Savannah’s backdrop of live-oak-lined squares charms at any time of the year, but there’s something particularly cozy about wintertime. The weather is generally mild, the camellias pop out to say hello with festive red and white petals, and the historic downtown lights up with seasonal fun.
Before a recent trip, I asked a few locals about what’s gotten them excited in Savannah lately. If you’re traveling along Highway 17, as I was, do stop into the stellar renovated general store Wood Brothers on the way, for a coffee break and the cleanest bathrooms around. And then consider a few of these spots in the coastal Georgia city, approved by both locals and frequent visitors.
Hotels Go All Out
You don’t have to book a room at the newly opened midcentury masterpiece Municipal Grand Hotel to enjoy its incredible Municipal Bar—but why not stay awhile in glamorous style? Midnight Auteur, a new hospitality brand from the founders of the Death & Co. cocktail empire, runs the whole deal, and the local author Taylor Brown gives it his toast of approval: “In my opinion, the bar manager James Nowicki is the best of the best in Savannah. I highly recommend the Sazerac made with mezcal, Japanese whisky, Amaro Nardini, and root beer.” And just for the holidays, the hotel’s underground bar, the Hot Eye, has transformed into a pop-up experience, an ode to the greatest Christmas movie of all, Die Hard.
Not far away and sitting in the very heart of the historic downtown, the Perry Lane Hotel amps up the holiday fun by turning its craft cocktail lounge into the Wayward Christmas Bar and hosting a brunch with the Grinch. The annual Reindeer on the Roof event rolls out fireside charm on the soaring Peregrin rooftop, where you can take in some of the prettiest skyline views at sunset.
Although it only opened in 2024, Hotel Bardo already feels like your chicest, in-the-know Savannah friend, and it sits in a turreted, red-brick mansion right on Forsyth Park. Its buzzy Italian restaurant, Saint Bibiana, remains one of the hottest dinner tickets in town. For the holidays, Bardo launched a special Saks Fifth Avenue Club collaboration, which includes a courtyard market on December 15 and a special hotel package in which a personalized “edit” of clothes and a Saks shopping credit greet stylish guests.
For a smaller and romantic option, do as I did and opt for the Douglas, a sixteen-room stunner that opened this year inside a nineteenth-century home on Oglethorpe Avenue. Interior designer Kirby Caldwell honored original details like stained glass transom windows, an impressive staircase, and heart pine floors while working in modern art and moody paint colors like rust and sage green. The team behind the hotel also runs Charleston’s Wild Olive and the Obstinate Daughter restaurants, and chef Jacques Larson is putting the finishing touches on the hotel’s forthcoming French oyster bar, Lester’s, slated to open next spring.
Feasts of Fancy
When he’s on a break from cooking breakfast at the Douglas or meeting with local oyster purveyors as he plans the Lester’s menu, chef Larson grabs a slice from Kyle Jacovino’s Pizzeria Vittoria. “The last time I was in I felt like I could drink the pizza,” Larson says. “The crust was so delicate—I think Kyle has the best pizza in the Southeast.” The take-out window sits within Starland Yard, a friendly “food park” with a couple resident restaurants, rotating food trucks, holiday markets, and festive wreath workshops this season.
Sit for a four-frame in Starland’s old-school photo booth before moseying a couple steps to Jacovino’s Lucia Pasta Bar, which opened just a few months ago and is already drawing raves. The long-awaited spot was “worth the wait,” says Susan Laney, who runs the lauded Laney Contemporary gallery. “Kyle has been making delicious food here in Savannah for nearly two decades. There’s meticulous care with every dish, incredible flavors, beautiful and fresh ingredients, a thoughtful complement of wines, and yummy cocktails by the talented Ashley Simeone—I’m getting an appetite just thinking about it.”
The writer Patricia Lockwood lives in Savannah and shared with G&G that two of her regular spots are also near that Starland/Midtown Savannah area: Bronchu’s (a “fried chicken and fancy seafood” joint) and Late Air, a welcoming natural wine bar and cozy dinner spot. For the rest of 2025, Late Air is offering 50 percent off bottles to go so you can stock up on pet-nats and chilled reds for hostess gifts and holiday meals.
And if you’re lucky, you just might catch novelist Taylor Brown at work at some of his favorite new haunts. “Baby’s General Store has fast become an outdoor writing spot of mine,” he says. “It’s in an old filling station that sat abandoned for more than fifty years and serves coffee, beer, wine, and slushies. Also, the Laundry Diner is located in the renovated Rodger’s Laundry building and offers all-day breakfast, lunch, dinner, milkshakes, and beer from the good folks behind Two Tides Brewing—there’s even a happy hour with $1 waffles!”
See, Do, Shop, and Gawk
Perhaps you’ve wrapped up your ghost tour (I’m a repeat customer of the spooky Genteel & Bard outings, led by historians) and just had an excellent dinner and drinks at Municipal Bar (get the mussels, and the caviar on hashbrowns). Walk across the street to the fun house of Broughton Street Bowl and Brew, which doubles as both a retro-fun duckpin bowling alley and one of Savannah’s greatest new concert venues. While my husband and I waited for our turn on the lanes, I swayed to the local psychedelic rock quartet Birdleaf in between shots at the pool table and rounds on the Star Wars pinball machine.
By day, and especially if you’re in the market for a good gift, you’ll have plentiful options for local shopping. A few contenders that always have something new and surprising: satchel, the shop of a former Made in the South Awards honoree with beautiful handmade leather wallets, purses, and belts; shopSCAD, a collection of artwork, jewelry, ceramics, and all sorts of delightful doo-dads created by Savannah College of Art and Design students, alumni, and faculty; and V&J Duncan print shop, selling historic illustrations and maps. It’s under new ownership but still as much of a treasure hunt through old drawers as ever, the perfect way to while away a chilly afternoon.
Pop into Laney Contemporary to see what’s buzzing in the art world—currently a fantastical collection of sculptures and paintings by Tori Tinsley (through January 10) and in 2026, a lineup that includes the work of the late great Savannah photographer Jack Leigh. For more immersion into beauty and history, especially on a brisk winter day, the three-site Telfair ticket gets you into the art-filled Jepson Center and the Telfair Academy, as well as the stirring Owens-Thomas House and Slave Quarters.
For a nuanced look at the history of slavery in Savannah, Underground Tours of Savannah visits historic sites dating from 1748 to 1864 under the guidance of Master Gullah Geechee Truth-Tellers. Or maybe you’re in the mood for a self-led ramble? My favorite last thing to do on my way out of town is walk beneath the oaks of the sprawling Bonaventure Cemetery, looking for egrets in flight and plotting my next trip to Savannah.
