Augusta, GA

The most serious farm-to-table restaurant on Broad Street, with a seasonal menu that draws from local farms and presents Southern cooking in elevated but unfussy plates. The dining room occupies a historic storefront with exposed brick and dark wood, and the cocktail program barrel-ages its own spirits. It has a deep wine list and draws a mix of date-night couples and food-focused travelers.

Augusta's best oyster bar and raw bar, tucked into the Surrey Center in Summerville, with a daily-changing selection of cold-water oysters alongside wood-fire cooking and carefully sourced seafood. The vibe is upscale neighborhood restaurant without the formality — wine-forward, regulars at the bar, unhurried service. Southern Living has called it out and it earns that attention.

A German-American deli founded in 1879 — one of the few genuine century-old institutions still operating downtown. The narrow room is lined with antique cases, shelves of imported goods, and the kind of accumulated patina that cannot be faked. The Reuben is the thing to order, made with properly sour kraut and house-sliced corned beef, and the German potato salad is non-negotiable as a side.

A small scratch-kitchen brunch diner on Greene Street that earned a spot on Yelp's national Top 100 list and consistently draws a line out the door on weekends. Everything is made in-house, from the biscuits to the sauces, and the menu skews Southern comfort — omelet bowls, grits, thick-cut French toast — executed with the precision of a kitchen that genuinely cares about the details.

A community anchor on Broad Street since the mid-2000s, operating inside the historic JB White's building with house-roasted coffee, daily-baked pastries and breads, and a lunch menu that accommodates vegetarians and omnivores equally well. The vibe is warm and unhurried — you will see the same faces every morning.

A downtown institution in a former cotton warehouse, known across the region for its cakes — roughly 25 varieties made by sister company Cotton Bug Bakery, with slices that cover the entire plate. The savory menu (Southern classics, sandwiches) is solid, but most people come for the dessert, and ordering a slice at the end of dinner elsewhere is entirely acceptable.

The best casual burger on Broad Street, with locally sourced beef, house-baked buns, and a build-your-own format that does not need embellishment. The kitchen also does craft-beer boozy shakes and keeps a rotating tap list, which makes the patio particularly popular on evenings when the Broad Street scene is active.

A speakeasy-inflected wine bar and small-plates restaurant in the same building as Farmhaus Burger, with low lighting, leather seating, and an Art Deco aesthetic that feels genuinely considered rather than nostalgic. The wine program offers generous by-the-glass pours and half-glass tastings; the food is shareable-format charcuterie, wood-fired bites, and rotating small plates.

A neighborhood Italian restaurant on Walton Way Extension in the Forest Hills area, with house-made pasta, a menu that leans toward non-standard Italian (octopus preparations, carbonara-style dishes that wander from the Roman original), and warm, unhurried service. It draws a local Summerville and Forest Hills crowd who return regularly rather than one-off visitors, which is the right signal.

A gastropub in Surrey Center that moves through the day from coffee-service brunch through happy hour to dinner without losing focus. The kitchen does solid Southern-inflected bar food — charcuterie boards, burgers, weekend brunch standards — with a cocktail program that takes its work seriously. The dog-friendly patio is consistently one of the better outdoor seats in the Summerville area.

A morning-to-afternoon all-day spot in Surrey Center combining coffee, wine, gelato, and a small Southern-Mediterranean menu cooked in tandoor ovens — an unexpected combination that works better than it sounds. The exposed-beam interior has a rustic warmth and the patio is dog-friendly. It is the kind of place where people stay longer than they planned.

The best Vietnamese in the Augusta metro, drawing loyal regulars from across the city to its Washington Road location for properly made pho, banh mi, and rice dishes. The broth is long-simmered and the menu is broad enough for the full range of Vietnamese staples. Straightforward, consistent, and significantly better than its low-key setting suggests.

Augusta's surviving craft brewery in a taproom on 5th Street downtown, with a rotating tap list ranging from approachable lagers to more experimental seasonal releases. The space is kid- and dog-friendly with a food program and a patio. Sunday brunch with pint pairings has become a neighborhood staple.

A sibling-owned bar and kitchen on Broad Street with a program built around more than 200 whiskeys paired with a menu that spans Japanese ramen and sushi alongside craft burgers and bar snacks — an unlikely combination that works for a late-night Broad Street visit. Ranked among Augusta's top four restaurants on TripAdvisor, which understates the value of the whiskey selection.

A 9.4-mile flat path running alongside Augusta's 1845 canal and the Savannah River, passable on foot or bike, from the Enterprise Mill to the Savannah Rapids Pavilion. The route passes through the most intact industrial landscape of the antebellum South still accessible on foot, with locks, headgates, and factory ruins alongside the waterway.

A 1,100-acre riverine swamp and marsh south of downtown with 14 miles of unpaved trails, a boardwalk with a covered bird observation deck, and an Important Bird Area designation. Great egrets, painted buntings, woodpeckers, and great blue herons are regulars; the equalization pond loop is the most rewarding route for birders.

