Georgia Beaches and Barrier Islands: Every One You Can Actually Visit, Compared

Georgia has 14 barrier islands but only 3 public beaches you can drive to: Tybee ($4/hr), Jekyll ($10/car) and St. Simons (free). How to reach the rest.

By Hank Whitlock·Updated September 19, 2026·10 min read

Georgia’s coast is 100 miles long, according to the New Georgia Encyclopedia, and it is lined with 14 barrier islands. Only four of them, Tybee, St. Simons, Jekyll and Sea Island, can be reached by car, and Sea Island’s beach is for resort guests only. That leaves three public beaches you can drive to: St. Simons (free parking), Jekyll ($10 per car per day) and Tybee ($4 an hour). Every other island needs a ferry, a tour booking or your own boat.

Explore Georgia, the state tourism site, puts the coast at 110 miles and counts 15 islands, so you will see both figures. The table covers every island the public can set foot on, with fees and rules from each operator’s own page (checked September 19, 2026).

Every Georgia island you can visit, compared

Island	How you get there	What it costs to get on	Dogs on the beach	Lodging on the island	Best for
Tybee Island	Drive (US 80 from Savannah)	Parking $4/hour, 8 a.m.–8 p.m. every day; $25 day pass online	No, $300 fine	Yes: beach motels, cottages	A beach day from Savannah, the lighthouse
Little Tybee	Boat or kayak only	Free; no permit or reservation (per visittybee.com)	Not published	No buildings; camping allowed	Paddling, primitive camping
Wassaw (national wildlife refuge)	Boat only; no transport provided	No fee listed	No dogs on refuge land or beaches	None; open sunrise to sunset	Seven miles of undeveloped beach
Ossabaw	Hosted trips only, by boat charter	$50 per person ($300 minimum) for a guided walking tour, plus the boat	No pets on day trips	Only through the foundation’s approved programs	Education and history trips
St. Catherines	Private boat to the beach only	Not published	Not published	None for the public	Boaters only; the interior is closed
Blackbeard (national wildlife refuge)	Boat only; no transport provided	No fee listed	No dogs on refuge land or beaches	None; open sunrise to sunset	Surf fishing, wildlife watching
Sapelo	State ferry from Meridian, with a host or tour booking only	State tour: $15 (13+), $10 (6–12), free 5 and under, ferry included	Pets may ride the ferry (not in the cabin); not on state tours	Reynolds Mansion (groups of 16–25); Cabretta Campground	Gullah Geechee history at Hog Hammock
Little St. Simons	Resort boat from Hampton River Marina, St. Simons	Day trip $200 per person plus tax	No pets on the island	The Lodge: up to 32 guests	A near-private beach with a naturalist
St. Simons Island	Drive (F.J. Torras Causeway)	Free: no toll, and public parking is free	Yes; summer daytime ban on the pier-to-East Beach stretch	Yes: hotels, condos, rentals	The cheapest beach day, Pier Village
Sea Island	Drive, but the beach is for guests only	Resort stay required	Not published	The Cloister, The Lodge, The Inn, cottages	A luxury resort stay
Jekyll Island	Drive (causeway gate)	$10 per car per day; $15 over 8 ft; $100 a year	Yes, leash 16 ft or shorter; one closed stretch	Yes: hotels, historic club, rentals	Dogs, bikes, several beaches on one fee
Cumberland Island (national seashore)	Passenger ferry from St. Marys (45 min) or private boat	Ferry $44 adult (16+) plus tax, and a $15 park entrance pass per person 16+	Not on the ferry; by private boat, leashed, day visits only	Greyfield Inn; 5 campgrounds	Wild horses, ruins, empty beach

Two islands are left out: Little Cumberland is private, and on Wolf Island the refuge’s uplands, beach and marshes are closed to the public. Our beach parking and dog rules page has more detail on the four public beaches.

Which Georgia beach can you drive to?

Three public ones. Sea Island has a causeway too, but the Golden Isles visitors bureau says its beaches are “accessible by guests only.” The other three charge in very different ways (checked September 19, 2026):

Tybee Island charges $4.00 an hour through the app or a kiosk, enforced 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day of the year. A $25 day pass is sold online ($175 for seven days), and an annual decal costs $304. Tybee is 18 miles from downtown Savannah. See Tybee Island with kids for which stretch of beach to choose.
Jekyll Island charges every vehicle $10 a day at the gate, valid until midnight ($15 over 8 feet, $100 a year, and $5 more on Independence Day, Shrimp and Grits Festival and Holly Jolly Jekyll days). Bicycles and pedestrians enter free, and beach parking costs nothing extra.
St. Simons Island has no causeway toll, and parking is “free and public, except where posted,” according to stsimonsisland.com. Most of its 41 public beach access points have no parking, so aim for the Massengale Park or Coast Guard/East Beach lots.

