I moved to Savannah 5 months ago (for family reasons) and, except for the weather, do not like it. The historic section is pretty, but much of the city is run-down with not a lot to do. Definitely Charleston.

There's no real comparison, it's all Charleston.

I have been to both - I would say Charleston has a wider variety of things to see - "more city like" than Savannah. You can travel out of the city and see southern plantation type homes, yet it has the Port and lots of historic things to see.

Don't get me wrong - Savannah is nice as well - great restaurants, the "Squares" that the city is laid out is unique, and it has historical sites too. But I'd say you would be more impressed with Charleston.

Mtnredux, I can't answer your question but look forward to responses as I am planning a trip south for my own family and thought about stopping in both but perhaps we will skip savannah. I'd love see your itinerary/plans for your whole trip as you always seem to find interesting places to go, things to do and see.

Charleston. Water taxis, bike the bridge ( they drop off bikes at your hotel so you can check out the cities on two wheels) , interesting small art galleries, Fort Sumter and the port, nearby beaches, check out plantation and low country architecture, nice shopping.

I haven't been to Savannah, but I've been to Charleston which was a neat place to see...lots of history, beautiful homes, terrific plantations nearby.

Perhaps the best part was talking to the native Charlestonians who give snootiness a whole new name! Friend is from Florence, SC, with a strong southern pedigree...a direct descendant of John C. Calhoun, member of the DAR, the whole 9-yds. She said the Charlestonians treated her like po' white trash. It's a hoot! Did you know that the Civil War started in Charleston? Did you know that Charleston is believed to be where the garden of Eden was located, and yes, some even suspect that Charleston is the center of the Universe!?
;)

We stayed at the Wentworth Mansion which is a lovely victorian mansion...stained glass, woodwork, a turret at the top with nice views of the city.

PS...I just got your email. My apologies for not checking it sooner. I sent you a reply. I promise I'll respond more quickly next time!

Here is a link that might be useful: Wentworth Mansion

No worries, Annie, I do the same thing so I figured...
will check today and get back to you.

Unless there is a specific event going on in Savannah I would go to Charleston. Savannah is a great place for a trip to see specific types of things --- tabby buildings, graveyards, the river area--- or at certain times ( St. Patrick's Day is a down and dirty celebration you won't see anywhere else)---but as someone pointed put, there is a lot of poverty in the town outside the historic district. There's abysmal poverty outside Charleston, too-- people living in shacks reminiscent of pre majority rule South Africa--- but those areas are not all concentrated and are outside the "visitor" areas. In Georgia we tend to live cheek by jowl, rich around the corner from the poor, due to poor or non existent city planning.

Charleston is a beautiful city and has more good and fine restaurants than Savannah. As to its snootiness, google the phrase "south of Broad." I went to school with a few people from Charleston.....they take that stuff pretty seriously :-)

*** edited to add-- and I'm not talking about Pat Conroy's novel, although he got a lot of it right.

This post was edited by kswl on Mon, Oct 7, 13 at 8:59

Having lived in Charleston for 10 years, and now close to Savannah for the past 20 years - hands down, CHARLESTON! There is so much more to do, see and eat, and you should enjoy it all!

Thanks so much everyone. It is hard to find this kind of honesty in travel journalism. No one ever writes up a place and says "don't bother", KWIM?

Fourkids,
You are so kind! Most people think our itineraries are crazy, but we don't travel for the purpose of relaxing, so we pack a lot in!

So far our rough itinerary starts with flying in to Charlottesville to see Monticello, then driving to Williamsburg, and staying in an original home that was a laundry in colonial times (we have it to ourselves). We then fly to Asheville to see Lake Lure and the Biltmore. Then to Charleston, SC. From there fly to JAX to go to Cumberland Island and stay at the Grayfield. From there fly to New Orleans. Next, Austin and San Antonio/the Alamo. About 16 days in all.

Definitely drive from Charleston SC to Cumberland. When you add time spent in airline security lines, check in times and your connection layover it will be much faster to drive.

Traffic on 95 in Georgia is light compared to your 95 traffic and the drive is very scenic when you get south of Savannah. (If you drive, DO NOT SPEED on 95 going through Darien, GA.)

Mtn, we should really be neighbors so we can have coffee on a regular basis. We are planning a trip to Charleston AND Savannah for next April! I mean, we are going to plan it...haven't actually planned it yet. The advise above is helpful for me, though, because I had been thinking of spending equal time in both areas, and clearly we need to spend more time in Charleston. Your itinerary is more ambitious than ours; I don't even know if we'll have a full week because DS may have to re-visit a couple of colleges around that time.

While in Asheville, try and stay at either The Inn at Bilmore or the Grove Park Inn.

