- Tybee Island, a sunny barrier island near Savannah, Georgia, celebrates the season with “Olde Tybee Christmas.”
- The festivities include a tree lighting, a lighted golf cart parade, a holiday market with local crafts, and fireworks over the beach on New Year’s Eve.
- Visitors can also enjoy year-round coastal adventures like sea turtle programs, tide pool talks, and kayaking around Little Tybee Island.
When most people picture the holidays, they imagine rosy cheeks, mittened hands, and fresh snow. Few think of sun and sand. But on Tybee Island, a barrier island just outside Savannah, Georgia, sun and sand go hand in hand with Christmas. The locals even have a name for it: an Olde Tybee Christmas.
An Olde Tybee Christmas looks something like this: palm trees covered with twinkling Christmas lights, golf carts sporting wreathes, lights, and bows, and a calendar of events where locals turn up in a merry mishmash of Santa hats, Christmas sweaters, and flip-flops. And since Tybee Island is known for its wide, sandy beaches, the holidays naturally revolve around the shoreline, with locals inserting plenty of beach time into their Christmas traditions.
The island’s take on holiday fun begins with the Annual Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony on Dec. 1. You can join island residents and visitors for a fun evening centered around the lighting of the town Christmas tree near the roundabout on Tybrisa Street, which ends steps from the ocean and leads to the scenic Tybee Beach Pier.
Next is the Annual Christmas Parade of Lights on Dec. 12. It may be void of snow, but participants in this cheerful parade don’t seem to mind. The fun runs through the decorated streets of Tybee, turning the Christmas lights-adorned town into a winter wonderland. (Plus, Santa typically makes an appearance along the beach.)
Tybee Island is a barrier island and small city located around 25 minutes from central Savannah by car. The nearest airport is Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport (SAV), which is around 45 minutes from the heart of Tybee by car.
The next day (Dec. 13), the Tybee Island Holiday Market takes place at the 16th Street parking lot off Tybrisa Street. The market connects shoppers with local vendors who are selling unique Tybee-made gifts and handmade treasures. Plentiful holiday treats fuel the day, which also includes live holiday music, kids’ activities, and games for everyone.
Typically, the holiday season on Tybee Island wraps with fireworks on New Year’s Eve (a show that can be seen from anywhere on the island), and a Jan. 1 polar plunge into the cold Atlantic Ocean from the Tybee Beach Pier.
In addition to Christmas-focused activities on the island, the Tybee Island Marine Science Center runs ongoing activities year-round, including offerings like tide pool talks, sea turtle programs, beach clean-ups, and kayaking trips to Little Tybee Island.