A 7-plus-mile paved trail through North Augusta, SC built on an abandoned railroad right-of-way along the Savannah River, rated 4.7 stars by over 1,000 AllTrails reviewers. It is 95 percent shaded, well-maintained, and accessible to all ability levels — one of the genuinely great greenway paths in the Carolinas and Georgia.

A paved multi-use greenway in Columbia County following Euchee Creek through wooded corridors, with gentle grades and a surface that works for strollers, cyclists, and casual walkers equally well. At roughly 10 miles out-and-back it is the longest flat trail in the Augusta suburbs and a quieter alternative to the busier canal trail.

A 33-acre passive park on the Augusta Canal headgates in Martinez, where the Savannah River drops over historical rapids and the canal headgates create a dramatic landscape that has drawn visitors for more than 150 years. The Augusta Canal Headwaters Loop (0.8 miles) circles the wetlands and historic structures with a boardwalk section and a Love Lock Bridge.

A 1940 Art Moderne cinema that closed for decades and reopened after a multi-million-dollar restoration as Augusta's premier performing arts venue, now home to the Augusta Symphony and host to comedy, jazz, chamber music, and touring acts. The restored interior is one of the finest examples of mid-century theater architecture in the South, with original deco details and genuinely good acoustics.

Augusta's oldest surviving operating theater, opened in 1918 as a vaudeville house and now the city's main venue for Broadway touring productions, musicals, and local theater. The Victorian Renaissance architecture and 840-seat capacity give it a genuine historic grandeur, and the programming covers a broad enough range that it nearly always has something on.

An outdoor amphitheater on the Riverwalk named for Augusta's most celebrated native daughter, the international opera soprano. The 1,600-seat venue hosts festivals, concerts, and community events with the Savannah River as the backdrop. The summer concert series draws a range of local and regional talent, and the setting makes even a modest show feel like an event.

A 100-seat black box theater and lounge on 8th Street downtown that programs a deliberately eclectic mix — improv comedy, burlesque, indie theater, film screenings, and spoken word events. It is Augusta's most adventurous performance space, with Schrodinger's Cat, the city's premier improv troupe, in residence. The intimate scale makes every show feel like you are right in it.

Housed in the 19th-century Enterprise Mill, the Discovery Center is the interpretive anchor for the Augusta Canal National Heritage Area, with interactive exhibits, an award-winning documentary film, and the launch point for replica Petersburg boat tours along the canal. The mill building itself is a remarkable industrial structure with original machinery and the kind of spatial drama that photographs rarely capture.

A contemporary art gallery on Broad Street that mounts five main-space exhibitions per year of emerging and mid-career national artists, plus 10-plus rotating shows in its micro-gallery. Founded in 2015 by the Westobou Festival arts organization, it is the most program-driven contemporary gallery in Augusta and admission is always free.

A multi-level brick promenade running atop the Savannah River levee from 6th to 13th Streets, with the upper deck for joggers and walkers and the lower deck right at the waterline. On Saturdays from early spring through fall the plaza fills with a farmers and artisan market. The Morris Museum of Art anchors the upper end and the Jessye Norman Amphitheater sits midway.

The oldest museum in the country dedicated solely to the art and artists of the American South, situated on the Riverwalk in a building with floor-to-ceiling windows over the Savannah River. The permanent collection of more than 6,000 works spans late-18th century portraiture through contemporary Southern expressionism, with particularly deep holdings in Southern Impressionism.

Augusta's main historical repository, tracing 12,000 years of the region from Stallings Island Native American culture through the Civil War, the canal era, and the city's surprisingly deep musical legacy. The James Brown exhibit is the most visited room and earns its reputation — it covers his Augusta childhood and the cultural context of his rise with genuine depth.

Founded in 1787, Springfield holds its standing as the oldest independent African American Baptist congregation in continuous operation in the United States. The congregation established what became Morehouse College from its Sunday school programs, and the church was the site of the first post-war Georgia Equal Rights Association meeting. The sanctuary is still an active place of worship and welcomes visitors.

A National Historic Landmark at 419 7th Street, this is the oldest presidential residence in Georgia and the only one open to the public. Wilson lived here from ages 3 to 14 during the Civil War and Reconstruction, and guided tours of the meticulously restored Victorian interior give a textured picture of what Augusta looked and felt like during that period.

The 1790s farmhouse home of George Walton, one of the youngest signers of the Declaration of Independence, operated as a museum by the Daughters of the American Revolution since 1901 — making it one of Georgia's oldest house museums. Washington visited in 1791 and Lafayette paid respects in 1825. The modest scale and intact historic contents give it a quieter intimacy than grander presidential homes.

A nonprofit contemporary art gallery and independent art school housed in Ware's Folly, an 1818 Federal-style mansion in Olde Town that is one of the most architecturally refined buildings in Augusta. The gallery rotates nearly 30 exhibitions a year of regional and national contemporary work and has been the city's main independent art education institution since the late 1930s.