Hey everyone! Hope y’all had a great week. After staying up until 2 AM Mardi Gras night, only getting 2 hours of sleep, having to change flights, and then driving 2.5 hours blaring a combination of podcasts, punk rock, & more to keep myself awake, I finally made it to Savannah Georgia where I’ve spent the last week.
I’ve almost concluded my stay here in Charleston and Savannah, and overall, I absolutely loved both of them. This may be partly because they both have many similar aspects to my hometown of New Orleans, and also because I had two amazing hosts, but I thoroughly enjoyed my time in both.
Since I plan on publishing a blog recapping ETH Denver next week, I figured today would be a great time to publish my second city review as part of my 12 Cities, 12 Months journey. Let’s get to it!
Overview
Just like the last city review, I asked Chat GPT to give me quick synopses of each city to get everyone up to speed:
Charleston and Savannah are two historic cities located in the southeastern United States, known for their charming architecture, rich culture, and Southern hospitality.
Charleston is a coastal city located in South Carolina. It was founded in 1670 and played a significant role in the American Revolution and Civil War. Charleston is home to a variety of historic landmarks, including Fort Sumter, where the first shots of the Civil War were fired, and the Battery, a seawall and promenade lined with historic mansions. The city also offers a vibrant culinary scene, with a focus on fresh seafood and Lowcountry cuisine, as well as numerous art galleries and museums. Charleston is known for its friendly locals, vibrant nightlife, and picturesque streets lined with colorful houses and Spanish moss-draped trees.
Savannah is a coastal city located in Georgia, founded in 1733. It played a significant role in the American Revolution and Civil War and is known for its charming squares and parks, historic homes and buildings, and oak-lined streets. Savannah's historic district, known as the Savannah Historic District, is one of the largest and best-preserved urban historic districts in the United States. The city also offers a variety of cultural attractions, including museums, art galleries, and music venues. Savannah is known for its Southern charm, friendly locals, and warm hospitality, as well as its delicious food, including classic Southern dishes such as shrimp and grits and fried chicken.
Activities: 8/10
Favorite Activity: Savannah Bananas
Although Charleston and Savannah are considered pretty small cities compared to most places in the US, both cities offered a plentiful amount of activities. The best one that I cannot recommend enough was the Savannah Bananas game. It was single-handedly the most exciting and craziest sporting/entertainment event I’ve ever been to. Here’s a quick summary of the game:
In Charleston, my favorite event was one the city hosts every second Sunday of the month appropriately called “Second Sundays” (quick recap) where they close down King St. (most popular in downtown) from 1-5 PM and set up a bunch of tents, food trucks, etc. for people to walk by with their dogs, friends, and more.
Also, both cities are located less than 30 minutes away from some pretty nice beaches (Folley and Tybee Beach), which is incredibly convenient for the spring and summer months, but I was still able to take advantage of it luckily due to the incredible weather both cities have had for the last few weeks.
I always felt like there was something new and different I could do or explore in both Charleston and Savannah, so good rating here.
Landmarks/Neighborhoods/Areas: 7/10
Best Iconic Landmark: Rainbow Row
Although it doesn’t pop into your mind right away, Charleston’s Rainbow Row is an iconic area of downtown near the water where you can walk by beautiful, classically styled, pastel-colored houses. Fun fact: it is illegal to paint the houses on Rainbow Row a different color, so if you are looking to purchase, you better make sure you pick a color you enjoy.
Savannah doesn’t have one individual landmark that stands above the rest, however, with Forrest Gump being my favorite movie of all time, I had the excitement of a kid in a candy store when I visited Chippewa Park where the iconic bench scene was filmed.
There are also many cool areas and neighborhoods to explore in both cities, and after discussing with my boss from work that bridges are many times some of the iconic landmarks in certain cities (i.e. Golden Gate Bridge) I realized that Charleston and Savannah had almost identical looking ones, further cementing their similarities.
Food: 9/10
Favorite Restaurant: Jack of Cups
Local Delicacies: Southern Comfort Food
As noted in the first city review blog, this section will probably be the most strictly rated as my hometown New Orleans is in contention for the best food city in the world. However, even with this context, Charleston is one of the best food destinations I have ever been to in my entire life. I went to probably around 10-12 restaurants during my time there and all but one blew me away with the incredible food it served. Some of my favorites included The Tattooed Moose, Husk, Leon’s, and most of all Jack of Cups which is the best-tasting inconspicuous restaurant I’ve ever been to.
Although not as great as Charleston, the food in Savannah is solid as well, with the best meal being the fish tacos from The Wyld. The local delicacies in these cities are typical “Southern Comfort” food (ex: fried chicken, shrimp & grits, gumbo, etc.), which I think New Orleans does better anyway, but Charleston and Savannah still made my taste buds extremely happy.
