Moon Handbooks Charleston & Savannah Paperback – August 28, 2012

This is a good guide to this part of the country. The author writes well and makes the entire book a joy to read. It's no ordinary directory of places to sleep and eat. The compilation of sights is excellent, as are the suggested itineraries for travelers of varying interests. There are plenty of cultural and historical contexts to make for enjoyable and informative reading as well.Jim brings a real working knowledge of these cities to his writing and it shows. Though presented together in this guide, Charleston and Savannah are two different species. Charleston is the older town, with roots in the English Caribbean, and is the more dense and quaint of the two. Savannah is of a bolder, more self-consciously Anglo-Irish presentation. Charleston is thoroughly gentrified, and is blindingly expensive. Savannah still has areas that are on the up, and are accessible to mere mortals.The coverage is most complete in Savannah, and the author is really in his element here. It's the best chapter in the book. The section on Charleston is a bit thin, but Charleston is so rich with sights and sounds that it's difficult to distill that material into something small enough for a guide like this. As it is, I like the author's choices of sites.For a travel guide to really earn its place, it needs to bring the best, most authentic and most valuable lodging, dining, shopping, culturing and outdooring options to its readers. This one does that well, but I did get the feeling that the listings for Charleston were a bit incomplete, particularly for lodgings. The "Fodor In Focus" guide is slightly better in this area.The listings that ARE included are right up to date. You won't be led astray by erroneous references, "out of business" signs, or disconnected phone numbers. He's included the most well-known and reputable establishments, so they'll be alive and well when you arrive.Beaufort, South Carolina, a kinder, gentler (and smaller!) version of Charleston gets a nice spread in these pages too. So Southern it hurts, and a many-time movie set, Beaufort is worth your attention as a stop on your way from Charleston to Savannah.Overall, I'd say this is about as good a guide as you can expect for this region, squeezed into about 400 pages. And as long as you use the guide as intended - as a travel guide, rather than as a history book - you will be satisfied with its content.

My wife and I just returned from five days vacationing in Savannah and found the guide quite helpful. The background/historical section is great. There also are inaccuracies which create complications.We wished to go on the tour at the First African Baptist Church, the oldest black church in the US. The guide says tours are Sun-Fri at 11 & 2. We went on Sunday afternoon, and were told by a church member that there are no tours on Sunday, as the congregation is worshiping, that tours are Tues-Sat. We returned on Tuesday at 2PM, to be told that the tours are at 11AM and 1PM on Tues and Thurs, and 11AM and 2PM on Wed, Fri and Sat. These hours are posted on the church office. We returned a third time on Wednesday at 2PM, and enjoyed the tour thoroughly.We spent a day on Tybee Island, kayaking. (Rented from Sea Kayaking of Georgia - they were great.) The dining section of the guide makes one recommendation on Tybee, Hunter House. The author goes on for a couple of paragraphs enthusiastically praising the owner, the chef, and the food. We went to the listed address, but the restaurant was not there. We asked a couple of locals, and found that it had closed several years ago. We ate at the Tybee Island Social Club, a low key and moderately priced restaurant with a nice wine selection and found the food satisfactory.We were interested in a specialty tour focusing on the African American experience in Savannah. The handbook has a listing for Negro Heritage Trail Tours and a phone number (912-234-8000). This is the King-Tisdell Foundation number, where a recorded voice comes on the line, and offers instructions and several prompts describing their activities. All the prompts lead to further recorded announcements (no live options), none of which concern Negro Heritage Trail Tours. At First African Baptist the tour guide provided us with contact information for Jamal, who is a fast talking, theatrical, treasure trove of information about Black history of Savannah and the coast. His tour was one of the highlights of our trip. Jamal's number and web site: [...]Overall we found the book quite worthwhile, but were disappointed by the errata. Changes that have occurred since the first edition in 2002 that, for Savannah at least, are not reflected in the current edition. Phoning the listings to confirm the information would be prudent before going to a described activity.

I just came back from vacation, 4 days in Savannah and about 8 days in Charleston (thank you Hurricane Sandy for a 3 day extension !!). In addition to the Moon Guide, I had the city guides from Frommers for both cities with me, and a slightly outdated (the most recent edition) of Lonely Planet, and the Explorer's Guide. The Moon edition in this case was the best as far as quality information and usability. The others were also helpful, but the author of the Moon edition just knew his cities the best. Believe me. I scoured all books for both cities while I was there.Enjoy both cities. Some out-of-the way, off-the-beaten-path excellent suggestions: Bonaventure Cemetery, Gullah (African American) history tour on Hilton Head Island, BrookGreen Gardens, tour of Dufuskie Island, the SS Hunley, Fort Sumter---well Fort Sumter isn't off the beaten path, but after seeing it and listening to the park ranger tell the story of how the Civil War started you'll be very gald you saw it. It's easy to miss Fort Sumter because it sits on a small island only reachable by a 30 minute ferry ride.

This is the second Moon Handbook I have purchased and again it is excellent. Though the photographs are in black and white, these are numerous and the level of detail is very good. A great read also as there are lots of boxed feature articles relating interesting contextual details. Good clear maps and hotel & restaurant recommendations complete the picture. The best US guides.

This book on Charleston & Savannah fulfilled all my expectations.The detailed discriptions of the places is just what I needed for my trip.