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While summer might be the most popular time, arguably the best time to visit Atlanta is in the Fall. Mild weather, low allergen levels, fall colors, and Christmas events starting. We visited Atlanta a couple years ago to see family for Thanksgiving. While my Husband has visited Atlanta, Georgia to see his family frequently, it was the first time for our kids and I. My kids were newly 3 and 1 years old when we visited.

Where to Stay

I would recommend staying in either Downtown Atlanta, Midtown Atlanta or someplace in between. We stayed in a VRBO in Old Fourth Ward with several others of our extended family. We picked a place with free parking. It was on the street but we didn’t have issues getting a spot, even with 2 cars between everyone. We love VRBOs or Airbnbs for traveling with family, both our own family of 4 and extended family. We visited over Thanksgiving and were able to host thanksgiving dinner for some of our other family that lives in Atlanta, just in a smaller apartment. With young kids, it is nice having a space to put your own food and snacks and ample space to give kids a separate room from the adults who might go to bed later. We often find that many home stays are stocked with a few kids toys and books, which means less things for us to pack. New toys are always more exciting for kids.

Neighborhood View from our VRBO in the Old Fourth Ward

If you want to stay at a hotel, there are plenty of options no matter your price point. If you are staying downtown, try to look for a place within walking distance of Centennial Park or Pemberton Place. There is such a large concentration of the major kid-friendly attractions right in the heart of downtown. Enough where you could spend more than 2 days just visiting places within walking distance of your hotel. Only having to pay for parking one time downtown – at your hotel – is probably ideal. And if you don’t have a car, staying close to downtown is even better for accessing attractions. Alternatively, you can try to find a hotel with close access to MARTA trains. Both the red and gold line will take you to the airport without transferring.

Staying in Midtown Atlanta, gives you a bit more of the neighborhood feel and often the better restaurants are in this area. You will likely need to use transit or your car more, however, you can potentially find a hotel or VRBO with free parking. Piedmont Park and the Botanical Garden are in this area.

Should we rent a car?

Atlanta’s public transit, MARTA, is a pretty decent option for getting around without worrying about parking which can be pricey or hard to find. However, we decided to rent a car for the added flexibility, especially with young kids. We were also visiting family during this trip, further out in the south suburbs of Atlanta. Either option is valid, depending on what your plans on for the trip.

If you are planning a short trip and are going to stay downtown and mainly doing attractions and sights downtown, not renting a car is a better option. If you have really young kids, lots of luggage, want to bring a stroller, and plan to visit the suburbs, renting a car is likely the most convenient option. You can also always plan to do a combination of MARTA and ride shares, however it can be tricky to find ride shares with good quality car seats. Or do a few days with MARTA and rent a car for the one day you might need it.

Hotels, especially downtown, can have some hefty parking fees so make sure you plan that into your calculations. MARTA is free for kids for kids under 46 inches.

Georgia Aquarium

Georgia Aquarium is the largest aquarium in the United States, almost double the size of the next biggest aquarium. My favorite aquarium I have visited in the United States. It is home to whale sharks, beluga whales, sea lions, dolphins and sharks, along with hundreds of other smaller species. The biggest tank being the whale shark exhibit that is so massive, it is hard to explain its scale without seeing it in person. Despite its size the layout of the aquarium is fairly easy to navigate. All of the different sections of the aquarium can be accessed from the center. We got there right as they opened at 9am and spent 3 and half hours there. We were able to see most of it, but not everything. We left to accommodate my youngest’s nap. If I were to do it again, I would have brought a carrier for her to take a nap in while we continued to see the other exhibits. However, it was also getting very busy by the time we left and many areas of the aquarium felt packed. With how crowded it was, both the kids and adults weren’t having as much fun by the end. While we did go on a weekday, it was during Thanksgiving break.

If you are able to visit early in the day, I recommend going to the Ocean Voyager section of the aquarium first thing, which houses the whale sharks. Visit the rest of the exhibits on the ground floor before they fill up before heading upstairs. We got tickets for the first sea lion show but I wish I would instead have chosen to do it a bit later. By the time we were done with that show, the aquarium was starting to get crowded and it would have been nice to walk through a couple more exhibits with less crowds. If instead you choose to visit in the afternoon, do the most popular galleries like the Ocean Voyager at the end when most people have already left.

Unlike some other aquariums, everything is fully indoors so if the weather is cold or rainy outside, you won’t have to worry about it once you get into the aquarium. The walkway from the main parking lot to the aquarium is mostly covered. Surprisingly to me, the Dolphin show was even indoors in a massive theater.

