop destination rows, all in the United States. A visitor from abroad connects through another US airport, such as Atlanta, Charlotte or New York JFK. The nine airlines are Allegiant, American, Avelo, Breeze, Delta, jetBlue, Southwest, Sun Country and United.

The airport is at 400 Airways Avenue, and its own site puts the Historic District 10 miles away. Three ways into town need no rental car:

• Bus: Chatham Area Transit says the 3 West Chatham runs to and from the airport. The page we read prints no times, and the local fare is $1.50.
• Taxi: the stand is on the lower level outside baggage claim. The city's rate caps a taxi at $6.47 for the first mile and $2.69 for each mile after it, and no flat fare to downtown is printed. Ten miles at that cap comes to about $31 by our arithmetic, before a fuel surcharge of $1 or $2.
• Uber and Lyft: pickup is at the north entrance of baggage claim.

Nine rental-car counters also stand in baggage claim. The airport's Visitor Information Center is there too, open every day from 8:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.

How should three days in Savannah be divided?

Three days cover the main things to do in Savannah by our own reckoning, since no official source names a number. Avoid putting the museum day on a Monday, when all three Telfair sites close.

• First day: the squares on foot from Johnson Square, Forsyth Park's fountain, and the free ferry across the river before 10 p.m.
• Second day: the Telfair ticket, starting early enough for the 4 p.m. last Owens-Thomas tour, and the Mercer Williams House, whose last tour is at 4:10, or 4:00 on Sundays.
• Third day: a car to Fort Pulaski, with 4:30 as the last entrance, then on to Tybee Island. Bonaventure Cemetery lies closer to town.

Does the hotel tax change between Savannah and Tybee Island?

The hotel-motel tax is 8% in the City of Savannah and 7% on Tybee Island, by the state Department of Community Affairs report updated on 8 August 2025. Unincorporated Chatham County charges 6%. The state adds a $5.00 fee a night, which stops on the 31st day of a continuous stay.

Sales tax in Chatham County is 7%, the state's 4% included, on the Department of Revenue chart effective 1 October 2026. Its policy bulletin SUT-2018-02 says sales tax is levied on room charges, resort fees included. We found no source that says how the sales tax and the hotel-motel tax combine on a bill, so we print no total. Our guide to sales tax in the USA explains how such charges appear.

The choice of base changes more than the tax. The Historic District has the free dot shuttle. From Hutchinson Island the free link downtown is the ferry, which stops at 10 p.m. Tybee Island is about 18 road miles out and suits a stay with a car.

Which months bring Savannah's rain, heat and hurricane season?

Savannah's wettest month is June, at 6.65 inches, followed by July and August, and its driest is November. The table gives NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals for Savannah International Airport, about 10 road miles from Johnson Square.

The airport averages 80.5 days a year at or above 90°F and 48.12 inches of rain, with a snow normal of zero. Nights at or below freezing number 21.4 a year. The Park Service's line for Fort Pulaski is that summers "can be very hot and humid".

Hurricane season in the Atlantic runs from 1 June to 30 November, by the National Hurricane Center, with its peak on 10 September. An average season on the 1991 to 2020 record brings 14 named storms, 7 hurricanes and 3 major hurricanes. Check the center's outlook before travelling in those months.

What is known about St. Patrick's Day 2027?

St. Patrick's Day 2027 falls on Wednesday 17 March by our own calculation, and the parade committee publishes no 2027 programme. The committee says the parade winds through the Historic Downtown "every March 17th", with approximately 280 units, and traces the public observance to 1824. Its events page was empty on 3 November 2026, so we print no route, closures or side events.

The 2026 programme gives the pattern: an 8 a.m. Mass on the day at the Basilica Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist, then the parade. The committee's rules say "NO ALCOHOL is allowed in the parade", and its parking page gives special-event prices of $5 to $20. Telfair Museums close on St. Patrick's Day, and the Mercer Williams House does not say whether tours run.

How far are Charleston, Jacksonville and Atlanta by road?

Charleston, South Carolina is about 107 road miles from Johnson Square, Jacksonville about 139 and Atlanta about 249, by our own routing. The hours are the Park Service's, printed from Fort Pulaski, about 14 miles east of the centre. The Park Service prints no figure from downtown, and none for the shorter hops.

Savannah is on Eastern time in both seasons, and so are Charleston, Atlanta and Jacksonville, so none of these drives crosses a zone line. Clocks went back on 1 November 2026 and go forward on Sunday 14 March 2027, three days before the parade. Fares for the Cumberland Island ferry are in our guide to Georgia.