As the subject says, my family and I will be staying from Dec. 25th to 27th at the Sleep Inn - Buckhead in Atlanta. Never been nor visited the city before, but I hear it's attracting a lot of tourists these days, esp. after the Olympics were held there several years ago.

Anyone have recco's on what we can see or do during our 2-3 day stay in ATL? Not sure what the weather is like around that time of year, but I assume it can't be worse than the 40-deg temps we're getting in the Northeast. What is the downtown area like? We're always interested in museums, exhibits and any unique attractions. I'm pretty sure we'll visit the Chinatown and get our dim sum on

 

As many times as I've been to ATL, I've never really done a lot of sightseeing. LOTS of good places to go out to eat (many $$$). Buckhead has a nice selection. Good shopping. Stone Mountain is a pretty cool area, but a bit commercialized for 'true outdoors'.

http://www.buckhead.org/
http://www.stonemountainpark.com


I hear the World of Coca Cola tour is pretty neat, as is the CNN Studio tour. I'd like to do both of those someday.
http://roadsidegeorgia.com/site/worldofcocacola.html
http://www.cnn.com/StudioTour/

 

Call me if u need anything 770-843-1723. Dave's suggestions are cool. Centenial Park downtown is cool, across from the CNN center. Though I am not sure what would be open during the time you are here. The High Muesuem on Peachtree St. has exhibits all the time. Maybe catch a Hawks game?
Atlanta is really a yuppie town. Not really anything to do but shop and everything closes at 9-10pm.

Buckhead, you can eat at the ESPN SportsCenter restaurant, kinda for tourists. The Vasity is a must eat Atlanta tradition on North Ave. You will be 5 min from Lenox Mall/Phipps Plaza, they are across the st from one another. They have shuttles to take, though Phipps plaza has complimentary Valet parking for Lexus owners.

Maybe ask the gang at www.seloc.net, more brains to give suggestions.

 

Thanks for the suggestions Mike and Dave. We're looking forward to hanging around Atlanta, and possibly doing the Coca-Cola and CNN studio tours, the Centennial Park, and some restaurant hunting. Hopefully we'll see some cool holiday decorations, and maybe a nice car or two

 

Highly recommend the Fernbank Museum. Has a geological history of Georgia (and the planet really), some fun science stuff, some art, and an IMAX theater. It's in a really nice area too.

Suggest you check out Virginia Highlands area too (East of mid town - intersection of Highland and Virginia avenues!). Check out Murphy's restaurant there... lots of eclectic art and fun stores. Totally different to Buckhead / midtown.

DEFINITELY go inside the Marriott Marquis hotel if you like cool 'wow' buildings. Go up to the lobby or garden levels or better still take it to the 47th floor - you can see all the way to the 1st, INSIDE!

Check Horseradish Grill in the expensive suburbs if you want somewhere quieter for a quality southern type brunch.

Houston's is excellent and there's a few locations in town.

Enjoy your visit - sorry I didn't respond sooner - just saw your post.

 

Well we spent part of Xmas Eve, and all of Xmas Day in Atlanta, and even though it's quite a big city itself, we did not spend as much time taking in all of what the city had to offer. However, we went to the Centennial Park, did the studio tour at CNN (pretty interesting to get a behind-the-scenes look), strolled around Georgia Tech (home of the Yellow Jackets), and strolled around the Lexor Square Mall. Since my family makes it a habit of Chinese restaurants wherever we go, we ate at some of those places on Buford Hwy and New Peachtree Rd. (location of Chinatown Square), and they were pretty good quality, though a bit pricey compared to NYC's C-town. If I had more time, I would have considered the classy eateries along Peachtree Rd.

Overall, it was pretty nice for a first visit to Atlanta, and it was even more fun by driving around in the 740iL (my father's)