While the aquarium has some incredible exhibits, arguably the best part of the aquarium are the shows. If you are visiting on a weekend, definitely make sure you reserve a time for the shows before your visit. If you are visiting on a weekday, you possibly can get same-day reservations for the shows once you get there. They have a dolphin show that is around an hour long and a sea lion presentation that is 15 minutes. Both shows, even if you have tickets, you need to arrive at the theaters before your scheduled time. If you only have time for one show, I would recommend the dolphin show as many other aquariums or zoos have sea lion shows that are similar to the one at the Georgia Aquarium.

We did not have a stroller and managed fine with my 1 and 3 year old. We did instead have grandparents with us that offered some arms to carry kids when they got tired. However, it was pretty manageable, especially with the breaks for the shows and how well laid out the aquarium is. And both kids were excited to see the next tank and they stayed on their feet most of the time. Not having a stroller made certain aspects easier, like not having to worry about parking the stroller for the shows or navigating around the crowds. We did bring a stroller for other spots on our trip, this is our favorite double stroller for traveling since it is quite compact.

Generally, no outside food or beverages are allowed in the aquarium. However, they do make exceptions for small snacks for children. We brought about 2-3 packaged snacks per kid and we did not have any issues. We left right around lunch time and chose to eat outside of the aquarium as I have heard people have issues with the cafeteria and how busy it can get. It is also often criticized for expensive prices.

I’d highly recommend buying the Atlanta CityPass if you plan on visiting the Georgia Aquarium and two other paid attraction in the Atlanta area. An anytime General Admission ticket at the moment is $68. You can get cheaper tickets on some days if you buy them in advance and visit off-peak times. The Atlanta CityPass is $99 and includes 4 other attractions along with the Aquarium. Most of the other attractions are around $30, so if you are visiting 1 other attraction you’ll likely break even with the city pass and if you are visiting more than that, you will save considerably. As always, calculate for yourself how much it would cost to buy the tickets individually to see if it is less than $99 a person. One thing to also note, the children’s CityPass is $20 less than adults, but for a lot of the attractions included in this ticket, the children’s price is the same as the adults or only a couple dollars less. So while it might be closer to break even for adults in your group, it might be worthwhile for the kids in your group. The city pass is valid for 9 days so you have plenty time to visit other attractions.

Zoo Atlanta

We typically don’t visit many zoos on our travels unless there is something special about it, as otherwise I find a lot of zoos the same. I would rather visit someplace unique to the city we are going to rather than an experience we can do back at home. We visited Zoo Atlanta for their pandas, as they were my oldest favorite animals at the time and our home zoo did not have them. Unfortunately, as of writing this article, their 4 pandas are back in China. I don’t think I would call this Zoo a must visit, but it was a nice zoo. If you have a spare few hours and the City Pass, I would say this isn’t a bad way to fill the time. If you are short on time and would have to pay for admission, I would recommend skipping the zoo in favor of another spot.

If you do visit the zoo, expect to spend around 3 hours to see it all. It is not the largest of zoos but they make good use of their space. There are a lot of animals and many of the enclosures are quite large. My only issue was that it didn’t feel like there was a good way to walk through the zoo without a bit of back-tracking. However, for a relatively small zoo, that wasn’t too big of an issue.

Our favorite animal exhibits, besides the pandas, were the elephants, gorillas, and orangutans. You can also pay $4 to feed the Giraffes some lettuce, which feels fairly affordable. At the Children’s Zoo section there is a petting zoo, carousel, ropes course, playground and train. We ended up doing both the younger kid ropes course for my 3 year old and the carousel for my 1 year old. The prices being $10 and $4 respectively. An adult was able to help the young kids through the treetop tykes trail ropes course.

Zoo Atlanta is part of the City Pass along with the Georgia Aquarium. If you are not using the City Pass, you can get discounted tickets for this zoo if you have a zoo membership for another zoo in the US. Check out this chart to see how much your tickets can be discounted with the reciprocity program.

Atlanta Botanical Gardens Garden Lights

If you are visiting the second half of November or in December, we loved the Garden Lights at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. The canopy walk at the botanical gardens illuminated with their lights is by far my favorite Christmas light display I have ever visited. It is just stunning. It is hard to pick between this and the aquarium as our favorite spot to visit in Atlanta. Walking through the gardens enhanced with beautiful lights is truly magical.

Visiting in November is especially magical as the place is far less crowded as it gets in December. We visited during a value night and were able to get discounted tickets. The tickets are timed and for our young kids we visited before sunset so we could get back to our accommodations so it wasn’t too much past bedtime. It was still light out so we visited the model trains first as it got dark. We waited till it was fully dark to see the Ice Goddess and go on the canopy walk, called “Nature’s Wonders”.

We spent just under 2 hours walking through the gardens. Plan for longer if you wanted to enjoy some of their speciality food and drinks – hot chocolate, cider, smores. You can buy their 3D snowflake glasses that turn the lights you see into snowflake shapes. We bought 2 pairs and shared.

