Home Walking tours by city Savannah
Self-Guided Walking Tours in Savannah
Savannah was laid out in 1733 around a repeating unit of a public square surrounded by house lots, and twenty-two of the original squares survive — which makes it the largest planned colonial city plan still intact in the United States.
The Oglethorpe plan is why walking Savannah feels different from any other American city. You cannot walk more than two blocks without hitting a shaded square, so the route builds in rest whether you plan it or not, and traffic is forced to slow and turn around each one. The live oaks and Spanish moss are the postcard; the grid underneath is the actual achievement.
Takes about a minute. Savannah is already filled in — choose your time, pace and interests and the route is planned around them.
What to build a Savannah walking tour around
The 22 squares
Six wards of four tything blocks and four trust lots around a square. Chippewa, Monterey and Forsyth are the best known, but all twenty-two are walkable in a long day.
Forsyth Park
30 acres at the south end of the historic district, with a fountain installed in 1858 that was ordered from a catalogue.
Bonaventure Cemetery
On a former plantation overlooking the Wilmington River, oaks draped in moss. Four miles east — a drive or a bike ride, not a walk.
River Street
Cotton warehouses on the bluff, connected to the street above by steep ballast-stone ramps built from stone ships dumped as they took on cargo.
The First African Baptist Church
One of the oldest Black congregations in North America, organised 1773. There are air holes drilled in the floor in a West African pattern, above a space used on the Underground Railroad.
The Mercer Williams House
The house at the centre of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, on Monterey Square.
Three routes worth walking in Savannah
The square-by-square walk
North to south through the historic district, hitting a shaded square every two blocks, ending at Forsyth Park — about 3 km and almost entirely in shade.
River Street and the bluff
The cotton warehouses, the ballast-stone ramps, City Market and the Waving Girl statue on the riverfront.
Black history in Savannah
First African Baptist Church, the Beach Institute, the Haitian monument in Franklin Square and the Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum.
Practical notes for walking Savannah
- Terrain and surfaces
- Flat, with heavy shade from live oaks — which matters greatly in summer. The river bluff ramps are steep, uneven ballast stone and genuinely treacherous in the wet.
- Best time to walk
- March to May and October to November. March brings the azaleas. Summer is hot and very humid; the squares' shade is the only thing that makes midday walking possible.
- Driving here
- Worth it for Bonaventure Cemetery, Tybee Island and the Wormsloe avenue of oaks — a mile and a half of arched live oaks, and the best short drive in the region.
- Size
- Savannah, Georgia, United States — population about 148,000.
Neighbourhoods worth a route of their own
Not just walking
The same route planner covers Savannah on foot, at a run, by bike, by car and with wheelchair-accessible routing that avoids steps and kerbs rather than simply relabelling the walking route. Pick the way you are getting around and the stops, distances and timings are planned for it.
Start one now for Savannah: driving tour · wheelchair-accessible route · cycling tour
Or read more: self-guided driving tours · accessible tours · audio tours
Questions about walking Savannah
How many squares does Savannah have?
Twenty-two of the original twenty-four survive. Walking all of them is about 6 km and takes most of a day with stops — but the plan repeats, so a route through eight or ten gives you the full effect.
Is Savannah walkable in summer?
More than most southern cities, because the squares and live oaks give near-continuous shade. It is still 35°C with high humidity, so mornings and evenings are far better than midday.
What is a self-guided walking tour?
A route you walk on your own schedule, with the commentary delivered to your phone instead of by a guide. There is no meeting point and no group — you start when you want, stop as long as you like at anything that interests you, and skip anything that does not.
How is this different from a guided walking tour?
A guided tour runs to someone else's schedule and someone else's route, and it covers what the guide covers. This builds the route around the time you actually have, the pace you want to walk at and the things you said you were interested in — and it will wait as long as you like at any stop.
Can I do a driving tour instead of walking?
Yes. Walking, running, cycling, driving and wheelchair-accessible routing are all supported, and each uses routing built for that mode — a driving tour follows roads and sensible parking, a walking tour uses paths and crossings.
Other cities
- Self-guided walking tours in New York City
- Self-guided walking tours in San Francisco
- Self-guided walking tours in Boston
- Self-guided walking tours in Washington, D.C.
- Self-guided walking tours in Chicago
- All 43 city guides
A 24-hour pass is $6.95 and covers unlimited tours. Joining someone else’s tour is free.