We settled on a 4 day, 3 night trip to Atlanta at the beginning of our spring break week. There are so many things to do in Atlanta, but we knew the aquarium was at the top of our list, with World of Coca-Cola close behind (for the kids at least). We used that as our starting point and figured out our other activities from there.
Atlanta CitiPASS
Since we were planning on hitting several of Atlanta’s biggest highlights, the CitiPASS was a great option for us. It is essentially a coupon book for Atlanta’s top attractions. Each booklet contains admissions to the following:
- Georgia Aquarium
- World of Coca-Cola
- CNN Studio Tours
- Zoo Atlanta OR National Center for Civil and Human Rights
- Fernbank Museum of Natural History OR College Football Hall of Fame
We did the math and the break even point is after 3 activities. As long as you plan to go to at least 4 of the places listed above, purchasing the pass will save you money. If you only go to 3 or less, it is cheaper to buy individual admissions to each place. Prices for the Atlanta CityPASS (as of April 2019) are $76 for adults and $62 for kids 3-12. We bought the CityPASS online and redeemed it for the booklet at the first attraction we went to (CNN Studio Tours). CitiPASS tickets are good for 9 consecutive days starting from the first day of use so you can spread out your visits.
In addition to saving money, most of the attractions have a separate entrance line for CitiPASS holders. At the aquarium especially, this can save you lots of time waiting on line.
Although zoos are always high on our list, we opted for the National Center for Civil and Human Rights for a couple of reasons. First, we felt like the kids were old enough for a visit there to be a meaningful educational experience and an important learning opportunity. It tied in to some of the things they had been learning in school and seeing the exhibits firsthand would bring to life some of the things they had read about in books. Second, the zoo was not centrally located to downtown Atlanta and the first three activities. And third, we thought an aquarium and a zoo in just 2 days time would be pushing it for certain members of our family (or at least one of them).
We left the 5th one as optional. We planned out the first 4 (CNN and World of Coke on Sunday and the Aquarium and Center for Human Rights on Monday) and figured if we had time we would decide on the 5th activity. We did end up having time and went to the Football Hall of Fame. Again, location factored into the decision – the Football Hall of Fame was within walking distance of the other attractions, making it easier to get to and easier to fit in at the end of the day. We also thought it was a better fit for the boys’ ages (9 and 11). While they aren’t huge college football fans per se, they are active boys who love sports. And while they do also love natural history museums, I had read that the Fernbank was really geared towards younger kids.
Accommodations
Everything I read advised me against staying downtown. Conventional wisdom is to stay in midtown or Buckhead. The logic behind this is that those areas offer the most shopping and dining options and have more of a nightlife. Since downtown is largely business-oriented, it essentially closes down after 5.
While that all makes sense in theory, when I looked at the map of the 4-5 attractions we planned on visiting, they were all within a few blocks of each other downtown. It didn’t make sense to me to stay in another area and have to use public transportation to come into and out of downtown. I liked the idea of being able to run back to the hotel if we needed a break or to change clothes or to drop something off. And we weren’t interested in shopping or overly concerned with dining options. We preferred to travel to a different part of the city for dinner than to travel for a different part of the city for the bulk of our day.
So we stayed at the Hyatt House Atlanta Downtown on Marietta Street NW. The location was perfect. We could walk to all of the attractions (although we ended up taking a quick Uber to CNN Studios because it was pouring rain at the time) and loved that we were always so close to our home base. We did drive to other parts of town for dinner two nights but have no regrets about staying downtown.
The hotel itself was good. It was new with clean, modern rooms. It had free breakfast and an outdoor pool that the boys used on the one day it was warm enough. The only negatives were that the service was just so-so and there was an additional fee for valet parking (although that is expected in the city).
Dining
We didn’t go anywhere overly exciting or adventurous for our meals. That wasn’t really a focus of our trip. All breakfasts were in the hotel. We had lunch the first day in the CNN Center food court. It was convenient after our studio tour, a good place to camp out while the rain passed, and had a decent variety of typical quick service restaurants (burgers, pizza, burritos, etc.). The second day we ate lunch at Max’s Coal Oven Pizzeria, conveniently located behind the aquarium. We snuck in right before it closed for a private party. They had good atmosphere and really good pizza.
The night we arrived, we walked over to Der Biergarten for dinner. I had read a lot of rave reviews about the food there and that it was a good place for families too. We sat at picnic tables outside and enjoyed the atmosphere. The food was good but way overpriced and not kid-friendly. The only thing my boys were interested in were the $10 (!) pretzels. And they were out of the first two beers my husband tried to order. I was definitely a little underwhelmed by our experience there and wouldn’t necessarily recommend it for a family dinner.
Our second night we ventured toward Buckhead to go to The R. Thomas Deluxe Grill, a healthy food restaurant that opened in 1985, long before healthy food was trendy. Today it is an Atlanta institution open 24 hours a day, offering healthy food in an eclectic atmosphere. Tropical birds live in cages outside the entrance and the decor is reminiscent of a brightly-colored, overcrowded flea market. We had an unusual experience there as a storm started right after we sat down on the covered patio. The plastic sheets for walls kept us dry but didn’t keep the water from pouring in on the floor… and it certainly didn’t keep the power on. Kudos to the staff for making and serving our meal in the dark. It was definitely a unique experience – and excellent food. The kids were slightly freaked out by the storm and flooding but liked the food and the birds. It’s a super unique place with good food worth checking out.
Our last night we went to another Atlanta institution, the original location of The Varsity. The Varsity is the largest drive-in fast food restaurant in the world, a fact I wish I had known beforehand (and really should have – I’m usually such a researcher!). I knew it was famous for its burgers but clearly hadn’t done my research to understand that it is closer to McDonalds (and a crazy busy one at that) than say Red Robin or Shake Shack. The size of the place was overwhelming, the lines ridiculous, the food mediocre, and the portions unsatisfying. I wasn’t impressed by the experience or the food but at least part of that is my fault for not having the proper expectations. My boys have never met a burger or a hot dog they don’t like and even they were unimpressed (and still hungry). Go there if you want to say you’ve been to The Varsity. Otherwise I’d skip it.
