Beaches Near Savannah: A Guide for Guests Heading to the Coast
Savannah sits on the river, not the sea.
The Historic District is about eighteen miles inland from the Atlantic, which surprises some guests who arrive expecting to walk to a beach. The coast is close, but it does require a drive, and understanding that geography is the starting point for planning a good beach day from the city.
The good news is that the beaches within reach of Savannah are genuinely varied. Tybee Island is thirty minutes east and serves as the city's everyday beach. Jekyll Island, an hour and a quarter south, offers something quieter and more unusual. Hunting Island in South Carolina is roughly the same distance in the other direction, with five miles of undeveloped coastline that most visitors don't know about. Cumberland Island, an hour and a half south with a ferry crossing on top, is one of the more remote stretches of beach on the entire East Coast.
Each one suits a different kind of day. What follows is a guide to them, in order of distance from downtown.
Tybee Island
18 miles east · approximately 30 minutes · via Highway 80
Tybee is the default, and it earns that status. The drive east on Highway 80 from the Historic District takes you through Thunderbolt and out across the salt marsh causeway, with the flat coastal landscape opening up on both sides before the island comes into view. The journey is part of the experience.
The beach itself is wide, gently sloping, and best explored with a sense of which end suits you. South Beach, anchored by the Tybrisa Street pier and pavilion, is where most of the activity concentrates: seafood restaurants, casual bars, families, and the steady rhythm of a working beach town. North Beach is quieter, more residential in feel, and sits directly beneath the Tybee Island Lighthouse.
The lighthouse is worth a stop even if you're there primarily for the water. First established in 1736 and rebuilt in its current form in the 1860s, it's one of the oldest lighthouse stations in the country. The climb to the top (178 steps with rest landings) gives a clear view across the island, the river mouth, and out toward the Atlantic. Tickets include entry to the keeper's cottages and a small museum nearby.
Parking on Tybee is paid throughout the island and year-round, so downloading the Park TYB app before you leave saves time at the kiosks. South Beach and North Beach both have dedicated lots. Summer weekends fill quickly; mid-morning arrivals tend to have fewer complications than late-morning ones.
One practical note worth knowing in advance: dogs are not permitted on any Tybee beach. It's a firm rule, in place to protect nesting sea turtles and shorebirds, and it applies all year. Guests traveling with dogs will want to look further down this list.
Pairs well with a stop at Fort Pulaski on the way out. The brick Civil War fortification on Cockspur Island sits just off Highway 80, and the thirty-minute detour is usually worth it.
Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
Approximately 35 miles north · 45 to 55 minutes · via I-95 and US-278
Hilton Head is the closest beach outside Georgia, and it has a noticeably different character from Tybee. Where Tybee has the slightly weathered, independent spirit of a small island town, Hilton Head is more polished. It’s twelve miles of beach backed by resort development, golf, and a well-maintained network of cycling paths.
Coligny Beach Park, at the end of Pope Avenue, is the most accessible entry point. The park has free parking (it fills fast in summer), beach wheelchairs, outdoor showers, and a small commercial area immediately adjacent with food and rental options. The beach here is wide and the water shallow enough to be comfortable for families with young children.
Dogs are permitted on Hilton Head beaches outside the summer peak hours, which makes it a practical alternative for guests traveling with pets. The exact seasonal rules are worth checking before the trip, as they vary by time of year.
Combines naturally with a stop in Beaufort, about thirty minutes inland, if you want a coastal town with more history and fewer resort amenities.
Hunting Island State Park, South Carolina
Approximately 60 miles north · 1 hour 15 minutes · via I-95 and US-21 through Beaufort
Hunting Island is not a beach that comes up in most Savannah travel guides, which is part of what makes it worth knowing about. The state park protects five miles of coastline that feels genuinely undeveloped. No commercial strip, no condos, nothing between the maritime forest and the sea.
The drive in through subtropical vegetation on Highway 21 is atmospheric even before you reach the sand.
The beach runs along a barrier island that has been reshaped significantly by erosion over the decades. That erosion has left a stretch of fallen, bleached trees at the waterline on the northern end (a formation sometimes called the boneyard beach) that gives the shoreline a distinctive, slightly otherworldly quality. It is not a manicured beach, and that is the point.
Beyond the sand, the park has eight miles of hiking trails through the maritime forest, a saltwater lagoon suitable for kayaking and paddleboarding, and a fishing pier reaching out over Fripp Inlet. The Hunting Island Lighthouse, a cast-iron tower from 1875 that was relocated inland in the 1880s to escape the advancing shoreline, is the only publicly accessible lighthouse in South Carolina. Check the park's website for current opening hours before the trip.
