Tybee Island Beach Rentals: Chairs, Umbrellas, and Getting Set Up on the Sand

The worst part of a Tybee beach day is the part before it: hauling a folded chair, an umbrella, and a cooler across hot sand while everyone asks how much farther. The island has a better system. A handful of local companies will have a full setup waiting on the sand when you arrive — and if your beach day needs more than shade, the same island rents jet skis, pontoon boats, and kayaks by the water.

This guide covers the whole gear decision: who sets up chairs and umbrellas on Tybee, where on the island each outfit works, and what to add when a day of sitting still isn't the plan. Everything here is on the record from the island's own verified listings — no guessed prices, no invented hours, just what each company actually does and how to reach them. If you're still deciding whether Tybee earns a day of your trip, our Tybee day trip guide makes that case; this page is for after you've said yes.

Disclosure: Some links in this guide are affiliate links, including our check-rates buttons. If you book through them, The Local Savannah may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. We only feature places we'd recommend to a friend — commissions never determine our picks.

The Three Ways to Get Set Up

Tybee's beach gear scene sorts into three moves, and picking between them is the whole decision:

• Full-setup service — a company places chairs and an umbrella on the sand for you, at your chosen access point, before you arrive. You walk on with a towel.
• The North Beach stand — the same idea from a fixed spot near the lighthouse, closest to the island's quiet end.
• Luxury turnkey setups — cabanas, lounge chairs, and the works, styled and waiting, aimed at groups, bachelorette parties, and people celebrating something.

None of these require you to own, pack, or drag anything. That's the point.

Burke's Beach Rentals — the On-Sand Setup Service

Burke's Beach Rentals is the family-owned setup operation that puts chairs and jumbo umbrellas directly on the sand at Tybee's major beach access points — 14th Street, 15th Street, 3rd Street, 4th Street, and the stretch behind Hotel Tybee. They also rent floats alongside the chairs and umbrellas, and the whole business is built around one idea: you book, they set up, you show up.

The location list matters more than it looks. 3rd and 4th Street put you near the pier and the busy South Beach scene; 14th and 15th put you further down the strand where it's more residential and quieter. Booking a setup spot is quietly also a decision about which beach day you want — the people-watching end or the calm end. If the where-to-sleep side of that choice is still open, our Tybee hotels guide breaks the island's four stays down by the same north-south logic.

Tybee North Beach Rentals — the Lighthouse-End Stand

Tybee North Beach Rentals is the fixed gear stand of the quiet end — a prime North Beach location near North Beach Grill and the Tybee Lighthouse, renting standard beach chairs, lounge chairs, and jumbo umbrellas with on-site setups. It's the practical pick if you're basing at the north end anyway: the lighthouse, the fishing pier's calmer cousin, and the residential streets are all right there.

One booking note: Tybee North Beach Rentals operates by phone — no website on record. The listed number is (912) 484-6535. Call ahead rather than counting on walking up.

Castles in the Sand — the Turnkey Luxury Setup

Castles in the Sand does beach days as a designed experience: luxury cabana and umbrella setups, plush lounge chairs, beach games, and coolers with ice, all styled on the sand and finished before you arrive. The company works mobile across the whole island, and its custom event and bachelorette setups are the reason it exists — this is the outfit for a group celebrating something, not a family that just needs two chairs.

If the beach day is one chapter of a bigger weekend, this is the level-up option. Pair it with the right base camp and the weekend plans itself — where to stay in Savannah covers the city side, and the Tybee hotels guide covers the island side.

When Sitting Still Isn't the Plan: On-Island Watersports

A chair and an umbrella is the quiet version of a Tybee day. The loud version rents by the hour:

• Tybee Island Watersports (4 Old US Hwy 80) runs the full spread — guided jet ski tours built around dolphin sightings on Yamaha Waverunners, pontoon boat rentals, floating tiki boat party cruises, plus kayak and paddleboard rentals. One stop covers everything with a throttle.
• Aqua Dawg Kayak Company is the local salt-marsh paddling operation — guided kayak eco-tours, single and tandem kayak rentals, and, true to the name, canine-friendly kayak trips for travelers whose dog deserves a seat too. They run shuttle services as well.

One detour worth knowing about even though it's not a rental: Tybee Beach Ecology Trips leads low-tide beach walks led personally by marine biologist Dr. Joe Richardson, with nets and specimen trays — the version of a beach day that comes home knowing what lives in the tidal pools.

For the complete bookable inventory — every outfitter, launch, and rental operation in the coverage area — the water sports and beach rentals directory is the full list, and our Savannah tours overview covers the guided side of the same water.

A Booking Checklist, Without the Guesswork

What the verified listings support, plainly:

• Decide your beach first, then your gear. The setup services split by geography — South Beach access points for the pier-and-scene end, North Beach for the lighthouse quiet. The gear follows the address.
• Book the setup before the beach day, not during it. Every operation here takes reservations as its primary channel; the on-sand stands are the fallback, not the plan.
• Match the service to the day. Two chairs and an umbrella is a Burke's-shaped day. A styled cabana with games and a stocked cooler is a Castles-shaped day. A jet ski tour is neither — it's its own morning.
• No prices or hours are published in the verified listings — so this guide doesn't pretend to know them. Each operator's official site above carries its own current numbers, and the directory hub keeps the full contact list current.

Making the Day of It

Gear sorted, the rest of the day writes itself. Start with the things to do guide's beach and Tybee sections for the full picture, or keep it island-only: a morning on the water with a kayak or jet ski tour, sand time under your rented umbrella, and a slow evening back in town. If the night runs long, the live music guide knows which rooms are playing, and after dark the ghost tours guide takes over the city's other industry.

And if the setup service convinced you that the beach deserves more than a day — it usually does — Tybee is a very reasonable place to sleep. Check rates at Hotel Tybee for the South Beach classic, or check rates at Surf Song for the North Beach Victorian — and the hotels directory hub compares every property in town.