The Southeast's capital — Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the Georgia Aquarium, the BeltLine's Eastside Trail, Ponce City Market in the Old Fourth Ward, and a Midtown rental cluster minutes from Hartsfield-Jackson.
Atlanta sits at 1,050 feet in the foothills of the Appalachians, the highest-elevation major U.S. city east of the Mississippi. Mercedes-Benz Stadium (the Falcons and Atlanta United) and State Farm Arena (the Hawks) anchor a downtown sports core a half-mile from the Georgia Aquarium, the World of Coca-Cola, and Centennial Olympic Park. The Eastside Trail of the BeltLine — a 22-mile rail-bed conversion encircling the city — links Piedmont Park, the Atlanta Botanical Garden, Ponce City Market in the converted Sears warehouse, Krog Street Market in Inman Park, and the Old Fourth Ward where Dr. King was born. Hartsfield-Jackson International (ATL) — the world's busiest airport — runs 275,000 passengers a day eight miles south of downtown, and the Midtown / Buckhead rental corridor along Peachtree Street is 15–25 minutes north.
Walk the Eastside Trail of the BeltLine, tour the Martin Luther King Jr. birth home, see the whale sharks at the Georgia Aquarium, catch a Falcons or Atlanta United game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, and the High Museum of Art's permanent collection.
The Eastside Trail of the Atlanta BeltLine is the most-used segment — a 3-mile paved path on the old Norfolk Southern rail bed connecting Piedmont Park to Inman Park. Murals, breweries (New Realm, Wrecking Bar), Ponce City Market in the middle, and Krog Street Market at the southern end. Free; rideshare or rental e-scooters at Piedmont Park's 10th Street trailhead. The locals'-favorite Saturday-afternoon walk.
The largest aquarium in the Western Hemisphere — 11 million gallons, four whale sharks, beluga whales, manta rays, and the Ocean Voyager exhibit's 6.3-million-gallon tank. About $43 adult admission; pair with the World of Coca-Cola and Centennial Olympic Park for a downtown half-day. The most-recommended Atlanta family stop.
A 35-acre National Park Service site on Auburn Avenue in the Sweet Auburn / Old Fourth Ward neighborhood — Dr. King's birth home (501 Auburn Avenue), Ebenezer Baptist Church (where he co-pastored), and the King Center with the crypt and eternal flame. Free entry; the birth-home tour is timed-ticket only.
The Southeast's largest art museum — at the Woodruff Arts Center on Peachtree Street in Midtown. Strong Italian Renaissance, Impressionist, and folk-art collections; the Anna Ruby Falls–like Richard Meier 1983 building is a destination on its own. About $18 adult admission; the most-recommended cultural stop in Midtown.
The 71,000-seat retractable-roof stadium opened in 2017 in the Vine City district downtown — the petal-shaped roof is the most architecturally distinctive NFL venue in the U.S. The Falcons play August through January; Atlanta United (MLS) plays March through October. Concession prices were famously cut to $2 hot dogs and $5 beers in 2017 and have stayed there.
The 22-acre park built for the 1996 Summer Olympics holds the Fountain of Rings (the world's largest interactive fountain in the shape of the five Olympic rings), seasonal events (Holiday in Lights in December, the Fourth of July fireworks), and direct access to the Georgia Aquarium and World of Coca-Cola. Free entry; the locals'-favorite downtown afternoon plan.
30 acres adjacent to Piedmont Park in Midtown — the conservatory's tropical orchid collection, the Storza Woods canopy walk, and the Imaginary Worlds horticultural sculptures. About $25 adult admission; the springtime tulip and seasonal Holiday Lights are the calendar's tentpoles.
A 92,000-square-foot Coca-Cola brand experience across from the Georgia Aquarium — the Vault of the Secret Formula, the bottling line, and the Taste It! room with 100+ Coca-Cola products from around the world (Beverly from Italy is the famous tongue-tester). About $19 adult admission; doable in 90 minutes.
