Atlanta, Georgia, the "City in the Forest," is the home to one of the world’s busiest airports—The Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport—the world’s largest drive-in restaurant, and has 71 streets with "Peachtree" in the name. But that is not all!
Atlanta is the capital of Georgia and lies at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Atlanta is the 37th most populous city in the United States after enduring four different name changes—Terminus, Thrasherville, Marthasville, and Atlantica-Pacifica, respectively—before the name “Atlanta” became final.
But what fun things can you do in Atlanta? What adventurous romantic journeys can you go on, and what family activities can you do with your loved ones?
This comprehensive article will guide you through the things to do in Atlanta, Georgia, thereby making it a city you will not want to miss.
Fun Things to Do in Atlanta
There is an assortment of fun things to do in Atlanta, and it is hard for many people to decide on the top choices or the best options.
But if you want to expand your horizons, how about Piedmont Park’s Festival Peachtree Latino?
Since 2000, Piedmont Park’s Festival Peachtree Latino has become the largest multicultural event in Georgia. This bustling event features hundreds of exhibitors, family activities, crafts, international cuisine, and high-profile outdoor music concerts with renowned international recording artists and local performers.
The event unites each region of the world with displays of legacy traditions, music, artisan cultures, culinary selections, and crafts. The purpose of the Festival Peachtree Latino is to benefit the community and beyond. The event has free admission and invites you to become a sponsor for this exciting experience.
Or if you want to get some exercise during your visit to Atlanta, how about ATL’s Peachtree Road Race?
For the first time in 2020, ATL’s Peachtree Road Race became a virtual event.
Held in various locations across the country and worldwide, participants gain access to the app—Virtual Running of the AJC Peachtree Road Race—allowing them to track their progress on the course and upload and compare their results with others.
On July 4, 1970, 110 runners from 150 ran the race's full distance—10k or 6.2 miles—through Atlanta to Central City Park in what became known as the inaugural Peachtree Road Race.
Things to Do in Atlanta with Kids
Whether you have a family with adult children, toddlers, or teens, there are many family-friendly things to do in Atlanta with the kids.
Curiosity never hurt anyone (except the cat), but at the Children’s Museum of Atlanta, kids above three years of age can appreciate the wide range of exhibitions it has. From engineering displays to a delightful art studio, the Children’s Museum of Atlanta comes packed with learning opportunities and memorable experiences that your young ones will never forget.
Next, a one-of-kind gallery, the Center for Puppetry Arts is home to over 190 puppets and memorabilia from all over the globe. Watch the performances, check out the relics from the Muppets, and explore the “Global Collection” to learn more about puppetry history.
The center is suitable for children of any age.
However, it is your teenagers who will love this next experience!
As the largest Halloween event in Atlanta, The Little Five Points Halloween Festival is a family-friendly event that provides loads of entertainment, an art market, food trucks, and a garden of beer for your delight.
A costume parade occurs along Euclid Avenue at 4 pm and is the major highlight of the event. From zombies to ghouls and from fairies to witches, watch the costumed attendees walk the streets to live music and marching bands.
An estimated 35,000 people attend this Halloween Parade every year, free of charge.
Things to Do in Atlanta for Adults
When it is time to get away from the kids and have “adult time,” Atlanta does not disappoint. Go over these things to do in Atlanta for both mature adults and young adults alike.
You can start with the Adult Big Wheel Club and have a blast while doing it!
Relive the years of your youth by racing around the neighborhood in a big wheel. With the event’s one-of-a-kind relay game challenges to its team-building challenges, all activities occur on-site at your desired location.
But if racing does not fit your fancy, try free entry to the Trap Music Museum by reserving access to Escape the Trap.
For adults 18 and older, it is Atlanta’s No. 1 escape room!
How about some laughs?
Experience improv comedy at The Basement Theatre, where entertainers perform off suggestions from the audience. As 100% original, unrehearsed shows, The Basement Theatre provides loads of fun for you and your adult comrades to enjoy.
Free or Cheap Things to Do in Atlanta
When people go on trips or vacations, the cost of activities is a significant factor in what they can do, so they look for the most inexpensive options.
But if you are one of those people, you are in luck because Atlanta is full of free, cheap, and inexpensive activities that you will remember fondly for the rest of your life.
First, visit the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Park.
Filled with historical impact, a visit to this site gives you a chance to pay your respects to the great civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who grew up in the very city in which the park sits—Atlanta!
Tour his birth home, explore the King Center, and discover Atlanta’s Sweet Auburn Historic District.
During the mornings, explore The Carter Center. During your free stroll through the grounds, observe the flags from all 50 states with the Circle of Flags. Sniff the flowers that grow in the rose and Japanese gardens before taking a moment to reflect at the koi ponds.
