Cornelius Amann
October 06, 2026
5/5
Charleston and Savannah: the Lowcountry and Jekyll Island
7 days from Charleston to Savannah: three nights in each city, Beaufort and the Penn Center on the way, and a day on Jekyll Island.
7 days · Charleston to Savannah · up to 12 guests
The beach and boardwalk on Jekyll Island, Georgia Photo: normanack on Flickr, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beach_and_Boardwalk_on_Jekyll_Island.jpg)
The facts
At a glance
- Length
- 7 days, 6 nights
- Start and end
- Charleston to Savannah
- Group size
- 7 to 12 guests
- Activity level
Easy
Walking-led city days of about 6 to 9 km on flat pavements, old brick and a few cobbles, often in warm, humid weather, with sit-down breaks. No drive is longer than about 3.5 hours in a day. The lighthouse climb on day 7 is optional, and you can ride back to the hotel from any walk.
- Meals included
- 6 breakfasts, 5 lunches, 1 dinner
- Room of your own
- + CAD 935 (estimated price)
- Season
- March to May and October to November
Highlights
Why this trip
- McLeod Plantation, a plantation told from the cabins of the people enslaved there rather than the big house
- Charleston's Black history on foot with a local guide, the Old Slave Mart Museum and the International African American Museum
- The boat across Charleston Harbor to Fort Sumter, where the Civil War began in April 1861
- Beaufort for lunch and the Penn Center on St Helena Island, one of the first schools for freed people
- Savannah's squares in the cool of the morning, and Bonaventure Cemetery under its moss-hung oaks
- A day on Jekyll Island: the Jekyll Island Club, the sea turtle hospital, the Wanderer Memory Trail and Driftwood Beach
- The Tybee Island lighthouse on the last morning, on the way to the airport
What makes this trip different
Free time is part of the plan
Free time and choices are marked on the days they fall.
Solo without the penalty
A room of your own is + CAD 935 (estimated price).
Day by day
Itinerary
Tap any stop on the map to open that dayClick any stop on the map to open that day
Arrive in Charleston
Charleston International Airport to your hotel in the historic district
- Welcome dinner
- Stay in Charleston
- Drive about 30 min
Fly into Charleston International Airport (CHS), about 20 km from the historic district, and land by about 3 pm. Our driver meets you in arrivals and takes you to a central hotel in the old city, your base for three nights. Charleston was founded in 1670 and moved to this peninsula between the Ashley and Cooper rivers in 1680, and its centre is still small enough to cross on foot in half an hour. At about 5 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing, then an easy first walk as the heat goes out of the day: along the Waterfront Park promenade to the Pineapple Fountain, past the pastel houses of Rainbow Row on East Bay Street and out to the seawall of the Battery, where the harbour opens towards Fort Sumter.
Evening
The walk ends at the welcome dinner, a sit-down Lowcountry meal of the kind you will eat all week: shrimp and grits, she-crab soup and rice dishes that go back to the Gullah Geechee cooks of the Sea Islands.
Included
- Pick-up at Charleston International Airport (CHS)
- Welcome briefing with your guide
- Evening walk: Waterfront Park, Rainbow Row and the Battery
- Welcome dinner
Free time: Free until the 5 pm briefing
Activity: Land by about 3 pm to make the briefing; later arrivals are met and join the group at dinner.
The people who built Charleston
A day on foot in Charleston's historic district
- Breakfast and lunch
- Stay in Charleston
Morning
This morning is about the people who built Charleston. We start at 9 am, before the heat, with a local guide who specialises in the city's Black history, walking from the Four Corners of Law past St Michael's Church and the iron gates, brick walls and walled gardens of the old houses, much of it the work of enslaved and free Black blacksmiths, carpenters and bricklayers. On Chalmers Street we visit the Old Slave Mart Museum, in a building where people were auctioned in the years before the Civil War.
Afternoon
Lunch is a sit-down meal nearby. In the afternoon we walk to the International African American Museum, opened in 2023 on the site of Gadsden's Wharf, where many thousands of captive Africans were landed; take your time with the galleries and the memorial garden by the water.
Evening
The late afternoon and evening are yours: the sweetgrass basket makers at the City Market, the shops of King Street, or a rooftop bar at sunset.
Included
- Charleston Black history walk with a local guide
- Old Slave Mart Museum
- Sit-down lunch in the historic district
- International African American Museum
Easier option: Ride to the museum in our van instead of walking, or go back to the hotel after lunch.
Free time: Late afternoon and evening free
Activity: About 6 km on foot across the day, on flat pavements and some uneven brick.
