Walk Savannah’s squares and Charleston’s waterfront, take the ferry to Fort Sumter, climb Brasstown Bald above Helen, cross the bridge over Tallulah Gorge, tour Biltmore, or drive the Blue Ridge Parkway from Asheville. We’ve put the stops, routes and practical details together so your day out of Atlanta, Charleston or Asheville is easier to plan.
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A full mountain day from Atlanta: the paved walk to twin-waterfall Anna Ruby Falls, a lakeside stop at Unicoi State Park, lunch in Helen's Alpine village, the Richard B. Russell Scenic Highway over Hogpen Gap, and the view from Brasstown Bald, Georgia's highest point, with the fees, shuttle times and Oktoberfest crowds planned in.
A two-night Savannah weekend from Atlanta. Drive down I-16 on Friday afternoon and walk River Street at dusk. Saturday is on foot in the historic district: the Owens-Thomas House and its slave quarters, the squares down Bull Street to Forsyth Park, then Bonaventure Cemetery in the afternoon light. Sunday morning takes in the oak avenue at Wormsloe and the lighthouse and beach on Tybee Island before the drive home.
A day in Athens from Atlanta: a free botanical garden and a free art museum, lunch and music history downtown, the University of Georgia's historic North Campus and the Arch, the oak that owns itself, and an evening show or R.E.M. landmarks before the drive home. Plan it around home football Saturdays.
A North Georgia waterfall day from Atlanta: the rim overlooks of 1,000-foot-deep Tallulah Gorge, the stair descent to its swaying suspension bridge (or a gorge-floor permit, if you arrive early), lunch on the square in Clarkesville, and 186-foot Toccoa Falls on a university campus, with the permit, release-day and opening-hour details that decide the order.
A day southwest of Atlanta: FDR's Warm Springs museum and village in the morning, his favorite picnic overlook on Pine Mountain at midday, then Callaway's butterfly conservatory and garden paths in the afternoon, with the Fantasy In Lights drive as the evening finale in the holiday season.
A full day on foot in Charleston's historic peninsula: the morning ferry from Liberty Square to Fort Sumter, where the Civil War began, then Waterfront Park, the City Market and its real history, the Old Slave Mart Museum, a townhouse built by a merchant who traded in captive Africans, and an evening walk past the Battery and Rainbow Row to dinner. It tells the story of slavery plainly, because the city cannot be understood without it.
A day out of Charleston to the Angel Oak on Johns Island, then up the Ashley River Road to Drayton Hall, the unrestored 1738 house, and Middleton Place, America's oldest landscaped gardens, with real time for the people enslaved at both: Drayton Hall's African American cemetery and Middleton's Beyond the Fields tour and exhibit in Eliza's House.
A Lowcountry day from Charleston: the Reconstruction Era National Historical Park in Beaufort and at Penn Center on St. Helena Island, lunch on Bay Street, then the reopened Hunting Island Lighthouse, its boneyard beach and a marsh boardwalk.
Drive the reopened stretch of the Blue Ridge Parkway north of Asheville to the summit of Mount Mitchell, the highest point east of the Mississippi, walk up Craggy Pinnacle on the way back, and finish among mountain crafts at the Folk Art Center.
A timed morning entry to Biltmore House, the gardens and Conservatory, lunch and a wine tasting at Antler Hill Village, then the rebuilt River Arts District and a late-afternoon walk through downtown Asheville to dinner.
Every guide lists the date and time it was last updated and when the trip is best experienced, from a single week to all year. Each includes official links to verify roads, tides, hours, fees and closures for your travel date. Buy once and the guide is yours forever: read it online any time from your account, always in its latest version, or keep it offline in the Greg’s Guides app for iPhone and iPad, which updates it for you.
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A relaxed beach day, a mountain outing, or a bigger coastal adventure. Choose what fits your time.
Pay once and read it online right away, or open it in the Greg’s Guides app to keep it on your phone.
Check current conditions, open your route, and head out. Linger where you like. Skip what you don’t.
A digital guide with a timed itinerary, stop-by-stop details, a schematic route map, navigation links and a plain-text plan. This is a self-guided plan; attraction admission, parking, food, and transport are separate. We update trips regularly, and you’ll always have access to the latest information: you own your guide forever, so you can read the latest version online any time or keep it up to date in the app.
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Yes. Read it online in your phone’s browser: sign in to My account and open your guide. Or, as we recommend on iPhone and iPad, use the Greg’s Guides app: sign in with the same account and your guides are saved on your phone, so they work without cell service. Navigation links open in the relevant app or browser when supported.
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Route links open in Google Maps, Apple Maps or Waze, which calculate directions using their latest available road, traffic, closure and detour information. This information depends on your app, coverage and connection and may not include every restriction. Check official road alerts, review the route before leaving and obey posted closures. The guide’s route map is a saved overview.
Each preview tells you the time commitment and activities. Beach sand, stairs, steep paths, weather, and road access can affect suitability. Choose shorter options and check accessibility at the stops you want to visit.
Each guide shows the date and time it was last updated and the time of year it is best experienced; some stops also note their own best season. Roads, services, prices, tides and rules can change, so every guide includes official sources to check before departure. Online, you always see the latest version, and the app updates the guides on your phone. You own your guide forever.
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I’m Greg Pasquariello, a software engineer living in the Pacific Northwest and the owner of Tecnicl LLC. I love a good day trip, and I host a lot of out-of-town visitors who want to know what they can do while they’re here. Greg’s Guides began as the plans I kept putting together for them. Now anyone can use them.
Tell us about a day trip you love. If we turn it into a guide, you get every guide we make free for a year, and your name on the guide. If we don’t, pick any guide free as thanks.
Wormsloe hero photo: Jessica Furtney · CC0 1.0. February 2017 photograph of the oak avenue at Wormsloe; resized and displayed with crop.
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