Atlanta Georgia

Atlanta – a City of Southern Charm

The city itself is not enormous (with around 500,000 people), but the Atlanta Metropolitan Area has expanded rapidly and is now home to almost 5.5 million residents. This is largely due to the business and transportation industries that have sprouted. Perhaps best known as the home of Coca-Cola, Atlanta is also the headquarters for such recognized business heavyweights as CNN and AT&T Wireless.

Downtown Atlanta is a seemingly limitless expansion of skyscrapers and start-ups. Someone who last visited the city 10 years ago might not recognize parts of it now. Tourists can take the CNN tour and the Coca-Cola tour, or visit the state capitol and the Centennial Olympic Park, which commemorates the city’s hosting of the 1996 Olympic Games.

Movie-lovers will recall that one of the most famous movies of all time was set here. The Gone with the Wind Movie Museum and the related Gone with the Wind Experience are both located in midtown. Serious tourists might wish to purchase the Atlanta City Pass, which allows access to a combination of several of Atlanta’s top attractions at a discounted price.

Atlanta’s reputation as a transportation hub started as far back as the Civil War, a reputation that caused it to be burned to the ground by General Sherman’s northern forces in 1865. It made an extraordinary recovery, to such an extent that its main airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, is now the world’s busiest in terms of both passenger and aircraft traffic. Almost 500,000 flights arrive in Atlanta each year! Cheap flights to Atlanta can be found through discount airlines and even on the major carriers at certain times of the year.

The constant influx of visitors, both for business and pleasure, has brought a corresponding increase in the number of hotels in Atlanta, many of which are located in the conveniently named Hotel District. A high percentage of Atlanta hotels in this area are geared towards business travelers, so tourists may wish to consider the Midtown area, which has a growing number of boutique hotels. And don’t forget Atlanta’s growing reputation as a culinary centre, which has attracted many of the country’s top chefs.