Atlanta City Guide

Being the capital of the U.S. state of Georgia, Atlanta is an important center for business as well as transportation for the Southeastern United States.

Atlanta hosts the world headquarters of globally renowned corporations like the Coca-Cola Company, the Home Depot, AT&T, UPS, Delta Airlines and Turner Broadcasting. Additionally, Atlanta is also home to the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International airport, which is one of the world’s busiest airports.

Atlanta attracts both business and leisure visitors as it offers a plethora of shopping, entertainment and cultural attractions along with top-notch facilities for meetings, conferences and conventions.

Atlanta is made up of several distinct neighborhoods but the hub of all the action so as to speak is Atlanta’s Downtown neighborhood located at the intersection of the I-75 and I-20 expressways . It hosts most of the city’s important businesses, civic buildings and some of its biggest tourist attractions like the Georgia Aquarium, the World of Coca-Cola and Centennial Olympic Park. Downtown Atlanta also hosts several high-rise hotels and condominiums.

To the north of this epicenter of Atlanta is the city’s Midtown district which is home to many of Atlanta’s most important cultural institutions like the High Museum of Art, the Margaret Mitchell House and Piedmont Park. Also located within the Midtown district of Atlanta are numerous hotels and nightlife establishments of the city especially along Crescent Avenue and Peachtree Street.

Just north of Midtown Atlanta is the city’s Buckhead neighborhood, home to fashionable shopping, trendy restaurants, stylish department stores and hip boutiques. Buckhead is, yet another, popular accommodation choice for visitors to Atlanta and is equipped with various big name luxury Atlanta hotels besides other accommodation options like discount hotels and extended stay hotel properties.

A similar variety of hotels and accommodation choices can also be found within the city’s Perimeter Center neighborhood, which is home to the popular Perimeter Mall and the Marietta district located on the northern front of the city.

The World of Coca Cola is one of Atlanta’s most famous attractions and is located in its downtown area. This homage to the world’s most famous soft drink features numerous coke themed exhibits including samples of the popular drink from around the world, a pop art gallery, a 4 D theater various other kinds of Coca Cola memorabilia.

The Martin Luther King Jr National Historic Site is located along a stretch of Atlanta’s Auburn Avenue. The site includes the Victorian home where the great Civil Rights leader was born, the Ebenezer Baptist Church where he preached, and the memorial tomb at the King Center where he is buried.

Thousands of visitors to Atlantic City flock to pay their respects to America’s most famous Civil Rights leader and Nobel Prize winner at the site daily.

The Kennesaw Mountain was the site of an important battle during the American Civil War. This battle that took place in 1864 saw a bloody combat between General Sherman’s Union forces and the Confederate forces who were entrenched at the site.

The battle resulted in 67000 causalities and today this battle site has been converted into a park that extends over thousands of areas of protected land and is equipped with 17 miles of walking trails littered with place marks and memorials. The park also hosts a small museum, which displays artifacts from the Civil War.

The Fernbank Museum of Natural History is one of the most famous museums in the USA that explores the evolution of the earth’s history, the physical universe, the environment and human culture. The museum also hosts an IMAX theater and is renowned for its permanent collection, which features the world’s largest dinosaurs. Be here if you want to browse through some natural artifacts during vacations to Atlanta.

Atlanta’s High Museum of Art offers a permanent collection that features 11000 works of American artists belonging to the 19th and 20th Century as well as photography and African folk art. The museum periodically hosts temporary exhibits that feature European collections and other contemporary art.

The Atlanta Zoo was established in 1889 and is one of the nation’s oldest continuously operating zoos. The Atlanta zoo now features more than 300 animals and reptiles that from 220 species, including the country’s largest collections of gorillas, orangutans and the most diverse collection of reptiles. The zoo also offers various interactive exhibits and should be counted as a must-visit attraction if you are planning to visit Atlanta with kids.

