Atlanta is the capital of Georgia and the unofficial capital of the American South: a railroad junction that burned in the Civil War, rebuilt itself as a business hub, became the cradle of the civil rights movement, and hosted the 1996 Summer Olympics. It is a city of tree-lined neighborhoods rather than a single postcard skyline, and the best way to understand it is to move between them with a self-guided audio guide in your ear, letting each landmark tell its own chapter.
Start where most visitors do, at Centennial Olympic Park, the green heart of Downtown laid out for the 1996 Games. From here the aquarium, the Coca-Cola museum and the civil rights center are a few blocks apart, and Sweet Auburn, Midtown and the BeltLine each sit a short ride away.
Sweet Auburn and the King legacy
A mile east of Downtown, Auburn Avenue was Black Atlanta's commercial center by the 1920s, and Fortune magazine called it "the richest Negro street in America" in 1956. This is the neighborhood where Martin Luther King, Jr. was born, preached and is buried. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park ties the sites together: the Queen Anne Birth Home of Martin Luther King, Jr., Ebenezer Baptist Church, where both King and his father preached, and The King Center, where the tomb of Dr. and Mrs. King rests on a brick island in a reflecting pool. Nearby, the Apex Museum tells the story of the African diaspora, and The Municipal Market, feeding the city since 1924, is the natural place to break for lunch. Each stop has an audio guide that fills in the people and events the plaques leave out.
Around Centennial Olympic Park
Downtown's tourist district is compact enough to cover in a day. The Georgia Aquarium is famous for its whale sharks, sea lions and penguins; the World of Coca-Cola tells the story of the drink invented here in 1886, tasting room included; and the National Center for Civil and Human Rights connects the American civil rights struggle to human rights movements worldwide. The College Football Hall of Fame speaks to the South's great obsession, and SkyView Atlanta, the Ferris wheel on the park's edge, gives a slow, high circuit over the whole district. Mercedes-Benz Stadium, home of the Falcons and Atlanta United, looms just to the west.
Midtown: the Fox Theatre, Piedmont Park and the High
Midtown is Atlanta's arts district. The Fox Theatre opened on Christmas Day 1929, a Shriners' temple turned movie palace with minarets, gold leaf and a ceiling painted as an Arabian night sky; when it faced demolition in 1974, the "Save the Fox" campaign raised three million dollars and reopened it a year later. A few blocks north, the High Museum of Art anchors the Woodruff Arts Center, and the Margaret Mitchell House is the apartment where Gone with the Wind was written. Piedmont Park is the city's great lawn, with the skyline reflected in its lake and the Atlanta Botanical Garden tucked into its northern edge.
Along the BeltLine: Old Fourth Ward to Inman Park
The Atlanta BeltLine is a paved trail on a former railway loop, and its Atlanta Beltline Eastside Trail is the stretch that changed how the city sees itself. Walk or ride it past the murals of the Old Fourth Ward, through Historic Fourth Ward Park to Ponce City Market, the vast former Sears building now filled with food stalls and a rooftop fairground. Continue south to Krog Street Market and the graffiti-covered Krog Street Tunnel, then into the Victorian streets of Inman Park, Atlanta's first planned suburb. An audio guide here is less about a single monument than about reading the layers of the city as they pass.
Buckhead, the West End and the Atlanta University Center
Buckhead is Atlanta's wealthiest quarter and home to the Atlanta History Center, whose grounds include the 1928 Swan House and the restored Civil War cyclorama painting. On the opposite side of town, the Atlanta University Center is the largest cluster of historically Black colleges in the country: Morehouse College, King's alma mater, and Spelman College sit side by side, and the Historic Herndon Home Museum preserves the mansion of Alonzo Herndon, a former slave who became Atlanta's first Black millionaire. In the Victorian West End, The Wren's Nest was the home of Uncle Remus author Joel Chandler Harris.
Oakland Cemetery, Grant Park and the city's edges
Oakland Cemetery is the city's oldest, a garden of Victorian monuments where Margaret Mitchell and golfer Bobby Jones are buried, and its neighbor Grant Park holds Zoo Atlanta and its giant pandas' former home. Further out, the Fernbank Museum pairs dinosaurs with an old-growth forest, and Stone Mountain Park, 16 miles east, offers a summit walk and cable car up the largest exposed granite dome in North America.
Getting around
MARTA's rail lines link the airport, Downtown, Midtown and Buckhead; the Atlanta Streetcar loops from Centennial Olympic Park to Sweet Auburn, and the BeltLine is best on foot or by bike. Beyond those corridors Atlanta is a driving city, so plan the day by neighborhood rather than by distance.