Over the weekend, my mother and I started talking about taking a trip next spring to Charleston and Savannah and I would appreciate any thoughts you might have. My mom is in pretty good shape but is somewhat limited in how fast and long she can walk due to hip surgeries. She can still do walking tours as long as it is slow and not miles and miles. We will be flying in from California and would be renting a car.

Is 7 days enough to see both cities? What kind of itinerary would you think would work best? How would you split our time up Any special places to see outside of the cities? Which spring month is best?

As you can see, this is very preliminary and once we decide it's a go I'll begin all my detailed research but I was hoping some of you could steer me in the right direction and give me some things to think about.

Thanks in advance.

Charleston is a very walkable city but the sidewalks can be treacherous. They aren't cement but either flagstone, brick, cobblestone or slate and they aren't even.

Stay right downtown so you can take breaks during the day. A great hotel for you would be the Doubletree. If the Doubletree doesn't work for you, let me know which hotels you are thinking about and I can advise on locations.

It is going to be a big PIA to try and stay in Mt.Pleasant having to drive back and forth to the historic district if your mom needs to go back to the hotel and rest. You really need to stay downtown.

You'll get some great Savannah tips on this board. Have you done a search? You will find some excellent suggestions.

Unless there is an unusual winter, the best time to see both cities is after the St. Patricks Day festivities on March 17th and the middle of April. Aim for the first week of April. See Savannah first, as the gardens in Charleston may be about one week behind in peak blooming season. There's about a total of four weeks of exceptional beauty when the azaleas and other Spring blooms are painting the cities.

Since you will be flying in from Savannah, you may be able to arrange flights better into Savannah than into Charleston. It's a couple of hours drive.

You can do nice slow stolls through either city at your own pace or you can get on tour buses/trolley/ horse drawn carriages. You could drive yourself around Savannah easily as the city is laid out in an easy way, then, when you saw something you wanted to see better, park, get out and look around.

Seven days will be enough to see a good bit of both cities. Just enough to make you come back again for more!! You don't want to tire your mother out and there is soooooo much to see. You could easily spend a week in either place.

After you do some more research, come back and perhaps we can steer you better.

I would fly into Charleston and drive to Savannah for 2 days. Come back to Charleston and spend the remaining time there. It's a nice length of time. Come early to mid-April for the glory of the azaleas and dogwoods. Do a plantation tour--we like Middleton best.

Gretchen is right. It would be a shame to come this way and not see both Middleton Place and Magnolia Gardens. They are both fantastic.

To get an idea of Savannah, check out this photograper's site: http://www.pbase.com/savannahga/gallery01

He gets a little carried away with making several view of the same place but you will get a good idea of things that you might want to look at. Just lick on the thumbnail pictures to open the galleries.

Avoid April 1-14th because of Easter Breaks. Charleston will be expensive and packed.