DC to Savannah roadtrip

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you like barbecue, Skykight Inn is worth the hour or so detour off I-95 in North Carolina.

Or Low and Slow in Smithfield NC, very close to 95.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A week?? There’s nothing to see on the way there. You do that drive in one day. You spend more time in Savannah and do day trips from there maybe. You do not under any circumstances take multiple days to get TO Savannah.

NP. I think this reflects travel style and preferences. I might do similar to the poster suggesting Richmond and other places poster above, depending where I'd already been. I've been to a bunch of those.

I'd also go a bit out of the way through Greensboro (which I did on a trip a few years ago) to see the lunch counter/ museum, plus I just like old cities. There's a nice little children's museum there too.

I've never made it to Raleigh but want to go there to see the Capitol and would be happy to spend a few days there.

Also like Charleston and Wilmington better than Savannah. They have a ton to do.

I can't relate at all to someone saying there's nothing to see on the way there.

None of those are “on the way.” They are multi hour detours, Charleston and Wilmington are separate destinations for full visits themselves. “On the way” implies a quick stop at something worth seeing and then getting back on the road. In that sense, there is nothing on the way.

[Anonymous]

Raleigh and especially Greensboro are hours out of the way and not worth the detour.

There’s nothing good on the way and except for Richmond the hotels will all be crappy cheap chains

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Raleigh and especially Greensboro are hours out of the way and not worth the detour.

There’s nothing good on the way and except for Richmond the hotels will all be crappy cheap chains

It is a week long trip with only 3 days of it in Savannah and OP asked about hotels. It’s a road trip. People make detours if something is worth it.

[Anonymous]

OP, I think you've actually gotten worthwhile advice from everyone in this thread.

The drive straight down on I-95 is boring. Places like Florence and Santee are not very nice and not worth stopping in. We have stopped at places people have recommended on this direct route and always been underwhelmed.

If you want to make a fun road trip out of it, I would at least detour to Raleigh-Durham-Cary. There are a lot of interesting things there.

Or consider a longer detour by either driving across to Skyline Drive and down to Charlotte, and/or down to Wilimington and stopping at places along the coast (the bigger ones being Myrtle Beach, Hilton Head and Charleston), on your way to Savannah.

Hilton Head and Charleston in the offseason are quite nice.

We have done this drive enough that 8-9 hours direct to/from Savannah is not a big deal. It's an easy drive, as long as we time it to not hit traffic around Fredericksburg-Spotsylvania.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Raleigh and especially Greensboro are hours out of the way and not worth the detour.

There’s nothing good on the way and except for Richmond the hotels will all be crappy cheap chains

Again, depends on your travel style. She's asking to potentially take days to get somewhere that's drivable in a day, which allows time for detours. We purposely went to Greensboro "on the way to" Wilmington, so I'm speaking from an actual experience that I enjoyed.

Greensboro or Raleigh split driving time roughly in half. Given traffic, going to Savannah via Greensboro even comes up as an option in Google maps, depending on when you leave. Plus, to some of us, it's way less fun to take the same route there and back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Raleigh and especially Greensboro are hours out of the way and not worth the detour.

There’s nothing good on the way and except for Richmond the hotels will all be crappy cheap chains

Again, depends on your travel style. She's asking to potentially take days to get somewhere that's drivable in a day, which allows time for detours. We purposely went to Greensboro "on the way to" Wilmington, so I'm speaking from an actual experience that I enjoyed.

Greensboro or Raleigh split driving time roughly in half. Given traffic, going to Savannah via Greensboro even comes up as an option in Google maps, depending on when you leave. Plus, to some of us, it's way less fun to take the same route there and back.

OP here. We're into slow travel. Long stretches of non-stop driving aren't optimal because of back problems.

There's some good tips here thanks. Honestly, we're the type of people who can find interesting things in places that don't hit the top ten tourist lists. I don't want to write off three whole states as "nothing good". We also like to take hikes along the way and look at obscure historical markers and graveyards even.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Raleigh and especially Greensboro are hours out of the way and not worth the detour.

There’s nothing good on the way and except for Richmond the hotels will all be crappy cheap chains

Again, depends on your travel style. She's asking to potentially take days to get somewhere that's drivable in a day, which allows time for detours. We purposely went to Greensboro "on the way to" Wilmington, so I'm speaking from an actual experience that I enjoyed.

Greensboro or Raleigh split driving time roughly in half. Given traffic, going to Savannah via Greensboro even comes up as an option in Google maps, depending on when you leave. Plus, to some of us, it's way less fun to take the same route there and back.

OP here. We're into slow travel. Long stretches of non-stop driving aren't optimal because of back problems.

There's some good tips here thanks. Honestly, we're the type of people who can find interesting things in places that don't hit the top ten tourist lists. I don't want to write off three whole states as "nothing good". We also like to take hikes along the way and look at obscure historical markers and graveyards even.

