Hotel Review

Montage Palmetto Bluff

A Luxury Resort IN SOUTH CAROLINA

MARIA DIEGO

November 19, 2021

Montage Palmetto Bluff is located 30 minutes outside of Savannah, Georgia in Bluffton, South Carolina. It is a private, exclusive resort destination that is the perfect vacation for the whole family in the most beautiful, picturesque setting.

Perfect For: Families | Multigenerational Travel | Romantic Getaways | Weddings

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Location: Palmetto Bluff, in Bluffton, South Carolina, 18 miles north of Savannah, Georgia.

Getting There: Montage Palmetto Bluff’s closest airport is Savannah, Georgia, but you can also fly into Hilton Head, which are about a 35 minute drive to the property (airport codes HHH or HXD).

Vibe: Montage Palmetto Bluff is a picturesque resort set within a sprawling 20,000-acre development in Bluffton, South Carolina. The community is made up of tree-lined rows of 2- story brick houses with white picket fences and gas-lit lamp posts. It’s a step back in time to another era where you can fully disconnect and enjoy the natural surroundings of the South.

History: The area of Palmetto Bluff is steeped in a rich history, with the original mansion that is now owned by Montage Palmetto Bluff belonging to the Wilson family in the 1920s. Nobody knows how, but the original mansion burned down in 1926, and there’s a record that Mrs. Wilson ran into the burning building to salvage her shoe collection, tossing the shoes out of the second-story window out to the grassy lawn below. The Wilson family pet cemetery can also still be found on property. The area of Palmetto Bluff used to be a hunting and fishing retreat up until the 1950s. Pat Conroy is a beloved writer of the area, and his memoir, The Water is Wide, tells the story of the area, if you’re interested in the history.

Accomodations: 200 resort accommodations with more private residences being added

Food & Beverage: Montage Palmetto Bluff currently has 7 restaurants that are quite spread out around the property, so it is helpful to reserve based on the activities you will be doing for that day. I also recommend a golf cart rental, to easily get around the area without having to rely on the transportation provided by the resort. The Canoe Club is a more formal option for dinner and one that I highly recommend booking well in advance. Octagon is the restaurant in the main inn, where you will likely eat most of your breakfast meals, particularly if they come included with your stay as they do when you book with Diego Travel..

Wellness: Spa Montage provides a full service salon and spa that caters to the many wedding groups they have and offers a private pool, exclusive to guests of the spa. They also have a steam room and sauna located in the ladies’ and men’s locker rooms that you can enjoy before your relaxing treatments that use Valmont and Tata Harper skin care products.

Things to Do at Palmetto Bluff: Montage Palmetto Bluff offers tennis, golf, biking, and boating, among other activities for grown ups and kids. Palmetto Bluff Shooting Club is located about 10-15 minutes from property is offers clay shooting and air rifle for kids. Families can also enjoy the several tree houses around property, the Paintbox kids club program, and the Montage Merit Badges that kids can receive as they complete each of the unique programs on property. The resort has 3 different pools that can be used exclusively by Montage Palmetto Bluff guests, thought Bluffton itself has others that can be used by homeowners.

What Sets It Apart: Montage Palmetto Bluff is your ideal destination for your group event such a wedding, corporate retreat or incentive trip. It really is its own township and offers versatile accommodations that would be a good fit for any group. Ever since Justin Bieber was married on property, it’s been in high-demand for destination weddings, for its picturesque and fairytale setting.

How Much Does Montage Palmetto Bluff Cost? How much does it cost? Nightly rates start around $495 in low season for a forest view King room in the main inn and go upwards of $4,000 for multi-bedroom residences.

Diego Travel Loves: The ease and convenience of having everything right there. You really don’t need to leave the Bluff to explore outside; though we recommend chartering a boat (contact us to reserve yours!) to explore the local islands that can only be accessed by boat.

