Happy Thursday! You may have seen on my Instagram stories that Jake and I went to Sea Island, Georgia last weekend. Jake’s parents had a conference there, so we took the opportunity to meet them there. In case you’re not familiar with it, Sea Island is a gorgeous spot located on the coast of Georgia. It is close to destinations like Jekyll Island, and is an hour from Savannah, GA. Sea Island is a gorgeous place that has been visited by many former leaders, including George H.W. and Barbara Bush. They actually honeymooned at The Cloiser Hotel. It is also where the 2004 G8 Summit (this was an annual forum for the leaders of Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States).
This is one of the few trips that I didn’t plan every activity down to the second, but it was refreshing to do things at our own pace. Sea Island is a perfect weekend trip, as it is a place where you can do everything you want in a weekend. With it being a beach destination, you’ll mostly want to spend time taking advantage of the gorgeous views.
Where We Stayed: We stayed in a home at the gorgeous Cloister Hotel. This is an iconic hotel from the 1920s that has been very well maintained. It was awesome staying in one of the homes because we had access to the resort, but it also felt separate and less touristy. I am sure there are a bunch of amazing Airbnb’s on the nearby St. Simons Island.
Transportation/How to Get There: We flew into Jacksonville, Florida and drove a little over an hour to the hotel. Getting a flight to Jacksonville was very easy from Birmingham. It is also worth renting a car due to the far drive from the airport, although depending on how big a car you need and how long you’re staying, it may be cheaper to just Uber there and back.
Where to Eat:
When planning a trip, food is a huge part of the planning. We want to try the best local cuisine. Since we did stay in a home, we didn’t go out to eat as much as we normally would. We were able to take home leftovers and buy snacks to enjoy in the room to save money.
Catch 228: We ate lunch there on Saturday. They serve casual seafood and are located in Redfern Village. The food was great! We tried fried clams, gumbo, crab chowder, and shrimp & grits.
Wake Up Coffee: This cute little coffee shop is also located in Redfern Village. Their lattes are amazing. They don’t really serve breakfast except small pastries, but it is worth it to go for just a coffee.
Georgia Sea Grill: Although this is a nicer restaurant, this is a must-do for dinner. The food was absolutely excellent. I highly recommend the scallops and everything we tried there was amazing. We tried a bit of everything, including fried pimento cheese, fried oysters with pork belly, calamari, crab cakes, scallops, and steak.
Moo Cow Ice Cream: After exploring the lighthouse, we stopped for some ice cream. We actually did it before dinner, which is totally unlike us. I loved the old timey ice cream parlor feel.
What to Do:
Beach: Of course this is a given, but you have to enjoy the beach while you’re there. Luckily our hotel had a gorgeous beach. It was a bit chilly, so we didn’t actually get in the water. We enjoyed the great views, especially the sunset. Our hotel had a great beach club that had pools and places to grab snacks. This all makes it worth staying at a resort instead of an Airbnb.
Explore St. Simons’ Island (SSI): This is where a lot of the local shops and restaurants are. I recommend driving around and looking at the gorgeous homes. We also really enjoyed seeing the oak trees with Spanish moss on them while driving around.
Shopping at Redfern Village: This is where we ate lunch and there are a ton of cute local boutiques and great restaurants.
Visit the St. Simons Island Lighthouse Museum: Although it’s 140 steps on a winding staircase, walking to the top of the SSI Lighthouse is worth the gorgeous view. When you’re done, there is a nearby pier that you can walk down to enjoy views of the water. This is a must-do activity.
Fort Frederica National Monument: It was raining pretty bad when we went to see the monument, but we drove to the area anyway. This is definitely worth checking out although we didn’t get to see much due to the rain. There are cool ruins of an old colonial fort and town.
Bike Around Town: Although we didn’t do this, Sea Island and SSI are very bike friendly. To be honest, Jake and I are not big into biking (a.k.a we both haven’t rode bikes at all since we were like 9 years old), but we noticed the hotel offers complimentary bikes to rent. We saw tons of people taking advantage of biking around town.
End The Night Watching The Stars: Jake and I are not huge nature people, but we enjoyed sitting on the beach and watching the stars. I haven’t been able to see that clear of a view of the stars ever.
Thank you so much for reading my Sea Island/St. Simons Island Guide. We currently don’t have any trips scheduled right now. We’re doing absolutely nothing this weekend and I am so excited to relax/get organized. We might do some close road trips in the near future.
Shop My Outfits: Red Dress (co)| Black Dress (c0)
Loving both of your dresses here! This sounds totally up our alley! We’ve always wanted to do a Savannah trip so we may have to do this and that!
Katherine | http://www.oneswainkycouple.com
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Aw thank you so much. Yesss it was so beautiful there and a perfect weekend. Savannah is definitely on our list too. We decided to only do Sea Island/St. Simons due to our short trip. We want to do a whole weekend in Savannah for sure. Also, Charleston.
My mom went here years ago, before I was born! She’s always talked about how beautiful it was. I haven’t seen much of Georgia so I’d love to be able to visit here someday!
xoxo A
http://www.southernbelleintraining.com
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Aw that’s awesome. It really is beautiful there. I love Georgia! I’ve only been to Atlanta area and the islands, but it’s awesome so southern and cute.
Oh wow! That looks like so much fun! I am also loving both of those dresses! So cute!
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Thank you so much. It really was such a lovely weekend.
Love your dresses and love seeing Sea Island! Thanks for sharing–love you guys.
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Thanks so much for reading, Jeanie. It was a nice weekend. We love y’all too.
Never heard of this place but it looks like such a great time!
https://bluelabelsboutique.com
https://fashionnotfear.com
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It really was such a fun time 🙂
Beautiful place to visit! I hope one day my husband and I will see that place. Love your dress btw!
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Yesss! Y’all will have to visit there someday. Aw thanks 😉
We will be in Augusta in the next couple of years to attend the Master’s! Love your dresses.
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How fun! You will have to visit Sea Island and Savannah too if you have extra time.
Ah I was so close to here, and I never visited! I’m kicking myself now. Your tips and photos sound amazing. I also love both of the dresses you are wearing. So gorgeous!
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Oh no! You can’t go everywhere though 😉 We wanted to do Savannah too, but didn’t have time. Maybe next time. Thank you so much. 🙂
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Aww you’ll have to go next time your in the area. Thank you so much <3
Sounds like such a fun weekend!!
Taylor | http://www.livingtaylored.com
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Thanks so much, Taylor! I hope you’re feeling better.
I love St Simons!! Such a great spot for a getaway. And that red dress is so pretty!!
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It really is 🙂 I LOVE it. Thank you.