1. Wow, that’s a big, crazy airport.
2. Wow, that traffic really sucked.
Maybe you got to spend a little time downtown for a convention or ballgame.
And, sure, there were the highlights like the Georgia Aquarium, the College Football Hall of Fame and the World of Coca-Cola.
But after that, unless you knew exactly where to look, you probably saw a lot of concrete, a lot of places that closed at 6 p.m., and culinary and entertainment options just like the other roughly 430 Hooters or 175 Hard Rock Cafes.
Here’s the good news: You’ve been to Atlanta. But you haven’t really been to Atlanta.
Get away from that street named Peachtree (or one of the dozens of other streets we named Peachtree for your convenience), and there’s a city with a lot more to offer.
The capital of the New South has been called a small town trapped in a big city.
In fact, it’s a lot of small towns, coexisting, for the most part, inside and alongside the borders of that big city.
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Ditch the car — no, really
What if you could visit Atlanta and somehow excuse yourself from all the tired jokes about terrible traffic? (Punchline: Your time is worthless! HA! Ha?)
Believe it; it can be done.
There are more attractions and restaurants popping up along the city’s MARTA train lines. A single ride costs $2.50, far less than a cab or rental car.
A new streetcar will soon be running in a 2.7-mile east-west loop from the hotel-heavy downtown.
It’ll take visitors past a gaggle of quirky pop-up shops to the burgeoning bar scene along Edgewood Avenue and near the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site.
Visitors can also hit the Atlanta BeltLine Eastside Trail, a car-free stretch where residents run, ride, scoot and stroll, sometimes stopping for a drink at a restaurant along the way or dropping by Piedmont Park, the city’s busy central greenspace.
More Beltline trails are in the works, which will only make it easier to navigate between neighborhoods with just a pair of comfortable shoes.
‘Walking Dead’ in Georgia: Film tourism comes to life
