Beyond the Tour · Family Travel
The Perfect 3-Day Savannah Itinerary for Families
Moss-draped squares, real pirates, climbing a lighthouse, riding a locomotive, and a ghost story or two before bed — here's how to give your family three unforgettable days in America's most beautiful (and most haunted) city.
Savannah might be the most family-friendly historic city in America — and not in the watered-down theme park way. Kids here climb on real cannons, eat ice cream from a 1919 soda fountain, pet bookstore cats, ride real trains, and walk streets where pirates genuinely once dragged sailors off to sea. The city is flat, walkable, shaded by live oaks, and built around 22 squares that work suspiciously well as energy-burning pit stops between attractions.
This itinerary covers three full days: one in the Historic District, one for trains and the riverfront, and one beach-and-fort day trip to Tybee Island. Every stop includes the address and phone number so you can plan (and call ahead) right from this page.
Squares, Sweets & Spirits
Morning — Breakfast & the Bull Street Walk
Start with breakfast at The Collins Quarter, an Australian-style café on Bull Street where the kids' pancakes are as good as the parents' lavender mochas. Expect a short wait on weekends — it's worth it.
Then walk it off the best way possible: straight down Bull Street, the most beautiful street in the city, square by square — Wright, Chippewa (where Forrest Gump's bench scenes were filmed), Madison, and Monterey — until you reach Forsyth Park. The famous white fountain is the family photo op of the trip, and the playgrounds at the south end will happily absorb whatever energy your kids have left.
Lunch — A Savannah Institution
If it's a weekday, do lunch the legendary way: Mrs. Wilkes' Dining Room, where strangers become tablemates and fried chicken, mac and cheese, and twenty other Southern dishes get passed around family-style — which is to say, this restaurant was practically designed for kids. The line forms before 10am, it's lunch only Monday through Friday, and it's cash only. Visiting on a weekend? Vinnie Van GoGo's in City Market slings enormous New York-style slices (also cash only — there's an ATM inside).
Vinnie Van GoGo's 317 W. Bryan Street, City Market · (912) 233-6394 · Cash only
Afternoon — Bookstore Cats, Honey & the Best Ice Cream in the South
Spend the afternoon on Savannah's most kid-pleasing circuit. Browse the twelve rooms of E. Shaver, Bookseller beside Madison Square, where the resident cats patrol the picture-book section. Walk up to Savannah Bee Company on Broughton for free honey tastings down a whole wall of flavors. Then join the line at Leopold's Ice Cream — scooping since 1919, and worth every minute of the wait. The line moves fast; the Tutti Frutti is the move.
Savannah Bee Company 104 W. Broughton Street · (912) 233-7873
Leopold's Ice Cream 212 E. Broughton Street · (912) 234-4442
Evening — Dinner With Pirates, Then the Real Ghosts
Dinner tonight is an attraction in itself: The Pirates' House, a tavern dating to 1753 where sailors were once shanghaied through secret tunnels to ships waiting in the river. Kids get pirate lore, fifteen creaky historic dining rooms to gawk at, and award-winning fried chicken; parents get genuinely good Southern food and one of the most storied buildings in Georgia. Ask to peek at the tunnel entrance.
The Main Event
The Original Haunted Savannah Tour
You're in the most haunted city in America — it would be a crime to put the kids to bed without a ghost story. Cap night one with The Original Haunted Savannah Tour from Destination Ghost Tours: a walking tour through the moonlit squares led by real local historians and paranormal investigators who tell the documented true stories behind Savannah's most haunted places. It's spooky in the way families love — goosebumps and gasps, history and humor — and kids routinely walk away calling it the best part of the trip.
One insider tip: when you book, your confirmation email includes a link to the Tour Companion — the route map, your guide's photo, GPS to every stop, and bonus photos and documents for each location. Open it when you arrive for the tour. Evening departures sell out, especially in October, so reserve before your trip.
Trains, the River & All the Candy
Morning — Real Locomotives & a Mirror Maze
Head to the west end of the Historic District, where two of Savannah's best family attractions share one campus at Tricentennial Park. The Georgia State Railroad Museum is the most complete antebellum railroad complex in the country — kids can climb aboard real locomotives and rail cars, and on many days admission includes an actual train ride. Right next door, the Savannah Children's Museum offers a mirror maze, outdoor exploration maze, water play, and hands-on exhibits for the younger crew. One phone number reaches both; note the Children's Museum is closed Tuesdays.
Savannah Children's Museum 655 Louisville Road · (912) 651-6823 · Closed Tuesdays
If your crew skews older or nautical, the Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum two blocks away fills a gorgeous 1819 mansion with intricate model ships — and its gardens are a lovely breather.
Lunch — Pick Your Adventure
Zunzi's serves South African-inspired sandwiches big enough to split (the Conquistador is famous for a reason), with a fun outdoor courtyard. Prefer table service and a menu built to make kids grin? Treylor Park on Bay Street serves PB&J wings, chicken pancake tacos, and fried avocado in a vintage-Airstream-themed space that delights every age.
Afternoon — River Street: Ships, Sweets & Free Samples
Take the kids down to the cobblestones of River Street for Savannah's best free show: enormous cargo ships gliding past, close enough that everyone waves. Between ships, run the candy gauntlet — Savannah's Candy Kitchen and River Street Sweets both pull warm pralines in their windows and hand out free samples at the door (a praline showdown between the two is a legitimate family activity). Up in City Market, Byrd's Famous Cookies has been baking since 1924 and samples every flavor.
River Street Sweets 13 E. River Street · (912) 234-4608
Byrd's Famous Cookies 211 W. St. Julian Street, City Market · (912) 721-1563
Evening — A Classic Savannah Supper
Finish day two at the Crystal Beer Parlor, Savannah's longest-running restaurant (since 1933) — a casual, kid-welcoming tavern with the best shrimp and grits in town, great burgers, and a fried pound cake dessert your family will be talking about on the drive home.
Forts, the Lighthouse & the Beach
Morning — Fort Pulaski
Drive twenty minutes east on US-80 toward Tybee Island and stop at Fort Pulaski National Monument — a massive, moat-ringed Civil War fortress kids can explore top to bottom, with cannonballs still lodged in the brick walls and ranger talks (and on many days, live cannon firings) that make history loud and unforgettable. Watch the moat for fish and the occasional alligator.
Midday — Climb the Lighthouse, Then Hit the Sand
Continue to Tybee and climb all 178 steps of the Tybee Island Light Station — Georgia's oldest and tallest lighthouse, with a view from the top that earns every stair. Admission includes the keeper's cottages and the museum across the street. (Closed Tuesdays — flip days two and three if needed.) Then claim your patch of sand: Tybee's wide, gentle beaches are perfect for kids, and North Beach sits right beside the lighthouse parking lot.
Evening — Dinner at the Crab Shack
End the trip the way Tybee families always have: at The Original Crab Shack, an open-air marsh-side seafood joint where the motto is "where the elite eat in their bare feet." Low country boils land in heaping trays, there's a hole in the middle of the table for the shells — and yes, that's a real lagoon of live alligators (plus macaws and very confident cats). It's dinner and a show, and your kids will never forget it.
Drive back to Savannah with the windows down as the sun sets over the marsh — and start arguing about which day was the best. (It was the ghost tour. It's always the ghost tour.)