I am going to be in Atlanta, GA on business next month. I have never been there before. Does anyone know of good things to do in Atlanta. Looking for suggestions on good restaurants, fun things to do, and sight seeing.
I understand they have very nice airports and train stations and bus stations there, that are very helpful in getting you the hell out of Atlanta.
I’m with Ike on this one. I’ve been to Atlanta, and I’ll be danmed if I can think of a single thing to see or do there. Hightail it down to Savannahh if you’ve got the time!
Ouch. I thought I would have made the cut on that list.
Oh, great. I’ll be stuck in hell for 4 days.
Virginia-Highland is a good neighborhood for hanging out. Lots of good bars, restaurants, interesting shops, etc. Ground zero is the intersection of Highland Avenue and Virginia Avenue (logically enough). The MARTA trains don’t go there; you’ll need to catch a cab or a bus, or take a loooong walk. Lots of 20-somethings to 30-somethings hanging out here.
If you lean more toward the bohemian, you might try Little 5 Points (at the intersection of Euclid Avenue and Moreland Avenue - not too far from Virginia Highland). Little 5 Points also has lots of bars, shops, and restaurants…but also tattoo parlors, used record stores, live music clubs and such. Definitely the funkier neighborhood.
Also East Atlanta Village is similar to Little 5 Points. Funky shops, restaurants and bars.
More upscale nightlife is found in Buckhead, which would probably be the place to go if you’re interested in dance clubs and such.
Sight seeing, well… Not that much to be honest. (The city got burned down a while back. You might have heard about it. 
) Underground Atlanta is a tourist trap. Avoid it like the plague. It is basically a mall. I would opt for Stone Mountain (a huge hunk of naked granite east of Atlanta). You can hike up to the top or take a cable car. The mountain is surrounded by a park. There is a reconstruction of an Ante-bellum mansion and outbuildings there, if you want a bit of history.
And if history is your thing, you can check out the Cyclorama (next to Zoo Atlanta, in Grant Park), which is a huge painting and diorama of the battle of Atlanta.
There is the World of Coca Cola, but only if you’re just really into cola would you want to go there. CNN, headquartered in Atlanta, has tours if you’re into that.
Martin Luther King, Jr.'s boyhood home is preserved for tourists on Auburn Avenue, east of downtown. (In fact, the whole neighborhood is preserved.) His tomb is nearby.
As far as restaurants go, if you want good Southern food try the Collonade (tasty southern food in a nice atmosphere) or maybe Thelma’s Kitchen (soul food, cafeteria-style).
If you have a car, drive out Buford Highway for an international experience. Large Vietnamese community out that way; also a large Mexican presence, with a full complement of authentic restaurants. There’s even a good Peruvian restaurant out that way.
Oh, and Uke, does this mean you won’t be visiting our fair city? We shall weep bitter tears at your absence!:rolleyes: 
If that tantalizing description’s the best you can offer, nah.
Newark’s closer.
Although I hear you DO have a very nice Mullinator.
Left out a couple of things, if you’re looking for a “southern” experience.
Red Light Cafe (on Amsterdam) has bluegrass night every Thursday. Good place to have a beer and hear some good picking, if you are so inclined.
Best blues club is Blind Willie’s, on Highland Avenue, in Virginia Highland. Get there early. It’s small, and fills up fast.
If you like barbecue, you have several choices. Harold’s, down near the federal pen, is where many locals go. Try it for lunch one weekday if you have the time. The Local on Ponce de Leon is a neighborhood bar which actually serves up some pretty good 'cue. Fat Matt’s Rib Shack on Piedmont Avenue has good barbecue, and has live blues on weekends. Dusty’s Barbecue, on Briarcliff Road serves up Carolina-style barbecue.
If you have any particular restaurant questions (a particular ethnic cuisine, e.g.), let me know, and I will pass along the best options locally. There’s a good Cuban place on 5th street. Bridgetown Grill has good Jamaican in a casual setting.
Don’t know where you’re staying, but you have to get out of downtown and into the neighborhoods to appreciate Atlanta.
This is about that William Carlos Williams thing, isn’t it?
OK. Boston it ain’t. New York it ain’t. San Francisco it ain’t. For a lifetime of fun and amusement, you’ll probably have to look elsewhere. For world class museums and cultural events (with the possible exception of the symphony and chorus) you’ll definitely have to look elsewhere. And there’s not a decent deli to be found. As a vacation spot, frankly, I’d take Chattanooga, Charleston, or Savannah (more or less in that order) over Atlanta.