Deciding between two of them? We compare them in Tybee Island vs Jekyll Island and Jekyll Island vs St. Simons.

Which Georgia islands need a ferry?

Two islands have scheduled public boats, and neither takes walk-ups the way a city ferry does (checked September 19, 2026).

Cumberland Island National Seashore

The passenger ferry leaves the mainland visitor center at 113 St. Marys Street in St. Marys, and the crossing takes 45 minutes. Fares are $44 for adults 16 and over, $42 for seniors 62 and over, $34 for ages 6–15 and free for 5 and under, plus tax. Everyone 16 and over also needs a $15 entrance pass, good for seven days. The park is cashless. Reservations open six months ahead, a month at a time, and the park warns that “due to visitation limits” walk-ins may be put on standby or turned away.

That limit is changing. A 1984 plan capped ferry passengers at 300 a day, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The park announced its final Visitor Use Management Plan on August 31, 2026, and the AJC reports it allows up to 700 a day. The park has published no start date and says it will phase changes in, so book as if the old cap still applies.

There are no restaurants or shops on the island, only water filling stations. The park asks you to stay at least 50 feet from its feral horses. Plum Orchard mansion is 7 miles north of the Sea Camp dock, so you need a bike to reach it. Its tours are free at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 2 p.m., but it closes during managed hunts, which run between October and January.

Sapelo Island

The state ferry leaves the Sapelo Island Visitors Center at 1766 Landing Rd. SE in Meridian, near Darien, and crosses in 20–30 minutes. You cannot just buy a ticket: the Sapelo Island National Estuarine Research Reserve says every visitor must be “pre-registered by a landowning host,” who books the ferry. The easiest host is the state public tour, on Wednesdays 8:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. and Saturdays 9 a.m.–1 p.m. (not the last Saturday of the month). It costs $15 for ages 13 and up, $10 for ages 6–12 and nothing for 5 and under, with the ferry included, for up to 15 people. Call (912) 437-3224 to book. Nothing is sold on the island, and the ferry won’t take bikes, coolers or beach chairs.

Hog Hammock, 434 acres, is the only part of the 16,500-acre island the state does not own, according to the New Georgia Encyclopedia, and most of Sapelo’s approximately 115 residents live there. Residents can host visitors, and one resident-run company, Sapelo Island Tours, books the ferry for its guests.

Boat-only islands with no ferry

Little Tybee, Wassaw, Blackbeard and the beach at St. Catherines are open to anyone who arrives by kayak, charter or private boat. Wassaw and Blackbeard, both wildlife refuges, are open sunrise to sunset, and the Fish and Wildlife Service provides no transport. On St. Catherines, the National Park Service says the beach “is accessible by private boat,” but the foundation-owned interior is closed. Ossabaw is stricter: every visit must be hosted by the Ossabaw Island Foundation or Georgia DNR and be for education or study, and the foundation’s FAQ says its day trips do not include the beach. Little St. Simons takes only lodge guests and its $200 day trips, whose dates are set a month ahead.

Which Georgia beaches allow dogs?

Only two islands really work for a beach day with a dog (checked September 19, 2026):

Jekyll Island: yes, all year. The Jekyll Island Authority requires a leash no longer than 16 feet, and an e-collar does not count. Dogs are not allowed on the beach between the South Dunes Picnic Area and 2,000 feet southeast of the St. Andrews Picnic Area.
St. Simons Island: yes, with a summer window. Glynn County bans dogs from the Saturday before Memorial Day through Labor Day, 9 a.m.–6 p.m., on the stretch between 16th Street (Gould’s Inlet/East Beach South) and Mallery Street (the pier). The rest of the time, dogs are welcome on all beach areas if they stay under immediate control. If a dog doesn’t reliably come when called, it needs a 10-foot leash.
Tybee Island: no. City code bans dogs and other pets from the beaches and the structures on them. The fine is $300, and trained service dogs are exempt.
Cumberland: only by private boat. The ferry carries only ADA service animals. Dogs that come by private boat must stay leashed, for the day only, and out of the campgrounds and the wilderness area, which covers most of the north half of the island.
No dogs: Wassaw and Blackbeard (both refuges ban dogs on trails and beaches), Little St. Simons (no pets on the island), and Ossabaw day trips (pets prohibited). On Sapelo, pets can ride the ferry outside the cabin with proof of rabies vaccination, but they are banned from state tours and from Reynolds Mansion.