I know, SueB, we seem to be very much on the same wavelength! We must get together sometime when Im in Maine, deal?

Bumble, We are booked at the Biltmore but family is trying to get us to book a place on Lake Lure, which does look lovely.

Grove park Inn-- you'll be very happy with it, I think. It is gorgeous at Christmas, as is the Biltmore House. Is that when you are planning to go? That area of North Carolina is near and dear to my heart. I went to summer camp up there for years, then my kids did, and my mom spends a good bit of time up there in summer. We have relatives in Montreat, and I have a nephew boarding at Asheville School. It s as lovely and friendly an area as you will find anywhere. I wish one of my kids with traveling jobs would choose western NC as their home base so I could visit even more often :-)

They are both lovely but the Grove Park has more history and is less generic. If you go to the Inn at Biltmore, the afternoon tea is great.

What's the name of the place on Lake lure? I can only think of one really great place but want to see if that's what you are considering.

I think you've already decided, but Charleston for sure.

Here is a link that might be useful: Top City in the World

Love charleston and visit the area at least yearly. We enjoy staying on one of the surrounding islands. Enjoy savannah but much prefer charleston. Cumberland island is great!! I'm about 2 hours from Asheville and have been many times. Love the atmosphere of the grove park and dining there, etc. but not impressed with the rooms. Have not stayed at the inn at biltmore. Lake lure is lovely. You should check out smoky mountains while in the area.

Charleston - no question. I spent a very long week in Savannah a few years back. It was quite nice but definitely on the sleepy side. Watch out for the Palmetto bugs. Cumberland Island is wonderful. Make sure you check out Gogo's jewelry. She has a shop on the island and the Greyfield may still carry some of her pieces.

Here is a link that might be useful: Gogo

I am so glad I asked this question! My original itinerary had us stopping in Charleston just for lunch, on the way to Savannah. I am still doing Savannah, since it helps break up the drive and flying makes no sense, but we will spend 2 .5 days in Charleston and then just one day in Savannah...

Thanks, Lynxe, KSWL,Maire, Tina, Lego and Bumble

Try to get reservations at The Old Pink House Restaurant in Savannah. A friend just came back from there and raved about the food. We ate at the The Lady and Son's (Paula Deene's) and had fried turnip greens. They were actually very good!

You may want to check out the Savannah School of Design - not sure what you can see, but it might interest you.

Part of my husband's family lived there in the 1800's. His GGGUncle was Collector of Taxes at the Port of Savannah. That family and others are all buried in Laurel Grove Cemetery and some are at Bonaventure - the one that is featured in the movie - Midnight in the Garden of Evil. I want so badly to go back and visit the cemeteries.

In Charleston, there are house tours of some of the homes. We did a couple of those. There is a plantation outside of Charleston that was the setting for one of the scene's the the movie, The Patriot. Remember when the militia blew up the ship that was supposedly on the Ashley River and Cornewallis was having a party. Anyway, we enjoyed visiting there.

One place that you might enjoy sometime is Natchez, Mississippi. I'd go there instead of New Orleans, which I wasn't impressed with except for the pastries. Natchez has beautiful old homes and lots of B&B"s. A friend of mine and I visited In early Nov. and the scent of Tea Olives trees was heavenly.

MBoston,
Thanks so much for the resturant recommendation, and the other ideas for things to see!

I hear you on NOLA. I have been there a few times on business. But part of our "quadrant trips" is going to places I haven't been, and part is showing the kids highlights I think they should see. I think NOLA is one of those places...

Funny, though, we should do a GW tour of Natchez or Beaufort or Falling Water or somesuch!

Natchez is wonderful, but everyone should experience New Orleans once. In savannah , there is a specific midnight in the garden of good and evil tour that you might enjoy. You could tell the kids the story beforehand ( in an age appropriate way of course!). We enjoyed the tour. I second the recommendation for the pink house.

Interesting that Cumberland Island and Gogo were mentioned - CBS Sunday Morning did a piece on her this week, and it made me want to go there. For some reason, I can't get the link to work.

Offhand, but have you been to Machu Picchu? I have a good friend there right now on vacation, her daily facebook photo's are stunning.

Bumble,

Ooh ooh, does she love it! I cannot wait to go.

You will think I am crazy, but that is part of next winter's vacation. Actually, are you sitting down? Next winter our family is going to see our 7th continent! (Antarctica). We are doing a much shorter trip then most Antarctica trips, because it is a fly/cruise trip within Antarctica. While we are "there" we are also going to Easter Island and Machu Picchu. You can only go to Antarctica during our winter, so it will have to be over the holidays. We didn't want to miss to home Christmases in a row, so we are going in 2014. I am booking this month to get a discount.

After that one, I am not going to want to go any place at all for a good long while.

