Good evening and greetings from Phoenix!
I am in the midst of planning a trip to Savannah and would like to know what the ';low season'; is as far as tourism. I am not familiar with the tourist seasons in the South and like traveling with thinner crowds and the like, even at the expense of missing some things that may be closed for the season.
Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!
';Low Season'; in Savannah
For starters, do not go March 17! :%26gt; Mid March to mid April is by far the busiest. Summer is slow, as are the holidays, Christmas and Thanksgiving. January is slow and things pick up slowly from February into the beginning of March. (All this from a hotelier%26#39;s perspective.)
We moved from there to Tampa. Our daughter, who lives in Chandler, visited us in July in FL and thought it felt similar to Phoenix then (much higher humidity but lower temperatures) and as Tampa was far hotter than Savannah, you might do alright visiting in the summer. I%26#39;d shoot for fall though...still not busy and the worst of the humidity will be dissipating.
';Low Season'; in Savannah
Nothing is closed for the season. What ever is open, is open all year around. The peak season is the Spring blooming season. The city is all decked out in azaleas and other flowers. There are also garden tours at that time. If you come at any other time of year, the blooming season will be the only thing that you will miss. The Historic District is the main attraction. It%26#39;s big enough that you really don%26#39;t have the crowds that are packed in like they have in other areas. April will see the biggest crowds.
The summer is hot. Coming from Phoenix, you would be used to that. The humidity will be different. Fall, mid Sept to the end of October is usually very nice. We have a lot of warm days during the Winter. There%26#39;s also a good bit of cold. You just can%26#39;t depend on what it is going to be this early.
This year has been weird. It%26#39;s chilly even though it%26#39;s the last of March.
Thank you OO and Aileen. I am very appreciative of your recommendations.
Aileen, I know about weird weather this year. Phoenix normally has some very chilly mornings here in the winter, but this year, we only had a couple and today it was 86 degrees, so we really had no winter.
In any event, thank you both for the input. That helps me with the planning.
Best wishes!
I had some more thoughts on this, EastPhoenixNative. Are you planning on visiting just Savannah or Savannah and Charleston? The two cities are a couple of hours from each other, are very similar but very different, and many people enjoy seeing both. A word of warning about summer if this is the case!! I have never been hotter than I was one summer day when I toured Charleston with a group from Savannah. One of the big differences in the two cities is that Savannah%26#39;s historic district is full of green squares with lots of big old oaks providing shade. Charleston is more citified...they don%26#39;t have all the squares and the number of shading oak trees, but they do have a lot of concrete and that captures and tosses the heat back at you (as you know well from Phoenix!) So if Charleston is in the cards too, I wouldn%26#39;t do a summer trip.
Aileen brought up a good point...Savannah is never really over-run with tourists with the exception of St Patrick%26#39;s Day and the couple of days surrounding it. Even in the height of the season you wouldn%26#39;t feel pressed by crowds, and the city is so unbelievably beautiful during the peak of the spring bloom, if I could go any time, that would be it. Virtually all the squares are planted with masses of azaleas, often with dogwood over them and the bloom is an incredible sight. It reaches its height late March and continues into the first couple of weeks of April. Charleston is ever so slightly behind that schedule. It%26#39;s dazzling...Savannh more so than Charleston--all the historic district, Victory Drive, Bonaventure Cemetery then is a sight not to be missed, and Bluff Dr. section south of downtown. All just incredibly beautiful!
The only drawback to all this is that it is time when the hotels are the fullest, reservations must be made well in advance, and it%26#39;s the period that commands the highest room rate. Even with that though, that is the period in which I, personally, would try to visit if I could go at any time. The blooms have to be seen to be believed!
OO,
Thanks again! I have no plans to do a summer trip to the South. I have hot enough summers here in Phoenix and the humidity would just not do well for me.
I am looking at either the spring or fall for a trip. My finace and I like outdoor eating, walking, etc., so a nice time of year is great.
I also like traveling ';off season'; (hence, my initial question) because the rates are lower and there isn%26#39;t a mad rush and you get more of a feel of what the locals are like.
For this trip, my fiance and I are doing a culinary trip to Savannah and Charleston, so we will be visiting both cities.
Thanks for your input and help!
Being a visitor to both Savannah and Charleston each year, here is some info...
October is great in both cities as the humidity is usually down.
The beauty of an October visit would be you could schedule participation in the Candlelight Tours of the Preservation Society of Charleston. Nice tours offered of the old homes in Charleston. Here is link: http://www.preservationsociety.org/
My wife and I have been visiting these cities each year now for several years and you will not be disappointed in the culinary offerings.
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