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I lived in Savannah for 3 years when in college (Savannah College of Art & Design).
Summary:
River Street is probably the most popular place to find decent good and drink along with a good view of the river. Nice cobblestones and small stores give it a small town feel. Some inclue Huey's, Kevin Barry's, Moon River Brewing, etc. There are good pizza places like Vinnie Van Go Go's off of Bay Street which runs parallel to River St. In the downtown area there are also a few small places while walking around near the State Street area. Off of Broughton St. there is a square that has some nice shops and on the weekends gets pretty lively. They usualy have live bands in the square and there are a number of bars and cigar shops that can be fun. There is also a nice little martini bar on the corner of Broughton and MLK.
If you are looking for good coffee shops look around the Forsyth Park area which has the Sentient Bean which is popular off of Park ave, take a stroll around Forsyth while you are there, great park. There are also many others in the area, lots of little shops and coffee houses amongst the old homes. SCAD, the local college also has a nice place to eat and grab some tea at the Gryphon Tea room, which is affiliated with the college but is open to all. It is on bull St. which can be accessed by the two one way streets Whittaker and Drayton.
Broughton St. is the main downtown area off of MLK BLVD and has your typical stores like Subway and the typical consumer shops. There is a good gyro place here if you are looking for something quick and a nice mexican restaurant at the end near where it turns into E Broad. E Broad past liberty is very poverty stricken as is MLK BLVD past Gaston St. Anything past Victory Dr. is also very poverty stricken and should probably be avoided.
The bugs where probably palmetto bugs. I lived out on the islands and they were everywhere. Nasty huge roach like bugs that where everywhere, on the streets, in your homes, disgusting. People get used to them but being from the Northeast I never got used to them.
The weather is pretty horrid in the summers, gets very hot and stagnant and the downtown papermill smell can be horrible. You learn to live with it though and the winters are nice. Also while it does rain, it doesn't rain like it does in the NE for like a whole day, typically short bursts.
The beach out in the islands is very nice, the water is not clear like in Puerto Rico or even parts of Florida and rather murky from the high concentrations of silt but at least the water is nice n warm. There is also good fishing on the docks. There is a nice lighthouse that you can visit too and get some good pics. Usually it is pretty lively out there most of the year.
The biggest common shopping areas (think Walmart, Best Buy etc) are probably past victory drive. If you take Abercorn St. all the way out it leads too all the malls, shopping, more common restaurants and stores that are seen across the country as opposed to the smaller shops found in the downtown area.
Other things to do are check out the big parks. Savannah College hosts the annual sidewalk festival at Forsyth Park where college artists paint on the sidewalks in chalk, very cool. They host bands regularly there and is fun. Good place to meet people and a good walk with the old houses and cobblestones surrounding the area. There are a number of smaller ones too, one in the downtown area hosts an annual Ferrari festival *Droool* and is the host of probably the nicest hotel in town.
Tried to cover much of it, any questions just let me know. It's been a few years since I've lived there but I'll try to remember anything else if asked. Oh and as others have noted you must go to St. Patty's Day. They shut down the downtown area and a couple to a few hundred thousand people come in like a mini Mardi Gras. Oktoberfest is much smaller but a similar type of event.
Have a good stay,
Neil
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