After that, and for only $8 (children under 16 are free), discover The Jimmy Carter Presidential Library & Museum.
In the afternoon, you can head out to the High Museum of Art. With over 11,000 pieces ranging from African and folk virtuosities to photographs and decorative art, the High Museum of Art is a wonderful place to visit during the afternoon on the second Sunday of every month as admission is free of charge.
Things to Do in Downtown Atlanta
Downtown Atlanta has some of the best sites, venues, and locales in the nation.
Starting with the Georgia Aquarium, you can tour the public site home to hundreds of species and thousands of animals from across the world. It has seven primary galleries that inhabit more than 10 million U.S. gallons of freshwater and saltwater. Until 2012, it was the largest aquarium globally and is now the third-largest.
However, it proudly remains the largest aquarium in both the United States and the whole of the Western hemisphere.
Once you finish your visit to Georgia Aquarium, check out the World of Coca-Cola—and yes, that includes you Pepsi fans!
The World of Coca-Cola museum showcases the history of the Coca-Cola company in a 20-acre midtown complex that opened to the public in 2007. Explore both the company’s products and its impressive, comprehensive history.
In the evening, enjoy a visit to Centennial Olympic Park. Built as part of the infrastructure improvements for the 1996 Summer Olympics, this 22-acre park in downtown Atlanta hosts millions of visitors annually. It holds several events such as a popular summer music concert series, an annual Independence Day concert, and a fireworks display.
Things to Do in Atlanta at Night
You cannot miss Atlanta’s gorgeous night sky during your visit.
Start with the SkyLounge and experience the breathtaking view of Atlanta’s skyline. It is at the top of the Glenn Hotel, an ideal choice if you plan on going to State Farm Arena and touring the Centennial Park area.
Enjoy a glass of wine while taking pictures, and you will surely capture special moments that you will never want to forget.
The night after you visit the SkyLounge, go to SkyLine Park.
Established in 2016, SkyLine Park provides a chance for rooftop revelry and to see marvelous scenic views—and it is open to everyone!
Enjoy being above crowded Ponce de Leon Avenue while on top of the impressively restored Ponce City Market. It is a premium destination for those who want delicious cuisine, refreshments, and a chance to make special memories.
For any night you are in Atlanta, you must try out SkyView Atlanta.
As it towers over 20 stories above Centennial Park, the SkyView Ferris wheel features over 40 climate-controlled gondolas that provide guests with stunning panoramic views of downtown Atlanta and the adjacent cosmopolitan areas.
But if you want to have an exceptional experience with SkyView Atlanta, try an enhanced, VIP Ferris wheel experience with Ferrari style seats, glass floors, and a longer ride time. SkyView Atlanta certainly provides the chance to see the city in a way that you cannot see during the day.
Things to Do in Atlanta for Couples
Romance is calling your name when you come to Atlanta.
Start by bringing your special someone to the Starlit Cinema, and for only $9 per ticket. You and your date can enjoy the cinema while on a trip to a city that feels like “home away from home.”
Enjoy snacks from the snack bar while in the comfort of your vehicle, watching a great film at an inexpensive price. (Remember to take some cute selfies while you are at it).
After the kids are in bed one night during your trip, make sure to try something romantic that you never thought you would experience in Atlanta—a Korean Bathhouse.
That is right—visiting a Korean jjimjilbang (or a South Korean sex-segregated public bathhouse) will be one of the fun highlights of your trip once you and your date feel the relaxation of this spa-like experience.
But if that is not in your trip’s “deck of cards,” how about a visit to Atlanta Botanical Gardens?
When you visit the city of Atlanta, the gardens are always a great place to stop as the gardeners have different flowers and greenery to showcase throughout the year.
The garden’s Alice in Wonderland exhibit is exquisite (as are the other special exhibits displayed during the 12 months of the year) and has a cheap entry price of only $22.
Cool Things to Do in Atlanta
These options may pose the most fun of all the things you do on your trip to Atlanta, Georgia.
First, there is The Doll’s Head Trail.
Just a few miles from downtown Atlanta, The Doll’s Head Trail is a path through the nature preserve that is Constitution Lakes Park. The project was created for and dedicated to crazy collections of outsider art.
Local carpenter, Joel Slaton, envisioned The Doll’s Head Trail's idea when he observed discarded doll parts and other trash scattered around the site. Encouraging visitors to contribute their own found art, Slaton has been collecting items ever since his art project came to fruition.
The key to collecting art for The Doll’s Head Trail is that the pieces must be found or discovered—and that means inside the Park itself. It is merely a straightforward method of repurposing—it cleans up the nature preserve while also creating art.
