Travel Itinerary: Three Days in Atlanta

About a year ago we found some KILLER deals from Salt Lake to Atlanta and we decided to jump on it and visit a new city. We had so much fun, and still talk about this trip often. It felt so good to do something spontaneous and visit a place we both had never been to before.

This itinerary is made up of all the things we did while we were there, so please enjoy our Family Friendly Atlanta Travel Itinerary. If you are traveling there soon let me know if you have any questions and if you loved somewhere in Atlanta that isn't on this list, comment down below!

One way we find really good flight deals out of Salt Lake is through the Instagram account @flightsfromhome. They post awesome deals all the time.

Disclaimers and Tips

Day One: Butter Milk Kitchen is expensive (like a small mason jar of orange juice is $5, expensive) but the portions are big so you might consider sharing a meal if you're on a budget. The chicken biscuit was great. Also, parking is NUTS, but if you go on their website they have a list of nearby places you can park if their lot is full.

The Blue Heron Nature Preserve is really close to Buttermilk Kitchen. We weren't planning on going here, but we noticed it while circling the block in search of a parking spot and decided to check it out. It's a really nice pocket of nature right in the middle of the city. We saw ducks, cardinals, and turtles while exploring.

The MLK park, museum, birth home, and church are all right next to each other and are totally worth the experience. I loved the reminder of how great of a man he was. We didn't go inside his birth home because tours were full that day but it was neat to see the outside. We had no problem finding parking.

Let me be the first to say that when visiting a new city for a short amount of time, going to a mall or shopping center is such a waste of time. Malls are not unique. But! Ponce City Market is unique. Yes, it's basically a glorified mall but it has a really cool atmosphere and we wanted to get some popsicles from King of Pops and pick up a souvenir. The coolest part (I assume) about Ponce's is the roof, however, it cost $12 each to go up the elevator, soooo....we never actually went up to the roof. But I mean, if you have the kind of money sitting around then go for it, and tell me how it was!

Day Two: For the Aquarium, make sure you see the sea lion show and the dolphin show. We spent most of the morning here and then took a lunch break and spent an hour or two at World of Coco-cola then we went back to the aquarium and spent a few more hours there. We saved the whale shark exhibit for last and went through twice because we loved it so much. The Aquarium is super family-friendly. There is a place to keep your stroller if you aren't using it, there is a nursing room for mothers, and our one year old had a blast just walking around and looking at the fish. If you're leaving the aquarium and coming back in make sure you get your hand stamped at costumer service.

The world of Coca-cola is not a must-see in my opinion, but my husband wanted to go. My favorite part was the beginning of the tour. They show a 6-minute video and I cried, it just gave me all the feels. Skip the 4D movie, it was so lame and we left after 60 seconds because baby Dean was crying. Lots of caffeine wasted teenagers in the soda tasting room, so just prepare yourself for that. The Olympic park has a splash pad so if your visiting in the summer take advantage of that. The highlight of the trip? Getting a banana pudding shake at Cook Out almost every night. Did you even go to Georgia if you didn't have Banana Pudding?

Day Three: Stone Mountain is so awesome. We went on a rainy day during the week and most of the attractions were closed but I still enjoyed it so much! There is a beautiful lake, parks, museums, a sky ride, a petting zoo, a railroad train, small hikes, and of course the main event of the park, the HUGE STONE MOUNTAIN sticking out of the ground. It's only one mile up the mountain and it's not very steep. We spent the whole day in the park. I loved Antico Pizza. It's communal seating and brick oven pizza. It's a cool atmosphere and delicious pizza, what else do you need? and if you're not crazy about Cook Out's Banana Pudding Shakes then you can walk across the street from Antico's and get some gelato. Mmm mmm mm.

Extra Extra: We stayed at an Airbnb in West Midtown Atlanta. It was a really nice area and close to everything we wanted to see. Before going to Atlanta we were warned about the crazy traffic, but we slept in every day and usually left Airbnb around 10 or 11 am and we never hit any traffic. We also stopped by the grocery store the first day and pick up snacks, instant oatmeal, and water bottles. I really felt like three full days was enough to explore the city and go back home feeling satisfied and refreshed, however, there are a million other things we could have done. If we had more time I would have visited the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum, the Zoo, Piedmont Park, and the Atlanta Beltline. So be sure to do your research and make a list of what you want to see. The first night we realized that after dark there is not much to do with a 1-year-old in Atlanta so we went back to our Airbnb and watched a movie. So just be aware of that when planning your trip. Our Airbnb had a mini-fridge and microwave so we would do instant oatmeal in the mornings and eat out for lunch and dinner. We also had lots of baby foods and snacks so we wouldn't have to order extra food for baby Dean at the restaurants. Make sure to check your bod for ticks every night. Lyme disease is my worst nightmare. Atlanta was such a fun city to explore!

| Buttermilk Kitchen | Blue Heron Nature Preserve | Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park | Fox Brothers Bar-B-Q | Ponce City Market | King of Pops | Georgia Aquarium | World of Coco-Cola | Olympic Park | JINYA | Cook Out | Stone Mountain Park | Antico | Airbnb |