Atlanta is the rare American city where you can see Hank Aaron's bat at the Atlanta History Center in the morning, walk the Eastside Trail through three neighborhoods to a Krog Street Market lunch, tour the Martin Luther King Jr. birth home on Auburn Avenue, and watch a Falcons game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium that night — and your rental is 25 minutes from the airport for an early-Monday flight out.
Piedmont Park's 200 acres in Midtown, Stone Mountain Park's granite outcrop, the Atlanta History Center's Cyclorama, the Buckhead shopping at Lenox Square, the Buford Highway international-food corridor, and the Truist Park Braves game across the city in The Battery.
200 acres in Midtown — the largest urban park in Atlanta, with a swimming pool, dog park, the Atlanta Botanical Garden's adjoining gate, the Saturday Green Market, and the city skyline view from the meadow. Free entry; the city's central public space and the Eastside BeltLine's northern landing.
Sixteen miles east of downtown — the largest exposed granite outcrop in the world, with a 1.3-mile walk-up trail to the 1,683-foot summit, the Confederate Memorial Carving (the largest bas-relief in the world), and the summer-evening Lasershow Spectacular over the lake. $20 parking; the locals' family Saturday move.
A 48-mile river corridor running through the metro's north suburbs — the Cochran Shoals trailhead at the Powers Ferry unit is the most-used segment, with 8 miles of flat riverside trail. Inflatable-tube floats run from the Johnson Ferry trailhead summer weekends. Free entry to the trails; tube rental about $25 through Shoot the Hooch.
The original Six Flags theme park (since 1967) — 12 miles west of downtown in Austell. Roller coasters (Goliath, Twisted Cyclone, the wooden Great American Scream Machine) plus Hurricane Harbor water park add-on. Day passes around $50 online; the most-recommended family-with-teenagers day plan.
33 acres in Buckhead with the Cyclorama (a 49-foot-tall painting of the 1864 Battle of Atlanta), the Swan House (the 1928 mansion used as the Hunger Games' President Snow residence), the Smith Family Farm, and the Goizueta Gardens. About $25 adult admission; the most-comprehensive Atlanta-history stop.
30 acres in Grant Park southeast of downtown — pandas (Atlanta is one of three U.S. zoos with giant pandas), a 5-acre African Plains exhibit with elephants and rhinos, and the most-recommended primate collection in the Southeast. About $30 adult admission.
An 80,000-square-foot museum next to the Georgia Aquarium — three permanent galleries on the American civil-rights movement, global human rights, and the personal collection of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The lunch-counter sit-in simulation is the most-discussed exhibit. About $20 adult admission.
65 acres of old-growth forest in Druid Hills with a natural-history museum — full Argentinosaurus and Giganotosaurus skeletons, a giant-screen IMAX, and the WildWoods nature trail loop. About $25 adult admission; the family-easy day plan in Druid Hills near the CDC.
The 2.1-million-square-foot 1926 Sears, Roebuck warehouse converted into a mixed-use market on the Eastside Trail — the food hall (Holeman & Finch, Minero, Botiwalla), the rooftop Skyline Park's mini-golf and Ferris wheel, and the boutique-retail floor. The Old Fourth Ward's anchor; pair with a BeltLine walk.
A 2014 conversion of an early-1900s plow factory in Inman Park — the food hall (Fred's Meat & Bread, Yalla, Hop's Chicken, Superica) and a covered patio on the BeltLine's Eastside Trail. The Krog Street Tunnel between Krog Street Market and Cabbagetown is the city's central street-art landmark.
The Buckhead shopping core — Lenox Square (Macy's, Bloomingdale's, Apple), Phipps Plaza (Saks, Nordstrom), and the Buckhead Village District two blocks north (Hermès, Dior, Tom Ford). The Atlanta-luxury-shopping zone; pair with lunch at Café Sunflower or Aria.
The 1924 covered market at Edgewood Avenue and Jesse Hill Drive — fresh produce, seafood counters (the Reuben's at Bell Street Burritos crowd), Grindhouse Killer Burgers, and the Sweet Auburn Bread Company's sweet potato cheesecake. The most-historic market in the city; cash-friendly.
