27026 Lowcountry Charm: Beaufort & Savannah

Day 1

DAY 1: WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2027
Overnight in Indianapolis

Your Lowcountry adventure begins with departure from West Burlington, followed by pickups in Fort Madison and Davenport. Settle into your comfortable motorcoach seat, meet your fellow travelers and enjoy the changing landscape as we make our way east. During today’s travels, we will change to Eastern Time.
Dinner is included at a local restaurant before we check in for a one-night stay in the Indianapolis area. It is an easy first day designed to let everyone relax into the journey ahead.

Day 2

DAY 2: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2027
Cincinnati Flavors &
An Ohio River Cruise

After an included hotel breakfast, we continue toward Cincinnati and one of the city’s most beloved gathering places: Findlay Market.
Ohio’s oldest continuously operated public market is tucked into the historic Over-the-Rhine neighborhood. Its distinctive iron-framed market house dates to the nineteenth century and remains filled with the sights, aromas and conversations of a true neighborhood institution. Browse merchants offering fresh produce, meats, cheeses, baked goods, specialty foods and flavors from around the world.
Next, trade the market aisles for open river views on a Captain’s Lunch Cruise. Enjoy an included lunch as the boat glides along the Ohio River, revealing the Cincinnati skyline, bridges and riverfront landmarks from a wonderfully relaxed perspective. Local stories, live music and classic riverboat hospitality make this more than a meal—it is a cheerful afternoon on the water.
Following the cruise, we continue south. Dinner is included at a local restaurant, and our overnight accommodations will be in the Knoxville, Tennessee area.

Day 3

DAY 3: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2027
Port Royal Sound

After breakfast, we leave Knoxville and make our way toward the South Carolina coast. As the scenery softens into pine woods, tidal creeks and broad marshland, the Lowcountry begins to reveal itself.
Our first coastal visit is the Port Royal Sound Foundation Maritime Center, set along the Chechessee River. The center introduces the remarkable natural system that shapes life in this part of South Carolina.
Hands-on exhibits, historic fossils, live animals and displays about local waterways help explain how ocean tides, salt marshes, barrier islands and wildlife are connected. Look for saltwater fish, turtles and other creatures that bring the estuary’s story to life, and discover why Port Royal Sound’s vast watershed and more than 100,000 acres of salt marsh create such a productive habitat.
Dinner is included at a local restaurant before we settle in for three nights in Beaufort—giving us the rare pleasure of unpacking once and truly getting to know this coastal community.

Day 4

DAY 4: SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2027
Forrest Gump Country

Following breakfast, a local guide joins us to share Beaufort’s history and its unforgettable connection to the Academy Award-winning film Forrest Gump.
Around Lucy Creek and the surrounding islands, familiar landscapes stood in for Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and even Vietnam. See the waters associated with Forrest’s shrimp boat, Jenny, and visit areas connected to Bubba’s family home and Forrest’s story.
Your guide will separate movie magic from Lowcountry reality while pointing out the marsh views, bridges and quiet roads that moviegoers may recognize.
The afternoon belongs to the Beaufort Shrimp Festival in Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park. Here, moss-draped downtown streets meet the Beaufort River, and local chefs turn the region’s best-known catch into a tempting variety of dishes.
Enjoy lunch on your own from festival vendors, browse the arts-and-crafts market, listen for live entertainment and stroll nearby Bay Street, where independent shops, galleries and restaurants fill Beaufort’s historic commercial district.
Dinner is included at a local restaurant before returning to the hotel for another comfortable night in Beaufort.

Day 5

DAY 5: SUNDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2027
A Full Day in Savannah

After breakfast, we travel to Savannah—Georgia’s first city and one of America’s most distinctive historic destinations.
Founded in 1733 by General James Edward Oglethorpe, Savannah grew around a carefully planned system of public squares. Twenty-two of those green spaces remain today, creating a city where history, gardens and daily life share the same shaded blocks.

SAVANNAH HISTORY MUSEUM
Begin with the broad sweep of Savannah’s story, from Native American cultures and the city’s colonial founding to the Revolutionary War, Civil War and modern era.
Exhibits include an antique cotton gin, an 1890 steam locomotive and a 1902 Crestmobile automobile. Savannah’s creative legacy is here too: see one of songwriter Johnny Mercer’s Academy Awards, along with memorabilia connected to the city’s many contributions to film and music.
Movie fans will especially enjoy seeing the bench prop associated with Forrest Gump.


