Organized Tours

If it's a Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil tour you seek, then you've obviously come to the right place. Virtually every tour group in town offers tours of the Midnight sites, many of which are included on their regular agenda. Ask any of the tour groups. Note: Some tour outfits will accommodate only groups, so if you're traveling alone or as a pair, be sure to make that known when you make your tour reservations.

A delightful way to see Savannah is by horse-drawn carriage. An authentic antique carriage carries you over cobblestone streets as the coachman spins a tale of the town's history. The 1-hour tour ($20 for adults, $10 for children 5-11) covers 15 of the 20 squares. Reservations are required. Contact Carriage Tours of Savannah (tel. 912/236-6756; www.carriagetoursofsavannah.com).

Old Town Trolley Tours (tel. 912/233-0083; www.oldtowntrolley.com) operates tours of the Historic District ($23 for adults, $10 for children 4-12), with pickups at most downtown inns and hotels, as well as a 1-hour Haunted History tour detailing Savannah's ghostly past (and present). Call ahead to make reservations for all tours.

Savannah Walks, Inc., from a headquarters at Abercorn Street just south of Reynolds Square (tel. 912/238-WALK [9255]; www.savannahwalks.com), offers three well-orchestrated walks. The most mainstream is the Savannah Stroll, a well-articulated ramble through the city's most central parks and thoroughfares, an anecdotal introduction to the city's history, lore, and legend. They also have a tour focusing on Savannah's triumphs, torments, and despair during the War between the States. Both tours last 90 minutes and are offered twice daily, at 10am and 1pm. After dark, the venue gets spookier, with a Savannah Ghost Tour, a 90-minute exposure of the city's flair for the macabre, with departures at 7:30pm and 9:30pm. When business warrants, there is a tour at 5:30pm as well. Each of the tours requires an advance reservation, and costs $15 for adults and $7 for children 6 to 14. Your guide might be a part-time student at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) or an older, long-term resident of the city, but the likelihood is high that he or she will have some dramatic flair and a gift for oratory as well.

Gray Line Savannah Tours (tel. 866/374-8687) has joined forces with Historic Savannah Foundation Tours to offer narrated bus tours of museums, squares, parks, and homes. Reservations must be made for all tours, and most have starting points at the visitor center and pickup points at various hotels. Tours cost $10 per person.

Riverboat Cruises are offered aboard the Savannah River Queen, operated by the River Street Riverboat Co., 9 E. River St. (tel. 800/786-6404 or 912/232-6404; www.savannah-riverboat.com). You get a glimpse of Savannah as Oglethorpe saw it back in 1733. You'll see the historic cotton warehouses lining River Street and the statue of Florence Martus, known as Savannah's Waving Girl, as the huge modern freighters see it when they arrive daily at Savannah. Fares are $18 for adults and $11 for children 12 and under.

Ghost Talk Ghost Walk takes you through colonial Savannah on a journey filled with stories and legends based on Margaret Debolt's book Savannah Spectres and Other Strange Tales. If you're not a believer at the beginning of the guided tour, you may be at the end. The tour starts at Reynolds Square. For information, call tel. 912/233-3896. Hours for tour departures can vary. The cost is $10 for adults and $5 for children 12 and under.

Low Country River Excursions, a narrated nature cruise, leaves from the Bull River Marina, 8005 Old Tybee Rd. (U.S. 80 E.). Call tel. 912/898-9222 for information. Passengers are taken on a 1993 40-foot pontoon boat, Natures Way, for an encounter with the friendly bottle-nosed dolphin. Both scenery and wildlife unfold during the 90-minute cruise down the Bull River. Trips are daily noon, 2pm, and sunset spring through fall, weather permitting. Fares are $25 for adults, $12 for seniors, and $10 for children 11 and under. There's a 30-passenger limit.