Savannah St. Patrick's Day 2009 (Pooler, Port Wentworth: hotels, house, restaurants)

[ulaap]

Has anyone ever been to Savannah for St. Patricks Day? This year it is on a Tuesday, will it be pretty crazy still or is it best to go for the whole weekend? Also I would love recommendations of places to stay because I have never been! We want to stay in walking distance of the parade and festivities! Also how long does it take to get from South Charlotte to Savannah? And for those of you that travel there often what are some restaurant recommendations and tourist spots? Thanks!

[brokensky]

St. Paddys in Savannah is a real trip! LOVE going to that celebration. You will have a blast! Total party in the streets . . . You will need to start searching now for a hotel, as many are probably already sold out. We have stayed in B&Bs as well as Hilton Garden Inn,Doubletree, River Street Inn, Planters, etc. The main thing is to be able to book something!

We've done the usual tourist restaurants - Paula Deen's Lady and Sons and the Pirate House . . . we love the Crab Shack on Tybee . . . Moon River Brewery is a neat place . . . upscale Elizabeth on 37th . . .

Takes about 5 plus hours to drive to Savannah, depending if you stop along the way and how traffic is moving.

Start checking on reservations now - a lot of people book those hotels a year ahead!

[hooligan]

I'll 2nd the buffet at the Pirate House. Plus it's the oldest building in Savannah.

Try Belford's in Savannah, it's right in the City Market area - Belford's

Moon River is cool (I love micro-breweries), but the food is just average, IMO. Try Molly MacPherson's Pub or the Shamrock Pub, too.

[chicagocubs]

Chart House on River St. I assume that it is still there....

[ohioaninsc]

Savannah throws the best St Paddy's Day party in the south...its worth going to.

[Padgett2]

If you stay in the Historic District, you will be within walking distance of the parade. If you can't find a room there, stay in the Midtown area and catch one of the special buses from the Oglethorpe Mall.

[mrsnespy]

Start calling for reservations now. Likely they are already booked and almost all are extremely overpriced. Not trying to be pessimistic, but it's pretty realistic.

If you can't find anything downtown (or anything you can afford) look not only in Midtown, but also around Port Wentworth (aka North Savannah by some hotel listings) and Pooler (airport location). Call those and ask about shuttles, as many of them do have shuttles that will run during the parade festivities.

[bcstrick]

I just booked a 3 bdrm villa today that's about 1.5 mi from historic Savannah and it was $595 (so about $200 for each of the 3 couples that are coming) for 3 nights (sunday-wednesday). If you're going with a group it'll probably be cheaper to find a vacation rental. I did most of my searching on vrbo.com. I had a pretty difficult time finding a place for sat-wed that wasn't crazy overpriced, really lucked out with the one i booked even though we won't be there as long. definitely need to book something asap, hope you find something...my dad grew up there and st. patty's day in savannah is some of the best times he's ever had

[Eyesys]

The St Pattys day celebration is awesome. I hope the lights don't go out this year (hmm). yeah I'd start getting some reservations done now. Go to orbitz.com or something and see what you can find as close to downtown as possible. If you have kids please take them home once the sun goes down, it gets kinda crazy. IDK why I c so many ppl with their kids out on st pattys day after dark, i never understood that. If you want a good place to get some fried pickles, creole style food check out Bayou Cafe on River street. Moon River is a good place, its right on Bay street which runs parallel to River Street which is where all the festivities will be taking place. Honestly, the celebration has PLENTY of different types of food. Funnel cakes (yum), turkey legs, greek, creole, american, pizza etc right there from vendors on river street and beer is everywhere. I suggest you go to Tubby's (it's a restaurant on River St) and have drinks. They make a MEANNNNNNNNN Blue Hawaiian!

[Eyesys]

Or if you can't find anything downtown, like another poster said, see if you can find something close to Oglethorpe Mall, 7804 Abercorn St...the city runs special buses to River St during st pattys, but beware, they stop running after a certain time, so if you plan on being down river st longer than 1 or 2am, you might be SOL and have to catch a cab, the fare from river st to oglethorpe mall is around 10 bucks (I had to do it last year when we forgot where we parked...lol...ah yes i love st patty's day!!!!). If u leave ur car at the mall, they wont tow it and they have security. Good luck