The United States East Coast has a lot to offer, and with a short vacation it’s impossible to see it all. Still, with only a little time, my mom and I crammed in as much as we possibly could in just ten days (not counting travel days). And it was a lot! We visited three national parks, one of the grandest mansions in the United States, and several historic cities. And all of this is in just five states! So in some ways, this is a pretty big road trip, going from Washington DC to Savannah, GA.
This itinerary is based on our East Coast itinerary, with a few modifications for efficiency and to maximize time. Our itinerary got switched around very last minute (thanks, Hurricane Ian), so we had to make a few changes and it wasn’t as efficient as it could have been. But, I’m taking everything I learned from that trip and reorganizing so you can have the most efficient route while maximizing your time in the best cities. If I were to do that trip again, this itinerary is exactly how I would organize it.
I’d love to say this is a perfect 10 day itinerary, but it’s not. Once travel days are included, it hits 11 days. In a perfect world, you’ll have 11 days for this trip. If you don’t, don’t worry. At the end of this article, I’ll give you some recommendations of where to cut some time to get yourself back down to 10 days.
Day 1 – Hello D.C., Goodbye D.C.
Our journey from Washington DC to Savannah, GA starts today. We won’t actually be spending any time in Washington DC, because there’s just too much other stuff to cram in. You’ll either need more time or you’ll just have to wait to put it on another trip (like me!)
The trip really starts in Shenandoah National Park, which is outside of Washington DC. However, Washington DC is just the most convenient airport for most travelers. While not the closest airport (that would be Charlottesville), it will have the most connections. From Washington DC’s Dulles airport, you’ll have a two hour drive to Harrisonburg, VA. From Charlottesville, it’s only one hour.
And if you can’t find lodging in Harrisonburg, don’t worry. Staunton, VA also works, but it’s further away. My mom and I stayed in Staunton, but would have much preferred Harrisonburg.
As a note, my mom and I didn’t actually start this Washington DC to Savannah, GA road trip in Washington DC. We actually started in Philadelphia, which is a four hour drive to Harrisonburg. We had twelve days on this road trip, so the extra driving was no big deal. Plus, we had a chance to briefly pop through some states neither of us had visited before.
Sleep: Harrisonburg, VA
Day 2 – Shenandoah National Park and the Mountains of Virginia
Today you get to explore the first of three national parks of this itinerary. Shenandoah National Park is long and skinny, stretching over 100 miles from its northern entrance to its southern entrance. If you try to see all of it, you’ll spend the entire day in the car driving along the main highway through the park. You can do this if you really want to, but I think it’s a lot better to focus on one section of the park.
During our trip, we focused on the area between Highways 211 and 33 and it’s the area I recommend you focus on too. You’ll get to drive a portion of the scenic drive, but also get a chance to do some of the more popular hikes. The weather didn’t cooperate during our visit, but I’d still recommend looking into the 1.6 mile hike to Stony Man or the 1.4 mile hike to Dark Hollow Falls. There’s plenty more hikes you can do, but I unfortunately don’t have any first hand experience. However, we did also consider Hawksbill Summit, Bearface Mountain, and Rose River Falls for additional hikes in the same area.
Sleep: Harrisonburg, VA
Day 3 – Shenandoah to New River Gorge
It’s a three hour drive from Harrisonburg, VA to Beckley, WV. This won’t take all day so you have to decide how you would like to s spend the rest of your day. I found there to be three good options here.
Option 1: If you haven’t had enough of Shenandoah, you can head back and do some more hiking.
Option 2: You could head to West Virginia and get a head start on exploring New River Gorge National Park.
Option 3: If you want to learn some history and don’t mind some additional driving, you could head toward Charlottesville and tour Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello plantation.
We originally planned to do more at Shenandoah but the rain forced us to cancel our plans. We made the trip to Monticello and had a great time (even if it was still raining there).
Sleep: Beckley, WV
Day 4 – New River Gorge
Today, you have a full day to explore New River Gorge National Park. This park ended up being both my mom’s and my favorite national park of the trip. There are several different sections to this park and it can be difficult to figure out where exactly should spend your time. I recommend focusing on the Canyon Rim area. You’ll see the New River Gorge Bridge, do some great hikes, and you can drive Fayette Station Road which takes you into the gorge and under the bridge.
If you still have energy after exploring the Canyon Rim area, head over to Grandview for some more hiking and a grand view (yes it is that good!).
