Atlanta, United States: Self-Guided Walking Tour

The best things to do in Atlanta range from civil rights landmarks and major museums to sports venues, performing arts, and hands-on attractions for families. The city’s most important places tell stories of cultural change, creativity, and Atlanta’s development as a major center of the American Southeast. Neywo offers a free audio guide for Atlanta with 73 narrated places.

What to see in Atlanta

Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park

The Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park brings together several sites connected with Dr. King’s life and work in Atlanta’s Sweet Auburn district. Its visitor center introduces the history of the Civil Rights Movement through the chronological “Courage To Lead” exhibition, which combines artifacts, photographs, and multimedia storytelling.

The experience continues along “Freedom Road,” evoking marches, mass meetings, and decisive moments in the movement. The park also includes the outdoor memorial tombs of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, as well as the D.R.E.A.M. Gallery, which presents rotating displays about contemporary civil rights issues and continuing struggles for social justice.

Atlanta First United Methodist Church

Atlanta First United Methodist Church is one of Atlanta’s oldest church communities, with a history stretching back more than 160 years. The current building was constructed in 1903, and the church adopted its present name in 1968.

One detail makes this church especially distinctive: the same bell has been used in three different church buildings since 1850. It is also known as the only church bell in Atlanta that survived the American Civil War.

National Center for Civil and Human Rights

The National Center for Civil and Human Rights connects the history of the U.S. civil rights movement with human rights struggles around the world. Opened in downtown Atlanta in 2014, the museum uses original artifacts, multimedia storytelling, participatory environments, and immersive installations.

Its curving building, designed by architect Philip Freelon, is often described as resembling “hands joined in unity.” After an expansion, the Center reopened in 2025 with two new wings, adding gallery and event space. Permanent galleries and rotating exhibitions connect historic movements with human rights questions in the present.

World of Coca-Cola

The World of Coca-Cola explores the history, advertising, and worldwide reach of the Coca-Cola brand. The attraction opened to the public on May 24, 2007, replacing the original exhibit founded in 1990 in Underground Atlanta.

The visit includes historical and international artifacts, the Coca-Cola Theater, Coca-Cola Stories, and the Vault of the Secret Formula. In the lobby, visitors can also see bottle sculptures created for the 1996 Summer Olympic Games. The experience begins with a complimentary drink before continuing through the galleries.

High Museum of Art

Known simply as “the High,” the High Museum of Art is one of Atlanta’s leading cultural institutions. Its collection includes more than 20,000 works, with particular strengths in 19th- and 20th-century American decorative arts, folk and self-taught art, modern and contemporary art, and photography.

The museum presents national and international exhibitions inside modern, sculptural buildings covered in enamel. Its history began in 1905, when it was founded as the Atlanta Art Association; by 1926, it had become an important cultural center for festivals, performances, public conversations, films, and educational programs.

Woodruff Arts Center

The Woodruff Arts Center brings visual and performing arts together on a single campus. It began in the late 1960s as a memorial to Atlanta arts patrons who died in the 1962 Orly Airport plane crash and was later renamed for philanthropist Robert W. Woodruff.

The center includes performance venues such as the Coca-Cola Stage, more intimate theatrical spaces, and concert halls connected to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra by interior walkways. Along the Peachtree Street plaza, look for World Events, a large kinetic sculpture by George Rickey. Installed in 1979, the stainless-steel sculpture moves subtly with the wind.

Museum of Design Atlanta

The Museum of Design Atlanta, or MODA, focuses on the ways design shapes everyday life. Founded in 1989 as the Atlanta International Museum of Art & Design, it now presents exhibitions on architecture, industrial and product design, interiors and furniture, graphic design, fashion, and related fields.

The museum occupies about 6,500 square feet across two main galleries. Clean industrial lines, concrete floors, a vaulted ceiling, and two-story windows create a flexible setting for different exhibitions.

Atlanta Contemporary Art Center

Atlanta Contemporary Art Center is a hub for exhibitions, artist commissions, and community programs. It presents several exhibitions each year featuring local and international artists, with particular attention to artists who have not had a significant exhibition in the Southeast.

The institution began in 1973 as a cooperative gallery founded by photographers. Today, it occupies a 35,000-square-foot warehouse complex with a large exhibition space and 12 artist studios.

College Football Hall of Fame

The College Football Hall of Fame offers an interactive introduction to the history and traditions of American college football. Founded in 1951 by the National Football Foundation, it honors college football players and coaches voted first team All-American by the media.

