things to do in Atlanta

[aphibeach]

hey yall

so me and another one of my sisters are going to Atlanta for 4 days starting Sunday and we're staying in Buckhead. i was just wondering if anyone knows of any cool places to visit or places to eat

i'm really excited and there's a bloomingdales and an anthropologie which is like heaven for me.

i know we're going to take the MARTA (subway system) to get into Atlanta but any other helpful tips would be fantabulous!

[TechAPhi]

I live in Buckhead and WARNING Music Midtown is going on which means the traffic will be unreal this weekend in and around Buckhead.

Let's see, you may not need MARTA if you are staying in Buckhead, there are so many amazing things in that area.

• Various Fun/Things to See
  
• You might check out Underground Atlanta and World of Coca-Cola, which are both downtown (about 3-5 miles from Buckhead, depending on where you are staying). You could take MARTA for that.
  
  Underground Atlanta is across the street from The World of Coke. Both are worthwhile. Underground has shops and clubs, etc. World of Coke is a museum (and a fun one at that) dedicated to Atlanta's own concoction Coca-Cola.
  
• You could check out Music Midtown (North Ave. and Piedmont). I think the Foo Fighters are headlining this year. Journey, REO Speedwagon and several other big names are going to be there as well.
  
  That's taking place in Midtown, which borders Buckhead (2-3 miles away; again, depending on where you are staying). Ticket prices are very reasonable for all you get. I think it's like $40-45. This event is going on through Sunday night. Traffic in the area is going to be bad, so fair warning! Music Midtown info >>
  
• You could visit the Margaret Mitchell house, which is the old home of the author of "Gone With the Wind." Located on Peachtree Street in Midtown. (NOTE: Peachtree STREET turns into Peachtree ROAD at the border of Midtown and Buckhead.)
  
• CNN Center. Tours of CNN's World Wide Headquarters. One CNN Center, Marietta Street at Techwood Dr.; call 404-827-2491 for tour information. You can tour the studios where 24-hour news is produced. Walking tours of the Control Room theater, special effects studios, main newsrooms, etc. I work here, so obviously, I think it is worthwhile! I think tours are $8-10. There might be a student discount. Not sure.
  
• Centennial Olympic Park. A nice place to catch some rays and have a picnic lunch. Depending on the weekend, there could be a free concert to catch in the evening. This is the park where the bomb exploded during the 1996 Olympic Games.
  
• The King Center is a tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It is the official memorial to Dr. King and continues his dream through educational programs and more. The nearby King History Center is four-block area on Auburn Avenue serves as remembrance of where Dr. King was born, lived, worshipped and is now buried. That's at 449 Auburn Ave.
  
• Braves game. They might be in town during your visit. Turner Field is where they play and accessible by MARTA, I believe.
  
  Places to Eat, Drink and Be Merry
  
• If you are a sports fan, or just want to hang out where some cute guys like to go, try the ESPN Zone, located near Pharr Road and Peachtree Street in Buckhead.
  
• In the section of Peachtree Road, where the ESPN Zone is located, there are a ton of bars, restaurants, etc.
  
• Good pizza and al fresco dining can be had at Fellini's caddy corner to ESPN Zone.
  
• Same area as the ESPN Zone (again) is a Cheesecake Factory, which many people love for their lovely salads and, of course, their cheesecake. The following place has divine cheese cake though, so if you are into desserts, skip the Cheesecake Factory and try Cafe Intermezzo...
  
• Great late night desserts, coffees and elixirs at Cafe Intermezzo further south on Peachtree Road. Open til 4:00 a.m. The best cheesecake ever.
  
• Uncle Tai's is a nice Chinese bistro at Phipps Plaza (more info below). My hubby and I used to eat there a lot.
  
• The Ivy Connection here in Atlanta just had an event at the hip new restaurant and bar, Twist, located at Phipps Plaza. They serve tapas and great martinis.
  
• I've heard members of the Atlanta Thrashers hockey team (our NHL team) hang out at The Tavern at Phipps.
  
  Shopping
  
• Phipps Plaza (3500 Peachtree Road ) are located on Peachtree Road. Phipps Plaza is the posh, upscale shopping center (home of Lord & Taylor, Parisian, and Saks Fifth Avenue) where the Sugarbaker sisters shopped on Designing Women. I've heard it's fairly easy to catch some of Atlanta's celebrities shopping here. This is where you find the stores that you love to look in but cannot afford (well, at least I can't).
  
• Lenox Square Mall (3393 Peachtree Rd.; -- basically the same address as Phipps, but across the street).
  
  Lenox Square is a huge mall with Bloomingdale's, Neiman Marcus and Rich's-Macy's as its anchor stores, and an usually vast array of mall shops (I've heard a Kate Spade store is supposed to be opening soon!). I believe Lenox Square Mall is the largest shopping mall in southeast.
  
  There is a Sephora here, which is like Heaven for me! :-)
  
  
  

[TechAPhi]

You can e-mail me if you want me to get more specific. Since I don't know exactly where you are staying, I can only give you generalities. But staying in Buckhead, you will be near some of the southeast's best shopping and restaurants -- all within walking distance.

In Atlanta, it's all about Buckhead and Midtown -- not as much going on in downtown proper, though it is just a few miles away.

The above are just the ones that came to mind, it is by no means an exhaustive list. Just the things I am familiar with.

[IheartAphi]

They have everything in Atlanta. However, be careful about what time of night you go out on Peachtree street. We went out at 12 am and the traffic was at a standstill. All these fast and the furious style cars were out "cruising" it took us an hour and a half to get one mile down the road to the cheese cake factory. We saw two people walking around with their guns out. We also did not go when anything was going on (except dave matthews).
This was all in the ritzy part of buckhead too. I guess we missed the memo.

I like lenox square for browsing. They have a lot of high end stores and a californa pizza kitchen. Mall of Georgia has just about anything you could imagine. We didn't really do the night life that night, i will ask my friends though what htey recommend

[aphibeach]

Let's see, you may not need MARTA if you are staying in Buckhead, there are so many amazing things in that area.

we are going into downtown atlanta on Monday because my friend has an interview with a company so i know that we'll take the MARTA for that.

thanks yall so much for all that info. seriously, every little bit helps me and my friend out soooooooo much. we're planning on being lost for the next 4 days

oh we're not going until Sunday so i'm hoping that we'll miss out on a lot of the Music Midtown festivities.....someone had mentioned something about it to me the other day

[Jill1228]

Hmmm where is Sistermadly? She is from HOT-lanta! Oh SisMadly?