CHIPPEWA SQUARE & FREE TIME
Continue to Chippewa Square, laid out in 1815 and centered by a monument to Savannah’s founder, James Oglethorpe.
The square is framed by beautiful architecture, including the historic Savannah Theatre, and is best known as the setting for Forrest Gump’s famous park-bench scenes. The movie bench was a prop and is now displayed at the Savannah History Museum, but the square remains one of Savannah’s favorite photo stops.
Enjoy time to explore the surrounding historic district and find lunch on your own.

SAVANNAH RIVER SIGHTSEEING CRUISE
This afternoon, experience Savannah from the river on a narrated sightseeing cruise. Hear the captain’s tales of the modern port, maritime trade and visiting ships while enjoying views of the historic riverfront and skyline.
The cruise travels toward Old Fort Jackson, one of the country’s oldest surviving brick fortifications and home to one of its largest original artillery pieces. Historic wharves, church steeples, working terminals and passing vessels reveal how closely Savannah’s past and present remain tied to the water.

DINNER WITH FORREST
The day ends with an included dinner and a special guest: a Forrest Gump impersonator who will stop by the table, share stories and bring a little lighthearted movie magic to the evening.


After dinner, we return to Beaufort for our third and final night.
Included Today: Breakfast and dinner; Savannah History Museum; Chippewa Square and free time; narrated Savannah River sightseeing cruise; dinner visit from a Forrest Gump impersonator; and the third night in Beaufort. Lunch is on your own.

Day 6

DAY 6: MONDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2027
Dolphins, Shrimp Docks
& Local Craftsmanship

After breakfast and hotel check-out, our final morning in Beaufort brings together the wildlife, working-waterfront traditions and homegrown ingenuity that give this region its character.

HUNTING ISLAND DOLPHIN CRUISE
Board a naturalist-led cruise through the calm estuary near Hunting Island State Park. Atlantic bottlenose dolphins are the stars of the outing, but the surrounding salt marsh is alive with possibility.
Ospreys, pelicans, herons, bald eagles, blue crabs and other wildlife may appear along the way. As the boat moves through tidal creeks and open water, your guide will explain how the area’s islands and waterways were formed, why the marsh is such a vital nursery and how generations of local people have depended upon these waters.






GAY’S SEAFOOD MARKET & SHRIMP DOCKS
On St. Helena Island, visit a family seafood business with roots reaching back to 1948. Meet a descendant of founder John H. Gay Sr. and see how locally caught shrimp are received, sorted and readied for sale.
The dock also holds a remarkable piece of movie history: preserved invoices document thousands of pounds of shrimp purchased by Paramount Pictures during the filming of Forrest Gump.
It is a wonderfully authentic look at the working side of the Lowcountry—where the story of shrimp is not a theme, but a way of life.

LUNCH & HARRIS PILLOW
Lunch is included at a local restaurant before a guided visit to Harris Pillow, a family-owned Beaufort manufacturer founded in 1958.
Learn how materials are prepared and pillows move through the different stages of production at a company whose products serve luxury hotels, designers, U.S. military bases and customers around the world. It is an unexpected and fascinating behind-the-scenes stop that celebrates American manufacturing and three generations of family enterprise.
Dinner is included as we continue to Macon, Georgia, for our overnight stay.

Day 7

DAY 7: TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2027
Hall of Fame & Studio B

After breakfast, we leave Macon and continue toward Nashville. During today’s drive, we will return to Central Time.
At the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, step into the story of an American art form. The galleries trace country music from its pre-commercial roots through today’s stars using treasured instruments, stage wear, rare recordings, photographs, film and personal artifacts.
Explore the people, songs and traditions that shaped the genre, then pause in the soaring Hall of Fame Rotunda, where the bronze plaques of inducted members form a lasting circle of honor.
Next, travel to Nashville’s Music Row for a guided tour of Historic RCA Studio B. Operated by RCA Records from 1957 to 1977, this modest studio played an outsized role in establishing Nashville as a recording center and helping create the polished “Nashville Sound.”
Stand in the room where Elvis Presley, Dolly Parton, Roy Orbison, Waylon Jennings, the Everly Brothers, Jim Reeves and many others recorded enduring hits. Original instruments and the studio’s famously rich acoustics make the history feel close enough to hear.

Day 8

DAY 8: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2027
Home Sweet Home

Enjoy an included hotel breakfast, then settle in for the final leg of our journey.
We will return first to Davenport, followed by Fort Madison and West Burlington. The miles home are a chance to revisit favorite moments—perhaps a dolphin surfacing near Hunting Island, a plate of Lowcountry shrimp, Savannah’s shaded squares or the sound of a legendary recording studio.
We return with photographs, new friendships and the kind of warm Southern memories that linger long after the salt air is behind us.