Downtown

Atlanta’s Downtown is a large neighborhood made up of several smaller, contrasting districts. Historically the center of the city, it is one of its key sights and home to many of its most popular attractions. It is also the location of many of Atlanta’s biggest hotels.

The area around Centennial Olympic Park draws the most visitors, this being the location of many of Atlanta’s must-see sights, including the Georgia Aquarium, the World of Coca-Cola museum, and the Center for Civil and Human Rights.

Atlanta’s first business district, Fairlie-Poplar, is home to many historic buildings, including the oldest skyscrapers in the city. This is also an entertainment district, with theaters, galleries and a wide range of places to eat.

Further east is the western end of Atlanta’s historic African-American business district, Auburn Avenue. Its chief highlight, the Martin Luther King National Historical Park, lies just beyond Downtown, but on the nearer stretch of the Sweet Auburn District you can visit the APEX Museum, which examines history from an African-American perspective; go to the historic Municipal Market in Sweet Auburn, with several places to eat; or see the area’s many historic places and buildings. The Atlanta Streetcar connects the Centennial Park district to Auburn Avenue.

Other districts within Atlanta’s Downtown include Underground Atlanta and the southern reaches of the neighborhood, where the Georgia State Capitol Building and Atlanta City Hall are located.

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Midtown

After Downtown, Midtown is usually the biggest draw for visitors to Atlanta. A large, central district just north-east of Downtown, it is easily accessible via the city’s MARTA rail system. The neighborhood has a large concentration of attractions, plus shopping, dining, nightlife, many of Atlanta’s main hotels, and the adjacent Piedmont Park.

→ See Festivals and events in Piedmont Park

Upper Midtown is an important arts district, with a cluster of art museums plus theaters and other performance spaces. Atlanta’s flagship High Museum of Art is the main attraction, but there is also the Museum of Design Atlanta, the Center for Puppetry Arts and the home of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

Other Midtown attractions include the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum, which documents the experience of the Jewish people of Atlanta and the South; the (free-to-visit) Federal Reserve Bank, whose small museum of coins and monetary history also allows the opportunity to look into the inner workings of the bank; Rhodes Hall, an early-20th-century historic house the design of which was inspired by German castles; and the Atlanta History Center Midtown in the former home of Gone With the Wind author Margaret Mitchell.

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Buckhead

Sprawling, wealthy Buckhead, just north of Atlanta’s Downtown-Midtown axis, is a prime destination for visitors to the city. The reason is not its tourist attractions (there are few) but its shopping, which is some of the best in the southeast.

Buckhead was once the nightlife capital of Atlanta, but community resistance forced many of the area’s late-opening establishments to close early or move out.

Nowadays, most visitors head straight to the Lenox Square/Phipps Plaza area, two huge adjacent malls offering boutique, department and chain shopping and a wide range of places to eat.

Otherwise, Buckhead’s main tourist attraction is the Atlanta History Center, off West Paces Ferry Road, site of the Smith Farm, Swan House and a museum of Atlanta history.

Eastern Neighborhoods

Besides the key tourist districts of Downtown and Midtown, the intown neighborhoods to their east hold the greatest charm for visitors. Some of these neighborhoods are primarily visited for their history and architecture; others are shopping and culinary destinations, increasingly popular with people who want something beyond the ordinary tourist experience.

Inman Park

Atlanta’s original streetcar suburb, this historic neighborhood offers beautiful architecture, shaded streets, and some of the best dining in Atlanta. Highlights include the Krog Street Market food hall and the fashionable Little Five Points, an arts and alternative shopping district reminiscent of California’s Venice Beach.

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Virginia-Highland

Virginia-Highland is one of Atlanta’s most walkable intown neighborhoods, visited for its excellent shopping and dining. Immediately southwest of the neighborhood is the recently-developed Ponce City Market, with a large food hall and weekly farmers market.

Old Fourth Ward

Old Fourth Ward, also known as O4W, is becoming one of the city’s most desirable neighborhoods, with a developing bar and restaurant scene, neighborhood parks, a skate park, and street art.

One centerpiece of the neighborhood is the Historic Fourth Ward Park, with a lakeside amphitheater and a kids’ playground and splash pad, which hosts many of Atlanta’s most popular outdoor events. The other is the birth home of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, part of the Martin Luther King, Jr National Historical Park, the rest of which lies just beyond the western boundary of the Old Fourth Ward.

Sweet Auburn

Auburn Avenue, the mile-long centerpiece of Atlanta’s Sweet Auburn Historic District, was once at the heart of the city’s African-American community and one of the nation’s foremost Black business districts.