Nightlife/Social Scene: 8.5/10
Although I can get behind it every once in a while for probably 1-hour max, I am not a huge fan of the club/rave nightlife scene that I frequently encountered during my time in college as part of being in a fraternity.
Thankfully for me, both of these cities thrive on a plethora of cool, fun, and unique social bars where you can sit down and chat with those around you. Many places also had live music (ranging from rock to bluegrass, to country) which I am also a big supporter of.
In Charleston, you’ll find most of your fun on or around King St. in downtown Charleston with some of my favorite spots being Burns Alley (thanks Sid for the cover), Cocktail Club, and Prohibition to name a few. In Savannah, there are the City Market and River St. areas with Service Brewing Co., Eclipse, and Moodrights being my favorite places to go (recap here).
History & Culture: 8/10
I didn’t get the chance to visit the historical centers of Charleston and Savannah, but I was still able to learn a lot about their rich histories dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries just by reading monument descriptions or looking at the old and unique architecture.
One stark contrast that separates these two cities from Tampa culturally is its Southern hospitality. This is something I am extremely accustomed to being from New Orleans, and I absolutely loved it. Although I am someone that loves to do a lot of different things at once and go go go, I do enjoy the slower pace of life that comes with this type of culture as it helps remind me about what is important in life.
Natural Beauty/Outdoor Spaces: 9.5/10
One thing about both of these cities that took my breath away was their sheer beauty. Both cities are full of beautiful parks, trees with Spanish moss, and more. In combination with the almost perfect weather I’ve been able to enjoy, I’ve never enjoyed going on a walk in the park more.
Savannah in particular I thought was stunning. In downtown Savannah, there is a stretch of small squares one block after the other, one of which was the location of the famous park bench in Forrest Gump. Forsyth Park is also an incredible area that is full of people enjoying its beauty both athletically (ultimate frisbee and soccer games going on all around the park) and artistically (SCAD students and other artist displaying their work for all to see).
As mentioned earlier, both these cities are also less than 30 minutes away from the beach, offering just another beautiful space for everyone’s enjoyment. This will be the part about these two cities that I will miss the most.
Transportation: 7/10
One thing that honestly shocked me about both cities was the amount of traffic I encountered there. Although I expected the 5 o’clock traffic that is commonplace in any city, the number of times I was sitting idle on the streets or highways did surprise me to an extent.
Similar to Tampa, public transportation is not very prevalent in either city and most people rely on personal vehicles, but both cities did have lots of touristy travel accommodations such as pedicabs, trolly buses, and horse-drawn carriages.
Overall, it is still pretty easy to traverse both cities. In Charleston, for example, I was staying roughly 15 miles away from downtown and could get there in < 25 minutes. And once you are downtown in either city, it’s extremely easy and fun to go anywhere on foot (I even hit my all-time high daily step count in Savannah).
People: 9/10
Going hand in hand with the hospitable southern culture of both cities that I mentioned earlier, the people in both Charleston and Savannah couldn’t have been nicer. Everywhere I went in either city (whether downtown or in more rural areas), I was always greeted warmly and it was incredibly easy to strike up conversations with.
Whether it was the couple I sat next to at the Savannah Bananas game, the elderly gentleman I talked to after I went to church for the first time in a while, the “Old Farts” that camp out in Forsyth park, or the older ladies who kicked my a** in pickleball, I enjoyed everyone I interacted with.
It was also interesting (and kinda funny) to see the stark contrast at times between the college students from the College of Charleston and SCAD (which typically attract students outside of the area) versus the general populace.
Overall: 8.25/10
In conclusion, both Charleston and Savannah are exceptional cities to visit. They offer a great variety of activities to choose from, with the Savannah Bananas game and Charleston's Second Sundays being my top picks. The landmarks and neighborhoods in both cities are impressive, with Rainbow Row in Charleston and Chippewa Park in Savannah being iconic spots to visit. Food in Charleston is unparalleled, with Jack of Cups being my favorite restaurant. The nightlife in both cities is full of unique social bars and live music venues. The rich history of these two cities, combined with their southern hospitality, make them even more enjoyable places to visit. The natural beauty of these cities is a sight to behold, with the Spanish moss, parks, and trees making it an ideal outdoor destination. Overall, I highly recommend both Charleston and Savannah for your next travel destination.
Thanks for reading! For next week’s blog, I will write a quick recap of my biggest takeaways and things I learned from the ETH Denver conference I am flying out to today, so stay tuned!
Here are my links if you feel inclined: