5 Best Beaches in Georgia

Georgia's 100 miles of coastline are split between a handful of barrier islands, and each one has a completely different personality: some you drive right onto, others you can only reach by boat. We ranked the five real options for a beach day in Georgia by how good the sand and water actually are, then noted exactly how to get to each one, since that is where most of the planning happens.

Every beach here links to its own full N-Georgia.com page with directions and more detail, so use this list to pick your beach and click through for the specifics.

1. Tybee Island

Access: Drive-up, no ferry   Parking: Metered, no free lots

Tybee Island is Savannah's beach, about 20 minutes east of the city over a causeway, which makes it the easiest real beach day in Georgia to pull off with no advance planning. There is no single admission fee, but parking is metered along the whole island with no free lots, so budget for that. Dogs are not allowed on the sand at any time of year because loggerhead sea turtles nest here, which is worth knowing before you pack the car. Beyond the beach itself, Tybee Island Lighthouse and the Fort Screven grounds give the day a bit of history alongside the sand. See our Tybee Island page for more on what else to do there.

2. Jekyll Island

Access: Drive-up, no ferry   Parking: $10 per vehicle, per day (island-wide)

Jekyll Island charges a single daily parking fee to enter the island rather than metering individual beach lots, so once you are in, you can move between beaches freely. The must-see stop is Driftwood Beach on the island's north end, where decades of erosion have left a stretch of bleached, fallen live oaks and cedars sitting right on the sand, a look you will not find anywhere else on the Georgia coast. No motor vehicles are allowed on any of the beaches themselves, only on the roads to the parking areas, and bikes and pedestrians enter free. The island's history as a Gilded Age retreat for the Rockefellers and Vanderbilts is still visible in the Jekyll Island Club Historic District. See our Jekyll Island page for the full history and more on the Georgia Sea Turtle Center.

3. St. Simons Island

Access: Drive-up, no ferry   Parking: Free at Massengale Park

St. Simons Island is the most family-friendly of Georgia's drive-up beaches. Massengale Park, between the Coast Guard Station and the King and Prince Resort, has free parking, ADA-accessible mats down to the sand, restrooms, a playground, and lifeguards on duty from Memorial Day to Labor Day, and it opens onto the island's East Beach. It is a quieter, more residential alternative to Tybee, with the island's historic St. Simons Lighthouse a short drive away in the village. See our St. Simons Massengale Park page for directions.

4. Cumberland Island

Access: Passenger ferry only, from St. Marys   Cost: About $44 round trip plus a $15 park entrance fee (ages 16+)

Cumberland Island is a national seashore, and the only way onto it is a roughly 45-minute ferry ride from St. Marys, with no cars, food, or drinking water for sale anywhere on the island, so bring everything you need for the day. What you get in exchange is 17 miles of undeveloped beach and a population of feral horses that wander the dunes and the ruins of the old Carnegie estate, Dungeness, completely unbothered by visitors. Book the ferry ahead of time, especially in spring and fall, since it sells out. See our Cumberland Island National Seashore page and ferry page for the current schedule.

5. Sapelo Island

Access: State passenger ferry only, from Meridian   Cost: About $2 round trip, reservations required

Sapelo Island is the least developed and least visited beach on this list, reached by a roughly 20-minute state ferry ride from the Sapelo Island Visitors Center in Meridian, near Darien. Advance reservations are required since the ferry has limited capacity. Beyond the beach, the island is home to Hog Hammock, one of the last Gullah-Geechee communities in the country, descended from formerly enslaved West Africans who worked Sapelo's plantations, along with the restored Reynolds Mansion and a lighthouse. This is the pick for visitors who want a genuinely quiet, undeveloped beach and don't mind the extra planning it takes to get there. See our Sapelo Island Visitor Center page for ferry details.

Sea Island markets some of the most exclusive beachfront in the state, but its beaches are reserved for guests of its own resorts, with no public parking or access point. Georgia law keeps every beach in the state public up to the waterline, so in theory the sand itself can be reached by kayak or paddleboard, but there is no practical way to just walk onto it. Plan a day at St. Simons or Jekyll instead.

Little St. Simons Island is a roughly 10,000-acre privately owned barrier island that has operated as a small, all-inclusive eco-resort since the early 1970s, not a public beach. See our Little St. Simons Island page for more on visiting as an overnight guest.

Best time to go: Late spring and early fall bring warm water without the peak-summer crowds and humidity. Hurricane season runs through November on the coast, so check the forecast before booking a ferry-only trip to Cumberland or Sapelo.

Ferries book up: Cumberland Island and Sapelo Island both run on limited, reservation-only ferry schedules. Book those well ahead of a weekend or holiday visit.

Sun and currents: The Georgia coast has almost no shade on the open beach and a real tidal range, so reapply sunscreen, watch the tide chart, and be aware of currents near jetties and inlets.

For more of the coast beyond the beach, see our 3-Day Georgia Coast Itinerary or browse the Coast & Islands hub page.