Looking for a low-key but full of fun family get away? Atlanta is a wonderful place to take the kids, if you go at the right time you’ll have perfect weather (we went in October & it was mid 70’s the entire time!), and it’s fairly inexpensive depending where you’re traveling from…it’s driveable for us!

Getting there

We opted to drive since we knew we’d want to go to several places that were too far to walk/not super accessible by public metro and because dealing with Uber & carseats just didn’t sound like a good time. From Indy it was about 9 hours with stops. We woke up around midnight to head out, thinking Eloise would go right back to sleep…lol. Jokes on us and she stayed up until about 3:30. Aside from that it was an easy trip down!

Where to stay

We stayed at Springfield Suites by Marriott and honestly it could NOT have been a better choice! The rate was great, it was right across the street from the aquarium, plus we had a pretty sweet view! Eloise woke up every morning saying hi to the giant whale shark and It was the sweetest thing ever! If you want this view make sure to ask for a room with windows facing the aquarium! We were in room 1108.

Atlanta City Pass

We opted to go for the city pass since we had planned on seeing most of the things it covered! Overall it was a great saver for us, and we only needed two since Eloise is still free.

Things to do

Georgia Aquarium

This was the main event for us! Eloise is obsessed with whale sharks and Georgia Aquarium is one of the few in the world that has them. It is an AMAZING layout with incredible animals. The dolphin show was like nothing we’ve ever seen & the sea lion show was fun, too!

A few tips:

Their website says you can only get a pass out for an hour. This is wrong and guest services assured me it’s never been a policy. You get a stamp and can come and go as you please for the day.
Get in line 10min early for both the dolphin & sea lion show.
Be cautious of where you sit if you don’t want to get wet! You’d be surprised how high up you have to sit for the dolphins to get out of the splash zone, but the higher up seats come with a great view.
Plan for about 4 hours to see and take everything in!
GA has a calendar available on their website to see what times everything is happening, but I recommend calling ahead and seeing if they have any events/exhibit closures the day you’re planning on visiting. The day we went the Ocean Voyager (whale sharks!) closed early for a private event, the next evening we had planned on going again but the whole place was closed down for a private event!
They are opening a new shark exhibit/addition early 2020, we are SO EXCITED to go back and see it all over again!

World of Coca-Cola

Another stop on our city pass! This is literally in the same courtyard area as the aquarium, so when Eloise needed a nap we headed out for a walk & she snoozed through the whole thing. I don’t drink sodas anymore, but Josh does so he drank my free one! The tour was interesting seeing Coca-Cola through the years, there are a few fun things older kids may like but it worked out well for us that Eloise slept through the whole thing. At the end before the gift shop you can try dozens and dozens of soda’s from around the world. The few I tried were gross but, like I said I don’t like any soda – Josh liked several, though!

Zoo Atlanta

We always go to zoo’s when we travel, so when I saw this one had pandas I knew we had to go! It was a 15min drive from our hotel and we ended up using free street parking (the nearby park was under construction and the other lots were full) but it wasn’t too hard to find. Be prepared to walk, I’m used to our zoo in Indy, and even though it’s spread out a bit it’s nothing like Zoo Atlanta! They have a great play area for little kids, wall climbing and ziplining/obstacles for big kids,a petting zoo, and a carousel that Eloise was so upset to get off of. Plan on about 3 hours if you want to take your time and see everything!

Centennial Olympic Park

A great place to kill some time, go for a walk, have a picnic on the lawn & play in the fountains! We went on the ferris wheel just outside of the park one night & loved it! Check groupon for a better rate ;)

CNN

Whether or not you’re a fan of CNN, the tour is pretty cool! This was included on our City Pass and we had the time to do it so we figured why not. Plan for about 1.5hours for the tour start to finish! FYI, you cannot take strollers on the tour. We found out the hard way and had to wake a sleeping Eloise when it started.

Ponce City Market

This was such a fun place! With a food hall the size of a shopping mall and then an entire outside mall to boot…if you’re looking for something to do in Atlanta this is the place to wander! We mainly came to eat, Josh had the well known H&F burger, I had Hops Chicken and neither of us were disappointed. There is a rooftop you can access (we didn’t since we were strapped for time) and you can also get to the beltline trails from here. FYI, paid parking is available but the lot is small!

Krog St Market

Another neat hall with mainly food but a few shops here and there. Josh built his own 6 pack of craft beer at Hop City which was awesome. The guys in there were super knowledgeable and were super friendly to Eloise. We split a burger and seriously DELICIOUS fries from Fred’s meat & bread and finished off with ice cream.

Fernbank Natural History

Since this was somewhat on the way out of the city, we hit this as our last stop before leaving Atlanta. They have an incredible amount of trails, outside playground & exploring. Inside they have a kids exhibit that I’d compare to PlayScape at the Indy Children’s Museum, and a few other exhibits that I was surprised to find (and excited they were kid friendly!). The dino’s in the lobby were a huge hit for Eloise and it was a great way to end Atlanta!

Where to eat:

Atlanta Breakfast Club – The first place we ate and HOLY MOLY is was amazing. I can’t even remember what Josh got but I had the shrimp & grits and I practically drool everytime I think of it.

Mary Macs Tea Room – Another highly recommended place that was great! It was more cafeteria style food (served to you, though) and what I remember most is the delicious bread, but a great choice if you’re looking for classic southern food.

Fox Brothers BBQ – Not normally a huge BBQ lover, but man this was SO GOOD and I could eat there any day!

Varsity – Some will tell you it’s an Atlanta Classic. SKIP IT. The food was so greasy that I ended up getting sick on the way home!

Krog St. Market – lots of choices here, we loved Fred’s Meat & Bread.

Ponce City Market – another place with tons of options, we had Hop’s Chicken and H&F Burger and were definitely not disappointed.

Just go.

See the whale sharks, eat the shrimp & grits, have a great family getaway without spending a fortune! Let me know if you do this trip or have done it in the past & loved it too!