Texanjana, Oh good, I will look for it!

Tina, I recalled that book title, but had to google the summary. Not sure how I can clean that one up for the kids, LOL!

Texanjana - Thanks for the info about Sunday Morning. I checked their web site and I did get the link to work but it seemed to take a while to open. The video does a pretty good job of capturing the beauty and mood of the island. How interesting that Gogo's jewelry was featured. The old Carnegie estate has always fascinated me.

My son and his fiance went to Machu Picchu last July on a pre-wedding honeymoon and raved about it. I don't know if you have the time but they hiked the Inca Trail which takes about 5 days although there is a 2 day hike and a 12 day one too. You have to sign up well in advance because the government limits hikers to 500 a day - and that includes all the porters who accompany you with the tents and food supplies. One of the highlights was the afternoon they spent with a local family - and the guinea pig that was served for dinner. Their photos are stunning.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sunday Morning - Cumberland

I second The Pink House as a restaurant choice but would pass on The lady and Sons --- for many reasons, the food being the main one. It's very popular, so obviously many others have a different opinion.

KSWL - I don't care for "celebrity chef" restaurants and Paula Dean is not really my style personally or gastronomically. I still recall seeing her make a "bread pudding" with Krispy Creme glazed doughnuts and CANNED fruit "cocktail". Shudder.

As a side note, I have generally found Paula's recipes to be very trustworthy when looking for a recipe, avoiding the gimmicky stuff, of course.

Mtn, if you are in the mood for a laugh out loud, read the paula Deen recipe linked below....l be sure to read the comments. I actually wept with laughter at some of them.

Too bad, they took out the one from the alien :-(

Here is a link that might be useful: English peas, paula Deen style

This post was edited by kswl on Wed, Oct 9, 13 at 9:50

LOL, KSWL!

Too funny. Especially love the last review.

What I don't understand is 1) this is actually on the webpage??? and 2) the photo doesn't seem to match.

It's really on the food network webpage. They've changed the photo since I last looked at this and have taken off hundreds of comments. Honestly, I wish I had saved them. The alien guy was the best, but there were others....

I live in the SE, and have been to all the places you listed! The Two Meeting Street Inn is my favorite place to stay in Charleston, as it is right on the Battery there in the residential district. I am a runner, so those early morning jogs down those exquisite residential streets were heavenly to me.There are too many amazing restaurants to list...see if your concierge is a true local and find out where THEY eat! :) If you don't mind a little drive, it is easy to get from NOLA to Natchez...and there is a scenic Hwy. I LOVE Natchez...we stayed in this amazing place called Monmouth Plantation...oh, it was lovely and such a complete Southern experience. We stayed at the Windsor Court hotel in NOLA, which is in the Buiness District, but just a short walk to the French Quarter. It was the best of both worlds to me, you could enjoy the craziness of Bourbon St, but then walk back to a wonderful, quiet hotel! And so close to the Cafe du Monde for your breakfast beignets!

I am jealous of your trip! You will have an amazing time in these places! Oh, and the Biltmore Inn makes you feel like you are truly a guest of the Vanderbilts...Inn guests get lots of special perks while on the property. We just went in June for our anniversary. :)

nini804 - we also stayed at the Monmouth Plantation - I think it was in the Carriage House, if I am not mistaken.

Definately Natchez if you are getting as close as NOLA. My homeplace is 30 minutes out of Natchez so this is practically home for me. If we needed to go to town for anything, groceries (more than milk), movies, eye doctor, etc. Natchez was one of our two choice for where we did it.

If interested, I will give you more information on it. Monmouth is definitely a not miss. It is my favorite home of of all of them. I will give you some of the others not to miss as well. I know I read above when it said you will be taking this trip, but I can't find it now. However, from what I thought I read above it would be around Christmas? If so, this would not be during one of the two Pilgrimages they have each year but not to worry there is still plenty to do.

In fact, I don't tell many this but I was a docent at one of the homes as a child......had my on dress, hoopskirt, pantaloons, the works. The home was Auburn in Duncan Park.

As you've been there, with NOLA people either love it or hate it. There seems to be no middle ground. The thing about NOLA as with most cities you have to get off of the beat and path. Go where the locals go......not the tourists!

I live in Jacksonville and have been to Charleston a lot! Great city with so much to offer. We like to stay at the French Quarter Inn. Great location, they have bikes and a lovely restaurant. I truly love Charleston. Oh yes, there is a store called Elizabeth Stewart designs off US 17.. it is lovely. If you have time after Cumberland, head down A1A toward Amelia island and hit the plantation shop. They have great antiques,are a locally owned family store and the prices are very reasonable. You are close to the airport on that side of town. Enjoy the south!