McLeod Plantation and Fort Sumter
Charleston to McLeod Plantation on James Island, then the boat to Fort Sumter
- Breakfast and lunch
- Stay in Charleston
- Drive about 30 min
We drive about fifteen minutes across the Ashley River to McLeod Plantation Historic Site on James Island, arriving at opening. It is a plantation told from the other side: the visit, led by the site's own interpreters, starts not at the big house but at the row of small wooden cabins built for the enslaved people who grew Sea Island cotton here, cabins their descendants went on living in long after emancipation. You hear about the Gullah Geechee families of the island, the Freedmen's Bureau office that worked from the house after the war, and how the site chose to tell the story.
Afternoon
Back downtown, lunch is at a sit-down restaurant near the harbour. In the afternoon we take the boat from Liberty Square to Fort Sumter, about half an hour each way across the harbour, often with dolphins alongside. The first shots of the Civil War were fired here in April 1861; rangers are on the fort to answer questions.
Evening
The evening is free.
Included
- McLeod Plantation Historic Site with the site's interpreters
- Sit-down lunch near the harbour
- Boat from Liberty Square to Fort Sumter and back, with time on the fort
Easier option: Skip Fort Sumter and spend the afternoon at the hotel or in the Charleston Museum.
More active option: On your free evening, walk the pedestrian path of the Ravenel Bridge over the Cooper River for the view back to the city.
Free time: Evening free
Activity: About 2 km on foot at McLeod and on the fort, mostly on sand, grass and level paths.
Angel Oak, Beaufort and the Penn Center
Charleston to the Angel Oak, Beaufort and St Helena Island, then Savannah
- Breakfast and lunch
- Stay in Savannah
- Drive about 3.5 h
We leave Charleston at 8:30 am and head south into the Lowcountry. First, a short detour on Johns Island to the Angel Oak, a live oak thought to be several hundred years old, whose limbs spread so wide that some rest on the ground. Then it is about an hour and a half through marsh, pine and tidal creeks to Beaufort, a small town of white porched houses on the Beaufort River.
Afternoon
Lunch is a sit-down meal on Bay Street, then a walk past the house of Robert Smalls, who was born enslaved in Beaufort, steered a Confederate steamer out of Charleston harbour to the Union fleet in 1862 with his family aboard, and later served in Congress; the house is private, so we see it from the street. Across the bridge on St Helena Island we reach the Penn Center by about 2 pm, well before its museum closes at 4. It grew from one of the first schools for freed people, opened in 1862, and tells the Gullah Geechee story of the Sea Islands.
Evening
Savannah is about an hour and a quarter on, and the evening is free.
Included
- The Angel Oak on Johns Island
- Sit-down lunch on Bay Street in Beaufort
- Walk through Beaufort's historic district, past the Robert Smalls house
- The Penn Center and its museum on St Helena Island
Free time: Evening free in Savannah
Activity: One of the two longest drive days, about 3.5 hours in four legs, broken by the oak, lunch and the Penn Center. Day 4 always falls on a Thursday or Friday, when the Penn Center museum is open.
Savannah's squares and Bonaventure
A morning on foot in Savannah, then Bonaventure Cemetery
- Breakfast and lunch
- Stay in Savannah
- Drive about 30 min
Savannah was laid out in 1733 by James Oglethorpe as a grid of wards around open squares, and 22 of them survive, each shaded by live oaks and Spanish moss.
Morning
We walk them in the cool of the morning with your guide: Johnson and Wright squares, Chippewa Square, Madison and Monterey squares, down to the white fountain in Forsyth Park. On Oglethorpe Square we visit the Owens-Thomas House and Slave Quarters, a Regency house of 1819 whose carriage house still holds the rooms where the enslaved household lived, with traces of their blue-painted ceiling.
Afternoon
Lunch is sit-down in the historic district. After a rest through the heat of the day we drive fifteen minutes east to Bonaventure Cemetery, laid out on an old plantation above the Wilmington River, where moss hangs from avenues of oaks over Victorian monuments; it closes at 5 pm, so we go mid-afternoon.
Evening
In the evening, walk down the old cotton warehouse ramps to River Street and watch the ships pass.
Included
- Walk through Savannah's squares to Forsyth Park with your guide
- Owens-Thomas House and Slave Quarters
- Sit-down lunch in the historic district
- Bonaventure Cemetery with your guide
Easier option: Ride between the squares in our van for part of the morning walk.
Free time: Early afternoon and evening free
Activity: About 7 km on foot in the morning on level pavements; Bonaventure is about 2 km on sandy paths.
A day on Jekyll Island
Savannah to Jekyll Island and back
- Breakfast, lunch and dinner
- Stay in Savannah
- Drive about 3.5 h
A day on the Georgia coast. We leave at 8:30 am and drive a little under two hours south, about 140 km on Interstate 95, across the marshes of Glynn, to Jekyll Island, a barrier island owned by the state of Georgia and kept largely wild. From 1886 it was the winter retreat of the Jekyll Island Club, a members' club of some of the richest families in the country, and their clubhouse and large 'cottages' still stand in the historic district, which we walk with your guide. At the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, a working rehabilitation hospital, you can watch injured turtles being cared for.
