We spent 3 full days in Atlanta with our 1.5 year old and this is what we did!
How We Got There
We debated whether we should drive or fly to Atlanta, as there are many cheap flights to the city. However, it was not in our budget to fly this time so we opted for a long road trip. It was about 12 hours from Oklahoma so we decided to stop in Arkansas on the halfway mark at a little Airbnb. I’m so glad we did as our toddler was getting very antsy around that 6-hour mark. In addition, road trips in general are pretty long with kids, as you have to stop every 2 hours or so. It took us about 8 hours to get to Arkansas with all the stops, including stopping for lunch.
Lodging
We stayed at the Hampton Inn By Hilton & Suites Atlanta Buckhead Place, GA.
I liked the Buckhead area! I wanted to stay in a “nicer” area for our stay where we would be near food, but not downtown. This hotel is within walking distance to Trader Joe’s, several restaurants, and even a shopping center. It was super safe and I thought the hotel was nice, albeit super busy because of the football game.
We also received free breakfast, which was also important to me considering how our toddler is hungry the instant he wakes up. The spread was pretty basic, but I loved the waffles every morning.
Activities
Day 1
Atlanta Falcons Football Game
While I wouldn’t recommend our first day itinerary to everyone, we decided to go to an Atlanta Falcons football game. Originally, we were going to see some sights, but when we realized the tickets were only about $30 per person (with kids under 2 free) we couldn’t pass up the opportunity!
My husband loves seeing football stadiums, and while we couldn’t do a tour due to the game, this was the next best thing.
The football game was at 1 pm so we didn’t have too much time until the game. We also knew traffic would be busy especially since the stadium is downtown.
The stadium as a whole felt a little older than other stadiums we’ve visited and we missed the entire first half because we were walking around with our toddler.
I’d say that football games with toddlers are not like football games as an adult! Keep in mind that if you go to any sports event with a small child you may end up missing a lot of the game and just walking around, which is what we did.
One surprising thing about the stadium is that the food is cheap! It was not priced higher than getting it at a real restaurant. Daniel and I were so pleasantly surprised that we had both a pizza and some barbecue.
The Krog District
At the end of the game, we stopped by The Krog District to walk around even more. It was a lovely day and a lovely place for walking! Lots of shops and restaurants in the area. There were also a lot of people out walking and it felt like a great place for our son to be free.
It’s also next to the Martin Luther King Jr site, which was closed at the time, and many other historical areas. The area in itself is really neat and warrants a drive around.
Day 2
The College Football Hall of Fame
This was the real reason we came to Atlanta, as my husband wanted to visit this! I told him that he could pick one vacation and I’d pick the next one. He chose Atlanta.
We drove to the College Football Hall of Fame in the morning and were there at 10 am when the doors opened. Parking is right next to a lot of other popular sites in the downtown area, so it’s a great place to leave your car and walk around to the other places.
I was not super excited about the Football Hall of Fame, but I enjoyed it! The instant you walk into the venue, you are asked to choose a college football team. This is your “team” throughout the experience. And that’s truly what it is — an experience.
Along with lots of facts about college football, there are a lot of interactive areas to listen to band music, compare your stats with other football players, watch a very compelling video, and even try your hand at kicking a field goal.
I enjoyed this and I think my son did too.
After the experience, we ate a late lunch at Gus’s World Famous fried chicken (10/10) and then headed to…
World of Coca-Cola
We couldn’t visit Atlanta without visiting the Coca-Cola Museum, which is a few blocks away from the College Football Hall of Fame. We chose to walk.
Before visiting, you have to reserve a time to visit, as I suppose they’re trying to limit occupancy, so we killed a little bit of time beforehand by walking around the area.
The museum is right across the street from the Aquarium, which is also another popular choice for Atlanta.
When we got inside, I felt like it was very touristy in comparison to the College Football Hall of Fame. It’s not a bad thing, but is just something I noticed.
There is a presentation beforehand all about Coca Cola, and many rooms to visit. One area was all about the history and founding of Coke, one area was a “game” where you had to guess which flavor of Coke you were smelling, and another area included lots of Coca Cola memorabilia. Our favorite section was the sampling section before you leave, in which you can try ALL of Coke’s flavors and varieties.
Overall, I think this museum is GREAT for kids, as it’s super interactive and has lots of hands-on activities.
Day 3
Atlanta History Center
We ate breakfast at our hotel and then headed straight to the Atlanta History Center. This place is massive. It not only includes a museum all about the history of the area, but several nature walks and old mansions that you can tour with the price of admission.
One of these mansions is also where The Hunger Games capital scenes were filmed, which is why I wanted to visit this area.
We spent about an hour inside the museum building before heading to the old houses. We took lots of pictures around the homes and outside since it was a lovely, but cold day.
I love visiting and touring old homes so this was right up my alley, but like all things with toddlers, experiences are a little different. My son started fussing a lot inside one of the mansions so we opted out of the (free) formal tour and walked around it by ourselves.
Overall, I greatly enjoyed this! It was for sure one of the more memorable experiences in Atlanta, and I think is not a bad place for kids.
Georgia Tech Campus
This is not the most family-friendly thing to see, but my husband wanted to visit the bookstore for merchandise and to check out the stadium.
The campus is fairly large and because we had to walk a lot, I wouldn’t recommend this for kids unless for some reason they love Georgia Tech. Still, we were able to get some pics inside the stadium by a nice staffer.
Ponce City Market
After walking around we headed to Ponce City Market.
Honestly, we mostly went here because it was too late for anymore activities but too early for bed.
The market was huge and included many types of restaurants and stores. There was also a paid excursion on the top floor, but we opted out of this due to budget.
We also originally thought we’d eat here, but weren’t too hungry so we bought food at Trader Joe’s and went to the hotel instead.
Final Thoughts
Overall, we had a great time in Atlanta! I thought 3 days was the perfect amount of time to visit for us since we had to drive from Oklahoma. If we hadn’t done the football game, we would have easily visited the Aquarium and seen some other sites.
One other thing I will note is that Atlanta is better with a car! The roads have a lot of traffic and are a little scary, but we managed to avoid the freeway for most of the trip. It is possible!