The low coastline of South Carolina and Georgia constantly touches your forearm with warm, alluring fingers and says, “Wait. You can’t go yet. I have more to show you—a beach, a misty old graveyard, a wonderful restaurant where the shrimpers eat.” Charleston and Beaufort, Savannah and Sea Island, are jewels along the humid, slow-moving coast somewhere seaward of I-95.

Day One: Aiken to Charleston, South Carolina (126 miles)

On U.S. 78, in South Carolina, the flatlands between Aiken and coastal Charleston offer a vivid palette of clean, pure greens in the slanting late light, a land of enormous richness. The trees, pavement, and little general stores set in groves of Southern pine shine as though they’ve just been rained on.

Charleston should be added to the painfully short list of American cities with true character. Be sure to visit one of its historic cemeteries: “In this churchyard is buried Josiah Flagg, first native-born American to make dentistry his life’s work,” reads the marker in one such graveyard.

From the top floor of Charleston Place, the city’s most luxurious hotel (its restaurant is superb), the low, colorful rooftops, steeples, and waterfront warehouses and markets seem almost mythical in the sunset, like a Graham Greene invention or something out of a Nordhoff and Hall Bounty novel.

Day Two: Charleston to Beaufort, South Carolina (146 miles)

For a magnificent view of the city’s shoreline, take the tour boat at the head of Charleston Harbor to Fort Sumter. From its fantail can be seen a quietly exotic vista of great mansions perched at the water’s edge, and a skyline broken only by steeples and, farther upstream, corrugated banana sheds. The fort was moved stone by stone from New England after the War of 1812, when the indignity of having the Brits cruise up the unguarded Potomac put the coast artillery into business. (Of course, Sumter ultimately went down in history for the Rebel round that burst over it in 1861, beginning a different war.) Then head south on U.S. 17 to Beaufort and check in to the superb Rhett House Inn, an atmospheric Tara of a town house with white columns, sprawling verandas, and a serious take on Southern hospitality. Try Bistro 205 for innovative sushi and seafood dishes.

Day Three: Beaufort to Savannah, Georgia (138 miles)

The Parris Island Marine boot camp—the equivalent of the Halls of Montezuma for those of the John Wayne generation—is just off Beaufort. The small base museum exhibits publicity stills from movies about the Marines, accompanied by stern commentary on what sort of cinematic reincarnations irk that elite force: “Bruce Dern’s portrayal of a long-haired Marine . . . illustrates how inaccuracies of appearance occur in Hollywood movies which do not receive Corps cooperation.”

Hunting Island State Park is a beautiful low-country beach whose slow, secret approach takes you through terrain resembling rain forest, with ferns and fronds, palmettos and broad-leafed plants. The beach itself is mock South Pacific, a narrow strand hard up against a sheltering grove of pines and palmettos. Stay at Savannah’s Hamilton-Turner Inn, which sits in frothy Victorian splendor on historic Lafayette Square, and have dinner at the Sapphire Grill, which offers an eclectic Southern menu.

Day Four: Savannah to Sea Island, Georgia (142 miles)

Nothing in the great European cities is any more charming than the leafy, monumental-yet-intimate squares that dot Savannah; if Forsyth Park were transplanted to London or Paris, it would be a graceful addition.

Near the waterfront, the steep stone steps leading down to cobbled tunnels and alleys are almost Genoese in their damp, dark mystery. Stop at Mrs. Wilkes’ Dining Room for lunch, where an average day will see 16 different dishes on the communal table. Diners take a seat wherever one’s empty and pay the register $12 when they leave.

Halfway from Savannah to Brunswick—and the causeway to Sea Island—head onto two-lane Route 17. This “back way” at points becomes a long, straight, atmospheric alley roofed by live oaks and tendrils of Spanish moss. The only hazards are the huge tractor-trailers carrying loads of immense Southern pines. Stay (and dine) at The Cloister on Sea Island. This living Ralph Lauren ad is the kind of resort where families return for generations to be photographed in their pastel sport jackets, and where perfect-looking little children are trailed by their sexy, leggy Southern mothers.

Pit Stops

Beaufort

Rhett House Inn (888-480-9530; www.rhetthouseinn.com; doubles, $175–$350). Bistro 205 (843-524-4994; entrées, $19–$26).

Charleston

Charleston Place (843-722-4900; orientexpress.com; doubles, $399–$499). Charleston Grill (entrées, $19–$30).

Savannah

Hamilton-Turner Inn (912-233-1833; hamilton-turnerinn.com; doubles, $169–$310). Sapphire Grill (912-443-9962; entrées, $16–$27). Mrs. Wilkes’ Dining Room (912-232-5997; mrswilkes.com; prix fixe, $12).

Sea Island

The Cloister (912-638-3611; seaisland.com; doubles, $436–$788; prix fixe, $51).