Photo: Rob Meeks / CC BY-SA 3.0 · source

⛰️ Mountains

Panola Mountain State Park

Stockbridge, GA · Metro Atlanta

About

Panola Mountain is the granite outcrop Stone Mountain might have been if it had stayed wild, a 100-acre dome of bare rock so fragile that the only way onto its summit is a ranger-led hike booked ahead of time. In spring, shallow rock pools blaze red with Diamorpha, a tiny succulent that lives nowhere but these weathered granite flats, and the lichen and yellow daisies fill in the rest. Down off the rock, paved and forested trails loop past two small lakes and a nature center, fifteen minutes from Atlanta but a different world entirely.

Highlights

Ranger-led guided hikes onto the protected granite summitRare Diamorpha that turns the rock pools red in springNational Natural Landmark within the Arabia Mountain Heritage AreaPaved and forested trails, two lakes, and a nature centerJust 15 minutes from Atlanta

Getting there

Open in Maps Official website ↗

Related places

Mountains

Yosemite National Park

Mariposa, CA, CA · Sierra Nevada

Yosemite is a Sierra Nevada showpiece where glacier-carved granite walls, thundering waterfalls, and ancient giant sequoias crowd into one valley floor. From the visitor hub in Yosemite Valley you can crane your neck at El Capitan and Half Dome, chase spring waterfall spray, or drive up to a viewpoint that frames the whole high country. It is one of the most scenic and worth-the-trip national parks in the country, though summer crowds and seasonal road closures reward visitors who plan ahead.

Mountains

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Gatlinburg, TN · Great Smoky Mountains

The most visited national park in the country, Great Smoky Mountains drapes the Tennessee, North Carolina border in blue, misty ridgelines, old growth forest, and some of the richest biodiversity in North America. Drive the Newfound Gap Road over the spine of the Appalachians, chase waterfalls on easy trails, and roll through Cades Cove at dawn for black bears, deer, and weathered pioneer cabins. Entry is free, and the park stays open year round, with spring wildflowers and fiery autumn color drawing the biggest crowds.

Mountains

Rocky Mountain National Park

Estes Park, CO · Rocky Mountains

Rocky Mountain National Park packs more than 60 peaks above 12,000 feet into a single stretch of the Front Range, with alpine tundra, glacier-carved valleys, and elk grazing in open meadows. Trail Ridge Road climbs above 12,000 feet, making it the highest continuous paved road in the country and an easy way to reach the high country by car. With over 350 miles of trails, abundant wildlife, and dramatic scenery just 90 minutes from Denver, it is one of the most rewarding parks in the West to visit.

More in Metro Atlanta

Others worth the drive in this corner of Georgia.

All of Metro Atlanta →

Lakes & rivers

Sweetwater Creek State Park

Lithia Springs, GA · Metro Atlanta

Less than a half-mile down the Red Trail, the five-story brick shell of the New Manchester textile mill rises straight out of the woods, its empty window rows looking onto the whitewater shoals of Sweetwater Creek where Union troops burned it in 1864. Past the ruins the path climbs to rocky bluffs above the rapids, and back at the trailhead the 215-acre George Sparks Reservoir keeps kayaks, canoes, and aquacycles moving all summer, fifteen miles from downtown Atlanta.

Attractions

Fox Theatre

Atlanta, GA · Metro Atlanta

This 1929 movie palace on Peachtree Street began as a Shrine temple, which is why its auditorium unfolds like an open-air Arabian courtyard beneath a ceiling of 96 crystal stars and clouds that drift across a painted night sky. Mighty Mo, the original Moller pipe organ with more than 3,600 pipes, still rises from the pit before Broadway tours and concerts. Take the backstage tour to see the Egyptian Ballroom and the Moorish detail up close, then catch a show under those flickering stars.

Attractions

National Center for Civil and Human Rights

Atlanta, GA · Metro Atlanta

Phil Freelon designed this downtown museum so its curved walls fold toward each other like clasped hands, and the experience inside earns that gesture. You can sit at a 1960s lunch-counter simulation with headphones that pipe in the jeers and threats sit-in protesters endured, then walk through galleries holding Martin Luther King Jr.'s handwritten sermons and travel documents. The upper floor widens the lens from the American civil rights movement to human rights struggles still unfolding around the world.

Attractions

World of Coca-Cola

Atlanta, GA · Metro Atlanta

Atlanta's downtown shrine to the world's most famous soft drink walks you from the 1880s soda fountain through the glass-walled vault said to hold the secret formula. The finale is the Taste It room, where you can sample more than 60 Coca-Cola products bottled across the globe, including a few that will make you wince. It sits on Pemberton Place beside Centennial Olympic Park, an easy pairing with the Georgia Aquarium next door.

Attractions

Georgia Aquarium

Atlanta, GA · Metro Atlanta

Behind the glass of the Ocean Voyager gallery, whale sharks and manta rays glide through 6.3 million gallons of saltwater, the largest single tank in the country. The Georgia Aquarium sits downtown across from Centennial Olympic Park, where beluga whales, African penguins, and a clear acrylic tunnel put the open ocean overhead as you walk beneath it.

Attractions

Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park

Atlanta, GA · Metro Atlanta

This stretch of Auburn Avenue holds the places that shaped Dr. King's life and the movement he led: the Queen Anne house where he was born, the Ebenezer Baptist Church sanctuary where he preached, and the reflecting pool where he and Coretta Scott King are entombed beside an eternal flame. The Park Service visitor center traces the civil rights era through the Courage to Lead exhibit, and ranger-led tours of the birth home are free with a same-day reservation. Walk the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame on your way between the sites to read the names cast in bronze along the sidewalk.

Part of these collections

Curated guides that feature Panola Mountain State Park.

18 places

Georgia State Parks

Georgia's state parks pack a remarkable range into one state. Up north there are deep gorges and the tallest cascading waterfall in the Southeast; in the southwest, a pink-and-orange canyon erosion carved out of old farmland; through the middle, mineral springs and CCC-built lodges; and down south, the wild blackwater edge of the Okefenokee. These are the ones worth building a weekend around, from the Blue Ridge to the coast.