Afternoon
Lunch is a sit-down meal on the island. Then we follow the Wanderer Memory Trail, which tells the story of the Wanderer, a ship that illegally landed more than 400 captive Africans on Jekyll in 1858, fifty years after the import of slaves was banned.
Evening
We end at Driftwood Beach, where bleached oaks and pines lie on the sand, then drive back to Savannah for the farewell dinner.
Included
- Walk through the Jekyll Island Club historic district with your guide
- Georgia Sea Turtle Center
- Sit-down lunch on Jekyll Island
- Wanderer Memory Trail
- Driftwood Beach
- Farewell dinner in Savannah
Easier option: Stay in Savannah for a free day instead, and join the group again at the farewell dinner.
More active option: Rent a bicycle on the island and ride the flat paths to Driftwood Beach while the group follows by van.
Activity: About 3.5 hours of driving in two legs of a little under two hours each, as long as day 4 but with the whole middle of the day on the island. Driftwood Beach is best near low tide, so the order of the day may change with the tide table.
Tybee Island and home
Savannah to Tybee Island, then Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport
- Breakfast
- Drive about 1.5 h
Morning
A last morning on the coast. Tybee Island is about half an hour east of Savannah at the end of the marsh road, past Fort Pulaski. We are at the Tybee Island Light Station when it opens at 9 am. A light has stood on this point since 1736, the station calls itself Georgia's oldest and tallest, and anyone who wants to can climb the tower for the view over the mouth of the Savannah River, the beach and the Atlantic, while others walk down to the sand or sit in the keepers' garden. We leave at about 11:30 and drive about 45 minutes to Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport (SAV), arriving at about 12:30 pm, and your guide checks your flight before saying goodbye. Book a flight leaving after about 3 pm. If your flight is earlier, we take you straight from the hotel to the airport, about 25 minutes.
Evening
If you would like to stay on in Savannah, tell us when you book and we can add a night at the group hotel.
Included
- Tybee Island Light Station and museum
- Drop-off at Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport (SAV)
Easier option: Skip the climb and walk on Tybee's beach instead, or go straight to the airport for an early flight.
More active option: Climb the Tybee lighthouse, about 178 steps to the gallery.
Activity: Book a flight leaving after about 3 pm to see Tybee.
- Charleston3 nights
- Savannah3 nights
- Overnight stop
- Day trip
- By boat or train
Wildlife and weather: Spring brings azaleas and mild days, and autumn is warm and usually drier once September is past. Summer is hot and humid with afternoon storms, and the Atlantic hurricane season runs from June to November, so we watch the forecast and can swap days around. Dolphins are often seen in Charleston Harbor from the Fort Sumter boat.
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Before you book
Right for you?
Good for you if you want
- Travellers who like cities on foot, with time to sit in a square
- An honest look at slavery, the Civil War and the Gullah Geechee story, not only the pretty houses
- Food lovers who want real lunches and free evenings to try the restaurants
- First trips to the American South from Canada, with short flights and short drives
Not for you if you want
- Beach holidays: the coast days are visits, not lazy days by the sea
- Travellers who want nightlife and live music every night; see our Nashville, Memphis and New Orleans trip
- Visitors in July or August: the trip does not run in the summer heat
Book flights after we confirm your seat.
6 nights
Where you'll stay
Your hotels are named in your trip confirmation.
- Charleston3 nights
- Savannah3 nights
One price
What's in the price
Included
Accommodation
- 6 nights in central hotels of at least 3-star-plus standard: 3 in Charleston's historic district and 3 in Savannah's historic district
- Rooms shared, or your own for a supplement
- We name each hotel when we confirm your dates
Transport
- Pick-up at Charleston International Airport (CHS) on day 1 and drop-off at Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport (SAV) on day 7
- Our own air-conditioned van and driver for the group, with fuel, parking, tolls and the Jekyll Island parking fee
- The boat across Charleston Harbor to Fort Sumter and back
Your guide
- A See Sight Tours guide with the group from Charleston to Savannah
- A local guide for the Charleston Black history walk, and the site interpreters at McLeod Plantation
Activities
- Charleston: Black history walk, the Old Slave Mart Museum, the International African American Museum, Rainbow Row and the Battery
- James Island: McLeod Plantation Historic Site
- Charleston Harbor: Fort Sumter
- Johns Island: the Angel Oak
- Beaufort: historic district walk
- St Helena Island: the Penn Center and its museum
- Savannah: the squares and Forsyth Park, the Owens-Thomas House and Slave Quarters, Bonaventure Cemetery
- Jekyll Island: the Jekyll Island Club historic district, the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, the Wanderer Memory Trail and Driftwood Beach
- Tybee Island: the Tybee Island Light Station
Meals
- 6 breakfasts
- 5 sit-down lunches, days 2 to 6
- 2 dinners: a welcome dinner in Charleston and a farewell dinner in Savannah
Not included
- International flights to Charleston and from Savannah
- Travel insurance
- An ESTA or US visa where your nationality needs one
- Lunch on days 1 and 7, and dinners on days 2 to 5
- Drinks
- Tips for your guide and driver
- Optional activities in your free time, such as harbour cruises, food tours or evening walks
- Personal spending
Extras
- Room of your own
- CAD 935 (estimated price)
When you can go
Dates and prices
Pick your start date when you request to book. We check that date and confirm it in your quote.
