I'll be in Savanna March 8th-12th and will be staying at the Hyatt on the riverfront. I've heard this is a pretty good location for most of the touristy stuff. I'm open to suggestions as to things to do and places to check out ( baby boomer & spouse ). Is the trolley tour and the riverboat cruise nearby? Good restaurants in the area which allow casual dress? Not to be missed activities? Any good close side trips worth renting a car for the day?

try this website for your planning:

http://www.savannah.com/index.cfm?ne...categoryID=188


and remember that the city will be in the throes of planning for their killer St. Patrick's Day celebrations.

Get a AAA guidebook.

Type "Savannah" in the search box, choose Georgia and then read the multiple listings on this forum.

Hi mrace,
I went to Savannah June 04 and stayed at the Hyatt. We liked the hotel, we liked the area and did plenty of touristy stuff..walked everywhere. We drove there and never got into the car til time to leave. You will be there longer so there might be some good side trips to take..I have topped my thread posted while planning , there are lots of good suggestions for you too...It is titled Scarlett goes to Savannah.

thanks everyone - I'll check out all your suggestions!

Hyatt is an okay hotel, but it was said to be sold and fodors posters said reportedly it needed an upgrade to the bathrooms. Some suggested Hampton Inn across the street.

I believe the Hyatt Regency in Savannah has finished their refurbishment and it is still a Hyatt hotel.

For an objective view of hotels in savannah, suggest you access tripadvisor.com and see the overall rating ... some get 3 out of 5 stars, which isn't bad, provided one is receiving a good rate, perhaps even a discount. Thus Hyatt should be alright for you, and the location on Bay is close to the touristy activities. Enjoy your trip.

Take a "low country" tour. Grayline and some other tour operators offer these tours. They will pick you up at your hotel and bring you back after the tour.

We suggest the Sapphire on West Congress and Elizabeth's ... both very good food. For Sapphire, reserve downstairs for better service. And call Elizabeth's ASAP - very popular.

Since you say you are staying at the Hyatt, I will skip the hotel advice. When we were there, we just walked everywhere. You can get maps of town from the hotel desk , these maps have all the squares on them and historical monuments to see. You can just start at Bay and walk away from the hotel..
We went to the Museum, loved it.
We enjoyed the book stores, galleries where fun to browse in.
Trolly tours are a great idea at the end of the day when your feet are giving out..There is also a Ghost Tour
We found out about that when we were having dinner in The Olde Pink House and some people outside were taking photos..flashes flashing, we asked about that. The waiter said it is the Ghost Tour, they are photographing the House because there is more than one ghost here ! lol..we were sorry that none showed while we ate there..
I found Savannah to be a charming and very pretty city with very friendly people.

... oh, and don't miss Lady Chablis when she's in town. Great fun and a real mind stretcher ... wonderful way to conclude the day spent doing the touristy things. Enjoy a most interesting city, and by all means see SCAD galleries all over the town ... the young artists of tomorrow! SCAD is a central point of this town, and rarely is mentioned, which is a shame.

Thanks again, your suggestions sound great! I'm looking forward to it, as I've never been to the South, except New Orleans and Florida.

Also try a haunted pub tour. My wife and I loved one that started at Molly MacPherson's Scottish Pub. Ghosts & spirits, all in one evening!

The number is (912) 604-3007.

We were in Savannah last weekend. Wonderful city, definitely made for lots of walking. Since we stayed close to Forsyth Park, we walked lots. As for food, we ate at Churchill's, pub type food, I had crab cakes, my husband had a really good Caesar salad. We also ate at the Shrimp Factory. The food was ok, but was probably our least favorite (and most expensive) of our trip. Even though I brought along some nice clothes, as usual they stayed in the closet. Our last night we had pizza at Vinnie Van GoGo's in City Market. Great pizza and awesome people watching. We had wonderful broiled shrimp at a place on River Street with 'Lizzy' in the name, also good food for lunch at River House and Belford's.

One day we drove out to Tybee Island, had a fun lunch at the Crab Shack, but we weren't too impressed with Tybee as a whole. Although it was the annual pirate festival and the parade was a hoot.

Try the Sapphire Grill for upscale dining.

Carriage rides are fun (Plantation Carriage really takes care of their horses-- I'm a horse-lover).

Also, for 'spirited fun', check out the Savannah Spirits Haunted Pub Crawl and ask for Jamie.