Sleep: Beckley, WV
Day 5 – New River Gorge to Asheville
It’s a four hour drive to Asheville, NC today. Like the drive between Shenandoah and New River Gorge, it won’t take all day, so you have another choice to make.
Option 1: You can spend more time at New River Gorge. Odds are very good that you didn’t get to see all of the different sections of this park, so you could spend more time here. If you didn’t make it out to Grandview yesterday, visit this area of the park before leaving.
Option 2: You can head straight to Asheville and spend the afternoon in the city’s funky downtown.
We did a little of both. We went to Grandview and Sandstone Falls at New River Gorge in the morning, drove to Asheville in the late morning, and spent the early evening in downtown Asheville.
We did a little of both. We went to Grandview and Sandstone Falls at New River Gorge in the morning, drove to Asheville in the late morning, and spent the early evening in downtown Asheville.
Sleep: Asheville, NC
Day 6 – Asheville and the Biltmore Estate
Today marks the halfway point of this Washington DC to Savannah, GA road trip. To celebrate this halfway point, you’ll tour the Biltmore Estate. This was the mansion built by George Vanderbilt and it’s incredibly over the top. Your visit here won’t be cheap, but it will take you several hours, especially if you do more than just tour the main house (which you absolutely should). Once you’re finished at the Biltmore Estate, you can head to downtown Asheville for some more time to explore.
Sleep: Asheville, NC
Day 7 – Asheville to Charleston via Congaree
This is the longest drive of the day. It’s just over four hours if you drive straight from Asheville to Charleston. However, you can break up the drive and visit Congaree National Park. While adding Congaree National Park does add a little driving, it only adds an extra half hour, so I consider this to be a worthwhile stop.
Congaree doesn’t have the super big wow factor that so many national parks do, so I’m hesitant to recommend that people make a trip to South Carolina just to visit Congaree National Park. However, if you’re driving through, it’s totally worth making a short detour to explore this park.
You won’t have a ton of time at Congaree National Park, but it’s enough time to walk the 5 mile Weston Lake Loop Trail and see this unique ecosystem.
Once in Charleston, treat your self to a nice dinner.
Sleep: Charleston, SC
Day 8 – Charleston
You have a full day in Charleston and it’s yours to explore. There are numerous historic homes to explore, fantastic museums, and walking tours galore. You could just wander the historic district and take in the architecture or jump on a ferry and tour Fort Sumter. There’s plenty to do here that will keep you busy.
On our trip, we only had a half day in Charleston and regretted it. We loved this city and wished we could have had just a little more time here.
Sleep: Charleston, SC
Day 9 – Charleston and Savannah
It’s the last drive major of this road trip from Washington DC to Savannah, GA and it’s a short one, coming in at only two hours. You have the choice as to whether you want to spend some more time in Charleston or if you want to give yourself more time in Savannah. Whichever you choose, plan to end your day in Savannah.
Sleep: Savannah, GA
Day 10 – Savannah
You get one full day in Savannah, so make it count. Wander the historic squares and take in the architecture. Visit St. John the Baptist Cathedral, do some shopping, or take a ghost tour. Don’t forget to sample some of the amazing cuisine here.
Sleep: Savannah, GA
Day 11 – Fly Home
Your road trip from Washington DC to Savannah, GA is over. It’s time to head home.
Modifications to This Trip
If you don’t have exactly 11 days, or you find yourself with extra time, here’s some suggestions for modifying this itinerary.
Shortening the Trip
Option 1: Cut Congaree National Park and go straight to Charleston. Spend the afternoon of Day 7 and morning of Day 8 in Charleston. In the afternoon of Day 8, drive to Savannah and spend all of Day 9 in Savannah. Fly home on Day 10.
Option 2: Cut the full day in Charleston. Spend the morning of Day 8 in Charleston and drive to Savannah in the afternoon. Day 9 is in Savannah and fly home on Day 10. We did this, but I wish we would have had a little more time in Charleston since there was more we wanted to do here than in Savannah.
Option 3: Cut the full day in Savannah. In the morning of Day 9, drive to Savannah and spend the rest of the day exploring Savannah. Fly home on Day 10. As much as I loved Savannah, if I did this trip over again, I’d cut my time in Savannah to get more time in Charleston.
Option 4: Cut your time in Virginia and West Virginia. It’ll be tight, but you could combine days 3 and 4 into one day. On day 3, head to New River Gorge in the morning and spend the afternoon exploring. On day 4, spend a little time at New River Gorge in the morning and then head to Asheville in the afternoon. For people who aren’t big on hiking and are more interested in the historic cities, I’d recommend this option.