Parking is $15 per vehicle and limited. We had to go through the lot a few times before we found an open spot.

Fernbank Museum of Natural History

We visited Fernbank because of my dinosaur-loving oldest, but it ended up being an unexpected highlight for the whole family. We especially loved the old-growth forest so try to plan your visit on a nice weather day. When you enter in the museum in your phone for navigation, make sure you select the Fernbank Museum rather than the Fernbank Science Center. Part of our group got confused and ended up in the wrong place. The Fernbank Science Center is a lot smaller but does have a planetarium and is free. It is owned by the local school district and if you have extra time it might be worth a visit. However, I do definitely recommend the Fernbank Museum.

The Fernbank Museum is focused on natural history. The most stunning part of the museum are the giant dinosaur fossil displays in the atrium. Despite how many dinosaur fossils I see, every time I am always taken back at just how big many dinosaurs were. The museum has exhibits focused on Georgia and the planet as a whole. Our favorite areas of the museum were the world of shells, NatureQuest, Fantastic Forces, and the WildWoods. NatureQuest is a permanent exhibit designed for kids under 10 to explore nature indoors. It is very interactive and kids can run across rope bridges and pretend they are underwater, along with seeing live animal habitats.

The WildWoods was a highlight for the whole family. This outside trail has both peaceful spots and fun adventurous spots for kids of all ages. There was a large playground, some of the oldest trees in Atlanta, informational signs, and more. We almost spend more time outside than in. There are 2 miles of trails if you want to venture farther into the Fernbank forest, or you can just stick to the areas with the kids interactive parts.

Fernbank is also included in the CityPass. Parking at the museum is free. You can bring your own food and eat it outside. Some of us brought food in and the others got food from the cafe. The prices were relatively reasonable from the cafe. The kids meals were $6.50 and included several extras (chips, milk and a toy) along with the main. We could not eat inside the cafe on their tables as some of us had non-cafe foods.

Parks & Playgrounds

Piedmont Park

This sprawling park has something for everyone. Lots of walking trails, places to feed the ducks, playgrounds, sports and is often hosting events. In the fall, the trees in this park are beautiful and the weather is typically mild. We walked around Lake Clara Meer, stopped in the gazebo and got some food to feed the ducks. There is a couple play areas in the park: the Noguchi Playscape and Mayor’s Grove Playground. The Mayor’s Grove playground is near the middle of the park and the Noguchi Playscape is close to the 12th street entrance.

This park is near the Atlanta Botanical Garden and might be a great place to have a picnic dinner before you go to the Garden Lights.

Historic Fourth Ward park

The playgrounds here are nice and modern, there are large meadows, it has beautiful landscaping around it and a lake to take a short walk around. It is a popular spot in the summer because of its splash pad that closes Oct 1st.

This park is connected to the Eastside trail of the Atlanta Beltline, which you can walk or ride your bikes on. The belt line is a former railway corridor that encircles the city. It has 22-miles of trails and many parks right off of it.

Grant Park

The new grant park playground looks incredible based on the early pictures of it under construction. It is slated to open October 30, 2025 – just in time for any November trips to Atlanta this year. The playground will be large but likely busy this first month. If you are able to visit while local kids are in school, it likely shouldn’t be as crowded. This is the park with the zoo, so the playground at this park might be a great spot to visit before or after. I also love this park for its large trees and the leaf covered ground. Even if you miss peak fall foliage time, this park is still beautiful this time of year.

Other notable places if you have time

We had limited time to explore everything and had to divide our time between adventuring and visiting with family. Here are some places that we chose not to see due to time or our own lack of interest that might interest your family.

World of Coca-Cola

This museum will give a lot of the adults in the group nostalgia as you walk through viewing old advertisements throughout the history of the brand. There are some interactive elements for kids and photo op spots. At the end there is a soda tasting room where you can sample over 100+ different Coca-Cola products from around the world. It would be a good spot for those really into Coke or older kids who would have a blast tasting all the unique flavors.

National Center for Civil and Human Rights

Currently temporarily closed for renovations until the 2nd week of November. This is such an impactful museum and provides an amazing visual representation of civil rights history for teens and older. If you visit with younger kids, it will sure spark a lot of important questions.

Centennial Olympic Park

The former home of the 1996 Summer Olympics is now a large park in Downtown Atlanta. It is within walking distance of the Aquarium and World of Coca-Cola. There are gardens, fountains, playgrounds, and a dancing splash pad in the summer. The park also has historic artifacts from the olympics.

Ponce City Market

An industrial building – a former Sears building – that has been converted into a market with a variety of food vendors and retail stores. The roof has several boardwalk style attractions from mini golf to skee-ball to slides.