Prefer to travel without a group or guide? Ask us about arranging hotels, transport and city tours for you to travel independently.
Before you book
Booking terms
Nothing is charged now. Full terms and the cancellation schedule come with your quote, before you accept.
Business addresses
See Sight Tours Trips (USA): 3172 N Rainbow Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89108, United StatesSee Sight Tours Trips (Canada): 5305 50 Avenue, #1091, Red Deer, AB T4N 4B6, Canada+1-888-961-6584Guest reviews
What guests say
Reviews from guests on our day tours.
Jane
October 06, 2026
5/5
Susan
October 06, 2026
5/5
Tom L
October 05, 2026
5/5
MandL83
October 05, 2026
5/5
Darren O
October 05, 2026
5/5
Good to know
Questions
What does the price include?
Six nights in central hotels, 6 breakfasts, 5 sit-down lunches and 2 dinners, both airport transfers, our own van and driver, your See Sight Tours guide throughout, and every visit in the day plan: McLeod Plantation, Fort Sumter by boat, the Old Slave Mart Museum, the International African American Museum, the Penn Center, the Owens-Thomas House, Bonaventure, Jekyll Island and the Tybee lighthouse.
How big is the group?
The small-group trip runs with 7 to 12 guests, so everyone hears the guide on a narrow Charleston sidewalk, the whole group fits in one van and one restaurant table, and nobody waits for a coach of 40 to load.
Who leads the trip?
A See Sight Tours guide travels with the group from Charleston to Savannah. A local guide who specialises in Charleston's Black history leads the day 2 walk, and McLeod Plantation's own interpreters lead the visit there. We name your guide when we confirm your dates.
How does the trip deal with plantation history?
Honestly. We chose McLeod Plantation because its visit starts at the cabins of the people enslaved there, not the big house, and we pair it with the Old Slave Mart Museum, the International African American Museum, the Penn Center, the Owens-Thomas slave quarters and the Wanderer Memory Trail. It is serious history, told in context.
How fit do I need to be?
Not very: the trip is rated easy. The city days are about 6 to 9 km on foot on flat pavements and old brick, often in warm weather, with sit-down breaks and lunch. You can ride back in the van from any walk, and the lighthouse climb on the last morning is optional.
I am travelling solo. What is the single supplement?
A room of your own is from CAD 935 more than the twin-share price, shown before you request to book with no surprise later. Everything else, including meals, entries and the guide, is exactly the same as for guests sharing a room.
When is the best time to go?
March to May and October to November. Spring brings azaleas and mild days; autumn is warm and usually drier. Summer is hot and humid with afternoon storms, so the trip does not run in July and August. We avoid Savannah's St Patrick's Day week, when hotels fill and prices jump.
What about hurricane season?
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June to November and is busiest from August to October, so most of our dates sit outside its peak. If a storm threatens, we follow official advice, swap or move days, and contact you before departure if the trip is affected.
Do Canadians need a visa?
No. Canadian citizens need a valid passport and no visa for a visit like this. Most other visitors need an approved ESTA or a US visa before they fly, so check the rules for your nationality when you book.
Which airports do I fly into and out of?
Fly into Charleston International (CHS) and land by about 3 pm on day 1. The trip ends at Savannah/Hilton Head International (SAV) at about 12:30 pm on day 7, so book a flight leaving after about 3 pm. Both transfers are included; flights are not.
Can we travel privately or on our own dates?
Yes. Besides the small group, the trip comes as a private trip for your party only, on a date you choose, with your own guide, vehicle and driver. If you would rather travel independently on your own dates, ask us from the dates section and we will quote the same hotels and visits.
How does booking work?
Pick a start date and request to book. Prices are per person sharing a room, with taxes: the small group starts from CAD 5,190 and the private trip from CAD 9,340. We confirm your place within 24 hours, and no payment is taken when you send the request.
See Sight Tours has been providing travel services across North America since 2006. Operating in 20 cities across Canada and the USA, the company specializes in small group tours that offer personalized, high-quality experiences for travelers.
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