Since my fall semester this year was condensed, my winter break is over two months long. I had to find something to do to take up some of that time, so I spent 11 full days in Atlanta, Georgia, visiting my sister and brother-in-law.
Almost every day I went to a new place, and on a couple days I visited more than one. Every destination wasn't very busy, especially since I usually went in the morning when each place opened, with the exception of the Georgia Aquarium.
In no particular order, here are my top 10 Atlanta sites:
1. Silver Comet Trail
I loved walking on a portion of the Silver Comet Trail in Cobb County. I walked about 7.5 miles in total on the paved trail. By the end my feet were killing me, but it was so nice walking and listening to podcasts that I just wanted to keep going. The trail is walker, biker, rollerblader, and wheelchair friendly.
2. Krog Street Market
I went to Krog Street Market on the only rainy day that I experienced in Atlanta. The main food hall has shops selling ramen, pizza, ice cream, and candy to name just a few. There are also two cool retail shops outside the main food hall. One is The Merchant, selling gifts, stationary (like the Rifle Paper Co.), and home wares, and the other is The Collective, selling antiques, gifts, and succulents.
3. World of Coca-Cola
World of Coca-Cola was the first museum that I went to while in Atlanta. I went in the morning of the single rainy day that I saw while visiting, so I was pretty much alone for the first half of my visit. The secret formula of Coca-Cola has been kept here in a vault since 2011. The gift store is very large with almost any you can think of with Coca-Cola on it. I would say that the tasting room, where you can try different Coca-Cola products from around the world, was my favorite parts of the experience. I enjoyed all of the drinks except one which was from Italy and made me cringe involuntarily
4. Ponce City Market
I loved Ponce City Market so much that I went a second time after going there with my sister and brother-in-law. The renovated Sears, Roebuck & Company building is home to a food hall, apartments, offices, and retail shops like West Elm, Anthropologie, and J. Crew. I tried food from two different restaurant between my two visits to the market and both the chicken shawarma pita from the Mediterranean place, Marrakesh, and the chicken tikka roll from the Indian inspired Botiwalla were very good. Apart from the food and shopping, Ponce City Market is great because it connects to the Atlanta Beltline, which is a paved trail that connects various neighborhoods within the city of Atlanta.
5. Georgia Aquarium
The Georgia Aquarium was impressive. I walked into it and was honestly blown away because of the remarkable layout with different themed galleries from "The Pier," where you can see seals playing, to "Cold Water Quest," where you can see beluga whales, southern sea otters, and African penguins among many other animals who live in cold water areas. If you look closely around the "Ocean Voyager Built By The Home Depot," you can spot one of the many tiny doors hidden around Atlanta. This is a super fun destination for young kids and adults.
6. The Beltline
The Atlanta Beltline passes by both Krog Street Market and Ponce City Market. I walked on the trail twice, and it was great both times, though it's pretty busy over the weekends. There were people running, walking, rollerblading, biking, and scootering on the trail. This adorable tiny pink door, part of #tinydoorsATL , is on the Beltline in between Ponce City Market and Piedmont Park. If you're every in Atlanta, go see if you can find this door and the 18 others!
7. Piedmont Park
We walked to Piedmont Park from the Ponce City Market using the Beltline. The park surrounds a lake and has numerous pathways, an active oval with sports fields, playgrounds, and a designated dog park. The park also backs up to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. On our way to the park we stopped by a shaved ice and coffee truck called Busy's, which I highly recommend because the shaved ice was amazing.
8. Fernbank Museum of Natural History
The Fernbank Museum of Natural History is located east of downtown Atlanta and is a fun and informative destination for children and adults. The exhibits that I particularly enjoyed were "A Walk Through Time in Georgia," which is on the different geographic regions of Georgia, "Reflections of Culture," which discusses what makes up human culture and includes materials that display different cultures or aspects of cultures including headdresses, jewelry, and photographs, and "Fantastic Forces," the interactive STEM exhibit. The museum also has outdoor experiences that includes trails and hands-on exhibits.
9. Center for Civil and Human Rights
You can spend many hours in the Center for Civil and Human Rights. The center has lots of information, including videos, on the U.S. Civil Rights Movement and the Global Human Rights Movement. I am glad that I went here on my visit to Atlanta, and I would definitely recommend it if you will be traveling there.
10. Chattahoochee River
On the morning of the day that we drove up to Richmond, I did a short walk/hike by the Chattahoochee River. Even in the winter, the river and surrounding woods were a wonderful contrast to running around downtown Atlanta. I walked on various sections of the Palisades West Trail, which is about 20 minutes from downtown Atlanta. I would definitely go back to this trail or try another one by the Chattahoochee River if I visit Atlanta again.
With the Atlanta City Pass, which you can find here, in addition to the Georgia Aquarium and the World of Coca-Cola, you can go to three other attractions. I chose to go to the Fernbank Museum of Natural History, the Center for Civil and Human Rights, and the College Football Hall of Fame. I think that I would have enjoyed the College Football Hall of Fame more (and included it on the list) if I had someone to go with, and if I was more interested in college football. I did enjoy the historical aspect of the hall of fame. There were exhibits on the history of tailgating, the football uniform, rivalries, marching bands, and historically Black colleges and universities. The hall of fame also had a small indoor turf field where visitors could try throwing footballs and play cornhole, which I would have enjoyed, but I felt that it would be a bit awkward to go do that alone. There are lots of things that I don't mind doing alone, walking through a museum, eating lunch, hiking, even taking self-timer pictures, but learning how to throw a football by myself with everyone watching was not something I really wanted to do.
Additional sites to add to your itinerary:
Centennial Park (closed when I was there)
Martin Luther King Jr's house and the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park (I saw MLK's house and Ebenezer Baptist Church, but the National Historical Park was closed during my visit)
Ebenezer Baptist Church
Comments