The visit starts at The Quad, beneath a three-story Helmet Wall displaying helmets from more than 775 teams. The first floor also contains Peach Bowl Field, a 45-yard indoor field used for throwing and kicking challenges. Interactive galleries continue on the second floor, while the Hall of Fame occupies the third.

Imagine It! The Children’s Museum of Atlanta

Imagine It! The Children’s Museum of Atlanta is designed for children under nine and their families. Opened in 2003, the 16,316-square-foot museum grew from an earlier “Museum Without Walls” initiative founded in 1988.

Its hands-on exhibits include “Gateway to the World,” which explores cultures and traditions from around the globe, along with science and technology displays, a robotics lab, and a wind tunnel. “Tiny Town” provides soft play areas and age-appropriate toys for infants and toddlers. The museum also presents original 20-minute mini-musicals, often connected with its featured traveling exhibition.

Michael C. Carlos Museum

On the Emory campus, the Michael C. Carlos Museum houses the largest ancient art collections in the Southeast. Its holdings cover more than 9,000 years of art and culture from ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, the Near East, Africa, Asia, and the ancient Americas.

The two-floor museum is particularly known for its ancient Egyptian collection, as well as Mediterranean and Near Eastern objects such as mummies, pottery, and sculpture. Visitors can also see the conservation lab, where restoration and preservation work supports the care of the collections.

Atlanta History Center

The Atlanta History Center is a large history museum and research center in the Buckhead district. Founded in 1926, it spreads across a campus of gardens, houses, and exhibition spaces.

The grounds include a research library, an antebellum farmhouse, a Jazz Age mansion, Swan House, Smith Farm, and the Wood Family Cabin. The Atlanta History Museum’s permanent exhibition includes 1,400 Civil War artifacts and explores Atlanta’s role in hosting the 1996 Olympic Games through memorabilia. The campus also features the Atlanta Cyclorama.

William Breman Jewish Heritage & Holocaust Museum

The William Breman Jewish Heritage & Holocaust Museum, often called The Breman, focuses on Jewish history, culture, and the arts, with special attention to Georgia and the Holocaust.

Its permanent exhibitions include “Absence of Humanity: The Holocaust Years, 1933–1945,” with more than 600 artifacts, documents, and photographs; “Selig Center: Tools for Tolerance,” an interactive exhibition about acceptance and social justice; and “Jewish Atlanta,” which traces Jewish life in the city from its beginnings to the present.

State Farm Arena

State Farm Arena is a downtown indoor, multi-sport arena and the home of the Atlanta Hawks of the NBA. It opened in 1999 as Philips Arena, replacing the Omni Coliseum.

The venue has also hosted the Atlanta Thrashers of the NHL, the Atlanta Dream of the WNBA, and Georgia Tech basketball. Concerts and other major entertainment events take place there as well.

Cathedral of Christ the King

The Cathedral of Christ the King is a Catholic cathedral serving the Archdiocese of Atlanta. The parish was established in 1936, and construction of the dedicated church began in 1937. The building was dedicated in January 1939.

Designed in the French Gothic style by Henry D. Dagit Jr., the cathedral became the seat of the region’s archbishop when the Diocese of Atlanta was elevated to an archdiocese in 1962.

Explore Atlanta with Neywo

Neywo’s Atlanta self-guided walking tour lets you explore the city without joining a group or following a fixed schedule. The app has 3 walking tours, 1 bus route, and 1 bike route, covering 73 narrated places in total.

The routes include:

• A 1.71 km walk through Centennial Olympic Park and downtown attractions, lasting 73 minutes and featuring 10 stops.
• A 0.67 km walk through the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park, lasting 42 minutes and featuring 7 stops.
• A 4.58 km walk through Centennial Olympic Park and downtown attractions, lasting 144 minutes and featuring 15 stops.
• A 4.9 km, 21-minute bus route down Peachtree Street from Midtown to Downtown, with 7 stops.
• A 6.4 km, 32-minute bike route from Sweet Auburn to the Aquarium, with 4 stops.

Each story plays as you reach the place, at your own pace, with no group and no schedule. Narration is available in 11 languages. Download Neywo’s free Atlanta audio guide and discover the city while you walk, ride, or travel by bus.

Atlanta is part of Georgia in the United States. For another city in the region, explore Roswell or Savannah.