The park charges an admission fee per adult, and there are no restaurants or shops on the island. Bring food, water, sunscreen, and insect repellent. The nearest supplies are in Beaufort, about thirty minutes back on the highway.
Dogs are allowed on most of Hunting Island, but not past the posted markers at the tip of North Beach, on the pier or inside the lighthouse complex. Check the park's pet rules before the trip.
Jekyll Island
Approximately 80 miles south · 1 hour 15 to 30 minutes · via I-95 to Exit 29, then the Jekyll Island Causeway
Jekyll Island sits in Georgia's Golden Isles chain and operates as a state-managed conservation area, which gives it a quieter, less commercial feel than most barrier islands of its size. A small entry fee is collected at the causeway gate. The island has about ten miles of beach distributed across several access points, and the roads and paths are largely flat. Bike rentals are available and genuinely useful here, with roughly twenty miles of trail looping through forest, marsh, and coastline.
The beach most people come specifically to see is Driftwood Beach, on the island's northern end. Erosion has reclaimed more than a thousand feet of shoreline here over the past century, leaving the root systems and trunks of former maritime forest standing or fallen at the water's edge. The result is a stretch of bleached, sculptural timber on sand that photographs well in any light and is particularly striking at low tide, when the beach widens and more of the structure is exposed. Swimming here is not the point. The water can be murky and the footing uneven. But as a landscape, it is unlike anywhere else on the Georgia coast.
For swimming, Great Dunes Beach Park in the island's central section is the more practical choice, with parking, restrooms, and open sand.
The Georgia Sea Turtle Center in the historic district is worth an hour if you're on the island with children, or simply interested in the coastal ecology of the region. It's the only sea turtle rehabilitation facility in Georgia, with live patient animals on display and a straightforward explanation of the conservation work happening along these shores.
Jekyll's historic district holds the remains of the Jekyll Island Club, the private retreat where Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, and Morgans wintered at the turn of the twentieth century. The cottages and clubhouse have been restored and give the island's interior a distinctly different character from its beaches.
Dogs are welcome on Jekyll Island beaches on a leash, making it one of the more straightforward options for guests traveling with pets.
St. Simons Island, twenty minutes further south, has a lively pier village and free beach parking if you want more activity on the same day.
Cumberland Island National Seashore
Approximately 110 miles south · 1 hour 30 minutes to St. Marys, plus a 45-minute ferry
Cumberland Island requires more planning than the other beaches on this list, and it rewards that effort in proportion. Georgia's largest barrier island has seventeen miles of beach with no vehicle access, no development, and no commercial infrastructure of any kind. The National Park Service manages the island and limits daily visitors; the only way in is by passenger ferry from St. Marys, a small city at the Georgia-Florida border.
Reservations should be made well in advance. The ferry sells out, particularly on spring and fall weekends, and it operates on a limited schedule in winter. Round-trip tickets and a separate park entry fee apply. Check nps.gov/cuis for current pricing and booking.
From the Dungeness Dock on the island's south end, a short walk leads to the ruins of the Carnegie family's late nineteenth-century mansion, now a shell of brick and chimney rising from a tangle of live oak. The island's feral horse population tends to gather in this area, around 150 animals that have lived on Cumberland for generations and move freely through the grounds. They are unhurried and close, and the sight of them against the ruin and the forest is the defining image most visitors take away.
The main beach is a twenty-minute walk east through maritime forest from the dock. It is wide, pale, and entirely quiet.
There are no food options, no bins, and no shops on the island. Everything comes in and goes out with the visitor. Bring more water than you think you need, a packed lunch, and bug repellent. Pets are not permitted.
For guests who book the ferry in advance and want one day on the trip that feels genuinely remote, Cumberland is that day.
A Note on Freshwater and River Beaches
Savannah is marsh and tidal river country, which means the freshwater lake-beach alternatives common in other parts of Georgia don't exist close to the city. The nearest state-park lake swimming is several hours inland. Tybee's Back River Beach, on the sound side of the island rather than the Atlantic side, offers calm water and a gentler pace than the main beaches; it's a useful option for guests who want something quieter, or who are launching a kayak rather than swimming. For anything resembling a lake beach, the ocean coast is the destination.
East Bay Inn guests arriving by car are well placed for any of these trips. The inn's own small lot, with overflow parking half a block away and both included in the amenity fee, makes it straightforward to take the car out for the day and return in the evening. The front desk can advise on current ferry availability for Cumberland, entry fees, and road conditions on days when summer traffic on Highway 80 to Tybee is worth accounting for.
For more on day trips from Savannah beyond the coast, including Beaufort, the Golden Isles, and Charleston, the day trips guide on our site covers the broader region.
