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8 Days Charleston / Savannah Tour Package
Duration: 8 Days / 7 Nights
Priced From: $2,350 pp Dbl. Occ.
Dates: Mar - May, Sep, Oct
Did you know that the readers of Travel + Leisure have just voted Charleston "America's Friendliest City"? Our Charleston / Savannah is a wonderful vacation that transports you to yesteryear's days of gracious living. From historic sites in Georgia travel to antebellum sites in South Carolina; relish the gracious elegance of southern living in this rarefied world of plantations, 19th-century mansions, magnolia gardens, and enormous live oaks hung with Spanish moss. Explore four National Historic Landmark Districts: Savannah and Jekyll Island, Georgia, and Charleston and Beaufort, South Carolina. All this plus Fort Pulaski, site of a Civil War battle, and a maritime museum will interest history lovers, while Hilton Head Island’s long, empty beaches and some of America's most beautiful gardens appeal to nature lovers. Take a privately guided Connoisseur Tour through one of the South's best-preserved 18th-century plantations; embark on a private cruise in Charleston Harbor that illustrates the city's rich maritime heritage; ride a horse-drawn carriage through charming seaside Beaufort; and enjoy an exclusive private dinner at a Savannah mansion, beginning with Mint Juleps on the veranda. This memorable journey is as refreshing as a cool glass of sweet tea – South Carolina and Georgia travel was never so refined!
Itinerary
Day 1: Georgia travel on your mind
South Carolina and Georgia travel experience departs from Florida’s Jacksonville International Airport at 3:00 PM. For guests spending the previous night on Jekyll Island, a transfer is included from Jacksonville International Airport to the Jekyll Island Club Hotel in the heart of the island's National Historic Landmark District. Enjoy the welcome reception and dinner at your elegant Victorian hotel, which was originally founded in the late 19th century as a hunting retreat for some of America's richest and most powerful families including the Rockefellers and the Vanderbilts; a stay on historic Jekyll Island is a Georgia travel highlight.
Meals: Dinner
Lodging: Jekyll Island Club Hotel, Jekyll Island, GA
Day 2: St. Simons Island & Savannah
Tour Jekyll Island’s 240-acre historical district, including Faith Chapel and Rockefeller's Indian Mound, and travel to nearby St. Simons Island, hosting expansive marshlands. Your Georgia travel experience continues to Savannah for a two-night stay, where you'll admire the elegant architecture and the geometric city design, with 24 park squares featuring live oaks draped with Spanish moss; it's one of the country’s most graceful cities. Your exclusive dinner tonight takes place at a historic private Savannah home, the Metts-McNeal Mansion; begin with Mint Juleps on the veranda, overlooking Forsyth Park, and enjoy southern hospitality at its finest.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Lodging: Hilton Savannah DeSoto, Savannah, GA
Day 3: Landmarks of Savannah - Georgia travel at its best
Begin your day with a private tour of the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace in Savannah, family home of the founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA, and visit the Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum, interpreting the great Atlantic sea trade of centuries past. Then a local Georgia travel guide provides an insider’s view of Savannah's park squares and notable buildings, part of one of the first planned cities in America; its National Historic Landmark District is the largest in the country, and features more than 1,000 architecturally significant buildings. The remainder of the day is yours to explore more of Savannah on your own, perhaps wandering the city's trendy waterfront district.
Meals: Breakfast
Lodging: Hilton Savannah DeSoto, Savannah, GA
Day 4: Civil War history & barrier beaches
Bid Savannah farewell and continue your Georgia travel adventure with a visit to a key site of the Civil War, Fort Pulaski National Monument, an impressive brick fortress captured by Union forces in 1862. From Georgia travel to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, boasting one of the most pristine marine estuaries on the east coast, featuring miles of barrier beaches that are ideal for walking and beachcombing. Enjoy an à la carte dinner at your inviting oceanfront resort tonight.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Lodging: The Westin Hilton Head Island Resort & Spa, Hilton Head, SC
Day 5: Step back in time in Beaufort en route to Charleston
Take time for a morning walk on Hilton Head’s pristine beaches before you journey north along the coast. Arrive in Beaufort, "Queen of the Carolina Sea Islands," where you'll view the timeless architecture of its National Historic Landmark District on a horse-drawn carriage ride. Head to Charleston, the lovely and historic first capital of South Carolina. An exclusively chartered private boat cruise of Charleston Harbor this afternoon imparts a wealth of information about the city's centuries of maritime history – an important part of this South Carolina and Georgia travel experience. Your home for the next three nights is a 150-year-old hotel at the center of Charleston's historic district.
Meals: Breakfast, dinner
Lodging: The Mills House Hotel, Charleston, SC
Day 6: Explore the past in gracious Charleston
Relive the past on a guided sightseeing tour of prosperous Charleston along cobblestone streets and past walled gardens. The city’s 789-acre historic district showcases extraordinary architecture, from pre-Revolutionary War buildings to graceful antebellum homes. Explore on your own in the afternoon. Perhaps take a carriage tour, visit the Gibbes Museum of Art, or see Fort Sumter National Monument, where the first shot of the Civil War was fired in 1861.
Meals: Breakfast
Lodging: The Mills House Hotel, Charleston, SC
Day 7: Grand plantations and gardens of centuries past
Visit some of the finest plantations and gardens in America today. A morning excursion takes you first to Drayton Hall, a Georgian Palladian mansion built in 1738 that is preserved in original condition, without electricity or plumbing. Join senior interpreters for a Conoisseur Tour that takes an in-depth look at three centuries of Drayton Hall via historical photographs, plantation logs and archived letters. Then it's on to Middleton Place for a tour of its mansion built in 1755, stable yard with period artifacts, and the oldest formal gardens in the United States, considered a landscaping masterpiece. This evening, relive your gracious South Carolina and Georgia travel experience during the farewell reception and dinner at your historic Charleston hotel.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Lodging: The Mills House Hotel, Charleston, SC
Day 8: Journey home
Your South Carolina and Georgia travel adventure ends in Charleston, South Carolina. Fly home anytime. A transfer is included from The Mills House Hotel to Charleston International Airport. Allow a minimum of two hours for flight check-in.
Meals: Breakfast
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10/09
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