Atlanta guides
Atlanta mixes civil rights history, leafy Victorian neighborhoods and big downtown attractions. MARTA trains run straight from the airport terminal to downtown and Midtown, and the BeltLine trail ties the east side together.
Layover guides for Atlanta
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) layovers
6 hoursHow to Spend a 6 Hour Layover in Atlanta: ATL to The Varsity and Mitchell House
A 6 hour layover at ATL leaves room for one short MARTA ride into Midtown. Eat a chili dog at a drive-in that has fed the city since 1928, then see the small apartment where Margaret Mitchell wrote her famous novel.
8 hoursHow to Spend an 8 Hour Layover in Atlanta: ATL to the Garden and Piedmont Park
Eight hours gets you a green afternoon in Midtown. Walk the treetop bridge at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, loop the lake in Piedmont Park next door, then sit down to Southern cooking at a tea room that opened in 1945.
12 hoursHow to Spend a 12 Hour Layover in Atlanta: ATL to Emory and Decatur Square
Twelve hours lets you leave the city center for Decatur. Look at ancient Egyptian and Greek art on the Emory campus, see the granite courthouse on the town square, then end with a beer at a pub that opened in 1997.
Short trip guides for Atlanta
Eastside
3 hoursHow to Spend 3 Hours in Atlanta: Krog Street Tunnel and the BeltLine
Three hours is right for a taste of Inman Park. Walk through a railroad tunnel covered in layers of paint, eat lunch in a food hall in the Krog District, then stroll the BeltLine trail past murals and patios.
4 hoursHow to Spend 4 Hours in Atlanta: Ponce City Market and Fourth Ward Park
Four hours lets you explore a vast old warehouse turned market. Walk around the lake in Historic Fourth Ward Park, then spend the rest of the time in the old Sears building, eating in its food hall and riding up to the roof.
6 hoursHow to Spend 6 Hours in Atlanta: Carter Library to Little Five Points
Six hours takes you from a presidential library to Atlanta's counterculture corner. See a replica Oval Office on a hill with a view of the skyline, follow the paths of Freedom Park, then browse the racks at a Little Five Points landmark.
8 hoursHow to Spend 8 Hours in Atlanta: Zoo Atlanta, Oakland and Cabbagetown
Eight hours gives you a full day in three historic neighborhoods. Start with the gorillas at Zoo Atlanta in Grant Park, wander the Victorian monuments of Oakland Cemetery, then eat at a small café in the mill village of Cabbagetown.
Downtown Midtown
3 hoursHow to Spend 3 Hours in Atlanta: Sweet Auburn and the King Legacy
Three hours is enough to walk Sweet Auburn, the street where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was born and preached. Try for a ranger tour of his birth home, sit in the church where he served as co-pastor and pause at his tomb, then eat lunch in the old municipal market.
4 hoursHow to Spend 4 Hours in Atlanta: Olympic Park and World of Coca-Cola
Four hours covers the heart of downtown's visitor district. Walk through the park built for the 1996 Summer Games, taste Coca-Cola drinks from around the world in the company's museum, then ride the observation wheel above the park.
6 hoursHow to Spend 6 Hours in Atlanta: High Museum and Puppetry Arts
Six hours gives you Midtown's two most distinctive museums and a proper Southern meal. See Jim Henson's puppets at the puppetry center, explore the art in the High's white galleries, then eat she-crab soup in a Crescent Avenue bungalow.
8 hoursHow to Spend 8 Hours in Atlanta: Georgia Aquarium and Civil Rights Center
Eight hours lets you take on the two big museums of Pemberton Place without rushing. Watch whale sharks glide past the big window at the Georgia Aquarium, spend an afternoon at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, then ride to Marietta Street for soul food.
Fitness guides for Atlanta
FitnessAtlanta Piedmont Park and Lake Clara Meer Run From Ponce City Market
Roughly 6.9 km in all, this circuit follows the BeltLine north into Piedmont Park and traces both long shores of Lake Clara Meer. It heads home on the Northeast Trail beside the park's eastern edge, with a gentle climb back to the market.
FitnessAtlanta BeltLine Eastside Trail Run to Reynoldstown With a Forum Day Pass
This out-and-back of about 7.4 km follows the BeltLine's Eastside Trail south from Ponce City Market, past Historic Fourth Ward Park and Krog Street Market, onto the Southeast Trail in Reynoldstown. It turns just short of Kirkwood Avenue and retraces the same paved trail home.
About Atlanta
Atlanta was founded in 1837 as Terminus, the end of a railroad line, and it still works best if you follow the rails. MARTA's Red and Gold lines start inside the airport and run north through downtown and Midtown, so most of the city's headline sights sit a short walk from a station. Sweet Auburn holds Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s church and grave, and the Olympic park is ringed by the aquarium and the Coca-Cola museum. Midtown has the High Museum and Piedmont Park. East of there, the BeltLine's Eastside Trail links old warehouses, food halls and neighborhoods on a paved path.