In need of a break from the often dreaded March snowstorms here in Maine, my mother and I flew down to South Carolina to meet my sister for a girls getaway to Montage Palmetto Bluff. No stranger to the idyllic Palmetto Bluff community, with its endless supply of Spanish moss-covered live oaks, charming coastal cottages, and abundance of bike paths waiting to be explored, I was excited to be back in this southern haven after six long years away.

A lot has changed since my first visit to Palmetto Bluff in 2011 and the one I shared with Michael and Orvis the following year. The property, including the inn and its quaint cottages overlooking the May River, formerly owned by Auberge Resorts, was purchased by Montage Hotels & Resorts in 2014 and underwent a $100 million dollar expansion that was completed in 2016. This included the construction of 150 new guest rooms and suites, 74 of which are housed in the brand new inn, built to resemble the property’s original mansion that burned to the ground in 1926.

Having so many fond memories from our 2012 trip, I was admittedly a little apprehensive about whether or not I’d  love this newer (bigger!) version of Palmetto Bluff as much as I’d enjoyed its predecessor. Thankfully, my fears were for naught. Yes, the property feels bigger and more developed today than it was in 2012, but the expansion and renovation was done with such care and thought.

The quaint cottages we stayed in during our last two trips to Palmetto Bluff are still available to reserve, but with three of us on this trip, we opted to stay in a larger suite in the main inn. This worked out quite well and put us just steps away from two of the pools, a couple of the restaurants, one of the workout facilities, and the beautiful spa (which I ended up visiting everyday). Bikes are also available to rent, opening up all of the expansive 20,000 acre property to inn guests.

Between bicycling through the property, stopping off at each new “favorite” home in the village, my daily visits to the luxurious spa, and our delicious meals at all of the property’s restaurants, I couldn’t have imagined a better way to spend a warm-weather weekend falling in love with Palmetto Bluff all over again.

Photos by Meredith Perdue for Map & Menu.