My MIL makes this argument. So you would rather do more driving and stay at mostly uncomfortable hotels than just suck it up, take more breaks and get to your destination? Just fly to Savannah or HHI if it is that big of a deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We’ve done I-40 to Wilmington then 17 onto Charleston then 17/95 to Savannah. Would probably skip Wilmington unless you’re a fan of something that was filmed there. We liked Charleston a lot more than Savannah.

+1. Charleston is way better than Savannah IMHO too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Raleigh and especially Greensboro are hours out of the way and not worth the detour.

There’s nothing good on the way and except for Richmond the hotels will all be crappy cheap chains

Again, depends on your travel style. She's asking to potentially take days to get somewhere that's drivable in a day, which allows time for detours. We purposely went to Greensboro "on the way to" Wilmington, so I'm speaking from an actual experience that I enjoyed.

Greensboro or Raleigh split driving time roughly in half. Given traffic, going to Savannah via Greensboro even comes up as an option in Google maps, depending on when you leave. Plus, to some of us, it's way less fun to take the same route there and back.

OP here. We're into slow travel. Long stretches of non-stop driving aren't optimal because of back problems.

There's some good tips here thanks. Honestly, we're the type of people who can find interesting things in places that don't hit the top ten tourist lists. I don't want to write off three whole states as "nothing good". We also like to take hikes along the way and look at obscure historical markers and graveyards even.

My MIL makes this argument. So you would rather do more driving and stay at mostly uncomfortable hotels than just suck it up, take more breaks and get to your destination? Just fly to Savannah or HHI if it is that big of a deal.

Flying is a completely different experience from a road trip. Why can't people accept this is what OP wants to do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Raleigh and especially Greensboro are hours out of the way and not worth the detour.

There’s nothing good on the way and except for Richmond the hotels will all be crappy cheap chains

Again, depends on your travel style. She's asking to potentially take days to get somewhere that's drivable in a day, which allows time for detours. We purposely went to Greensboro "on the way to" Wilmington, so I'm speaking from an actual experience that I enjoyed.

Greensboro or Raleigh split driving time roughly in half. Given traffic, going to Savannah via Greensboro even comes up as an option in Google maps, depending on when you leave. Plus, to some of us, it's way less fun to take the same route there and back.

OP here. We're into slow travel. Long stretches of non-stop driving aren't optimal because of back problems.

There's some good tips here thanks. Honestly, we're the type of people who can find interesting things in places that don't hit the top ten tourist lists. I don't want to write off three whole states as "nothing good". We also like to take hikes along the way and look at obscure historical markers and graveyards even.

My MIL makes this argument. So you would rather do more driving and stay at mostly uncomfortable hotels than just suck it up, take more breaks and get to your destination? Just fly to Savannah or HHI if it is that big of a deal.

Flying is a completely different experience from a road trip. Why can't people accept this is what OP wants to do?

Because we have brains and their isn’t a road trip to be had outside of the close in vicinity of their destination.

“I want to go Savannah but I am going spend more time getting there and back because it is easier on my back.”

OP has some grand delusion and people are giving her a reality check.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Raleigh and especially Greensboro are hours out of the way and not worth the detour.

There’s nothing good on the way and except for Richmond the hotels will all be crappy cheap chains

Again, depends on your travel style. She's asking to potentially take days to get somewhere that's drivable in a day, which allows time for detours. We purposely went to Greensboro "on the way to" Wilmington, so I'm speaking from an actual experience that I enjoyed.

Greensboro or Raleigh split driving time roughly in half. Given traffic, going to Savannah via Greensboro even comes up as an option in Google maps, depending on when you leave. Plus, to some of us, it's way less fun to take the same route there and back.

OP here. We're into slow travel. Long stretches of non-stop driving aren't optimal because of back problems.

There's some good tips here thanks. Honestly, we're the type of people who can find interesting things in places that don't hit the top ten tourist lists. I don't want to write off three whole states as "nothing good". We also like to take hikes along the way and look at obscure historical markers and graveyards even.

My MIL makes this argument. So you would rather do more driving and stay at mostly uncomfortable hotels than just suck it up, take more breaks and get to your destination? Just fly to Savannah or HHI if it is that big of a deal.

Flying is a completely different experience from a road trip. Why can't people accept this is what OP wants to do?

Because we have brains and their isn’t a road trip to be had outside of the close in vicinity of their destination.

“I want to go Savannah but I am going spend more time getting there and back because it is easier on my back.”

OP has some grand delusion and people are giving her a reality check.

Why are you fighting about something so minor?

[Anonymous]

Savannah is great. It is really quirky.

The graveyards are good to walk around in.

We liked the SCAD gift store (items were made by students.) Anything SCAD related is great.

There is a comedy club in Savannah.

I've spent a lot of time in both places. I used to live two hours from Charleston. I much prefer Savannah. Charleston has a lot of very extremely wealthy residents from the northeast now.

Savannah is really quirky. My boyfriend wanted to move there.

[Anonymous]

I've had some luck googling attractions near X and borrowing guidebooks from the library. I'm sure you'll have a great trip!

[Anonymous]

Pedro says stop at South of the Boarder