That being said, it’s rather an excess of Yankee snobbishness to pretend that someone in Atlanta on business might as well bury himself in his room with a book and room service meals for the duration. Unless the OP will be here for months, he’ll have a hard time exhausting Atlanta’s complement of interesting places to eat, places that I’ll put with any in NY or SF. While we don’t have long-standing ethnic neighborhoods with their attendant culinary delights like the North End in Boston, North Beach or Chinatown in SF, etc., we do have a lot of chefs trying out new ideas with a fair number of successes. Atlanta consistently ranks among the top two or three cities in the country in the percentage of meals eaten out by its residents, and it ain’t just because it’s too hot to cook (though that’s often true too). And only those for whom nothing short of New York, London, or Paris will suffice could fail to find enough things to do to occupy three or four days/evenings.
I’ll deal with the specifics of things to do and places to eat in another post, directed to the OP. I just couldn’t let you and Eve get away with dismissing Atlanta out of hand.
A little more specific information about your stay would be useful, like:
[ul]
[li]Where you’ll be staying[/li][li]When exactly you’ll be here[/li][li]What sort of things (in general) you enjoy (i.e., sports, theatre, museums, music, historical sites, nightclubs, billiards, etc.)[/li][li]What type of restaurants appeal to you (haute cuisine, offbeat ethnic, southern food, etc.)[/li][li]Where you’re from (to give some idea of what you’re used to)[/li][/ul]
Hey Spoke- and rackensack:
I will be in Atlanta in the middle of September and staying at the Marriott Suites located at in Midtown on 14th Street. I will be flying in on a Sunday and leaving Wednesday evening. Not a lot of free time. I like sports but will not pay to see them played. (professional athletes are way over paid. I have my own personal boycott) I like hiking and museums and the theatre. I play a lot of eight or nine ball. I really like good food. I like steak, seafood, spicy food (Mexican, Asian, whatever), and Italian foods. I am not impressed with Himalayan or some middle eastern cooking. I will try almost any food once. I will not eat internal organs: heart, liver, kidneys, brains, tongue, etc… I have spent the last 25 years in the Denver metro area. Happily married, two kids, two dogs, two cars, and one goldfish. I will only rent a car if I find enough to do in the evenings that requires driving, my company will pay for taxi fares.
That’s the profile. Either I will get a list of good places to go or the FBI will start investigating me for mass murder.
Go to The Varsity Drive-In for the best chili dogs and onion rings in the south.
A lot of the locals won’t eat there because the dogs are “oooh, too greasy” but dammit, they’re chili dogs and they’re supposed to be that way.
Nonsense! The Mason-Dixon line doesn’t enter into it at all. I’d say the same things about Boise, Syracuse, Omaha, or Wheeling, West Virginia!
Given the not entirely remote possibility that I may be despatched to Atlanta on business at some point, I am watching this thread carefully. And making notes about which barbecue joints to visit.
OK here is a little more info:
On 14th Street, you will be near the Woodruff Arts Center, and the High Museum of Art. You could take in a play or peruse the collection at the High. Also nearby is the 14th Street Playhouse, which hosts some outstanding productions. Not sure what will be playing during your stay.
A more offbeat choice might be the nearby (and highly acclaimed) Atlanta Center for Puppetry Arts, which in addition to puppet shows for children, often has evening shows geared toward adults.
Also a walk away is the Whole World Theater, on Spring Street, which is an up-and-coming improvisational comedy troup with an outstanding local reputation.
If you want to play pool, try Buckhead Billiards on Pharr Road, near its intersection with Peachtree Street. There are numerous bars, clubs, and dining establishments in the immediate vicinity. Very close by is the Atlanta Fish Market (you’ll see the big fish) a popular choice for good seafood. The Steamhouse Lounge is also immediately adjacent, if you just want a good tray of oysters (or clams or shrimp, etc.) and a beer.
(Note: If you do decide to go to the Buckhead entertainment district, you’ll need to catch a cab. Don’t be fooled by the Buckhead Marta station. It stops in the business district of Buckhead, several blocks and a looong walk from the entertainment district. The Buckhead Marta stop is near Lenox Mall, though, if you want to do some shopping.)