The Georgia Aquarium is also located in Atlanta’s downtown area and was founded with a donation of $250 million from home products chain; Home Depot’s co-founder Bernie Marcus. The Georgia Aquarium is the largest aquarium in the world that houses 100,000 marine creatures that belong to more than 500 species. The various exhibits feature tropical, cold water, ocean and river creatures, and the aquarium also houses a separate shark tank.

The global news channel CNN has its head quarters in Atlanta and offers tours of its various facilities; including a replica of the CNN control room, the real newsroom and the world’s longest free standing escalator along with specialty tours, which offer a behind the scenes look at the filming of various programs.

Atlanta has a humid, subtropical climate that is characterized by four distinct seasons. Winters in Atlanta tend to be very cold with temperatures below freezing for much of the time. Average temperatures for the month of January are approximately 42.7 °F (5.9 °C), and the city occasionally receives snow.

Summers in Atlanta are usually hot and humid with average temperatures in July touching 89 °F (31.7 °C) and heat wave spells lasting days at a time. Atlanta like the rest of the US southeast receives abundant rainfall, which is evenly distributed throughout the year.

Atlanta is a frequented destination for the world as well as local businessmen and therefore boasts of a highly developed aviation scene. If you are flying in, you should check out the various flight deals and last minute flights available on Fare Buzz and save a lot on flight fares.

Atlanta is well served by an extensive public transport system that is made up of the subways and buses, which are operated by the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transport Authority. However, these transport links do not cover the entire city and Atlanta remains a largely car dependent city.

If you choose to hire a car for your Atlanta stay, you should be aware that though parking is quite easily available within the city limits, traffic can often get quite gridlocked on the freeways and within the city center.

Atlanta is also served by a fleet of taxis but these need to be ordered on the phone rather than hailed in the street. If you want to stay away from the hassles of calling and booking on the same day, you can try our car rental section as well and plan your vacations well ahead of time.

Atlanta is often referred to as a shopper’s paradise. The city is well known for its shopping malls and outlet centers. It is estimated that Atlanta has some of the largest shopping malls in the southeast along with the most unique shops anywhere in the country that offer something new for anyone.

Most stores in Atlanta remain open from Monday-Saturday from 10am to 9 pm. On Sundays, they are open from noon to 6pm though several downtown stores stay closed .Sales tax is 7% in the city and varies between 6%-7% in the suburbs.

Some of Atlanta’s most famous malls include the Mall at Peachtree Center, Lenox Square Mall, Northlake Mall, Phipps Plaza, Perimeter Mall, Greenbriar Mall and Cumberland Mall. If you rather shop at boutiques and hip, trendy stores then you should center your Atlanta shopping expeditions around the Atlanta neighborhoods of Decatur, Virginia-Highland and Little Five Points.

Atlanta’s dining landscape offers a wide variety of cuisines that cater to all price points. The city is home to a knowledgeable dining population who believes that just because an eatery is expensive it doesn’t mean it is necessarily good.

According to recent surveys; some of the best and highly ranked restaurants in Atlanta include eateries like Bacchanalia( New American), Two Urban Licks(International), Fogo de Chao Churrascaria (Steakhouse), Flip Burger Boutique, Ria's Bluebird and Carver's Country Kitchen( Southern foods), Antico Pizza Napoletana( Pizza) and Six Feet Under (Seafood).

Atlanta offers a very varied and diverse nightlife scene which features nightclubs, cocktail lounges, bars, hip hop clubs and more. The city also features the concert circuit of famous music acts, groups and is also known for its tradition of dressing up for a night out.

Atlanta’s nightlife spots are not concentrated in any one neighborhood; rather they are spread out all over the city in areas like Buckhead, Downtown Atlanta and the Virginia Highlands. Some of the most popular nightlife haunts in Atlanta include joints like Club 2winz, Koo Koo Room, Sutra Lounge, Masquerade, Mood Lounge, Tavern at Phipps, Vice Lounge and Cosmopolitan Lounge.