My daughter and I are visiting family in TN in a few weeks. Our flight home leaves out of Atlanta in the afternoon. We'll still have our rental car and about 6 hours to explore the city before heading to the airport. Anyone have suggestions on what we could do during that time. Some things on her wish list include The World of Coke, and the Underground. I'd love a recommendation for a great local restaurant...something unique to Atlanta that's really good!
Thanks Mamas!
We like Centennial Park and the CNN building when we go to Atlanta.
CNN has lots to see and do in the building - you can take the elevator up to the top and have a panoramic view of the city. There are also places to eat in the building.
But the underground is pretty cool also!
the coca cola museum is great. the underground thing is good too. we have been to both. I love the museum the best. Definitly try the pinapple soda. they have every flavor from every country. the old commercials are fun too
I'm originally from Atlanta but I still think the Coke Museum is cool! Definitely worth a visit. If you're looking for some southern/Civil War history, I'd recommend Stone Mountain. Lots of neat things to see there. For restaurants, the Varsity is a lot of fun and the food is really good, but SUPER greasy (maybe not such a good idea right before a flight?)... there's also Aunt Pitty Pat's Porch, a very traditional southern restaurant. Kind of a fun place to go with great food!
the aquarium!!! World of Coke and the Georgia Aquarium are right next to each other. You can buy a combo ticket. If you do the Aquarium, you probably shouldn't do the dolphin show unless the aquarium is the only thing you plan to do. I've got elementary age kids and usually spend 4 hours at the aquarium, but it was 5 1/2 hours when we did the dolphin show.
There is so much to do in Atlanta and you have been given some great ideas. With your daughter, I think she would love to eat at the Varsity...the world's largest drive-in restaurant. It's an Atlanta staple and very fun place. There is also the Aquarium. I know you had a lot of people recommend the underground, which would be okay to just take a quick walk-around before the World of Coke, but I don't know that I would spend a lot of time there with your time limit. There is so much more to experience in Atlanta...you'll have a great time!!
CNN is a really interesting tour! It's something you can remember when you get back home, because every time you turn on CNN you'll recall seeing the newsrooms, the backdrops, the desks, etc.
A really fun restaurant that is absolutely unique is The Varsity. It's a crazy kind of place, not fancy at all, and if you go you should google it to learn a little about it. Because when you get to the counter and hear all the servers yelling "whattayahave" it can be a little dizzy-ing! But what a fun place and what great food!
The World of Coke is also really fun. To see those fountains dispensing coke from across the room and trying all the fun foreign-country flavors, is interesting.
The zoos and things are great, but if you only have 6 hours, I'd suggest CNN because you can't find something like that in many other cities, and there are so many zoos and aquariums in other places.
My brother & SIL got stranded there for 2 nights on their way to Jamaica about 3 weeks ago. They went to the aquarium and LOVED it!
I would avoid Underground if I were you -everyone else does (except gangs and drug dealers). World of Coke is REALLY cool and located just across the street from Centennial Olympic park which is nice and across a green space from the Georgia Aquarium. If you haven't been to an aquarium or a really large one, I would DEFINITELY go! It's pretty amazing! You could do the aquarium and World of Coke in 6 hours. CNN Center is also right there, so if that's interesting to you, you could take one of their behind-the-scenes tours instead. For food -I second the Varsity. It's super greasy but fun and an Atlanta tradition. Depending on how much time and money you have/want to spend, the top of the Westin Peachtree Plaza is an awe-inspiring view with a good restaurant -The Sun Dial. It's pricier though, but the view if stunning. It was the tallest hotel in the world for a long time after it was built in the 70s. There are many great and interesting restaurants downtown and in Midtown, but nothing "distinctly Atlanta" really comes to mind other than The Varsity.
If you have GPS in your rental and want a really cool experience and have the time -head up to Sweet Auburn Curb Market between Auburn Ave.and Edgewood Avenue. It's about 1/2 mile from World of Coke/Aquarium and has lots of vendors and some great eating spots. Travel a little further up Auburn Avenue and you're at the Martin Luther King National Park where he's buried and where his birthplace is if that interests you. Also not far from downtown on Ponce de Leon (long, central avenue that runs from right behind the Varsity downtown all the way out to Decatur) -there's a restaurant that's an institution of Southern home cooking called Mary Mac's Tearoom. It's tasty -particularly their fried chicken. It's not too far from an area called Little Five Points (L5P) that your teenage daughter would probably love. It's not NEARLY the alternative scene it was in the 80s and early 90s, but it's still a very cool area with interesting shops, people, bars and restaurants. It's at the intersection of Moreland and Euclid very close to Freedom Pkway and Ponce.
I'm from ATL as well. Agreed...avoid Underground. Dangerous. Coke, Aquarium and Varsity (got to get a hot dog, onion rings and frosted orange) will be perfect for that amount of time.
