Overview

At the heart of Georgia's sea islands, St. Simons is a paean to southern living. Massive live oaks draped with Spanish moss, sandy beaches, the occasional antebellum mansion, and genteel golf courses that would have brought a smile to Bagger Vance. Once a quiet backwater, St. Simons now is home to major resorts as well as venerable inns and B&Bs, but that southern charm is still present.

Sometimes called The Golden Isles, this chain of nine barrier islands off Georgia's southern coast has been a retreat for the favored few ever since a group of families (the Rockefellers and Vanderbilts among them) bought Jekyll Island, just south of St. Simons. To the north, Little St. Simons (a short boat ride away) was once a private hunting preserve, while Sea Island (linked to St. Simons by causeway) has been the home of a renowned resort, The Cloister, since the late 1920s.

On St. Simons, the largest of the islands, a day of relaxation might seem unchanged from decades ago: a round of golf (the 6,300-yard Hampton Club features four holes on a marsh island), a game of tennis, perhaps a sail or a stroll on nature trails, maybe some shopping, and, at day's end, a southern-style dinner. Or just spend a day at the beach on the southeastern shore, watching the Atlantic lap on the sand and ponder the fact that you are only about an hour's drive from the wilds of the Okefenokee Swamp. You'd never know it....

 Plan Your Trip

KAYAKING

Go birdwatching by kayak. As you paddle through the island's saltwater marshlands, making your way up small rivers and tidal creeks, keep your binoculars ready for ospreys, snowy egrets, great blue herons, terns, and rails. Oh, yes, bring your bird guide: more than 70 percent of Georgia's bird species can be seen in the sea islands.

NATURE

Cumberland Island is only about an hour's drive and a short ferry ride south of St. Simons, and this national seashore (established by Congress three decades ago) is a monument to natural preservation. You can bask on the beach (wild ponies seem to enjoy their time on the beach as much as visitors do), add to your bird count (wood storks, herons, and ibis), or explore the inland forests and marshes where the deer and the ... alligators play.

SIGHTSEEING

Rent a beach cruiser. Not only are the low-tide strands perfect for cruising, but you can follow bike paths to most of St. Simon's landmarks. At the southern end of the island, ride beneath a double row of live oaks that date to the mid-1800s, the Avenue of the Oaks, then head back and stop for an ice cream at the pier in St. Simons Village before visiting the St. Simons Lighthouse (1872) museum. Make your way up island to Bloody Marsh, where Spain lost interest in Georgia after a 1742 defeat at the hands of British troops, then take a leisurely, 8-mile tour of exclusive Sea Island, where southern life-style reaches full flower.

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