Diego Travel Extras at Montage Palmetto Bluff

Extras You’ll Get with Diego Travel:

$100+ resort credit
Daily breakfast credit
Upgrade at time of booking, subject to availability
Early check-in/late check-out, subject to availability

Montage Palmetto Bluff Insider Tips:

You can do a guided day to Daufuskie Island and learn about the rich local history and culture, while enjoying lunch at a delicious local spot, or you can arrange an oyster roast on nearby Paige Island. When you book your stay with Diego Travel, we can include these experiences to make your stay truly unique and unforgettable.

Summary of Our Stay at HMontage Palmetto Bluff:

I decided to plan my birthday weekend to Montage Palmetto Bluff at the end of August since it’s a destination that I book often, but had never experienced for myself. The flight schedule was perfect, so we were able to enjoy a long weekend without the kids missing any school. The immense live oak trees on the drive into the Bluff are breathtaking, and the rows of gas-lit iron lamp posts signal that you’re near arrival as you pull up to the recreation of the historical Wilson mansion. Everyone was friendly, and while we waited briefly to check-in, the kids ran back and forth on the expansive green lawn to get their pent-up energy out from the short flight.

The first night we had dinner at Buffalo’s, aptly named for the buffalos that use to roam the property prior to it becoming a development. Service was friendly and the food looked delicious, but our plates were hit or miss in terms of taste. The atmosphere was lively, and you definitely need a dining reservation for every meal when visiting Montage Palmetto Bluff, especially because guests are welcome from both residences and off the Bluff. I recommend booking dinners at least a month out for best availability.

Our creek view cottage was spacious – more space than we’re accustomed to when traveling with our 3 kids – since we were upgraded at time of booking, which is what you’ll also receive when booking your stay with Diego Travel. Because we didn’t have time to pick up our golf cart the previous night, we waited quite a bit of time for a ride to the tennis courts on our first morning, which made us a bit late for the kids’ tennis lessons. However, the resort was extremely apologetic and comped our tennis lessons. Had we known the lay of the land, we also could have walked, but I do recommend having the golf cart set up from arrival, as it’s much easier to get around property with the kids. If you’re traveling without kids, you can probably just have the bike rentals, which would be a fun way to get from each point.

Tennis Lessons at Montage Palmetto Bluff

After tennis, we enjoyed breakfast at Octagon’s, and then had time to visit the pool by the Canoe Club in the afternoon. We saw alligators in both the lagoon and over by the Canoe Club, so be careful with letting your little ones get too close!

I wanted to experience as much as possible, so I signed up for activities in advance from shooting, to a boat charter, to the spa, and enjoyed all of them as my clients would. My main takeaway is that it takes a very long time to get from one point to another as everything is much more spread out than I had envisioned, so be sure to allow enough time between meals and activities. And also remember that you’re in the South, so the pace is slow!

Our second night we had dinner at Cole’s, which is in the Moreland area where the evening kids club is located and the bowling alley. While the kids enjoyed that, we had dinner with our 4- year-old since kids have to be 5 to enjoy the kids club. Our Southern dinner was delicious, particularly my husband’s fried chicken plate. We highly recommend! At the end of the night, we caught the shuttle back to the main inn, where we met our older kids at the s’mores station where they were on their 2nd or 3rd gluten-free s’mores. They did not want to turn in!

Montage Palmetto Bluff was a perfect long weekend to have some fun activities with the kids, with something for everyone. My clients who belong to country clubs or tennis and golf clubs love it because it offers world-class facilities to play all of these sports. While I don’t personally play tennis or golf, I appreciated the great lessons that my kids had, but we particularly loved the day out on the boat that we enjoyed with Captain Gio. He was a fantastic guide and shared stories from the area that we would never have experienced had we not done the boat charter. I would be thrilled to set up my clients with Gio to do some of these unique experiences to see the area from a different perspective.

When you plan your trip, reach out to us and we will take care of all the details while getting you all the added amenities, whether you’re planning a visit for your honeymoon or for your company retreat. We can assist with it all.

Let’s Get Planning!