Who doesn’t love a good vacation? We all have been planning to go on a long trip with our friends and family and take a break from life – and when it comes to planning a perfect holiday, the most important thing to consider is the location.
Where should we go? What points do we want to see? What kinds of places are going to make our trip worth it?
These kinds of questions might be roaming around your head. And we came up with a perfect answer for all of them: Georgia – the US state, not the country.
If you are looking for a cost-effective party destination where you can find the best kind of everything you look for in a vacation, then Georgia is the place.
Georgia is a southeastern state of the United States of America that is filled with coastal beaches, beautiful farmlands, and breathtaking mountain ranges. The cities and towns in Georgia are rich in natural beauty, architecture, natural history, and incredible enjoyment and party spots.
To make it specific, here is a list of 5 must-visit places in Georgia that will make your vacation more memorable than ever before. Take notes.
- Callaway Gardens
Callaway Gardens in Georgia is an opportunity to be as closer to nature as you can be. A beautiful set of gardens and resorts, Callaway Gardens is located in the small Georgian town of the Pine Mountains. The resort is based in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains with a garden that spans over 2,500 acres.
At Callaway Gardens, you will see the kind of beauty you haven’t seen before – the garden features 10-mile long naturals trails where, if you chose to go, you can see can some of over a thousand butterflies, along with other miracles of nature.
It is also a perfect place for people to stay overnight and stargaze. A close-by swimming spot at Robin Lake Beach can fill an evening with perfect summer thrill, or it can be a sun-soaking spot for warm-cravers. The beach offers an inflatable water playground, Aqua Island, for families to have the most fun.
- Stone Mountain
Stone Mountain is a small town city located just 20-mile away from Atlanta. It has everything that Atlanta doesn’t have, and that’s why it is called a getaway town for Atlantans. As its name suggests, it’s a small city surrounded by mountains, but the city really got its name and popularity because of Stone Mountain Park, named after a massive monolith at the center.
Why Stone Mountain Park is so famous and why every year millions of people visit it is because of the park’s central piece, a massive stone rock with a Memorial Carving of Civil War generals, Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and Jefferson David. Not only the mountain rock serves as an incredible piece of beauty and skill, but it’s also the opportunity for history buffs to learn about the confederate memorial. A summit Skyride that offers a high-speed Swiss cable car running 825 feet above the ground offers an epic view of the city, the park, the mountains, and the peak of the stone rock itself, where the Skyride leads.
Apart from the natural beauty around the park and perfect picnic/chilling spots, there are multiple other history centers and entertainment-offering places in the city of Stone Mountain, including Historic Square, Haunted House, Dinotorium, art galleries, adult playgrounds with ropes and ladders, amazing cafes and restaurants, and more.
And if Stone Mountain attractions weren’t enough, a 3 to 4-hour drive away is a Georgia-Tennessee border that serves as a scenic viewpoint for the Great Smoky Mountains of the US.
- Helen
It’s almost unbelievable how little people know about Helen and how underrated this vacation destiny is. Helen is a small northeastern town in Georgia that is modeled after a Bavarian Alpine Village.
To be truthful, if you want to go to a Europe-like place on a tight budget, go to Helen. Apart from its obvious natural beauty – consisting of green plains, thick forests, aesthetic village homes, and incredible starry sty at night – Helen is home to a lot of colorful and artistic architecture since it was modeled after a Bavarian Alpine Village. At Helen, your food will consist of authentic German cuisine, while your evening will be filled with joyful renditions of German festivals, such as Oktoberfest.
In addition to its beautiful and charming surroundings, Helen is a place with all the amenities, offering 200+ stores for you to look around and a winery for the drinker in you. Very close to Helen is Lodge’s lake and Unicoi State Park, amazing places for families and friends to have fun. There are also some hiking and biking trails stretched around the woods and greenery, which take you closer to nature.
- Tallulah Gorge State Park
Now, this is where you’ll drop your jaw. Because Tallulah is a place that will leave you in absolute awe. If you are looking for a place where natural wonders are abundant, Tallulah Gorge State Park is your ideal destination. Located in the northern part of the state and to the west of the Georgia-South Carolina border, Tallulah Gorge State Park is, as its name suggests, is home to the Tallulah Gorge, measuring up to 2 miles long and about 1,000 feet deep.
Visitors can have an aerial view of the Tallulah Gorge from its rim, or they can acquire a free permit to get on the gorge’s floor. The park also has a suspension bridge which is an incredible place to have a beautiful view of the park’s all five picturesque waterfalls.
The park is not only filled with forests and green planes, but more than 20 miles of hiking and biking trails are stored between them that take you to the park’s scenic waterfalls, amazing viewing points, and make you much closer to the natural wonders of the earth.
- Golden Isles
Last but not least, Golden Isles is undoubtedly a golden place to visit with a group of your close friends. These barrier islands are located on the Atlantic coastline of Georgia, and they got their name from the amazing golden sand that highlights the beauty of the beaches.
Apart from the small islands where all time is party time, the larger islands include everything you would want as a visitor. One large Island, Brunswick serves as the mainland town of the Golden Isles and offers plenty of thrilling experiences, including plenty of shrimp boats if you are willing to be adventurous.
Some of the smaller islands, like Sea Island and Little St. Simons, provide world-class private resorts where, as stated above, all time is party time.
No matter whichever island you go to, the brilliant view of sunset on the water’s horizon reflecting its fading light on the golden sand will take away your breath, so don’t you forget to snap a picture and record this memory forever – and if you’d be staying there for the night, then stargazing to the sound of gushing waves will be an amazing experience on its own. Golden Isles is definitely a place to not miss out on if you are in Georgia.