One of Atlanta’s most popular attractions, the (free-to-visit) Martin Luther King Jr National Historical Park is found here, where you can see Dr King’s birth home and exhibits about his life and work.

Auburn Avenue’s small APEX Museum explores history from an African perspective. Nearby is the historic Municipal Market in Sweet Auburn, whose food stalls provide a good place to get something for lunch. Elsewhere along Auburn Avenue are many buildings, offices and places of worship important in Atlanta’s African-American history.

At present, Auburn Avenue does not offer an especially cohesive experience, although there are several markers along the way to explain the history of its most significant buildings and sites. Where practical, a guided tour will for many provide a better way to discover Sweet Auburn’s history.

Druid Hills

The original Druid Hills neighborhood, now preserved as a historic district, centers around a mile-long stretch of Ponce de Leon Avenue, immediately east of Virginia-Highland, itself east of Midtown. The larger neighborhood now known by that name encompasses a far larger area, some of which falls outside of the Atlanta city limits; there is also the separate city of North Druid Hills.

The Druid Hills Historic District preserves what is probably Atlanta’s most exceptional historic neighborhood. Developed according to the plans of the renowned landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted (and one of his most important southern works), this neighborhood was once the suburb of choice for Atlanta’s wealthiest families, with many of their mansions still surviving.

Eastwards of the Historic District are the two Fernbank museums, both especially suitable for children: the free Fernbank Science Center, (a fee applies to see the attached planetarium) and the Fernbank Museum of Natural History, now known simply as Fernbank, where you will also find a giant movie screen.

Between the two museums lies the old-growth Fernbank Forest, once open freely to the public but since redeveloped as a paid attraction (included with Fernbank Museum admission) with accessible paths, a canopy walk and educational programming.

North of the Fernbank museums is Emory University’s large campus, with an additional two museums to visit: the Center for Disease Control Museum, devoted to the history of that institution and of preventative public health care, and the Michael C Carlos Museum, which has a large collection of ancient art, including an excellent display of Egyptian artifacts.

Ansley Park

Ansley Park is another of Atlanta’s most appealing historic neighborhoods, with fine architecture, quiet parks and views over Midtown’s skyscrapers.

Ansley Park is almost exclusively residential, and you won’t find anywhere here to eat or shop, though opportunities to do both can be found in adjacent areas.

This neighborhood makes for a pleasant stroll or drive if you are also going to Piedmont Park or the Atlanta Botanical Garden, both immediately next to Ansley Park, or making a daytime visit to the Upper Midtown arts district.

Western Neighborhoods

The area immediately west of downtown is notable as one of Atlanta’s two main Black heritage districts, with several attractions and sights pertaining to the history of the city’s African-Americans.

West of downtown are the combined campuses of Atlanta’s historically-Black colleges. The colleges were originally founded, in the years following the Civil War, as five separate educational institutions. Initially providing only core classes, they were later expanded into major institutions of higher eduction. In the 20th century, the colleges and their students took a central role in Atlanta’s Civil Rights Movement.

Now reorganized as the Atlanta University Center, the colleges’ campuses are home to historic buildings and two art galleries devoted to African-American art.

The Spelman College Museum of Fine Art specializes in art by women of the African diaspora. The collections of the Clark Atlanta University Art Museum has a broader focus on African-American and African diaspora art, alongside some contemporary American works.

Southwest of the colleges is the Hammond House Museum, providing another space in which to view African diaspora art, this time within the setting of a historic home owned by a prominent African-American physician. A block or so south is Wren’s Nest, the former home of Joel Chandler Harris, author of the Uncle Remus stories.

Southern Neighborhoods

The area primarily visited in the south of the downtown area is the cluster of sights and attractions centered around Grant Park, including the Grant Park Historic District to its west.

Grant Park is Atlanta’s oldest urban park, created in the 1880s south of the then city limits on land donated by engineer, railroad man and prominent Atlanta landowner Lemuel Grant. Grant Park served as Atlanta’s primary recreation spot for many years, until the development of Piedmont Park on what was then the city’s northern perimeter.

The wooded park is a popular spot for recreation and relaxation, especially in the warmer months, but for tourists its primary interest is as the location of Zoo Atlanta, one of the city’s most-visited attractions.

Oakland Cemetery, to the north of Grant Park, is Atlanta’s oldest and most historically-significant cemetery, containing the graves of Atlantans – rich and poor, Black and white – dating back to the mid 19th century. Guided and self-guided tours of Oakland Cemetery are available, and it also hosts several annual special events.