We had a beach house rented on Sanibel Island for 5 weeks beginning in November, so we are scrambling to modify our fall vacation plans. Hoping you all can help us plan!
We’re visiting family in Nashville at the end of October and we will have a rental car. Our trip can be anywhere from two to six weeks. We definitely want to visit Charleston and Savannah. What are your recommendations for that area? What about points of interest and the route to get from Nashville to coastal SC? What about St. Augustine? Is that worth a trip? We are thinking about dropping the car and flying back home (WA) from Jacksonville but we’re flexible on that. Anything you really loved in Alabama or Mississippi?
We generally like to avoid big cities. We are looking for advice about parks, scenic drives, history, charming small towns, and food.
We went to St. Augustine a few years ago, and really enjoyed it. Make sure you ride their trolley hop on hop off thing…and definitely take the tour of Flagler College. It may have had an extra cost but totally worth it. You hear the whole history of St. Augustine and the railroad and the Flaglers. Very interesting.
And the college is very pretty!
Eat at The Columbia. It’s a Cuban restaurant and one is located in St. Augustine. Definitely get their house salad. You won’t regret it.
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Some coastal SC recommendations, Kiawah island near Charleston. It is a barrier island with a luxury resort. I haven’t visited. A friend, who lived in Charleston and used to work for an architect doing some work there many years ago always recommended it. Time and budgetary constraints made it hard for us then. We plan to go there someday but there are so places on the list and so little time.
We like quiet, small town places so one of our favorite haunts is Edisto Island, on the SC coast between Charleston and Savannah. Time moves slowly on the island. Fall is a lovely time there as the tourist crowds are gone and the state park (and beach) is beautiful. It is about a 45 minute drive to Charleston from the island.
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We just came back from the Smokey Mountains and would highly recommend a stop when you are en-route from Nashville.
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Definitely. My DH has never been able to travel in October so he has never seen the fall colors. Any suggestions for lodging in the area?
Most people are probably not interested, but the Angel Oak tree in Charleston was worth a visit to us.
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It’s been some time since I’ve been there, but Sea Island in Georgia (The Cloisters at Sea Island was the resort, IIRC) is very nice. There were cottages and condos as well as the resort lodging. There was fishing, golf, lots of pristine beaches–nice restaurants. We flew into Jacksonville and drove to the resort–it wasn’t that far.
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Nashville. Tons of hiking - from
Easy to hard. Radnor Lake is nice - has easy and hard. A nice lunch at Edleys bbq after.
Franklin is a great town and lots of solid restaurants. Lots of civil war history.
Chattanooga. On top of the tourist stuff. Breakfast/pastries at Rembrandts.
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My geography is probably way off, but is Asheville a possibility?
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My husband, fortunately, loves to drive to/in new places, so really nothing from southern VA to LA is off the table.
Well…if you are up for the drive…I think Asheville might be worth considering.
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Just on the other side of the TN border! I agree that Asheville would be another great stop. If you enjoy hiking, Chimney Rock state park is gorgeous.
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From Nashville to Charleston and especially to Savannah if it were first you’d go through Chattanooga and Atlanta.
But it could be done 30-45 longer through Knoxville and Asheville instead.
Is it a one way rental or round trip to save mileage charges ? If round trip you can do both. One way down. Other way back.
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Asheville and Chimney Rock. Your dates are late for fall color elsewhere in the mountains (usually 3rd week of Oct is better than late Oct?Nov), but at lower elevations like Asheville and Chimney Rock there still should be some color hanging around. Should be some in lower elevations of the Smokies, but it can be a madhouse on October weekends so try to go during the week.
St Aug and Charleston both got hit harder by Hurricane Ian than Savannah. Might want to see how things are going there before making big plans. It was nothing like Sanibel or Fort Myers Beach, but I think there was a good bit of flooding and some piers washed away.
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Charleston is ok. Kid is there. It hit way North. It flooded a bit but it floods every rain.
I did read about St Augustine not being great.
I call on businesses all over Florida. Amazingly almost all the West Coast ones opened the next day. But the images you see are heartbreaking.
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Right now, we’re leaning toward one way, but if there is enough to see in a “loop” drive, we may change do that.
As others have said, Asheville, Chimney Rock/Lake Lure areas are great areas.
Asheville near Biltmore Village is very pretty but also very much caters to tourists. Biltmore Estate, is a nice half day trip.
There are some great places to eat in Asheville. We were recently there and waited 2 hours in line (no reservations) for a table at a trendy Indian place, Chai Pani, in the downtown area. Also, Hop ice cream was very popular with all ages and the dog! Lot of breweries in the area — if you like beer — Wicked Weed and New Belgium were worth the time.
If you’re looking to stay in a quieter place and drive to nearby attractions, the Lake Lure area is nice. We usually stay at the Rumbling Bald resort there. It’s about a 40 minute drive to Asheville.
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In your two to six week timeframe, there’s plenty of time to go round trip. It really depends on what interests you. There’s tons of nature, food, cute / cool towns, aquariums and other tourist things like Biltmore. Really depends on what you like to do.
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I love the tour and tasting at the Jack Daniels distillery, south of Nashville.
In Nashville, my fave restaurant is Butcher and Bee.
Taking in a show at The Ryman always is nice as is the Grand Ol’ Opry.
Ds2 and I really enjoyed the Nashville Museum of African American Music. Spent hours there and could’ve stayed longer. https://www.nmaam.org/
I love hiking at Percy Warner. I make a point to go there every visit. Trails of varying lengths.
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We went through Nashville on a college tour. Try the Loveless Cafe for breakfast. An international legend out in the country.
For the Smokey Mountains, Gatlinburg is a hoot. Tons of places to stay there or in nearby Sevierville, the birthplace of the super-great Dolly Parton and home of Dollywood.
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