Beaches Near Savannah

Tybee Island, about 17.5 road miles from the Historic District on US-80, with three and a half miles of ocean beach. Downtown Savannah is on a river, not the sea; River Street is a waterfront, not a beach.

For a beach day within reach of downtown, yes. It has a lighthouse, a pier, a science center and a strip of places to eat, and everything on the island is paid parking at $4 an hour. It is a day of its own, not a stop on the way somewhere else.

They are different trips. Tybee is 17.5 miles from Savannah with paid parking island-wide. St. Simons is around 85 miles south, an hour to an hour and a half by car, with its own lighthouse of 129 steps and East Beach. For a beach break from a Savannah trip, Tybee; for a coast trip, St. Simons or Jekyll.

Yes, with lifeguards on duty from May 1 to October 31, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Read the flag before going in: green calm, yellow moderate, red rough with strong currents, purple dangerous marine life, double red closed. The south-end sandbar beyond the warning signs is off limits.

No. Downtown Savannah is on a river, and River Street is a working waterfront with container ships, not sand. The closest ocean beach is Tybee Island, about 17.5 road miles east on US-80, with three and a half miles of beach, a lighthouse, a pier and paid parking everywhere at $4 an hour.

North Beach, from the main lot at 37 Meddin Drive, for the lighthouse, the science center and a Fort Pulaski pairing. South Beach, from the lots between 14th and 18th streets, for the county pier, Tybrisa Street, the most places to eat and the biggest crowds. Mid Beach, with restrooms at Memorial Park near 4th Street and no dedicated lifeguard tower, for the plainest beach day. The Back River, on the west side, for sunset over calmer water rather than surf.

$4 an hour, enforced from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day of the year, everywhere on the island, paid by app; a calendar-day pass is $25. The island has about 2,100 spaces for three square miles, so the south-end lots near the pier fill first on summer weekends, and on busy weekends the city sets up traffic controls on US-80.

No. Pets are banned on Tybee's beaches, with service animals the only exception, and the same rules ban glass, smoking and vaping, litter and walking in the dune plants.

About 45 miles from the Savannah/Hilton Head airport; the drive leaves I-95 at exit 8 and runs about 17 miles east across the Intracoastal Waterway bridges. The island has 12 miles of beach, with public access at Alder Lane, Coligny Beach Park, Fish Haul, Driessen, Burkes, Folly Field and Islanders, and the town charges for parking at every beach access except Coligny, which is free. It is a coast trip of its own, not a short beach break from a Savannah hotel.

Only by boat. Little Tybee is a state-owned island south of Tybee with no development, no road, no lifeguards and no restrooms: 6,505 acres, 600 of them upland, and about three and a half miles of beach. Tide, weather, an operator and a way back all need planning, and none of the charters that go is bookable through this site.

Judge it by the season and the air, since the airport normals are the published figures: May through September average 85°F or more by day, lifeguards are on duty from May 1 to October 31, and October still averages 79°F. Summer afternoons bring storms, and the hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30.

As a coast trip, not as a beach break. Jekyll is a state park, and every vehicle entering pays a parking fee at the gate: $10 a day for a standard vehicle, $15 for one over eight feet, valid until midnight, bought online or at the gate. It belongs in a trip that is about the Georgia coast, with St. Simons, rather than in a Savannah itinerary.