There are of course more options than just these four, but I think these four are the easiest places to trim some time.
With More Time
If you have more than 11 days, congratulations. You can’t go wrong with more time at any of these stops, so I’d recommend picking what stops look the most interesting to you. For me, I’d add more time in Charleston, New River Gorge, and Asheville (in that order). Another option is to add time at the beginning of your trip and spend a few days exploring Washington D.C. (if you’re utilizing that airport).
Since my mom and I flew into Philadelphia, we spent a day working our way from Philadelphia to Harrisonburg. We made a four state candy store tour out of it (which meant we had loads of delicious snacks for the road trip).
Recap and Logistics
Hotels Needed
Here’s what you’ll need for hotels for this trip:
Day 1-2: Harrisonburg, VA
Day 3-4: Beckley, WV
Day 5-6: Asheville, NC
Day 7-8: Charleston, SC
Day 9-10: Savannah, GA
Driving Times
Day 1 – 2 hours if you fly into Washington D.C.
Day 2 – minimal. It’s whatever you end up driving at Shenandoah National Park.
Day 3 – 4 hours. Add more if you choose to visit Monticello.
Day 4 – minimal. It’s whatever you end up driving at New River Gorge National Park.
Day 5 – 4 hours.
Day 6 – minimal. It’s whatever you end up driving in Asheville.
Day 7 – 4 hours. Add an extra half hour if you detour to Congaree National Park.
Day 8 – minimal. It’s whatever you end up driving in Charleston.
Day 9 – 2 hours. Plus any driving time in Charleston or Savannah.
Day 10 – minimal. It’s whatever you end up driving in Savannah.
Flights
This itinerary has different start and end points (Washington DC and Savannah, GA), so you’ll need to look into multi-city tickets. While this may be a little more expensive, it’s absolutely worth it to not have to backtrack all the way to your starting point. You get to save valuable time exploring.
Rental Cars
While the multi-city flight may be a little more expensive, your rental car is sure to come with a one way rental fee. This is unavoidable if you want to be efficient with your time. My advice here is to shop around to different rental car agencies. Additionally, shop around and use different start and end points. Renting from airports is typically more expensive than renting a car in the city. While you’ll need a rental car for the national parks, you can get by without one in Charleston and Savannah.
To save money, we picked up our rental car from the airport in Philadelphia. Then, once we arrived in Savannah, we returned it to the Enterprise office in the city (a full day before our flight). Just returning it in town (versus the airport) saved $40. Plus, we saved money because we didn’t have the car in Savannah. I did the math and returning the car early to a office in the city (versus an airport), plus any parking we would have had to pay for in Savannah was more than the cost of using Uber to move around the city.
Reversing This Itinerary
You can absolutely reverse this itinerary. In fact, our original itinerary was reversed and we were supposed to start in Savannah. However, we had to flip it at the last minute (two days before we left) to avoid a hurricane in Charleston. So if it works out better to go from Savannah, GA to Washington DC, go for it!
When To Go
I’d love to say fall because you’ll have good weather, but fall is hurricane season and it is a real possibility. Our entire trip got flipped because of a hurricane that was headed directly toward Charleston. However, late spring would also be a great time to go.
Final Thoughts
This Washington DC to Savannah, GA itinerary packs in a lot. My itineraries typically do, but this itinerary really has a lot. My mom and I drove over 1500 miles over the course of eleven days with our rental car. It was a lot, but we saw and did so much. Plus, we learned which places we absolutely have to go back and explore more of (and which didn’t excite us as much as we expected). So if you’re looking for an itinerary with a lot of variety, seriously consider this one.
Continue Your Adventure
Georgia: On the eastern coast of Georgia, you’ll find the beautiful, historic city of Savannah.
North Carolina: This itinerary just visits Asheville, but a visit here wouldn’t be complete without a stop at the Biltmore Estate.
South Carolina: In South Carolina, visit the historic city of Charleston or take in some nature at Congaree National Park.
Virginia: In Virginia, visit the long and skinny Shenandoah National Park or learn some history at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello.
West Virginia: West Virginia is home to New River Gorge National Park, one of my favorite national parks that I’ve visited.
For More USA Road Trips: The United States is made for road trips. If you want something similar that provides a mix of nature and cities, check out my 10 Days in New England Itinerary. Or if you’re more focused on nature and the national parks, check out my 10 Day Utah National Parks Itinerary or my 10 Day Colorado Road Trip.