After your weird experience on The Doll’s Head Trail, try visiting Atlanta’s site of 54 Columns.
Strange, unexplainable, and confusing, this site has an assortment of 54 concrete pillars that some believe is there to serve as a foundation for a forthcoming structure or are the remnants of a building already destroyed.
It is a controversial piece of art to some, as many think that the minimalist construction pulls on the boundaries of what people should consider art. In contrast, others believe the piece is a beautiful piece of art for the way viewers can interact with it (i.e., moving in and out of the large columns).
The columns’ height range is between 10 and 20 feet and has caused objections from Georgians over the years since its creation. Some residents say the pillars do not provide "the look" the neighborhood needs, while some have vandalized the pillars with paint. But as the saying goes: “Good public art creates some controversy.”
If that is not cool or unique enough for you, try out The Sideways Grave of Sideways the Dog.
A slanted tomb dedicated to the loyal companion of the student body rests at Georgia Tech.
As a white female terrier puppy with a sideways walk, Sideways, the dog, became the most popular girl on campus at Georgia Tech starting in 1945.
Said to have been born on March 1, 1945, Sideways was viciously thrown from the window of a moving vehicle at eight months old and subsequently found by a woman named Mrs. Schofield, a resident who owned a boarding house on North Avenue.
Sideways was severely injured and underwent numerous surgeries that saved her life but left her walking at an angle—a trait that earned her the name, Sideways.
Quickly, the young puppy became the unofficial school mascot, going in and out of lectures, marching with the drill team, and leading the Georgia Tech football team onto the field before games.
But in 1947, Sideways died at three years of age after possibly and accidentally consuming some rat poison left in a student dorm.
Buried to the west of the Tech Tower, Sideways has a marble grave that displays her black and white photo, with the words: “Ever faithful and true, companion of the student body and G.A. Tech.”
The student body's tradition is to leave pennies on the grave for good luck before taking tests and turning in assignments.
Indoor and Outdoor Things to Do in Atlanta
Indoor Things to Do in Atlanta
For a cold or rainy day, Atlanta has a vast array of things to do indoors.
For example, located in the Buckhead district sits the Atlanta History Center.
Founded in 1926, Atlanta History Center has nine permanent and several temporary exhibitions for you to view and explore. The campus rests on 33-acres and features historic gardens and houses on the grounds—including the Swan House.
The History Center’s research branch, Kenan Research Center, has 3.5 million resources and a perfect replica of historian Franklin Garrett’s office. Atlanta History Center is home to some of the largest assemblages of Civil War artifacts in the nation.
After the Atlanta History Center, go a bit further on the grounds to the aforementioned Swan House.
Built in the late 1920s for Edward and Emily Inman, heirs to a cotton fortune, the Swan House is heavenly situated on top of a hill with walking and wooded trails surrounding it.
The mansion’s name is a result of the recurring swan motif visible everywhere one might look.
Its architecture and design come in the Italian Mannerist style on one side, while having the portico and pediment of an English Palladian on the other. Renaissance-inspired flourishes fill the home, as the terraced Boxwood Gardens, embellished with stone obelisks, suggest a more formal Baroque style.
Guided tours will take you through exquisite rooms and spaces, including the vestibule, entrance hallway, library, and morning room.
Actors in the Swan House play the roles of Edward and Emily Inman, heir to Georgia’s wealthiest man, and a prominent suffragette, respectively.
Outdoor Things to Do in Atlanta
Getting outdoors and getting some Vitamin D while on your trip is a great idea!
To start, try visiting Sweetwater Creek State Park.
Located in Douglas County, Sweetwater Creek State Park is a 2,549-acre state park in Georgia, just 15 miles from downtown Atlanta. The state park gets its name from Sweetwater Creek that runs through it.
History lessons teach that Cherokee people got forced to move from the area so it could become the mill town of New Manchester and home to the New Manchester Manufacturing Company.
But during the American Civil War, the Union Army burnt down the textile mill and general store. At the same time, women and children were kidnapped and ultimately sent to Louisville, Kentucky, and Indiana as war refugees.
But after you visit the state park, you can take yourself out to a ballgame with a visit at Atlanta, Georgia’s very own Truist Park (formerly SunTrust Park)—home of the Atlanta Braves!
Truist Park has been the home of the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball since only 2017. Still, since that time, the team has seen some impressive stats, including their competition in 2019 for the National League Championship, the team’s first competition since 2001.
So whether you want to spend time with your significant other or your kids while on your trip, Atlanta is home to some of the most incredible and most fun-producing sites in the country, thereby making it a city you do not want to miss.
So, make sure to consider Georgia for your next vacation destination, and write down all you hope to do while in the capital city as there are many, many things to do in Atlanta.