Summer weekends in Statesboro get boring quickly, but luckily places for a weekend getaway are close by.

Being only an hour and a half away, Tybee Island is the closest beach to Statesboro. This makes it a popular getaway choice for Georgia Southern University students and Statesboro residents. And if lounging around the beach all day still doesn’t sound exciting enough, Southern Adventures offers all-day kayaking trips to Tybee throughout the summer.

“We offer trips so students can have an outdoor experience over the summer, and it’s a good stress relief from summer classes,” Southern Adventures Program Director Jenn Velie said.

“All of our trips in the fall and spring have filled up quickly, and our summer ones fill up as well, and are pretty popular. We still have a few spots left,” Velie said.

If Tybee feels too been there, done that, Hilton Head Island is also only an hour and a half away. There’s plenty to do, from multiple beaches, zip-line tours, hiking trips and more than enough shops at Tanger Outlets to break the bank. Hilton Head has something for everyone. The island also hosts three different Fourth of July firework shows every year on three different beaches.

“Taking a day trip to the beach would be really cool on a day I don’t have class. For Memorial Day weekend, I’m taking an extra-long drive and spend it in Myrtle Beach,” sophomore education major Mary Parton said.

At two hours and 45 minutes away from Statesboro, Jacksonville, Fl is a further drive. But also has a wide variety of things to do.

For students that want to learn how beer is brewed, the Anheuser-Busch Brewery in Jacksonville offers tours where visitors get to see everything from the raw ingredients to those big steel vats all the way to the bottling line. As an added bonus, two free samples are given with every tour, if you’re 21 of course.

Jacksonville also has a fishing pier great for fishermen and surfers alike, along with theatres, museums and the Amelia River Cruise – which starts at the Fernandina waterfront and cruises all the way up to Cumberland Island, Ga. – the largest wilderness barrier island in the county.

And last but not least, what better way to escape a college town than to head to another college town. Charleston, S.C. may be three hours away but has loads of live music, small boutiques and a vast amount of mom and pop restaurants. And there’s always King Street where you can bar-hop and window-shop a mixture of well-known shops and local boutiques.

And if none of these places sound the least bit appealing there’s always the classic weekend trip to Savannah.