Town:
Savannah
Thanks to an almost NYU-ian growth model, the Savannah College of Art and Design has turned the city from a college town into a magnet for creative émigrés. Broughton Street is now filled with boutiques from the imported (Marc Jacobs) to the homegrown (the men’s shaving shop Prospector Co.; Savannah Bee Company). Form, a cheesecake-and-wine store in a former bank, offers five-course dinners and has just expanded to a much larger space, called Form II Table. The new Andaz Savannah (from $199; savannah.andaz.hyatt.com), with its rooftop bar and firepit, is a far cry from a quaint southern B&B.
Country:
Saint Simons Island
Since 1928, Sea Island, a 1,235-acre resort on a particularly beautiful stretch of the Georgia coast, has been the exclusive domain of wealthy southern families. But the opening this year of the $188-per-night Inn at Sea Island (seaisland.com/inn-at-sea-island) brought a new accessibility to the area. (The hotel is technically located on neighboring Saint Simons Island, but it’s just a three-minute free shuttle ride away from Sea Island.) There’s a shooting club where an enterprising guest can learn to skeet-shoot with a fancy semiautomatic. A laid-back Californian named Gavin Earl leads kayak trips up and down the river and teaches sailing on Sunfish. There are squash courts and tennis courts, too, where you can take lessons with a pro or join one of the many weekly clinics. A few minutes away is the Lodge at Sea Island, home to three championship 18-hole golf courses, including the Seaside Course, which hosts an annual PGA Tour classic. The genteel wood-paneled men’s locker room serves lunch.
Spring Travel 2014 Contributors: Christine Ajudua, Hana Alberts, Becky Dalzell, Nicholas Gill, Sarah Khan, Monica Kim, Chaney Kwak, Elisabeth Rosen, Emma Sloley, Joshua David Stein, Alexa Tsoulis-Reay.