Downtown

Alongside some of the city’s biggest attractions (the World of Coca-Cola museum, the Georgia Aquarium, and the Inside CNN tour), comes one of the city’s newest: The $68 million, 42,000-square-foot Center for Civil and Human Rights, which tells the story of the Civil Rights Moment in Dr. King’s hometown and opened its doors in 2014. Here, a rotating selection of King’s personal artifacts and manuscripts are on display on loan from the Morehouse College. Currently on view: #1960, a collection of photographs from fine art photographer Sheila Pree Bright, who captures imagery across Atlanta, Baltimore, Ferguson and DC, bringing attention to policing in the African American community.

The Glenn building—which was built in 1923—sat vacant in one of downtown Atlanta’s most vibrant districts until the Legacy Property Group initiated a major remodel in the early 2000s and turned the building into one of the city’s first (and still one of its only) boutique hotels. The rooms are spacious, many with views of Centennial park, and in addition to a great restaurant and cozy living room bar for casual drinks, there’s a rooftop bar that gets a big crowd on weekends.

Georgia’s massive downtown aquarium is the largest in the United States, with tanks holding everything from bottlenose dolphins and manta rays to several beluga whales and whale shark (which you’ll see from below in their enormous Ocean Voyager tank). Side note: This is a great place to plan a kid's birthday party.

The plans for the Atlanta Beltline propose to redevelop twenty-two miles of abandoned railway beds that encircle the city’s downtown core into a running and biking path, complete with new parks, accessible transit, and plenty of greenery. The ambitious plan has a long way to go, but the finished pieces are already in (heavy) use by bikers, runners, and young couples with strollers and cups of coffee. For a starter course, check out the Eastside trail—two miles of hiking and biking trails that connect Piedmont Park and Ponce City Market.