It isn’t easy being green — unless you’re in Savannah on St. Patrick’s Day. The city throws the South’s most famous and the Southeast’s largest St. Patrick’s Day Celebration, and the third largest in the country outside Boston and New York City. The Historic District marks the holiday with festivities along the waterfront and a parade where the streets are lined with revelers in green with cocktails and grits dyed to match.

Other annual celebrations that make your time in Savannah extra fun are the city’s music festival, film festival, jazz festival and book festival, where authors like Nicholas Sparks and Stephen King have made appearances.