Where to stay — Savannah's hotel decade has been loud, and the awards agree on the order. 1. Hotel Bardo — the most-decorated: T+L It List 2024, Condé Nast Traveler Hot List 2024, Readers' Choice Top 25 in the South two years running, a Michelin Key. On Forsyth Park, which is exactly where you want to wake up. 2. Perry Lane Hotel (Luxury Collection) — T+L's #1 hotel in Savannah three consecutive years (2023–2025). The polished classic; also the family pick — rooftop pool, house car. 3. Municipal Grand — T+L It List 2026; midcentury bank turned 44-room design hotel with the Death & Co bar downstairs. The newcomer with the best story. 4. Thompson Savannah — Eastern Wharf, Michelin-listed, and Bar Julian's sunset comes with the key. 5. The Drayton or Andaz (Indagare's editors' pick) downtown; Hamilton-Turner Inn, Kehoe House, or The Gastonian if the trip calls for a four-poster in a mansion.

One correction to old lists you'll find online: the Mansion on Forsyth Park no longer exists — it was gutted and reborn as Hotel Bardo in 2024. Same address, different century.

With kids? It works better than the ghost-tour marketing suggests: the squares, the free Savannah Belles ferry across the river, Fort Pulaski, a Savannah Bananas game if the calendar cooperates, Leopold's ice cream (queue moves fast), and Perry Lane as base.

When to go — Late October–November is the local answer: clear, cool, unhumid. Mid-March–April is azalea season and gorgeous, at peak prices — and avoid the weeks around St. Patrick's Day entirely unless you're coming for America's second-largest celebration. June–August is a feels-like-103° walking city, which is to say not one. September still swelters; it's also peak hurricane risk.

The practical part — Fly into SAV, fifteen minutes from downtown. No car needed for Days 1–2 — the Historic District and Starland sit on one flat, walkable 2.5-mile spine with a free downtown shuttle. Rent or rideshare for Day 3–4 only. Book The Grey, Common Thread, and Brochu's when you book the flights. Mrs. Wilkes (the communal boardinghouse lunch) is real and good, but it's a 10am line, cash, weekdays — decide if that's your morning.