Savannah is one of the most beautiful cities in the USA and, sitting alongside the river of the same name amid marshes and oak trees dipped in moss, is a must-see on any trip to Georgia's coastal area. Grand, antebellum architecture lines its historic streets – you’ll recognise the city squares from Forrest Gump – as monuments, parks and colonial mansions are preserved with great pride and care.

Wander for hours through the historic district where side streets and boulevards will bring you to 18th and 19th century architectural styles that range from neo-classical Federal and Regency delights to antebellum gems. There are also more than twenty residential garden squares to explore, whose subtropical greenery offers peaceful respite from the Southern sun with dogwood trees that twist through ornate railings. Or, make your way down to River Street on the cobbled waterfront of the Savannah River where you can still spot the towering cotton warehouses that brought the city its first taste of wealth. Here, you might want to take a riverboat cruise to soak in the atmosphere.

Add a buzzing art, culture and theatre scene and you have the recipe for several days of relaxed exploration. Head to the Mercer-Williams House for a mansion collection of artwork and interior design showpieces or the whitewashed Jepson Center for the Arts, a superb collection of 20th and 21st century works. And, despite being founded as a slave-free city in 1733, mid-century settlers from North Carolina brought with them a plantation-based economy that today, is remembered in the Wormsloe Plantation Historic Site and the Savannah History Museum.