Things to do / Travel Guide
You don't need to do it all alone on your trip to Georgia and South Carolina. Plenty of tours in every locale with attractions can help you find what's really special in the region. The tour at Coca Cola, ghost tours in Savannah, guided nature boating in Okefenokee Swamp - this vacation, let the locals lead.
Atlanta and Athens Tours
In Atlanta, the Atlanta Preservation Society offers one to two hour tours of the historic downtown area, Fox Theatre, Sweet Auburn, Ansley Park, Druid Hills, Grant Park, and Inman Park. Grant Park and Inman Park are well-kept secrets, filled with Victorian jewels of houses. It's a good idea to check out these tours' schedules, as many are not daily, and some aren't even weekly. They all last around an hour and a half.
In Athens, the Classic City Tours offers 1-2-hour afternoon tours, highlighting the city's history and its historic architecture. The best of Athens' historic houses, public edifices, and buildings are all shown.
Okefenokee Swamp Tours
If you're a nature enthusiast, the best way to experience the Okefenokee Swamp is with Okefenokee Adventures, the official charter and tour partner with the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. You can take a three-hour tour, an overnight tour, or a several days' tour. This is your chance to catch yourself an alligator (well, just a glimpse thereof).
The tours set out in Carolina skiffs. The longer the trip, the more you'll be able to get out and experience the bubbly peat floor for yourself. These trips can be made wheelchair-accessible.
Savannah Tours
There are many organized tours in Savannah as well. For visitors wanting to get a great introduction to Savannah's Historic District, book a tour of the area from the Old Town Trolley Tours which can come to the lobby of your hotel to pick you up. It's over 100 points of interest in just an hour and a half, and departures are every 20 minutes. You visit plenty of mansions, historic avenues, museums, and more.
One of the most popular walking tours in Savannah is the Ghost Talk Ghost Walk tour. Leaving from Reynolds Square, this tour can lead guests through the streets of Savannah while listening to tales and legends lifted and adapted from the book “Savannah Specters and Other Strange Tales,” written by local author Margaret Debolt. The tours are twice an evening, every evening.
Aside from ghost tours, plenty of tours depart from Savannah's downtown for forays into history. See mansions, the squares of Bull Street, some of the city's most charming and ancient gardens, and more.
You can also take a Savannah Riverboat Cruise which can take visitors around on the “Savannah River Queen,” which sails from the River Street Riverboat Company headquarters, located at 9 River Street. On this tour, visitors can get a look at Savannah from the river and take in historic cotton warehouses and the statue of Savannah's charming Waving Girl statue. The narrated sightseeing tours are daily from spring to fall, and on weekends in the winter months - afternoon hours.
Charleston Tours
Walking tours are also popular with out-of-town guests in Charleston. The offbeat Charleston Tea Party Walking Tour is perhaps the most popular. Visitors on the tour can enjoy visiting out-of-the-way spots throughout the town, including secret gardens and courtyards, as well as various “nooks and crannies” only known to the most intimate of Charleston lovers. The best part about this Charleston tour is you also get a nice “spot of tea” before it's all said and done. These daily walking tours are popular, so reservations are required.
The Old South Carriage and Palmetto Carriage Tours both offer an authentic carriage tour that travels through Charleston's historic district, with a guide who “knows all there is to know” about the area. Bulldog Tours offers a number of spooky night tours, of ghosts, dungeons, graveyards, and jails. These are all nightly walking tours, lasting about an hour and a half.
Charleston is a harbor town, and there are boat tours of the area departing from the local marina that can take visitors out to Fort Sumter, the place that served as the powder keg that started the American Civil War or, as it is called in these parts, “the War of Northern Aggression.” The Civil War Walking Tour gives you an excellent view of Charleston during the war years, and departures are daily at 9:00 a.m.
On St. Helena, near Charleston, you can take a Gullah tour. St. Helena was the Ellis Island of many African Americans, and the islands in the area have served as a bastion for African American culture even to the present. They speak their own dialect of English, and their assortment of handmade artifacts fills a few museums on the island.
WWW.OLDSOUTHCARRIAGETOURS.COM
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