The Atlanta Braves' MLB ballpark in Cobb County's Cumberland — opened 2017, capacity 41,000, with The Battery mixed-use district (Punch Bowl Social, Wahlburgers, Live! by Loews) wrapping the stadium. About 12 miles north of downtown via I-75; arrive 90 minutes pre-game in season.
70 miles east on US-78 — the Classic City, home of the University of Georgia's Sanford Stadium and the music venues (40 Watt Club, Georgia Theatre) where R.E.M. and the B-52's came up. Doable as a long day-trip; an overnight is the locals'-favorite pace.
Bacchanalia and Miller Union on the Westside, Staplehouse in the Old Fourth Ward, Ford Fry's The Optimist, the Buford Highway international corridor (Pho Dai Loi 2, El Rey del Taco), and Mary Mac's Tea Room for the canonical Southern lunch.
The Westside's tasting-menu institution from chef-owners Anne Quatrano and Clifford Harrison — five-course Southern fine-dining set menus in the converted 1930s meatpacking warehouse on West Marietta Street. AAA Five Diamond, the most-decorated tasting room in the city; reservations book three weeks out.
Chef Steven Satterfield's farm-to-table Westside room — James Beard Best Chef Southeast (2017), with a hyper-seasonal menu that changes weekly and the famous farm-egg appetizer. The most-recommended Westside dinner; reservations recommended.
A 38-seat tasting-room in the Old Fourth Ward — chef Ryan Smith's seven-course set menu, a back-of-house garden, and a James Beard Best New Restaurant nomination shortly after opening. The Atlanta dinner reservation locals plan around.
The Buckhead steakhouse since 1979 — old-school, dim-lit, and the most-cited prime ribeye in the city. The Atlanta business-lunch room and the canonical celebratory dinner. Reservations recommended; jacket-preferred dinner room.
Atlanta's last surviving 'tea room' — open since 1945 on Ponce de Leon at Myrtle Street in Midtown. Fried chicken, pot likker, sweet-potato soufflé, and the 'Goo Goo Cluster' dessert. The canonical Southern-lunch destination; cash-and-card, no reservations.
The 1928 drive-in burger-and-onion-rings institution at North Avenue and Spring Street — 'What'll ya have?' is the city's longest-running counter call. Chili dogs, frosted orange, and the largest drive-in restaurant in the country. The cheap-fast Atlanta-classic plate.
The West End soul-food institution since 1947 on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive — the fried chicken every Atlanta-history book mentions, plus mac-and-cheese, candied yams, and collards. Cash-friendly; lunch only weekdays. The most-recommended West End lunch.
Linton Hopkins's casual cousin to Restaurant Eugene — at Ponce City Market's food hall on the Eastside BeltLine. The 'famous burger' (limited drops nightly), the deviled eggs, and a craft-cocktail bar. Family-easy through 9 PM; pair with a BeltLine walk.
The Buford Highway pho institution — a Vietnamese strip-mall room near Northeast Plaza, with a beef-broth pho house most local food writers cite. Cash-friendly, kid-easy, no reservations. The Buford Highway international-corridor entry-point.
A Buford Highway 24-hour Mexican taqueria — al pastor off the trompo, fresh masa tortillas, the breakfast huevos rancheros, and a queso fundido that locals rate the best in the metro. Cash-and-card, busy at 10 PM and 2 AM equally.
Chef Meherwan Irani's regional-Indian chaat house in downtown Decatur — the okra fries, the bhel puri, and the lamb burger every food critic in town has covered. Casual, family-easy, James Beard Outstanding Restaurant 2022. The most-recommended Decatur lunch.
A craft-cocktail-and-oyster room in the restored 1891 Western & Atlantic train depot in downtown Decatur — 30-oyster raw bar, French-leaning small plates, and a 12-bartender bar program. The Decatur reservation locals split with Chai Pani next door.
Best season, the Hartsfield-Jackson airport, where to stay (Midtown, Buckhead, Old Fourth Ward, West End), MARTA vs. rideshare, pets, and what an Atlanta long weekend actually costs.
Every property in our Atlanta collection is hand-checked, hand-photographed, and backed by twenty-four-hour concierge support. The guide is the warm-up. The home is the trip.
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