If you’re into Victorian architecture, take MARTA to the Inman Park station, get out and walk around. Inman Park was Atlanta’s first “suburb”. (The trolley connected the neighborhood with downtown Atlanta. The old trolley barn is still standing near the MARTA station.) There are a number of nice old homes here, which make for a pleasant walk if it’s not too hot. Son’s Place is right beside the MARTA station. Good cafeteria-style soul food (may be lunch only) if you are so inclined.
Little 5 Points, the bohemian neighborhood described above, is also a short walk away from the Inman Park station. Good Jamaican food there at Bridgetown Grill. Also, excellent paella at La Fonda Latina, if you’re into that. All very casual. (It’s a bohemian neighborhood, after all.)
Also nearby is the Carter Center, the repository of Jimmy Carter’s Presidential library.
For historical frame of reference, most of the fighting in the Battle of Atlanta occurred along the tracks in and near the present-day neighborhoods of Inman Park, Little 5 Points, Candler Park and East Atlanta. You can find historical markers scattered around the area, though there was no preservation of the battlefield. (If you happen to be a Civil War buff, you might take a trip up to the Kennesaw Mountain battlefield, northwest of Atlanta, though that would require a rental car or a long cab ride.)
You’re happily married, so I won’t go into detail on Atlanta’s reputation for great strip clubs (e.g. Cheetah 3, Gold Club) unless you insist. (Hey, with virtually no cultural life, how do you think Atlanta gets to host so many conventions and events?) :eek:
I’ll give you more info on restaurants later.
One place we like to go for breakfast when we are in Atlanta is The Flying Biscuit. It is in Candler Park, the actual street address is 1655 Mclendon Ave NE. It’s a kind of funky, artsy place. For example, they have their “Bohemian breakfast”… a newspaper, a large to go coffee, and two cigarettes. I laughed my ass off when I saw that the first time. But seriously, they do have some wonderful food.
Oh yeah, on the list of barbecue joints, I left out the Texas Rib Ranch in Buckhead. Next door is Rio Bravo, for good Tex-Mex and margaritas.
Spoke’s suggestions, generally speaking, are good ones.
You’ll be less than two blocks from the Woodruff Arts Center, including the High Museum of Art, Symphony Hall, the Alliance Theatre, 14th Street Playhouse, etc. There’s a consolidated calendar for all of the various Woodruff Arts Center events and exhibits in September that you might find useful.
The High is more interesting as a building than as a museum; a relative latecomer to the scene among major American art museums, the collections in painting and other traditional high art media aren’t that exciting. The decorative arts collections are rather better, though not a patch on museums in New York or Boston. In any case, the museum closes at 5 every day except Friday, so since you won’t be around on the weekend, you’ll probably have to give it a miss unless you have some time during the day to spare.
The Alliance Theatre hasn’t quite made it into the top rank of regional theaters, but it’s trying. While you’re going to be in town, there will be two shows going on: Soul Possessed, a dance drama by Debbie Allen on the main stage, and the 2000 Pulitzer Prize-winning Dinner With Friends on the Studio Stage.
Though not quite as convenient to you as the main branch of the High Musueum of Art, I actually prefer the High Museum Folk Art and Photography Galleries, located in the middle of downtown in the Georgia-Pacific Building (next to the Peachtree Center MARTA station). The permanent displays are more worthwhile than most of the High’s more traditional “high art” collections, and you can’t beat the price (it’s free).
The Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University is quite good, especially in Mediterranean and Middle and Near Eastern antiquities. It’s also housed in one of the few Michael Graves buildings I unreservedly like. Unfortunately, like the High, it’s only open 'til 5 pm and is quite a ways from the hotel (definite cab ride, unless you wanted to hop on the 6 bus from Arts Center Station to Emory).
It’s a shame you won’t be around at least until Wednesday night, so that you could take in a show at the New American Shakespeare Tavern. One could call it Shakespeare-as-dinner-theater, but that would miss the basic spirit somewhat. What they get right, particularly in the comedies and romances, is that Shakespeare’s plays were first and foremost entertainment for a broad spectrum of society. So far as I know, it’s unique in its status as a permanent theater company with its own facility emphasizing Shakespeare and serving food and drink before performances and during intermission. After a number of productions, you begin to be able to predict Artistic Director Jeffrey Watkins’ moves somewhat, which is why I’ve been glad to see that he’s allowed other members of the company to direct several productions over the last few years. If it turns out that you end up staying through Wednesday night, you could catch their Taming of the Shrew, which is running throughout September Wednesdays–Saturdays, with Sunday matinees. It’s easy to get to from your hotel – two MARTA stops south to North Avenue station, then one block east to Peachtree and two blocks south.
The Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau also has a searchable calendar of events that’s pretty comprehensive and has a lot of information about the events but is difficult to navigate and read.
There are several quite good places to eat within easy walking distance of the hotel: Tamarind may be the best Thai restaurant in the city, Veni Vidi Vici always gets high marks for Italian, Country Place at Colony Square is a perennial favorite (though somewhat long in the tooth by now, as are most of the Peasant Group restaurants), South City Kitchen is typically regarded as a paragon of “new Southern” cooking, Vickery’s is a long-time standby for the professional crowd, there’s the inexplicably popular Einstein’s over on Juniper, the always reliable French Quarter Food Shop a little way down Peachtree for New Orleans-style stuff, and at the high end of the scale Park 75 in the new Four Seasons Atlanta seems to be winning over the crowd who would have gone to Pano’s and Paul’s or 103 West in years past.
A little farther afield, north on Peachtree a couple of miles in the Peachtree Hills area, chef Paul Luna’s Luna Si is always interesting and worthwhile – not to mention less expensive than a lot of places that aren’t half as good. He also has Luna Loca quite near your hotel on Juniper Street, but from all accounts it’s perhaps a bit “flamboyant” for most family-man business travelers.
Bacchanalia is probably the best restaurant in Atlanta these days. Even with a month’s notice you might not be able to get a reservation, even for a Monday or Tuesday night. The same pair of chefs have opened a more casual place in an industrial park near Emory University called Floataway Cafe that’s nearly as good (and nearly as crowded).
To really get a feel for Atlanta, I’d suggest taking a cab over to Highland Avenue to Atkins Park, a pub/restaurant that’s been a local fixture since 1922. The food’s not world-class, but it’s quite good and is a decent place to people-watch. There’s several other good restaurants in the neighborhood as well, if Atkins Park proves not to your liking, such as Surin of Thailand and its sister shop Harry and Sons offering Thai and other Asian specialties. About six blocks north on Highland you’ll come to the intersection of Virginia and Highland – the heart of the Virginia-Highland neighborhood. If you haven’t already eaten, Murphy’s is extremely popular and the food is always good, though to my mind it’s somewhat overrated – more the fault of the people who seem to think it’s God’s gift to food than of the place itself. There’s also Highland Tap, which serves extremely good steaks and burgers with the obligatory martinis in near pitch darkness. There’s several other options clustered around this intersection that I have no experience with. Once you’ve satisfied your appetite, you could head into Moe’s and Joe’s, which is nothing more or less than a fifty-year-old neighborhood bar (you can say the same for George’s next door) but is a lot of fun nonetheless.
About five blocks south of Atkins Park on Highland, should you choose to go the other way, is Manuel’s Tavern. This is probably the best remaining neighborhood bar in Atlanta now that the Stein Club has closed; the food’s good but nothing special, but the bar area’s great. One caveat: don’t wear your Bush-Cheney T-shirt; the owner’s a bigwig in the Democratic Party in Georgia and was CEO of DeKalb County for many years. Reputedly, much of Jimmy Carter’s 1976 campaign was planned here.
This only begins to scratch the surface, and leaves out Buckhead and lot of other areas entirely, but it’s a start. The ACVB web site has info on a lot of these restaurants, and of course there’s tons of city guide-type sites around for more details.
Still more thoughts: Northward on Peachtree Street, you will find Cafe Intermezzo, home of a wide selection of the most delicious desserts in town, served in a cozy wood-paneled sort of atmosphere. Also in the area: Huey’s, a casual sort of place which offers a New Orleans menu, but more importantly, melt-in-your-mouth beignets. (Hmm…hope I spelled that right…) Skip the main course, just stop by for the beignets.
I concur with rackensack’s suggestions, as well.
Sounds like Atlanta is not “Room 101” and I won’t be stuck in hell for four days. Eve and Ike seemed to have spent time on the wrong side of town. I appreciate all the good suggestions. I have an E-mail out to the Shakespeare Tavern to see if they have a Sunday matinee, that sounds fun and would hate to miss it.