Staff Pick

Road Trip Charleston to Savannah – Low Country, Beaufort, Jekyll

Charleston Savannah
170
km
2h30
drive
All seasons
season

The Itinerary

The Low Country between Charleston and Savannah is a world apart in the American South: endless salt marshes, live oaks draped in Spanish moss, historic plantations, wild barrier islands, and two of the most beautiful colonial cities in America.

Charleston, South Carolina, preserves a perfectly intact 18th-century downtown: the Battery, Rainbow Row, the historic market, Magnolia Plantation. It's also home to Lowcountry cuisine (shrimp & grits, she-crab soup). On Route 17 south, Beaufort (SC) — seen in Forrest Gump — is a heritage village rich in white colonial mansions.

Hilton Head Island, a vast resort island, is famed for 24 golf courses and 19 km of beaches. Further south, Jekyll Island (Georgia) hides Driftwood Beach (tree skeletons on sand) and the Jekyll Island Club (1886, the Rockefellers' former private club). Savannah, a garden city built around 22 shaded squares, is the perfect conclusion.

Points of Interest

  • ✦
    Charleston Battery & Rainbow Row
    Colonial architecture, pastel houses, historic market.
  • ✦
    Beaufort
    Heritage village, white mansions, Forrest Gump filming.
  • ✦
    Jekyll Island
    Driftwood Beach, Rockefeller club, 16 km of beach.
  • ✦
    Savannah Historic District
    22 shaded squares, live oaks, garden city.
Practical info
  • Departure Charleston
  • Destination Savannah
  • Distance 170 km
  • Duration 2h30
  • Category Medium (100–250 km)
  • Best season All seasons
Themes
heritage south plantation beach gastronomy colonial low-country golf

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