Thursday, April 1, 2010

Looking for first hand reviews and advice

I have just discovered this little island and now I want to spend a week on the beach with family and friends.





Vaction rentals look nice. Beach long and wide.





BUT... is there a better part of the island if I will have kids who want to swim and play? Is late June or late July a better time to visit? If I need a 4-5 bedroom rental does anyone have a good choice?





Really appreciate recent reviews and family travel stories.



Looking for first hand reviews and advice


Hi, GoHere.





We are also planning our first visit. We have 7 family members going: grandparents to small kids. We have rented a house through www.mybeachhouseontybee.com. They have a nice selection from what I can tell. We will be there in June.





I can%26#39;t really offer any advice yet but have fun planning.



Looking for first hand reviews and advice


Yo, GoHere,





I grew up in Michigan; I have been living in the South (Georgia, in fact) long enough to pass for a native.





I%26#39;ve never been to the Georgia coast, but we are planning a trip to Tybee Island this year. I have a friend who%26#39;s been going to Hilton Head since childhood. She and her LARGE family (7 kids under 16) go every year in September because the crowds have thinned and there aren%26#39;t as many unpleasant ';critters'; in the water.





As to a rental, we are planning to book through Mermaid Cottages. Check out their website. They have photos and info on all their cottages--very reasonably priced and from tiny to massive (if a cottage can be called ';massive.';





Hope this helps you--hope you get to go--hope you have a great time.




We%26#39;ve been three times so far when visiting the house we recently bought near the island and we love it. Unless there are inlets to the beach that we haven%26#39;t seen yet, we only saw the very wide part. I heard that the rip tide can be a problem sometimes so I would research that with little kids in mind. Ours are young adults and love Tybee as its very funky, laid back, irreverent, just a silly place to hang out in flip flops and cutoffs. We%26#39;ve only stayed in motel units so far but next time might rent through the rental company someone mentioned already. There are several small and larger places to eat at, not too much fancy, again just very laid back. There%26#39;s a small marine museum on the beach which the kids might like along with the huge pavilion deck that goes right over the water. Lots of tacky tourist shops, a couple of nicer ones too. Theres%26#39; a bit of sometimes obvious drinking on this island so if you%26#39;re touchy about that, you might want to think about how to deal with this with kids- probably just avoid a few of the small bars on Butler Ave.




How is the availability of smaller rentals, like 1-2 bedrooms? We%26#39;d like to find a beach front condo or even a house (with pool access) that%26#39;s within walking distance to restaurants and so forth? Can anyone recommend specific area to stay in, or even a specific rental? We%26#39;ll be vacationing in August.




You need to search through this forum for rental ideas, there are several companies that offer cottages. So far, we just stay at one of the motels for a variety of reasons but the cottage rentals look good too. Just search under the search word rentals and several names of companies will pop up. We can always find a motel with reasonable services for under $100 a night, sometimes even less except during high season




Kerrieb





Have you been to the island recently?





We have booked a condo for the last week in June.





Now my search is for places to eat. I have read the reviews posted on the site. Are there any that really stand out in your mind?




Hi trvlgirlmg





We are booked at a condo for the last week in June. Our party has shrunk a bit so a condo was cheaper than a house.





Have you found any interesting sites/eateries/activities that we might want to check out?





I am just starting to look about the web for clues to the most interesting places to eat both on Tybee and in Savannah.




GoHere, we were there last in October and stayed there at a motel for the long weekend. We head back in April but think we%26#39;ll stay in the downtown area this trip.



Restaurants-there is AJ%26#39;s which is on the marsh side and has great food in our opinion. Ask anyone where it is and you%26#39;ll have no problem finding it. Overall, the places we%26#39;ve eaten at there are very, very laid back (not fancy) and some have very mediocre food (I cook gourmet at home so I do go looking for great food) so I can%26#39;t recommend a ton of great foodie places on Tybee. If I think of the place that%26#39;s several blocks down, back towards the main drag thats connected to a hotel, I%26#39;ll send you the name. I have no memory but this place was street level only, right on the beach and had excellent food and big tables for families. When we%26#39;re there, we are always on a tight budget so laid back places get chosen since they%26#39;re affordable. I%26#39;ll do some digging through my stuff and will try to send you some names tomorrow.




Tybee is a small island so it does not take long to get from one end to the other. It is funky, laid back and like the above stated. You will find that it is not Hilton Head or Daytona but it is nice.





The beach had sand pumped onto it over the winter. because of this there will be a lot more beach to enjoy at high tide. The kids will enjoy beach. There are a few things which you need to watch out for. The most important is the ripe tide. Most of the time is it not a worry but when the tides, winds and currents are right it is bad but this is common at any beach. The second thing that seems to get people in troble is we have about a 6 to 8 foot differnt in the sea level between high and low tide. At the south end of the island on low water there is a long sandbar pass the jetties. at high tide it is covered. As long as you watch the tide it is no problem. Another issue is we will have jelly fish but they show up at any beach.





There are a few resturants at the beach. Spanky%26#39;s is okay as is most of them. Remember they cater to the beach crowd. There are 2 pizza places on Butler. Both are goog. I like Cousin Vinnies the best.





Have fun




Sorry GH, but I can%26#39;t find any info on the second place on Tybee that we really enjoyed. But its a really small island so you should have no trouble figuring out where to eat. A couple of places aren%26#39;t terribly clean from our experiences (like Fanny%26#39;s -on the Beach ((I think its called)) which was pretty grubby last time we went but just do a quick run through and head for other places if you are concerned about that. We can%26#39;t wait to return to Tybee, just 3 more weeks!!

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