For inland options, see our dog policies for 303 Georgia places.

Which Georgia island is least crowded?

No agency publishes daily beach counts for Tybee, St. Simons or Jekyll. The islands that cap visitors are the quiet ones:

Little St. Simons: the lodge takes up to 32 overnight guests, and each day trip is limited to eight people, along seven miles of beach.
Sapelo: every visitor needs a host, and the state tour takes up to 15 people.
Cumberland: the park receives 60,000 visitors a year, or about 165 a day, according to the AJC, with ferry passengers capped at 300 a day until the new plan takes effect.
Wassaw and Blackbeard: no ferry, no facilities and no overnight stays. Wassaw has seven miles of undeveloped beach, according to the refuge.

What should you do in your situation?

Day trip from Savannah: Tybee. It is 18 miles from downtown, and a $25 day pass beats the meter once you stay past six hours.
With a dog: Jekyll, any time of year, on a leash of 16 feet or less. St. Simons works outside summer or before 9 a.m. and after 6 p.m.
On a budget: St. Simons. There is no toll, and public beach parking is free.
With a toddler: a drive-to beach. Cumberland means a 45-minute boat ride, no shops and a long walk to the beach. See Tybee with kids.
Wild horses and empty sand: Cumberland. Book the ferry when your month opens, six months ahead.
Your own kayak: Little Tybee, which is free, needs no permit and allows camping.
Seeing the whole coast: follow our 5-day Savannah to Cumberland road trip.

FAQ

How long is the coast of Georgia?

The New Georgia Encyclopedia gives Georgia’s coast as 100 miles long, and the state tourism site Explore Georgia says 110. NOAA counts 2,344 miles of tidal shoreline once every sound, river and creek is included.

How many barrier islands does Georgia have?

The New Georgia Encyclopedia lists 14 barrier islands, from Tybee in the north to Cumberland in the south; Explore Georgia counts 15. Only Tybee, St. Simons, Sea Island and Jekyll connect to the mainland by road, and Sea Island’s beach is for resort guests only.

Do you need a reservation for the Cumberland Island ferry?

Reservations are recommended and open six months ahead, a month at a time. The park warns that last-minute walk-ins may be put on standby or turned away. Fares are $44 for adults 16 and over plus tax, and a separate $15 park entrance pass covers each visitor 16 and over (checked September 19, 2026).

Can you visit Sapelo Island without a tour?

Only with a host. Every Sapelo visitor must be pre-registered by a landowning host, such as a Hog Hammock resident, Georgia DNR or the research reserve, and the host books the state ferry from Meridian. The simplest option is the state public tour, which runs on Wednesday and Saturday mornings for $15 (ages 13 and up).

Which Georgia beach is free?

St. Simons Island. The F.J. Torras Causeway has no toll, and public parking on the island is free except where businesses post otherwise. Jekyll charges $10 per car per day, and Tybee charges $4 an hour or $25 for a day pass (checked September 19, 2026).

Are dogs allowed on Georgia beaches?

On Jekyll Island, yes, all year on a leash of 16 feet or less, except one closed stretch. On St. Simons, yes, except 9 a.m.–6 p.m. from the Saturday before Memorial Day through Labor Day between 16th Street and the pier. Tybee bans dogs from the beach, with a $300 fine.

How we checked this guide: Dates, hours, admission and parking prices, and access details were verified against the official sources listed below on September 19, 2026. Operators change schedules and raise prices without notice, so confirm anything time-sensitive before you drive. The figures in this guide also feed our Georgia Attraction Transparency Index and Family Day-Out Cost Index.

Sources

About Hank Whitlock

Hank Whitlock is the pen name of the It's Georgia editor. Every guide is built around the questions a busy family actually asks before a trip: how long is the drive, what does parking cost, can the stroller make it, are dogs allowed. Details are checked against official park, city, and venue sources, and each guide shows the date it was last updated.