Start from 113 curated places around Atlanta, GA, then choose the recommendations that fit your guests.
Restaurants & cafés
Bacchanalia
Atlanta's most-celebrated dining room since 1993 — a four-course prix fixe of mostly-from-the-owners'-farm cooking in a Westside warehouse with leather banquettes and Edison-bulb constellations. The Michelin star and the Green Star are deserved.
Miller Union
Steven Satterfield's vegetable-forward Southern menu changes daily based on what showed up from his farmer network — a James Beard Award and a Michelin star later, this is still the most thoughtful Westside dinner you can book.
Trails & outdoors
Stone Mountain Park
The Walk-Up Trail climbs a mile of bare granite to the 1,683-foot summit and one of the best skyline views in Georgia. Easier than it looks early on, harder near the top where the granite gets steep — kids do it constantly, knees feel it in the morning.
Sweetwater Creek State Park
A 2,500-acre park 15 minutes from downtown built around the burned-out shell of a Civil War-era cotton mill on whitewater rapids. The Red Trail to the ruins is the best easy hike in the metro; the longer Yellow loop adds a bluff overlook.
Things to do
Georgia Aquarium
The largest aquarium in the Western Hemisphere, with the only whale sharks outside Asia and a 6.3-million-gallon Ocean Voyager tank. Plan it as a half-day; the Beluga and dolphin shows are the timed-entry pieces around which to build the rest.
National Center for Civil and Human Rights
A downtown museum tracing the American civil-rights movement and global human-rights struggles — the lunch-counter sit-in simulator (headphones, eyes closed, hands on the counter) is one of the most affecting museum exhibits in the country.
Landmarks & sights
Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park
The Sweet Auburn block where Dr. King was born, preached, and is now buried — birth home, Ebenezer Baptist Church, the visitor center exhibits, and the reflecting pool with the King family crypt. Free, walkable, and the most important hour any first-time visitor spends in this city.
Historic Oakland Cemetery
A 48-acre Victorian garden cemetery just east of downtown — Margaret Mitchell, Bobby Jones, six governors, and 70,000 others under a canopy of magnolias and ironwork. The unexpected best stroll in the city, especially at golden hour.