A Savannah weekend itinerary: two days done right.

Two days is enough to do Savannah properly — if you stay in or near the Historic District and commit to doing the whole thing on foot. The city's core is about one square mile laid over 22 squares, and the entire weekend below happens inside it, with one decision point on Sunday: cemetery or beach. Here's the itinerary I give friends visiting for the first time.

Friday evening: arrive, drop the bags, get a to-go cup

Check in, then walk to the nearest square and just sit for a minute. That's not filler advice — the squares are the whole point of Savannah, and your first fifteen minutes under the live oaks will set the pace for the weekend. Open container is legal in most of the Historic District (roughly river to Jones Street), so ask for a to-go cup at any bar. Locals treat this as a civic institution, not a loophole.

One thing that surprises people: Savannah kitchens close earlier than you'd expect. Plenty of dining rooms are wrapping up by 9, so eat before you wander, not after. If you've still got energy afterward, Friday night is the right slot for a ghost tour — they leave from the squares after dark, run about 90 minutes, and are exactly as campy as you want them to be. Book ahead; the good guides sell out on weekends.

Saturday: the Historic District on foot

Morning — Jones Street before the trolleys

Set an alarm. Jones Street at 8am is the postcard — live oaks meeting overhead, moss hanging low, nobody else on the sidewalk. By 10 the trolleys are running and the moment's gone. Work your way north square by square: Monterey, Madison, Lafayette (stop into the Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist — free, and the vaulted blue ceiling is worth ten minutes of anyone's time), then Chippewa.

Breakfast is B. Matthews on Bay Street if you want biscuits in an 1790s building, or the Collins Quarter on Bull Street if you want the full Australian-café brunch production. Both draw lines by 9:30 on Saturdays. The line at Leopold's on Broughton is its own landmark — the ice cream has been made the same way since 1919, and honestly, go at 10pm instead when the line is half the length.

Midday — Forsyth Park and Broughton Street

If it's Saturday, the farmers market runs at the south end of Forsyth Park until 1pm — good coffee, better peaches, and the best people-watching in the city. The fountain photo you came for is at the north end; take it, then find a bench. Forsyth is 30 acres and locals actually use it, which you can't say about every pretty park in a tourist town.

Spend the afternoon on Broughton Street's shops, then drop down to River Street if you must. Honest take: River Street is fine — but the cobblestones will eat your ankles, the candy shops are interchangeable, and the view of the container ships is the best thing about it. See it once, then climb back up to the squares where the actual city is.

Evening — dinner and the after-dark district

Savannah's food scene runs deeper than the shrimp-and-grits-for-tourists circuit, and the difference is usually one block off the main drag. Expect to drop $30–45 a head at the good Lowcountry rooms, and book Saturday dinner a couple of weeks out — the city fills up on weekends year-round, not just in spring. After dinner, the squares are lit, the ghost-tour groups are out clustering around lampposts, and a slow loop from Chippewa down to Madison with a to-go cup is the correct nightcap.

Sunday: Bonaventure or Tybee — pick one

You can't do both well in a morning, so choose.

Bonaventure Cemetery is 15 minutes east by car, free to enter, and open through the afternoon. The moss-draped statuary along the Wilmington River is the most photographed thing in coastal Georgia for a reason. Guided daytime tours run about $25–29 and are worth it for the history; note the city doesn't allow ghost tours inside the gates, so anything spooky-after-dark is a separate after-hours arrangement.

Tybee is 20 minutes east on Highway 80 — but on summer weekends, leave before 10am or you'll spend an hour on the causeway watching kayakers pass you. Off-season, it's an easy add: lighthouse, beach walk, fried shrimp, back in town by mid-afternoon. Either way, be back for one last unhurried lunch before you head out — Savannah punishes rushing.

Where to stay for a Savannah weekend

Everything above assumes you're sleeping inside or just south of the Historic District — it's what makes the no-car weekend work. Our Savannah homes sit in and around the district (several within a short walk of Forsyth Park), and a couple of the larger ones anchor the Finch Collection if you're bringing the whole crew. Wherever you stay, the test is simple: if you can't walk to a square in ten minutes, you're too far out.

Last tip from a local: bring comfortable shoes with actual soles. Between the cobblestones, the brick sidewalks, and the oyster-shell tabby paths, Savannah is beautiful and absolutely merciless on flimsy footwear.