You guys are always super into my travel diary posts, so here’s a new one about our latest trip to Savannah and Charleston! Towards the end of June, Ryan and I realized we both had the week of July 4th free. We hadn’t taken a vaca since the beginning of the year, so we quickly got to planning! We wanted to go somewhere that was cheaper since we were planning last-minute. We hopped on Google Flights and saw that flights to Charleston were only $120 round trip #bargain. We did some more research and found out that Savannah was only a ~2 hour drive from Charleston. So we decided to fly into Charleston, spend some time there, and then hop down to Savannah for a few days! We were excited to make it a dual-city trip and knock off two places on our bucket list.
The flight fiasco.
If you follow me on Instagram, you know that there was a bit of a fiasco pertaining to our flight out of Philly. We ended up with a canceled flight to Charleston due to ~weather~ and we had to go home and come back the next morning for a new flight… that ended up being 2x the money. But whatever. We had already booked our hotel and Airbnb so we weren’t stopping now!
PS: If you have never tried Airbnb but you want to, now is the perfect time to sign up! When you sign up today you’ll get $40 towards your next trip and I’ll get $20 for showing ya!
This left us with only 24-ish hours in Charleston and 4 days in Savannah. We had planned on staying in Charleston Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday and leaving on Monday morning/early afternoon for Savannah. We would then stay in Savannah from Monday afternoon until Friday morning, when we would drive back to Charleston for our flight home (flights home from the Charleston airport were much cheaper!) Since our flight got moved to Sunday morning, our time in Charleston was cut short by almost a full day. We still got to explore a bit so I’m including our plans and photos from our Sunday afternoon & Monday morning in Charleston!
What we did in Charleston in 24 hours.
King Street.
It turned out that our hotel was only a block-ish off of King Street where they have tons of shopping and restaurants! We spent most of our time walking up and down there. This is where we found Blue Bicycle Books!
Rainbow Row.
One of the highlights was definitely seeing Rainbow Row! Both times we went it wasn’t great for pictures due to the sun’s placement but I got to get a couple of good snaps!
Pineapple Fountain + Charleston City Market.
We also went to see the famous Pineapple Fountain at Waterfront Park and walked through Charleston City Market. It reminded us of the market we saw when we visited New Orleans!
Folly Beach.
It was SO hot when we were there so we stopped by Folly Beach for a few hours. It was really windy so it wasn’t the best beach day but I’m glad we went to explore!
Where we ate in Charleston:
Swig & Swine — good BBQ option
The Tattooed Moose — they have amazing duck fat fries!
Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit — superrr good biscuits if you’re looking for a grab-n-go breakfast!
Savannah Travel Diary
River Street
Our Airbnb was in a perfect spot just 3 blocks from River Street! It was super close to everything and we walked everywhere in Savannah. River Street was cool for people watching and the stores there were pretty cool.
Historic District + Trolley Tour
We decided to do a trolley tour so we could see all of the city and learn some fun facts and history in the process. We like to do something like this in a lot of the new cities we visit so we can truly feel like we saw the important parts of the city.
Leopold’s Ice Cream
We went to Leopold’s THREE times in Savannah because I couldn’t get enough. My favorite flavor is always mint chocolate chip. Their waffle cones were super good too! This spot was also within walking distance of our Airbnb which was honestly a bit dangerous, clearly lol.
E. Shaver Bookseller
Another thing that has become sort of a tradition when I visit a new city is seeking out an independent bookstore. I found E Shaver Bookseller in Savannah and this place was so cute, it did not disappoint! It even has cats that live there year round. There’s also a section where you can write your own poetry on their typewriter and hang it up for everyone to see.
Tybee Island
We originally planned to go to Hilton Head but it was a little too far for us to do. Instead, we went to Tybee Island which was pretty awesome. The water was super warm and we ended up spending almost our whole time in the water.
Where we ate in Savannah:
HITCH — owned by the same people as Treylor Park, this was a pretty cool spot!
Savannah Smokehouse BBQ & Brew
Leopold’s Ice Cream — went here 3 times during our trip… AMAZING ice cream
Little Duck Diner — really cute Insta-worthy diner
The Ordinary Pub — really unique menu items like a chicken & waffle gyro (which I had and it was amazing)
Love your take on Savannah Kayla! Aren’t the Savannah beach destinations the best in the country? I love the place so much and frankly speaking, I’m really a newbie to the place since I only visited last year when I saw a friend of mine going through a site, https://visittybee.com/beaches and saw some wonderful pictures that I really had to go and see for myself! Thanks for your blog and more power to you!