A few years ago, we went to St. Simons Island for a friend’s wedding. Not having visited St. Simons since I was in 5th grade for a Driftwood beach field trip, my now fiancé and I fell in love with the island after that wedding and took a weekend getaway right before finals last year to decompress. For context on time and distance, St. Simons is about a five and a half-hour drive from Atlanta depending on the severity of traffic. We left at 3:00 PM on Friday and arrive there around 8:30 PM.

Lodging:

We booked an AirBnB for this weekend getaway. Cheaper than most of the hotels and gave us a great location for all our planned activities, this AirBnB had everything we wanted along with a reasonable cleaning fee. This AirBnB was an apartment attached to a house with a gorgeous bathroom, a full kitchen, with a little backyard hangout area. Thankfully, it had a separate entrance and free parking. The biggest perk was the complimentary bikes it came with–I love going for bike rides at the beach and having those automatically included with locks and helmets was a huge plus.

Friday Night:

Since we arrived late, there wasn’t much time for activities but we wanted to explore the downtown area. I am thankful to have a friend who used to live on the island and she gave me some great recommendations that I am sharing below for your enjoyment as well:

Palm Coast:

Our first stop of the night was grabbing a drink at a local bar, Palm Coast. They have a great variety of beer, wine, and cocktails. I love that the bar area inside is very intimate, and most of the seating is outside so you can enjoy the fresh sea air. Most Fridays and Saturday nights, Palm Coast has live bands or DJs. Note that part of the bar was reserved for a rehearsal dinner the evening we visited, so you might catch the odd event from time to time (a testament to how great the spot is)

The Half Shell:

After a few drinks, we were craving a late-night sea snack! The downtown area is very walkable with a large variety of restaurants. The Half Shell fits the bill and was our second choice for the evening, with affordable small plates being the primary theme. I ate a side of the stone-ground grits and my fiancé ate a bowl of the crab bisque, both equal parts creamy and flavorful.

Saturday:

Sunrise Kayaking:

Kayaking is the perfect activity for outdoors-focused people who want to diversify their experience away from a full day at the beach. My friend I mentioned earlier used to work for South East Adventure Outfitters, which provided us with a quick option to reserve some guides and equipment. When all tours but the 7:00 AM filled up, we learned a valuable lesson that you need to book these tours far in advance. Getting up at 6:30 AM on a weekend getaway is not normally something we would do, but the sunrise tour more than compensated for cutting sleep a little short.

Traveling with just one other couple and our tour guide, it treated us to a wide range of wildlife and knowledge around the local nature, animals and fun facts about the area. Easy lay-up after completing your kayaking adventure: go find the Chick-Fil-A nearby and splurge a few dollars on a heavenly biscuit.

St. Simons Beach:

Another big draw of the AirBnB we chose is that it was just 1 mile from public beach access! We loved the area around the King and Prince Hotel the last time we visited. This area is a little south of the popular “East Beach,” but less crowded and therefore more breathable space-wise. The entrance we chose was the one on Neptune Street – I recommend going here given free parking as well the proximity to Massengale Park, which is just a short walk away and has free public restroom access.

Bike Riding:

As I mentioned earlier, our AirBnb provided complimentary bikes for us to use. After we rinsed off from the beach, we hopped on our bikes and went out to explore the city. We rode north on Demere Road to Frederica Road, touring local neighborhoods to see the beautiful southern homes and Spanish moss throughout the streets. If this touring isn’t necessarily your style, alternatively it is also very easy to bike to the downtown area to peruse the shops. 

Crabdaddy’s Seafood Grill:

Being a major foodie, this was a major highlight of our trip. Since Crabdaddy’s is a very popular restaurant, I recommend being prepared for a 15-25 minute wait. Full disclosure – we ordered entirely too much food, but it was worth every penny. We ordered fried calamari as an appetizer, not realizing that our meals also came with what is possibly a Top #5 all-time bread basket that comes with a delicious cinnamon butter spread. For my entrée, my fiancé and I ordered respectively fried shrimp and fluffy cheese grits and shrimp and sausage pasta. Crabdaddy’s got a big thumbs up and strong recommendation–fantastic service and heavenly seafood, all just one block from the beach to walk off your meal after you finish.

Sunday:

We had a lazy morning of sleeping in and packing up our AirBnB. We then headed out for the day around the island and neighboring islands before making the journey back to Atlanta.

Fort Frederica:

We made our first stop of the day exploring Fort Frederica. Free to visit, this national monument is a remnant back from when Spain controlled this area back in the 1700s. The grounds are stunning to walk around and explore. There are a ton of historical markers that give extra information about the ensuing battle between the Spaniards and the British.

Jekyll Island:

A 30-minute drive from St. Simons’, this was an easy drive to explore what is all-else a beautiful state park. Since Jekyll is a state park, there is an $8 parking fee to pay upon entry. This gives you all-day access. You can easily spend a full day here at Jekyll Island. Given our limited time because of the Atlanta return trip, we spent 2 hours before heading back. Beach Village is the hub of the island and contains most of the hotels and public beach access. There are also a few restaurants and a grocery store, should you make Jekyll your base of operations. Our original route took a left onto Beachview Drive towards the northern side of the island.

Driftwood Beach:

About 3.5 miles from the Beach Village is the famous Driftwood Beach. Parking is on the side of the road and the sign is small.  Keep a sharp eye out to make sure you haven’t overshot the location! This beach is famous for beautiful driftwood trees that have emerged tangled and weathered because of erosion. Every tree is uniquely different. You can see how much the local wildlife in the area uses these trees as part of the local ecosystem. Driftwood only accessible at low tide, so make sure you check what time the tide rises before heading over. Many people come to this location for weddings and family photos given the views are very picturesque. If you can come during sunrise, I think you’ll win your unofficial social media competition.

St. Simons holds a special place in our hearts now. This island is very family and couple friendly, and the perfect weekend getaway on a budget from Atlanta! We can’t want to go back and explore more of what the island has to offer!

Budget: