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The South: Charleston, Savannah and New Orleans
The route begins in Charleston, proceeds along the coast to Savannah, then cuts across the South to the Gulf of Mexico and New Orleans. The stretch from Savannah to New Orleans is long; split it with an overnight stay on the Gulf Coast, or take a domestic flight and avoid the one-way rental fee. Fort Sumter off Charleston, where the Civil War began, is accessible only by boat. The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1st to November 30th, and summer is also hot and humid; spring and autumn are the most pleasant travel times.
3 stops
Why This Route?
Three cities reveal the US South in very different ways: elegant Charleston with pastel-colored house fronts, shady Savannah with its squares and oak avenues, and lively, musical New Orleans with Creole cuisine. The history of slavery is also openly explored in museums and on former plantations.
Hidden Gems
- International African American Museum in Charleston
- Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah
- Tybee Island as a beach near Savannah
- take the streetcar along St. Charles Avenue through the Garden District of New Orleans
- Frenchmen Street instead of Bourbon Street for live music
Getting there and back
Open jaw: start and end are in different places
- Arrival
- Flight · Charleston (CHS)To Charleston, you usually fly from Europe with a layover at a major US hub. In the historic district, you get around on foot; you only need the rental car for the trip to Savannah.
- Departure
- Flight · New Orleans (MSY)Drop off the car at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, ideally upon arrival in the city; a car is only a hindrance in the French Quarter.
Itinerary
Stop 1 • 3 Nights
Charleston
Charleston, on South Carolina's Atlantic coast, is one of the USA's best-preserved historic cities. You'll be drawn by its pastel-colored housefronts, cobblestone alleyways, Lowcountry cuisine, and a history that stretches from the wealth of rice plantations to the first shots of the Civil War.The historic core lies on a peninsula between the Ashley and Cooper Rivers. From its southern tip, The Battery, you gaze across the harbor to Fort Sumter. Beyond the city, gardens and plantations await along the Ashley River, along with the immense Angel Oak on Johns Island, and beaches like Folly Beach.Charleston was one of the most significant ports of the transatlantic slave trade. The International African American Museum and the Old Slave Mart Museum tell this story directly in the city, and many plantations now also explore the lives of the enslaved.
Rainbow Row and The Battery, boat trip to Fort Sumter, Lowcountry cuisine with Shrimp and Grits.
8 Sights
3 Restaurants
History and Culture
English settlers and colonists from the Caribbean founded Charles Towne in April 1670 on the Ashley River, naming it after King Charles II. Around 1680, the city moved to the tip of the peninsula and received city walls. Rice, later indigo and cotton, made the planters wealthy, cultivated by enslaved Africans. By 1800, more Black residents than white lived in Charleston, and between 1783 and 1807, an estimated over 40 percent of all enslaved Africans brought to North America arrived via Gadsden's Wharf, where the International African American Museum now stands.On April 12, 1861, Confederate troops fired on Union-held Fort Sumter at the harbor entrance, the beginning of the American Civil War. Later, the city was under fire, and in 1886, an earthquake caused severe damage. Charleston owes the preservation of so much historic architecture to dedicated citizens like Susan Pringle Frost and the landmark protection laws of 1931.The descendants of the enslaved in the Lowcountry developed the Gullah culture with its own language and traditions. It is most visible to visitors in the braided sweetgrass baskets sold at the City Market.
Stop 2 • 3 Nights
Savannah
Savannah, on the Savannah River, just before its mouth into the Atlantic and directly on the border with South Carolina, is Georgia's oldest city. You come for its 22 shady squares under oaks draped with Spanish moss, its 19th-century mansions, and an Old Town you can easily explore on foot.Its street grid with its squares dates back to city founder James Oglethorpe and remains intact today. To the south of the Historic District lies Forsyth Park with its famous fountain; to the north, River Street with old cotton warehouses by the river. On the city's outskirts, Bonaventure Cemetery and the oak alley of Wormsloe await.Like Charleston, Savannah was built on the riches of slave labor. At the Owens-Thomas House and in Wormsloe, you can learn how enslaved people lived in the city and on plantations.
Walk through the historic squares to Forsyth Park, River Street, evening trip to Tybee Island.
7 Sights
3 Restaurants
History and Culture
In 1733, General James Oglethorpe landed with around 120 settlers on a bluff overlooking the Savannah River, founding Georgia's first city. Yamacraw Chief Tomochichi permitted the settlement, allowing the colony to grow without the wars faced by other early settlements. Oglethorpe designed the city with residential units around public squares, a plan that continues to shape its urban landscape today.Slavery was initially forbidden in Georgia but was permitted in 1749. Subsequently, rice and cotton plantations emerged around Savannah, and on River Street, cotton merchants, known as Factors, conducted trade. In December 1864, General Sherman reached the city after his march through Georgia and offered it to President Lincoln by telegram as a Christmas gift. As a result, Savannah remained largely unscathed.In the 1950s, local women founded what would become the Historic Savannah Foundation, to save old buildings from demolition; in 1966, the Historic District was designated a National Historic Landmark. The city gained global renown in 1994 with John Berendt's novel "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil." Additionally, Juliette Gordon Low founded the first group of what would later become the Girl Scouts here in 1912.
Stop 3 • 1 Night
Pensacola
Stopover at the white sandy beaches of the Gulf Coast to break up the long leg.
Stop 4 • 3 Nights
New Orleans
Route highlight
New Orleans is located in the state of Louisiana on the Mississippi River, approximately 170 kilometers upstream from the Gulf of Mexico. You go there for the live music, the Creole cuisine, and the buildings from French and Spanish colonial times.The city was founded in 1718 under Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville. Its historic core is the French Quarter with Jackson Square. There you'll find the St. Louis Cathedral and the Cabildo, where the Louisiana Purchase was finally signed. Live music clubs are primarily found on Frenchmen Street in the neighboring Faubourg Marigny. The St. Charles Streetcar has been running since 1835 and is considered the world's oldest continuously operating streetcar line. It connects Canal Street via the Garden District to Carrollton.You land at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. Summers are hot, humid, and rainy; the driest month is October.
French Quarter, Beignets at Café du Monde, Garden District and live music on Frenchmen Street.
5 Sights
3 Restaurants
Creole Heritage, Jazz and Carnival
The French Mississippi Company founded New Orleans in 1718 under Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville. In 1803, the city became part of the USA with the Louisiana Purchase. The final version of the treaty was signed in the Cabildo on Jackson Square. In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina flooded more than 80 percent of the city, over 1,300 people died, and the population temporarily halved.Mardi Gras: the city's most famous festival. In 2027, Fat Tuesday falls on February 9th.Music: Preservation Hall has preserved traditional jazz since 1961, and on Frenchmen Street, bands have been playing in clubs that primarily attract locals since the 1980s.New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival: one of the city's major annual festivals.Museums: The National WWII Museum, New Orleans Museum of Art in City Park, the Cabildo, and the Presbytère on Jackson Square.
3 stops
Route Summary
Duration11 Days
Stops4 Places
TypeCulture
Best Time to GoMarch to May, October to November